Becker's Hospital Review

72 POPULATION HEALTH 72 CEO / STRATEGY "We had an outside panel of experts come to review our five-year strategic plan and nothing in our strategic plan focused on branding," he said. "In their final report, they recommended we think about what branding would look like across all deliv- ery sites and potential impact that could have in the market." From there, Adventist Health System leaders considered various name options, but they ultimately chose AdventHealth. Mr. Shaw said the system's religious history, as well as its desire to be inclusive of every patient in every market and to unify its various market-based brands, contributed to the decision. "We wanted something that would keep with our heritage but also be something that would represent something of value to anyone in the marketplace," he said. "e sum of that is to be a consumer-focused organization that delivers Christ-cen- tered, 'wholistic', best-practice care across the entire continuum and to do that in a way that the consumer is helped through the process and is not le to navigate that by themselves." e organization spent the last year preparing for the rebrand and an overall busi- ness change. As part of those efforts, the system expanded its spiritual resources into the outpa- tient setting. Now, there are providers in physician offices and urgent care centers asking patients questions about topics such as joy, love and peace. Mr. Shaw said the answers are recorded in the patient's medical record but can also result in a referral to Adventist Health System's spiritual care specialists. e expansion of spiritual resources is being phased in and is expected to be completed by January 2019. Since the rollout began in May, there have been more than 1,500 referrals for spiritual care follow-up in the outpatient setting. By June 2019, the system also plans "to have every consumer in every one of our markets understand what we're doing and to experience care in a different way," said Mr. Shaw. "I do believe most consumers are going to like the way we are changing how we're interfacing with them, and I think it will be very positive in the market and very positively received," he added. n Geisinger, Dignity + 15 health systems join forces to improve Medicaid care By Morgan Haefner S eventeen health systems comprising 280 hospitals launched an initiative to improve care for Medicaid patients through financially sustainable solutions. The Medicaid Transformation Project will be led by Avia, a network of health systems fo- cused on digital innovation and transforma- tion, and former CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt. The national effort to transform healthcare for Medicaid patients will focus on five facets, with four identified at this time: behavioral health, women and infant care, substance use disorder, and avoidable emer- gency department visits. Five health systems — Downers Grove, Ill.- based Advocate Aurora Health; Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health; San Francis- co-based Dignity Health; Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger; and Renton, Wash.-based Prov- idence St. Joseph Health — will anchor the initiative. A team at each of the 17 health sys- tems will work with Avia to implement Med- icaid solutions, and all hospitals will share strategies across the network. The 12 other health systems participating in the initiative are: • Allina Health (Minneapolis) • Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.) • Christiana Care Health System (Wilming- ton, Del.) • Froedtert & the Medical College of Wis- consin (Milwaukee) • Henry Ford Health System (Detroit) • Memorial Hermann Health System (Houston) • Navicent Health (Macon, Ga.) • OSF HealthCare (Peoria, Ill.) • Presbyterian Healthcare Services (Albu- querque, N.M.) • Rush University Medical Center (Chicago) • Spectrum Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.) • UVA Health System (Charlottesville, Va.) n Healthcare – no easy answers: A quick commentary from Scott Becker By Scott Becker, Publisher of Becker's Healthcare O ne of the few things I find astounding is the constant criticism by new people that join the healthcare world, and how they imme- diately criticize hospital and health system leadership. Most CEOs, in my experience, are very smart and try really hard to do the right thing. New people that come into healthcare speak of all the employees, the bricks and mortar, and criticize the outdated business model and the actions of the healthcare leader. I think most leaders know they can quickly improve profits if they cut staff and operations. However, the simplicity of the problem and solution ends there. As a patient and long-term as a leader, there is almost nothing worse than an understaffed healthcare operation. It's beyond depressing to be in a short-staffed hospital, and it's often scary. So to all the people who join the field and immediately take shots at health systems, take a step back and realize they are playing an incred- ibly tough, tough game. Yes, it's a labor intensive business and, yes, there are improvements to be made, but don't kid yourself that there are easy answers. n

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