Becker's Hospital Review

9 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP despite it being named as a value or pillar in many organizations. What is the AMA doing to ensure health equi- ty remains an actionable priority? JM: Health equity is really important. In our strategic framework, we have three arcs. We also have three accelerators going across all three arcs, and one of those accelerators is health equity, because one of our arcs is lim- iting and addressing chronic disease. Without health equity, we're not going to be successful in doing that. Another arc is removing obsta- cles so physicians can interact with patients more fully. Without health equity, that is lim- ited. So all of what we're trying to do in edu- cating the workforce for the 21st century — which is the third arc — if we aren't attentive to health equity, that doesn't work either. So we have a glass ceiling limitation of health eq- uity because of the inequities we have in our strategic framework. We created a Center for Health Equity in 2018-19. at's one of the accelerators, but all our business units now have health equi- ty goals. We've created a judicial health eq- uity fellowship in collaboration with others. We have joined the West Side United effort. We've invested in companies: for example, a Medicare Advantage company called Zing that is targeted toward communities that have been disinvested in for years. So [health equity] is part and parcel of what we do, and we have goals and metrics for progress in all these areas. We need to be, I think as a na- tion, embarrassed by the lack of health equi- ty and the inequities that we have in a society as rich as ours. Q: Let's look ahead to the next de- cade. Can you point to any specific goals the AMA hopes to accomplish by 2032? JM: Let me put this in a framework of looking at 2050, mid-century. Not only am I uncertain what the health system's going look like in five to 10 years, I'm very uncertain what it's going to look like in 2050. So what do you do in a situation like that? What we've done is look for what I would call pre-competitive needs, and that is needs that have to be filled no mat- ter what the health system is in 2050. And they take us back to our strategic framework and our arcs. If we don't remove those obstacles for patient care, if we don't train for the 21st century rather than the 20th century — if we don't do those things, and we don't deal with a chronic disease burden … If we don't make progress on those areas, we're going to be really, really behind the eight-ball on trying to get done what our aspirations dictate.n 'So much is new': ScionHealth launch presents wealth of opportunities, CFO says By Marissa Plescia F ive months since the December 2021 launch of Louisville, Ky.-based Sci- onHealth, the new system has been presented with several learning opportu- nities as it focuses on a smooth transition into its own organization, CFO Joel Day told Becker's. ScionHealth was created by Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Health and Louis- ville-based Kindred Healthcare and consists of 79 hospital campuses in 25 states: 61 long-term acute care hospitals and 18 community hospitals. Mr. Day shared with Becker's the new system's progress since the launch. Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for style and length. Question: It's been a few months since the launch of the new system. How has the transition gone so far? Joel Day: Right now, we are just about five months in since ScionHealth was estab- lished, and it's going well. So much is new within the organization — a new owner, a new community-based short-term acute care business model, new operating geographies and new teammates in key support and leadership roles. All of this presents ScionHealth with tremendous opportunities to learn, to develop a new healthcare system that brings together best-in-class expertise and experience in terms of clinical teams and operations quality and other key administrative talents to support successful care delivery in local communities. Q: Can you describe your organization's strategy to ensure a smooth cre- ation of the new system? JD: A first priority to our employees within the new organization was to be honest and transparent in sharing that most of their day-to-day activities will remain the same — our commitment to our patients, employees and local communities still drives daily activities. We also believe that routine, straightforward communication with all of our teammates is crucial to this seamless transition. We are taking time to understand what programs, systems and platforms will work best for ScionHealth, have communicated we're not making any near-term changes, and will focus on leadership stabilization while leveraging the new organization's project manage- ment skill set. Q: What are ScionHealth's top financial priorities for the new system? JD: Bringing together legacy platforms and systems from two organizations is providing opportunity for ScionHealth. Our initial financial priorities are to migrate to standard systems for reporting and analytics, utilize revenue cycle outsourcing expertise and technology to improve earnings and cash flow results and identify cost-saving and contracting opportunities by leveraging our size, scale and part- nerships. Simultaneously, a top priority for our new company is to invest capital for organic growth opportunities and accretive mergers and acquisitions. Q: Are there any upcoming growth plans for ScionHealth? If so, can you share them? JD: We have been building a growth pipeline for ScionHealth for the past several months, using both local market operator intelligence and the extensive external relationships cultivated over the past many years. While not quite ready to share specifics at this time, we are very excited about the opportunities that exist and our team's ability to execute on them. n

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