In a panel session moderated by Chuck Lauer, author and former publisher of Modern Healthcare, at the Becker's Hospital Review Annual Meeting on May 18 in Chicago, four hospital and health system executives shared ideas on what hospitals can do to become successful right now by discussing their own scenarios.
Charles Martin Jr., chairman and CEO of Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanguard Health Systems, spoke primarily of Vanguard's acquisition of Detroit Medical Center last year. Vanguard scooped up the financially beleaguered hospital in 2011, and Mr. Martin admitted it was a big risk to take on the large DMC. However, he and the rest of his executive staff moved forward with the transaction, knowing it just needed capital infusion.
"The hospital was hemorrhaging red ink, but it's now been profitable for the past six years," Mr. Martin said. "What they lacked was access to capital. Capital in our business, particularly the hospital sector, is requisite."
Teri Fontenot, president and CEO of Baton Rouge, La.-based Woman's Hospital and chair-elect of the America Hospital Association's board of trustees, explained that her hospital has different strategies to stay successful. As the only freestanding, non-profit women's hospital in the United States, Ms. Fontenot says Woman's is focusing on brick-and-mortar expansion instead of physician employment and alignment. OB/GYN physicians have said they do not want to be employed, and instead, they are working together to move to a new replacement hospital with bigger, expanded, private rooms.
"We remain independent because our core group of physicians are still around and support us," Ms. Fontenot said. "We wanted to have facilities and a plant to support patient care, and the [new] private rooms will improve bonding and breastfeeding rates."
Michael Ugwueke, CEO of Methodist Healthcare's North and South Hospitals in Memphis, discussed how he was able to help transition those two distressed, Medicaid-heavy hospitals to beacons of healthcare in the community.
"We only had a 22 percent commercial payor rate, which wasn't a recipe for any success," Mr. Ugwueke said. "But what we did, in addition to bringing new people, is we wanted to change the image of the hospital. We wanted to create a new story." To do that, he said they standardized their processes across the hospitals — the turnaround time in the emergency departments went from 300 minutes to 30 minutes — and they are employing physicians to better coordinate care.
Pamela Stoyanoff, executive vice president and COO of Methodist Health System in Dallas, said her health system is focusing on a very pointed, specific short-term goal: to become the healthiest healthcare provider by 2016. Methodist just achieved its most recent short-term goal by growing its net revenue to $1 billion, and now it wants to improve the health and wellness of its employed staff in order to be seen as the model example of self-health. It is accomplishing this through medical homes for employees and assigning physicians to those who are willing to participate. So far, it has yielded an average weight loss of eight pounds across its pilot sample of 150 employees, and the interest has grown more than threefold.
"We feel strongly that as healthcare leaders, we should set the example for health," Ms. Stoyanoff said. "Ultimately what we want to do is to sell that service. It's an innovation that we can go out and sell to others and augment what we do everyday for other employers in the community."
Charles Martin Jr., chairman and CEO of Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanguard Health Systems, spoke primarily of Vanguard's acquisition of Detroit Medical Center last year. Vanguard scooped up the financially beleaguered hospital in 2011, and Mr. Martin admitted it was a big risk to take on the large DMC. However, he and the rest of his executive staff moved forward with the transaction, knowing it just needed capital infusion.
"The hospital was hemorrhaging red ink, but it's now been profitable for the past six years," Mr. Martin said. "What they lacked was access to capital. Capital in our business, particularly the hospital sector, is requisite."
Teri Fontenot, president and CEO of Baton Rouge, La.-based Woman's Hospital and chair-elect of the America Hospital Association's board of trustees, explained that her hospital has different strategies to stay successful. As the only freestanding, non-profit women's hospital in the United States, Ms. Fontenot says Woman's is focusing on brick-and-mortar expansion instead of physician employment and alignment. OB/GYN physicians have said they do not want to be employed, and instead, they are working together to move to a new replacement hospital with bigger, expanded, private rooms.
"We remain independent because our core group of physicians are still around and support us," Ms. Fontenot said. "We wanted to have facilities and a plant to support patient care, and the [new] private rooms will improve bonding and breastfeeding rates."
Michael Ugwueke, CEO of Methodist Healthcare's North and South Hospitals in Memphis, discussed how he was able to help transition those two distressed, Medicaid-heavy hospitals to beacons of healthcare in the community.
"We only had a 22 percent commercial payor rate, which wasn't a recipe for any success," Mr. Ugwueke said. "But what we did, in addition to bringing new people, is we wanted to change the image of the hospital. We wanted to create a new story." To do that, he said they standardized their processes across the hospitals — the turnaround time in the emergency departments went from 300 minutes to 30 minutes — and they are employing physicians to better coordinate care.
Pamela Stoyanoff, executive vice president and COO of Methodist Health System in Dallas, said her health system is focusing on a very pointed, specific short-term goal: to become the healthiest healthcare provider by 2016. Methodist just achieved its most recent short-term goal by growing its net revenue to $1 billion, and now it wants to improve the health and wellness of its employed staff in order to be seen as the model example of self-health. It is accomplishing this through medical homes for employees and assigning physicians to those who are willing to participate. So far, it has yielded an average weight loss of eight pounds across its pilot sample of 150 employees, and the interest has grown more than threefold.
"We feel strongly that as healthcare leaders, we should set the example for health," Ms. Stoyanoff said. "Ultimately what we want to do is to sell that service. It's an innovation that we can go out and sell to others and augment what we do everyday for other employers in the community."
More Articles on the Becker's Hospital Review Annual Meeting:
5 Key Financial Ratios Healthcare Providers Should Track
What is a Healthcare Leader Worth? Determining Hospital Executive Compensation
The Most Common Medical Staff Problems and Issues and How to Handle Them