Peter Fine has led Phoenix-based Banner Health, a nonprofit system including 33 hospitals and other services in six states, since 2000.
Mr. Fine took the helm following the merger of Samaritan Health System and Lutheran Health System, which created Banner Health. He has since watched the organization grow to one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the U.S. He has also witnessed the evolving healthcare landscape.
"There are many points of disruption [in the industry], whether it's organizations getting into the delivery of health services that heretofore never delivered health services directly, whether it's delivery organizations like ours getting into the at-risk insurance business" via the joint venture, Banner|Aetna, Mr. Fine told Becker's.
Healthcare "has so many different tangents to it and so many different areas where disruption can occur, and trying to figure out strategically how to position yourself for a desired future state is quite challenging."
He noted this disruption is at hospitals and health systems as well as outside of them. Take CVS Health's recent purchases of Dallas-based Signify Health and Chicago-based Oak Street Health, for example, or Optum's offer in June to buy home and hospice care provider Amedisy for $3.3 billion.
Banner Health also looks different today as the industry has evolved. The health system now has an ambulatory business, a partnership for a surgery center company and a partnership for rehabilitation medicine, among other services.
"We've attempted to build a big ambulatory business to be closer to the patient, and be able to provide the patient services. Not just when they have an acute event or an emergency room visit, but, create a relationship with our patients in a broader way," Mr. Fine explained.
Like other health systems, Banner Health — which has more than 50,000 employees — has also struggled with attracting and retaining top talent. Mr. Fine said the organization continues to work to rebuild its workforce to meet the needs of the growing organization.
Amid disruption and all of the industry challenges, he sees one thing as crucial: Integrity. He said this means keeping focus on meeting the needs of the communities while navigating today's disruptive environment.
"No matter what the pressures are, integrity is critical," said Mr. Fine. "And a CEO, making assessments, and making decisions for an organization, there are so many things that can make that difficult, so many things that can make it hard to decide, [deciding] how to apply integrity to specific situations."
But, he added, "as soon as you migrate away from an organization with integrity, I think you have damaged the organization."