Blake Allison serves as Chief Executive Officer at Southeastern Health Partners.
On November 12th, Blake will serve on the panel "Community Hospitals - Regional Strategies and Affiliation Considerations" at Becker's 8th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place November 11-13, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Blake's session, click here.
Question: If you acquired $10 million dollars with no strings attached today, how would you invest or spend it?
Blake Allison: If I acquired additional capital, we would pursue the development of an innovation center focused on developing new strategies to position the primary care practice for success in the value-based world.
Q: There is a lot to improve upon in healthcare. Of the many issues that hold your attention, what is the one you consider exceptionally imperative and urgent?
BA: There are many items to improve in healthcare, but the two most pressing are dealing with the lack of economic alignment between the financiers of healthcare and the providers and also the establishment of an economic model that leverages the outstanding work of the primary care office and rewards them for the holistic management of our members.
Q: Healthcare leaders today need skills and talents that span beyond those emphasized during formal training and higher education. What is one specific competency that you learned or sharpened in real life?
BA: Change management in a emotionally intelligent way. I have to be able to manage diverse teams through significant change. Change management is a crucial part of the skill set of healthcare leaders today as we face an economic shifts in our payment model. To add to the complexity, our change requires buy in from a diverse leadership team with unique perspectives on the paths forward.
Q: What is one convention, tradition or habit that healthcare has adopted and left unquestioned that you feel either needs to stop or undergo thoughtful scrutiny? Why?
BA: We are all pressed for time and attention. Help us sift through the meaningless and the meaningful by sharing the last thing you read, heard or did that shifted your mindset and really made a difference in your personal or professional life. I recently read a book that was from a few years ago called Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers written by Robert J. Kriegel which really challenged my way of thinking with regard to the traditions and habits we have entrenched based upon the fee for service payment model and the impact they can have on change.