Ketul Patel, CEO of Tacoma, Wash.-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, is driving improvements in community health through expanded care, strategic partnerships and a focus on workplace culture.
As CEO of the 1,800-bed system and president of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health's Northwest region, Mr. Patel is addressing both local and national healthcare challenges. He spoke with Becker's about his 2025 strategy, touching on outpatient care, employee retention and financial issues.
Expanding inpatient and outpatient care
"We have over 300 sites of care within our system," Mr. Patel told Becker's. "We always look at things through the lens of what the patients truly need. We know as healthcare becomes more and more ambulatory in nature, we need to expand our footprint even more aggressively in the outpatient ambulatory arena."
While VMFH is investing heavily in ambulatory care, it is also increasing inpatient capacity, adding beds at three of its hospitals, including 74 beds at St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale, Wash.
To further address community needs, the system is opening freestanding hybrid emergency department/urgent care locations in the region. These facilities aim to reduce the total cost of care while extending the system's clinical reach into underserved communities.
Strategic partnerships and community collaboration
VMFH, formed through the 2021 merger of CHI Franciscan and Virginia Mason, operates 10 hospitals and employs more than 18,000 people.
"We have a long, storied history of many hospitals coming into our family," Mr. Patel said. "We also believe that for our future — unless there's a very important strategic move for us — we're going to build our health network through partnerships."
The system recently launched the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Care Network, which allows partnerships with independent hospitals that wish to remain independent while accessing added support from VMFH, he said. The network provides clinical, business, operational and research expertise with key contracted services spanning telehealth and virtual care, peer-to-peer guidance and interim executive and leader placement.
The care network provides structure for collaboration as hospitals across the Northwest express interest in partnering with VMFH, Mr. Patel noted.
The system also works with community organizations to address social determinants of health. Initiatives include a medically tailored food box program and the Community Health Improvement Grants program, which provided more than $1.7 million to local nonprofit organizations in 2024.
"At the end of the day, we are here to take care of people in the community and be partners to people in the community," Mr. Patel said.
Financial challenges
Stagnant reimbursements remain one of VMFH's most pressing financial challenges, Mr. Patel said.
"The denials are getting more and more acute and significant, to the point where we have almost 11% of our expected reimbursement lost to denials, and I think that's going to continue to be a big issue for us," he said. "We believe we're very strong partners to our payers, and we are very transparent with them about some of the issues, but we need to see that level of partnership the other way."
Additionally, he said rising wage rates in the Tacoma and Seattle region are creating financial strain that will require continued focus in 2025.
Investing in workplace culture
"Particularly through the pandemic, and post-pandemic, we were challenged with workforce recruitment and with keeping people in healthcare," Mr. Patel said. "There's been such a large focus on our culture in the last couple years."
Developing a supportive culture in which employees feel valued and can work at the top of their licenses is essential for retention, he said.
VMFH also uses the Virginia Mason Production System, a standardized management approach.
"It is a way for us to make sure we're all speaking the same language in terms of our local health system and regional health system," Mr. Patel said. "It's also a way for us to allow our team members to redesign their work so that we're eliminating waste, and they have the ability to say, 'This is how we're going to continue to grow in our profession and take care of our patients.'"
These efforts have contributed to VMFH being the only Washington-based health system to achieve "A" safety grades across all hospitals from The Leapfrog Group, he added.
"It's been a pretty significant journey," Mr. Patel said. "We have patients that are coming from all over the country, and even in some cases from around the world, to get the care that they need at Virginia Mason Francican Health, so I'm very proud of that. It comes down to our team members and everything that they're doing every day to take care of our patients and keep people healthy in the community, so I always want to recognize them."
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