Today all the leadership staff met for our quarterly Asante Leadership Forum meeting. It lasted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and it was a busy day. I'll discuss some aspects in more detail later, but here's a quick summary:
The first real business of the day was a presentation from Andy Davidson, CEO of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Healthcare Systems. He gave us a great overview of the challenges facing our sector as healtcare reform takes shape over the coming years. Here's my take-aways:
(1) Healthcare reform is happening. We cannot go back simply because the cost of healthcare cannot be allowed to grow at historic rates.
(2) Regardless of what happens in Washington, Oregon has it's own initiatives in healthcare that in many ways will go beyond the scope of the national changes. Our changes give us some clarity about what to expect.
(3) The reforms will have several facets, but most visible to us include rate cuts, pay for performance (buyers of health care will penalize those without quality, including patient satisfaction and safety), more uniform payment methodologies that are likely to look a lot like Medicaid across the board.
(4) In order to control costs, we will either align with physicians, or likely find it impossible to control utilization and process issues.
We've got some very, very challenging times ahead. The good news is that Asante has a proven track record of tackling our challenges successfully and executing strategy well. My bet is that we will continue to be the preeminent healthcare provider in the region for years to come. And I'm also certain that our delivery system will look much different in 10 years. Enjoy the ride!
The rest of the day was spent discussing our strategic plan, and learning more about those issues in more detail. The day also included education for the leadership on some of the competencies that we need to have in order to be successful.
A busy, exhausting, and information-filled day.
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