On April 11th, Rod will speak on a panel at Becker’s Hospital Review 9th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place April 11-14, 2018 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Rod’s session, click here.
Question: Please share a new consumer-centric capability your organization has built or tapped into within the past 18 months.
Rod W. Neill: In early 2017, we opened the first of what will be several ambulatory medical centers that house primary care and specialty physicians, along with ancillary services and a surgery center. The center features many consumer centric technologies, such as kiosk check-ins for all services, digital display boards with wait times, mobile phone paging, and easy access, wide seat patient exam chairs in lieu of traditional exam tables. With all these technologies and in a stunning facility, the consumer-focused resource we are most excited about is the guest service navigator. This role replaced the traditional front office staffer and there a multiple GSNs in the lobby. There is always one right at the door to provide a friendly greeting. The other GSNs move about the facility, aiding patients at the kiosk, walking them to their destination, providing them a cup of coffee or just engaging in a friendly conversation. In today’s age, it is still important not to forget the human touch.
Q: When was the last time your organization responded to concerns or needs expressed by physicians? What unfolded?
RWN: In early 2017, we engaged in selected interviews with 30 physicians, 10 from each the Mercy Health Physicians group, the clinically integrated network and the general medical staff. This was done above and beyond our annual provider engagement survey and served to participate in deeper dialogue with our physicians. Each interview was one hour. It provided great insight and revealed many issues and concerns that had not presented themselves in neither the engagement survey nor routine meetings and conversations. The result was a detailed action plan with accountable parties to address the issues and provide feedback and continual discussion. By working the plan and providing updates to its progress, I believe we demonstrated that we are not only listening to our physician partners but also taking action.
Q: What change in reimbursement is your organization feeling most acutely and how is it affecting your two to five year strategic plan?
RWN: I believe Mercy Health has the confidence that the shift from volume to value is not on the horizon but already here — and its here to stay. As a result, there has been tremendous investment in our medical group, clinically integrated network and data analytics over the past five years. This pay forward approach is beginning to pay dividends as many of our payer contracts have significant upsides based on good outcomes and cost control, and our Medicare Shared Savings Program has demonstrated solid results since its inception. With the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act now instituted, the importance of outcomes, cost control, clinical integration and population health are here to stay, and organizations that foresaw this future and prepared for it are positioned to succeed in the coming years.
