During a session at Becker’s Hospital Review 5th Annual Meeting, May 15 in Chicago, Pamela Stoyanoff, executive vice president and COO at Methodist Health System in Dallas; Anthony Armada, CEO of Swedish Health Services in Seattle; Chris Jones, vice president of strategy and business development at Catholic Health Initiatives in Englewood, Colo.; and Patrick O’Hare, senior vice president and CIO at Spectrum Health System in Grand Rapids, Mich., discussed the innovative strategies they were pursuing to remain competitive in concentrated markets and a rapidly changing industry.
Moderated by Scott Becker, JD, publisher of Becker’s Healthcare and chairman of McGuireWoods’ healthcare department, the panelists revealed the following strategies.
1. Price transparency and patient-friendly pricing. New laws and growing consumer demand for information about healthcare costs has led a push toward price transparency. At Swedish Health Services, Mr. Armada capitalized on this trend by reducing the price of many outpatient procedures, letting patients see how much less they would be paying as a way to build loyalty to the system.
The system dropped prices in a way that patients would see the difference and associate Swedish Health Services with savings. “I’ve had a lot of patients I’ve come in contact with say, ‘I’m paying $750 less out-of-pocket [for this procedure], so I will get all of my care here,” he said.
2. Focus on both daily volumes and population health. When asked what values they check on a daily basis, all the panelists responded that patient volume was still the most important indicator of their organization’s success. Though as the industry shifts from paying for volume to paying for value, these leaders are keeping an eye on data analytics and the capabilities to improve care and lower costs.
At Spectrum Health, which is both a provider and a payer, making use of available data from both sides of the business is becoming a growing focus. “It’s all about leveraging data in a more meaningful way to understand the patients for whom you’re providing care,” said Mr. O’Hare.
3. More cheerleading. “People are tired,” said CHI’s Chris Jones. Hospital and health system staff “are trying to do everything” in terms of maintaining care quality while adapting to changing requirements. ‘There needs to be more cheerleading going on,” he said.
The other panelists agreed. At Swedish, a new leader was recently hired to oversee how transitions in the industry and the care delivery model were affecting staff. “They’re in charge of people and changes,” said Mr. Armada. They’re helping us stay grounded in how these initiatives affect our people and what we need to do to support people.”