On October 11th, Jason will give a keynote presentation on “Lessons from Revenue Cycle Transformation in a Digital Era” at Becker’s Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place October 9-12, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Jason’s session, click here.
Question: As a leader, how do you stay connected to the actual work that is being done – and not just by watching others execute, but by executing yourself? If so, how do you balance between leading and executing personally?
Jason Joseph: This is always a tough thing to balance. In many of our C-level roles, our responsibilities are quite broad and focused on strategy and execution at the macro level. It’s not practical to get into the details of the work, and it’s one of the lessons I have had to re-learn at each level of the organization. I’m an engineer by training, and a problem-solver by nature, so it’s hard for me not to dive into the details. What I’ve found, however, is that there is a big difference between diving into the problem trying to solve it, and diving into a problem to understand the key barriers, provide guidance, and ensure it’s set up for success. I will often go very deep to ensure I understand the systems, processes, and other factors that exist, and then go back to a high-level of operation so I don’t frustrate the teams or otherwise limit their ability to execute. This helps ensure I can provide needed input and guidance for the teams solving the problems, frame the context of success, and help identify guard rails. From there, teams need autonomy and support to get the work done. Tactically, we use a series of roadmaps and communications tools that are published and maintained by our leaders that keep us in sync with our business objectives, strategies, budgets, and overall timelines. I also do much of my own work as it relates to high-level strategy, goal setting, managing expectations, and communicating more broadly to my peers and the organization. It’s still my work, and I prefer to author a document or get into the meat of an issue when it’s mine to solve. It’s probably something that’s never going to be perfect, but I do feel the balance helps bridge a variety of perspectives and interest levels and keep me (and others) connected to the work at the right level.
Q: What does healthcare need more of? Less of?
JJ: Wow, this is a big question. Right now I think healthcare is reaching the peak of inflated frustration and is being politicized because of it. Some of this we’ve brought upon ourselves by creating so many complex systems, continuing to layer on costs (some of which don’t add value), focusing on the needs of the system vs. the needs of the consumer, undervaluing “health”, and creating disconnect between who’s paying for healthcare and who’s consuming it. There are many aspects of the healthcare system as a whole that need new solutions and new thinking. As an industry, we are slow to change, but we are also heavily regulated and we have a band-aid on top of band-aid over many years that makes the progress we are trying to achieve even more challenging. We need less finger-pointing and more problem-solving – the system exists today not due to one political party or ideology, but due to a variety of efforts by many people, over many years. I’d like to see more solutions that are coming from the perspective of addressing root cause; not just trying to remedy the symptoms.
Economically, it’s a fairly simple problem to understand: we need to reduce the price/cost of services and/or reduce our utilization of these services in order to reduce the total cost of healthcare in the U.S. Changing the way we pay for or subsidize healthcare without addressing the price and utilization issues isn’t going to solve the problem – it just shifts it from one area to another. Price needs to be more transparent, but also fair and sustainable (or we just kick the can down the road.) Utilization needs to address both overall health (needing less healthcare to begin with – something we Americans haven’t been particularly good at with our high rates of chronic disease and desire for spare-no-expense treatments) as well as appropriate use of services (ensuring we aren’t paying for things that add very little in health benefit compared to the costs.) At a much broader level, we, as Americans, need to be accountable for our own health, and unless we improve our collective health status (reduce chronic disease, take up healthier habits, etc.) we will continue to be challenged with healthcare costs that are going in the wrong direction.
Q: What contributes to better conversations between a health system’s financial and clinical leaders?
JJ: Being focused on the root cause of the problem and seeking options is a good way to ensure the conversation starts with everyone on the same side of the problem. We all need to balance our need to continuously reduce costs, optimize the role of technology in transforming healthcare services, and ultimately delivering the highest quality care with the best outcomes. I think this is why there is such a focus on the use of data and analytics as well as digital transformation in healthcare. We need to find new ways to improve that don’t just involve adding more and more cost to the system, layering on more regulations or processes, or trying to do things the same way and expect a different outcome. There are seemingly endless opportunities to make things better with the use of technology, both to improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs, but as we all know – technology is only an enabler. The real work is in managing change through a system that is change adverse and very complex. I think the path forward needs to insist on minimizing the trade-offs and finding new ways of working that truly move us forward. As a technology leader, it’s a great opportunity to help foster innovation and bring technology to the forefront of healthcare transformation, while keeping the focus on business and clinical outcomes.
What contributes to better conversations between a health system’s financial and clinical leaders?
At Becker's 4th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, taking place November 2–5 in Chicago, more than 1,500 hospital and health system executives tackle decisions that determine whether organizations thrive or merely survive: protecting margins under cost pressure, choosing where to grow, renegotiating payer relationships, stabilizing the workforce and proving real ROI on technology. This is where leaders work through them together, face-to-face. Apply for complimentary registration now.
