Joseph Cacchione, MD, has been CEO for the last two-and-a-half years, overseeing expansion and standardization across the broader system. Jefferson also has a 400,000-member health plan, undergraduate university and graduate school with about 9,000 students. The success isn’t accidental; Dr. Cacchione has a passion for nonprofit healthcare and caring for communities.
“It always starts with the community,” he told Scott Becker during an episode of the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast.” “We’re not only responsible for the people that don our door, but we’re responsible for the health of the communities we serve. We want to stay true to that mission, and because of that, we have the health insurance side, which to me, is one of the major strategies I think we should all be focused on to take the friction out between financing of healthcare and the delivery of healthcare. We have a great opportunity by being a successful [integrated delivery and finance system].”
Dr. Cacchione sees big opportunities for integrated delivery and finance systems to make healthcare more affordable and pinpoint better decision-making for higher quality care as well. The alignment is more crucial now than ever, as labor, drug and supply expenses rose significantly last year, and are likely to grow again over the next 12 months. There is also a real possibility for Medicaid cuts, which will negatively impact hospitals.
“There are a multitude of things that are coming at us from a headwind standpoint,” said Dr. Cacchione. “Very much on our radar screen are the potential cuts in Medicaid, which is really going to number one, be a potential access issue for the most vulnerable populations; and number two, is going to be how that is going to directly affect the healthcare system in terms of its ability to continue offering the same level of service as well as the economic impact of cuts in Medicaid to employment. And we are a large employer.”
Dr. Cacchione is also watching changes to the 340B program and site neutrality payments for Medicare beneficiaries closely. The anticipated timeline for these changes will make a big difference for the health system’s strategy.
“We’re going to have to think about, urge and advocate for any changes in the new site-neutral condition,” said Dr. Cacchione.
The idea of for-profit and nonprofit healthcare and taxability is also top of mind. Many of those issues have bipartisan support and the federal government is looking to balance the budget.
“We’re watching these issues because I think healthcare today, coming out of COVID, is much weaker from a financial standpoint, and I think the safety net that hospitals and health systems had at one time is gone,” Dr. Cacchione said. “You’re going to see more and more health systems fail, particularly ones that are from the for-profit side of the world.”
He sees the need to work with government officials on solving the problems in the healthcare financial space.
“We have a responsibility to our communities, but these are all very strong headwinds for the healthcare environment,” said Dr. Cacchione.