At the Becker’s Hospital Review Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 10, a panel of hospital leaders talked about preparatory and reactionary financial strategies in a session titled “Key Thoughts on Planning and Budgeting in Times of Uncertainty.”
John Zell, CP, vice president of finance and chief financial officer for OSF St. Joseph Medical Center; John Vazquez, MD, chairman of the department of anesthesia and chief medical officer of Sinai Medical Group; Janice Nevin, MD, MPH, chief medical officer of Christiana Care Health System, presented. Ken Perez, senior vice president of marketing and director of Healthcare Policy for MedeAnalytics, moderated the session.
Here are three tips from the panel on approaching financial changes.
1. Participate in reform talks. The panel agreed it is vital for health systems to have processes in place to stay abreast of government regulations and reforms. Dr. Nevin also stressed the importance of participating in the discussion through advocacy as well as being informed.
“It’s not good enough just to know,” she said. “We want to be at the table having those conversations.”
2. Consider ACOs now. Accountable care organizations are possibly the future of coordinated care. Hospital leaders should consider ACOs and how they may fit into a current system’s culture. Mr. Zell’s hospital is serving as a part of a pilot accountable care organization for CMS; Dr. Nevin said, while Christiana Care Health System is not ready to participate in an ACO, the system is working to build an infrastructure that would let them engage in the future.
3. Facilitate dialogue between clinical and organizational leaders. The chairman of all departments should have a seat at the table for the budgetary process, Dr. Vazquez said. Physicians are competitive with one another so creating public rankings of cost effectiveness can use peer pressure to positively influence decisions.
One way physicians can become more aware of unnecessary spending is to review patient bills line by line to which costs contributed to care and which did not, he said.
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John Zell, CP, vice president of finance and chief financial officer for OSF St. Joseph Medical Center; John Vazquez, MD, chairman of the department of anesthesia and chief medical officer of Sinai Medical Group; Janice Nevin, MD, MPH, chief medical officer of Christiana Care Health System, presented. Ken Perez, senior vice president of marketing and director of Healthcare Policy for MedeAnalytics, moderated the session.
Here are three tips from the panel on approaching financial changes.
1. Participate in reform talks. The panel agreed it is vital for health systems to have processes in place to stay abreast of government regulations and reforms. Dr. Nevin also stressed the importance of participating in the discussion through advocacy as well as being informed.
“It’s not good enough just to know,” she said. “We want to be at the table having those conversations.”
2. Consider ACOs now. Accountable care organizations are possibly the future of coordinated care. Hospital leaders should consider ACOs and how they may fit into a current system’s culture. Mr. Zell’s hospital is serving as a part of a pilot accountable care organization for CMS; Dr. Nevin said, while Christiana Care Health System is not ready to participate in an ACO, the system is working to build an infrastructure that would let them engage in the future.
3. Facilitate dialogue between clinical and organizational leaders. The chairman of all departments should have a seat at the table for the budgetary process, Dr. Vazquez said. Physicians are competitive with one another so creating public rankings of cost effectiveness can use peer pressure to positively influence decisions.
One way physicians can become more aware of unnecessary spending is to review patient bills line by line to which costs contributed to care and which did not, he said.
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Healthcare's Best Opportunities — and Biggest Threats
4 Health Systems' Plans for the Future
Carolinas CEO Shares 5 Ways Healthcare is Being Redesigned