What’s missing from healthcare conversations, say 4 CEOs
Health systems — and their CEOs — face mounting pressure from financial constraints, workforce shortages and broader uncertainty. Amid these challenges, some leaders say key issues are being overlooked.
From the economic hardships patients experience to the fallout from proposed Medicaid cuts, more must be done to “find a better way.”
Becker’s recently asked four health system CEOs: “What is the industry not talking about enough?”
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
1. Michael Mayo, DHA. President and CEO of Jacksonvilla, Fla.-based Baptist Health: Health literacy.
“What is the most appropriate avenue for entering the health system? We owe it to the public to educate them about the proper level of care and where they need to enter the system. Many people default to the ED, and if you’re having a true emergency, that’s totally what it should be. But because of a lack of access to primary care, and underinsurance and uninsurance, it is an easy default to the emergency department. While we’re always going to see everyone, we also have to help people understand how to access the system best.”
2. Tim Bricker. President of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health’s central region: The broader economic effects of proposed Medicaid cuts.
“Healthcare is 20% of the U.S. economy, and about half of our expenses are in labor. We know that Medicaid doesn’t come close to covering the costs of care, particularly in the hospital environment. The overall impact, and the disproportionate impact on already very vulnerable, small rural communities around this country, is going to be potentially quite significant.”
3. Michael Young. President and CEO of Philadelphia-based Temple Health: Economic hardship for patients in complex systems.
“The average American is struggling paying their bills, and when you add the healthcare costs on top of that — for example, my son went to an urgent care and they ran a lab panel. It was $783, and if he had gone to CVS, it would have been $28. That health system made a lot of money off him, and we’ve forgotten about that.”
4. Mark Clement. President and CEO of Cincinnati-based TriHealth: A fragmented, reactive system.
“Our system is fragmented and it tends to be reactive. I often refer to it as a ‘sickcare’ system, as opposed to a healthcare system. The real question is: Who’s going to fix our nation’s underperforming healthcare system? Are we going to leave it to the government, or regulators, or payers? Or should it be our responsibility — as healthcare providers who know the industry best — to step up and find a better way? Because there are better ways.”