While the political uncertainty that permeates 2018 has understandably captured the attention of healthcare leaders, they would be wise to focus their energy and strategies elsewhere, according to a panel discussion at the Becker's Hospital Review 9th Annual Meeting on April 12.
The following three panelists joined moderator Scott Becker, the publisher of Becker's Healthcare, for a discussion on politics and policy.
- Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and associate editor, The Washington Post
- Russ Myers, president and CEO, Virginia Mason Memorial (Yakima, Wash.)
- Brad Fetters, COO, Prism Healthcare Partners
Here are three key takeaways from the discussion.
1. Focus on the opportunities not tethered to policy. The immediate threat of repeal and replace has settled, but the political stalemate and continued uncertainty have left providers on edge. "Should the ACA have been repealed, the impact on our community would have been substantial. The lack of policy and direction overall — and this is not a new phenomenon — from government is concerning," Mr. Myers said.
This has left the system to lean on the quadruple aim as a fail-safe strategy. "We do have lots of concerns of what the future might look like and a lot of uncertainty, but in the midst of all that we have a lot of opportunity," Mr. Myers said.
To streamline care, his system chose to affiliate with Seattle-based Virginia Mason a few years ago because it had a track record of providing excellent customer service, safety and quality care. "It's amazing the kinds of things you can find and things you can do for patients and families that you didn't think you could do with existing resources," he said.
2. Health systems need to keep an eye on competitors emerging outside the industry. In one way, Washington represents a constant force of change. For the immediate future, it’s likely that reimbursements will continue to decline and health system margins will shrink. The private sector has proven to be less predictable.
"As I work across the country with different clients, they are struggling. Growth, cost control, mergers, affiliations. And then we've got Amazon coming in…Amazon coming in is big. They want to control the order. They want to control the data," Mr. Fetters said. On top of that is the potential Walmart-Humana deal and the new duo of Aetna and CVS. More than Washington, providers need to focus on how unorthodox competition will change their business, according to Mr. Fetters.
3. The best strategy for leaders in any industry is to stay focused on the mission. "A great CEO can go right to the soft tissue of an issue," Mr. Woodward said. He recalled a January 1973 lunch with then-publisher of The Washington Post Katharine Graham during the height of his reporting on the Watergate scandal. She asked Mr. Woodward, who was then 29, when the truth was going to come out.
The general public still did not believe the story, the Post's credibility was down, and its stock price had plummeted. Mr. Woodward told Ms. Graham he thought the truth would never come out. She looked pained, and said, "Never? Don't tell me never," he recalled. Mr. Woodward took this as a statement of purpose to stay the course.
"She said, 'Why are we doing this? Because that's the business we're in,'" he said, later adding, "You are in the business of providing healthcare. That's the business you are in, and that's what you need to do.
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