At the Becker’s Healthcare 13th Annual Meeting in Chicago on April 3, a panel of leaders gathered to talk about the big trends and challenges in healthcare delivery. The panel included:
- Omar Lateef, DO, President and CEO, RUSH University System for Health; RUSH University Medical Center
- Kelly Elkins, COO, MaineHealth
- Janet Liang, Executive Vice President, Group President and COO, Care Delivery, Kaiser Permanente
- K. Craig Kent, MD, CEO, UVA Health; Executive Vice President, Health Affairs, University of Virginia
- Imamu Tomlinson, MD, MBA, CEO, Vituity
Healthcare workforce shortages
One of the issues that were discussed was the lack of healthcare professionals, and Ms. Liang suggested that the solution could lie in expanding federal funding for GME to provide more clinical opportunities for students.
Dr. Lateef, on the other hand, believed that healthcare’s approach should be about creating a culture where people feel valued for their work.
Dr. Tomlinson, however, saw the issue as one of disruption, advocating changing the math instead of providing one-to-one care. Higher capacities and pushing providers outside of their comfort zones would be a solution to the workforce shortages.
Learning from new entrants in healthcare
Health systems would gain a lot from examining how new entrants in the healthcare industry, such as Amazon and Walmart, provide services and access to those who were previously unable to get care. Hospital systems should use the new innovations that these companies bring to the table, like efficiency and virtual care, in order to better serve their patients.
Transparency and honesty in healthcare
Healthcare executives in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic should focus on transparency, honesty and access to care to diminish health disparities. This entails bringing care to communities by employing mobile vans and pop-up clinics. It also involves incorporating socio-economic standards into organizational practices to accommodate the necessary services and support for patients upon discharge.
Future healthcare leadership
Transparency, innovation, compassion, connectivity, communication and thick skin are the qualities that the healthcare sector is seeking in future healthcare executives. Leaders should have a mindset that changes the delivery of healthcare, provide focus on public health, emergency preparedness and health equity.
It is essential for leaders to find replacements and engage in disruption, team-challenge and fast failure. Lastly, medical providers should collaborate to disrupt the insurance industry and create more inventive payment models.
Integrated, coordinated care and prevention
The move towards integrated, coordinated care and prevention is propelled by health plans. They are usually following the lead of Medicare, which is making changes to its payment reimbursement system that will influence hospitals. Health systems should examine new models of care in partnership with insurance companies since the current system is not working.
The experts also discussed the progress the healthcare system has made thus far and how much more remains to be accomplished. The discussion highlighted that healthcare is altering considerably, it is believed that healthcare care will alter considerably. The healthcare community needs to coordinate, evaluate and innovate to adapt and execute the healthcare of tomorrow.
