Becker's Hospital Review

26 POPULATION HEALTH POPULATION HEALTH 26 CEO/STRATEGY PwC names 6 healthcare issues to watch in 2019 By Emily Rappleye P wC's Health Research Institute believes 2019 is the year the "New Health Econ- omy" will finally become a reality. e past year marked record interest in the healthcare industry, especially from outside forces like venture capitalists and business giants like Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase. PwC believes forces like these mean healthcare will no longer be an "outlier" industry that operates in its own world outside the greater U.S. economy. In its 13th annual report, PwC's HRI iden- tified the following six healthcare trends to watch in 2019: 1. With an injection of $12.5 billion from in- vestors over the past two years, PwC expects connected health devices and digital therapies to become integrated into care delivery and the regulatory process for drug and device approv- als. PwC expects several new products to come to market in this category in 2019. What does this mean for providers? ey will need to find a way to integrate this data into the EHR so it can be used to maximize the patient visit. 2. Artificial intelligence and automation will require healthcare organizations to invest in and train their workforce to succeed in a digital economy. Almost half (45 percent) of executives surveyed by PwC's HRI said skill deficiencies among their workforce are hold- ing their organization back, yet few employ- ers are offering training in AI, robotics and automation or data analytics. 3. e 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will con- tinue to create tax savings for healthcare or- ganizations while creating new challenges. Providers are likely to feel the biggest chal- lenges via changes to unrelated business tax- able income, which could create new expens- es. Academic medical centers may also feel minor negative pressure from the net invest- ment excise tax on educational foundations. 4. e healthcare industry is ready for its own budget airline provider. It needs a disruptor that is low-cost, transparent, informed by technology and "laser-focused on the con- sumer" like Southwest Airlines, according to PwC. Organizations that answer this call are starting to emerge — like a profitable, Med- icaid-focused, walk-in-only family medicine practice in Denver — but progress is slow, and there isn't one simple formula to follow. PwC advises healthcare organizations to look for patient segments that need a "budget air- line" and determine how to meet those needs. 5. e pace of private equity investment is ex- pected to accelerate as healthcare companies continue to divest noncore business units to investors in 2019. It also expects PE-health- care partnerships to evolve, with some healthcare companies co-investing in their own spinoffs. PwC suggests healthcare or- ganizations pursue PE partnerships not only for financing, but also for PE firms' ability to provide strategic views of trends across their portfolio of investments. 6. Republican changes to the ACA will shi the law's winners and losers. Providers are on the losing end of most of these changes, includ- ing soened insurance mandates, short-term health insurance plans, less federal support for ACA exchanges and reduced federal Medicaid spending, according to the report. n Acadia Healthcare fires CEO By Ayla Ellison F ranklin, Tenn.-based Acadia Health- care removed chairman and CEO Joey Jacobs from his roles with the company in December 2018. Debbie Osteen, former president of King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Ser- vices' behavioral health division, has joined Acadia as CEO. Reeve B. Waud, director of Acadia's board of directors, was elected chairman of the company. "As the board looked to accelerate Aca- dia's momentum and drive value creation, we felt that now is the right time to bring in a new leader," Mr. Waud said in a press re- lease. "The board is confident Debbie will help Acadia build on its position as a pre- mier pure-play behavioral health services provider, and we look forward to her taking the company to the next level." Acadia operates 586 behavioral health facilities in 40 states, the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico. n University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics CEO: Growth is 'critical to our future' By Leo Vartorella I owa City-based University of Iowa Health Care has focused on expand- ing its footprint across the state, and Suresh Gunasekaran, the new pres- ident and CEO of UI Hospitals and Clinics, does not expect the growth mindset to change anytime soon, he told The Gazette. Mr. Gunasekaran, who took office Nov. 15, said the system's expansion is nec- essary to touch as many lives as possible because he had "not been to an academic medical center that has this kind of demand for surgical services." "I don't see a future for UI Health Care that doesn't include growing," Mr. Gunasekaran said. "What the right way to grow is − whether that is a new tower, whether that is more clinics, whether that is more outpatient opera- tions — it probably has to be a check on all of the above and what can you afford over what period of time and what patient impact are you trying to have. But I think growing our services is critical to our future." Mr. Gunasekaran also emphasized the importance of partnerships for the future of UI Health Care. "It's always a very fluid and dynamic environment," he said. "However, the commitment to partner with others — whether it's others as referral centers to us, whether we're going to develop joint programs with them, whether we're going to simply be better citizens on how we transition care from one setting to another — we have to continue to work on partnerships." n

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