Here are four thoughts from Michael J. Dowling, President and CEO of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health.
1. We have to modify our perspective to understand and appreciate that, over the past five decades, the history of healthcare is one of tremendous success. We are living longer, and there have been extraordinary improvements in the care and treatment in such areas as cancer, heart disease, orthopedics and stroke. This has to be applauded. This success, of course, results in demands for more care, more accountability and increase costs.
2. A growing challenge over time is the increased dependence on public funding such as Medicare, always subject to the inevitable reductions in payment. This requires that providers find innovative ways to diversify their revenue streams.
3. A leader can always choose to improve their margins by focusing on just more profitable areas like oncology, orthopedics and spine and more. We choose to lead by taking care of all of our patients, irrespective of circumstance. That is being true to the mission.
4. It is uninformed to say that healthcare is way behind other industries in technology and artificial intelligence. We have been in the forefront – just walk through a modern operating room, imagining center or an ICU. Where we need to catch up — which is now happening — is in the area of consumer facing technology.