Since Lisa Goodlett was named senior vice president, CFO and treasurer of Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Health System in March, one of the health system's main goals has been to increase access to the health system from 8% of North Carolina's population to more than 25%.
To achieve this, the health system is leveraging technology and looking at expanding partnerships to ensure services are more widely available.
"We're open to hear things," Ms. Goodlett told Becker's regarding partnerships with other organizations. "We believe that you can compete and partner at the same time throughout the state."
Duke Health is also upgrading its financial technology by putting in a new decision support system with the goal to go live in March to help make informed, data-driven decisions on things like organizational growth, reducing costs and maximizing efficiency.
The health system picked three young leaders from various backgrounds to spearhead the project, with Ms. Goodlett supporting their work.
"They've had to do a lot of influencing, collaboration, listening, designing and then execution to make sure it's built in the right fashion to deliver those resources."
As Duke Health continues to push expanded care access, the health system has also been in contract negotiations with UnitedHealthcare for the last few weeks regarding 172,000 of its patients.
"We are actively negotiating with Duke Health," UnitedHealthcare said in an Oct. 17 statement on their website. "Our top priority is to reach an agreement that is affordable and sustainable for North Carolinians and employers while ensuring continued, uninterrupted network access to the health system."
If the parties cannot come to an agreement by Nov. 1, Duke Health's hospitals, facilities and physicians would be out of network for employer-sponsored commercial plans, including UMR and Medicare Advantage plans, including a group retiree and dual special-needs plans.
"I think both parties would like to resolve this, it could go away today if United chose that," Ms. Goodlett said. "We're very willing to come to the table and have come to the table to talk about realistic solutions for what we need to be fairly reimbursed."
Ms. Goodlett also touched on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. The Category 4 storm slammed Florida's Big Bend region Sept. 26, yet it was the flooding in the wake of the hurricane that devastated communities across the southeast U.S., including North Carolina.
Duke Health set up three incident command centers to help provide care following the storms. One center helped with western North Carolina, one aided the IV fluid shortage relief and the third cared for Duke Health's UnitedHealthcare patients.
"In my 30 years of healthcare, I've never seen three [incident command centers] at the same time," Ms. Goodlett said. "You can't replace the lives or the damage done in western North Carolina and South Carolina, so our hearts go out and we are here for them if they need anything."