Fire away: 10 industry leaders' uncensored reactions to top healthcare subjects

Ever wonder what healthcare leaders are really thinking? We tapped 10 guests at our 4th Annual CEO Roundtable + CFO/CIO Roundtable in Chicago to hear their knee-jerk reactions to 10 topics. We asked them to give the first thought that comes to mind after hearing each of the following words:

1. Consolidation
2. Prescription drugs
3. EHR
4. Physician leadership
5. 2016 presidential election
6. Community hospitals
7. Cyber security
8. Innovation
9. Affordable Care Act
10. ACO

Here are their immediate reactions:

Patrice M. Weiss, MD, CMO of Carillion Clinic (Roanoke, Va.):

1. Consolidation = Teams
2. Prescription drugs = Expensive
3. EHR = Time consuming
4. Physician leadership = Wonderful
5. 2016 presidential elections = Hide!
6. Community hospitals = Valuable
7. Cybersecurity = Imperative
8. Innovation = Creative
9. Affordable Care Act = Mixed
10. ACO = Theory

Jack Slingerland, Account Manager, Novartis

1. Consolidation = Necessary
2. Prescription drugs = Value-based
3. EHR = Necessity
4. Physician leadership = Critical
5. 2016 presidential elections = Conservative Republican. Donald Trump, please.
6. Community hospitals = Fading
7. Cybersecurity = Critical
8. Innovation = Leadership
9. Affordable Care Act = Trainwreck
10. ACO = Future

Lynn Nicholas, President & CEO, Massachusetts Hospital Association

1. Consolidation = Inevitable
2. Prescription drugs = Too expensive
3. EHR = In-operability
4. Physician leadership = Opportunity
5. 2016 presidential elections = Anyone but Trump
6. Community hospitals = Restructuring
7. Cybersecurity = Scary
8. Innovation = Paramount
9. Affordable Care Act = Keep it!
10. ACO = It's all about the care

Doug Grace, Vice President Emerging Services & Supply Chain, Premier

1. Consolidation = Hospital
2. Prescription drugs = Integrated pharmacy
3. EHR = No value
4. Physician leadership = Alignment
5. 2016 presidential elections = Ted Cruz
6. Community hospitals = Independence
7. Cybersecurity = Broken
8. Innovation = Personalized medicine
9. Affordable Care Act = Here
10. ACO = Population

Mo Kasti, CEO, Physician Leadership Institute

1. Consolidation = Bigger
2. Prescription drugs = More expensive
3. EHR = A mess
4. Physician leadership = The big innovation
5. 2016 presidential elections = Hillary Clinton
6. Community hospitals = Will thrive
7. Cybersecurity = God help us
8. Innovation = It's about improving care
9. Affordable Care Act = Stimulus
10. ACO = Awesome consulting opportunity

Bill Huber, Managing Director, Alsbridge

1. Consolidation = Be careful
2. Prescription drugs = Very expensive
3. EHR = Got to get better
4. Physician leadership = [No comment]
5. 2016 presidential elections = Please get us a non-Democrat president
6. Community hospitals = Love them
7. Cybersecurity = Oh boy
8. Innovation = My life
9. Affordable Care Act = OMG
10. ACO = Tough

Brian Fehlhaber, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, SummitRe

1. Consolidation = Too much
2. Prescription drugs = Out of control
3. EHR = Too expensive
4. Physician leadership = Necessary
5. 2016 presidential elections = New change
6. Community hospitals = Need lots of help
7. Cybersecurity = A mess
8. Innovation = Necessary
9. Affordable Care Act = What a mess!
10. ACO = Very difficult

Lance Dailey, Director of Sales, U.S., Shift Energy

1. Consolidation = Difficult
2. Prescription drugs = Expensive
3. EHR = Antiquated
4. Physician leadership = Could work
5. 2016 presidential elections = Fireworks
6. Community hospitals = Needed
7. Cybersecurity = Huge threat
8. Innovation = Critical
9. Affordable Care Act = Figuring it out
10. ACO = Figuring it out

Alan Channing, Former President and CEO, Sinai Health System

1. Consolidation = A new world
2. Prescription drugs = Too expensive
3. EHR = Oh, my head hurts
4. Physician leadership = An absolute must
5. 2016 presidential elections = I think a Democrat is going to win this
6. Community hospitals = A dying breed
7. Cybersecurity = Where's Snowden when we need him?
8. Innovation = It's the watchword of what feels like the season, but nobody really knows what it means and how to make it work
9. Affordable Care Act = I'm bullish
10. ACO = Why are people bailing on ACOs?

Dave Schmidt, Regional Vice President, Sales, Conifer Health Solutions

1. Consolidation = Healthcare
2. Prescription drugs = Generic
3. EHR = Mandatory
4. Physician leadership = Got to build it, and they will come
5. 2016 presidential elections = Carly
6. Community hospitals = [No comment]
7. Cybersecurity = Mandatory
8. Innovation = Toby Cosgrove
9. Affordable Care Act = Skeptical
10. ACO = The future