On October 10th, Mitchell will serve on the panel “Cyber and IT Security Today: The Best Approaches and Ideas” 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 Mitchell’s session, click here.
Question: What is the No. 1 principle you uphold and practice to effectively lead a team?
Mitchell Parker: Healthcare needs LESS “innovation”. This sounds counter-intuitive, but we have a tremendous amount of energy, resources, and money being spent on innovation from outside the healthcare industry, and emanating largely from the tech industry. What healthcare needs is more CHANGE: change from current delivery models, change from patient engagement, change from billing practices, change from RCM, and change from the “shaman-like” culture of provider/patient relationships that hamstrings patient self-sovereignty. It also means a change where patients take ownership of their data and healthcare activities, through both incentivized and disincentivized behavior.
Q: What is one topic or issue you’ve been investing time in to better understand as of late?
MP: I try to spend more time with physicians to understand their perspective on care delivery and how it can be changed. Granted, I’ve drawn from a small group, but appreciate their insights as we from the tech community consider positive impacts on the care delivery model.
Q: What contributes to better conversations between a health system’s financial and clinical leaders?
MP: In order to establish “better” conversations, SOME level of the conversational norm must first be established. In my experience, providers are completely disconnected from the financial process – even their professional associations remain separate, between AMA, HIMSS, and HFMA. Before those conversational norms can even be established, cultures must be changed between administration and finance (“revenue at all costs”) and providers (“care at any cost”). A typical provider seems to make all decisions in a vacuum from financial implications, either of the system or the patient’s financial obligations to pay. health system.
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.
