Hospital and health system CEOs understand the need to meet demand for healthcare services while also focusing on the well-being of employees and strengthening the talent pipeline. They are also focusing on healthcare education and workforce development.
Additionally, they are zeroing in on technology or partnerships that can expand capacity, help improve care and drive innovation.
The innovation piece particularly resonates with Bert O'Malley, MD, president and CEO of Baltimore-based University of Maryland Medical Center.
Innovation is "an important buzzword, in my opinion, because I think the discovery and innovation arms are not necessarily congruent every time, but they are linked significantly," he told Becker's earlier in April. "That improves care problems and issues today and builds future care paradigms and treatment for tomorrow."
With this in mind, he saw an opportunity to rally UMMC workers behind a new initiative: an Innovation Challenge in partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The competition focuses on identifying and then investing in the ability to test initiatives to improve patient outcomes.
"We didn't have a forum for that," Dr. O'Malley said. There was an "emotional, psychological feeling coming out and going back into COVID-19 from 2020 to 2021, and it was a means of pulling people together with something different and new and in an area that they have expertise in, which is clinical care."
UMMC's Innovation Challenge was rolled out in 2021 with an investment, and applications went out for various levels of awards. Dr. O'Malley said the first round garnered more than 100 applications, and some applicants participated in a pitch session for their ideas, similar to "Shark Tank."
This summer, UMMC held its third annual Innovation Challenge, and the competition has offered several opportunities for awards up to $125,000.
One example, the founding recipient, is the Distress! gaming app from UMMC and Grendel Games. The simulation game is based on real patient scenarios and is designed to train clinicians to identify acute symptoms earlier. The content is developed by respiratory therapists, nurses, pharmacists, physicians and others involved in rapid response to patients in distress.
Dr. O'Malley said the next step for the organization is to popularize the app "and make it part of our standard work and standard presence. We think by doing that, it will foster the enthusiasm for engaging in innovation. Bringing people who may never have thought they could make a difference because they're not in the basic science laboratory or they're not inventing a new surgical instrument. But they're in the field and coming up with ways to significantly advance patient care."
Advancing patient care and improving outcomes is also part of how Michael Charlton, president and CEO of Atlantic City, N.J.-based AtlantiCare, is working to prepare for the future. He recently set out to plan a six-year initiative for the health system with one philosophy in mind: "Break it."
"What I mean by 'break it' is, I went back to the organization and said, 'Listen, enough with the shiny new toys, enough with the headlines. There has to be substance. We have to execute," Mr. Charlton told Becker's earlier this month.
"Essentially, we have to 'break it,' and we have to come to a point where we understand that although we do great work, we're burdened by a lot of things. But the circumstances don't mean that you're not responsible for the outcomes. We can't keep talking about the regulatory burden. We can't be talking about the workforce and colleges not producing enough physicians and nurses. They're the circumstances. We still need to be responsible for the outcomes."
This philosophy culminated with the launch of VISION 2030 on April 10. The initiative aims to improve social determinants of health, expand medical education opportunities and lead the way for technology improvements through a partnership with Oracle Health.
Mr. Charlton told Becker's he is excited about all of these pieces, particularly when it comes to serving community members outside of hospital walls. The initiative specifically aims to reduce food insecurity for patients by 6%; reduce unsheltered homelessness by 20%; expand life expectancy by five years; and boost annual fundraising for the AtlantiCare Foundation by 20% year over year.
AtlantiCare's VISION 2030 also includes new partnerships such as the health system's affiliation with Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute, which aims to provide AtlantiCare patients with access to Cleveland Clinic's advanced research, clinical trials and expertise.
Additionally, AtlantiCare announced an affiliation with Philadelphia-based Drexel University College of Medicine to provide clinical training to medical students, as well as a clinical partnership with Global Neurosciences Institute.
The Drexel affiliation will focus on medical education programs that grow and diversify the healthcare workforce pipeline, the health system said.
At Fort Myers, Fla.-based Lee Health, President and CEO Larry Antonucci, MD, finished a book called "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" by Yuval Noah Harari as part of his efforts to prepare for the next three to 10 years.
"He's a historian. And it is a fascinating book that delves into what the century is going to look like regarding AI and robotics and computers and globalization. And how Big Data is watching us and the fact that when we use computers and we use the internet that we're not customers, we're actually the product," Dr. Antonucci told Becker's in March.
"The information we put in there is being sold to others. It's really a very fascinating, thought-provoking book. I would recommend it to anybody."