Becker's ASC Review

20 HEALTHCARE NEWS 20 US health system falls short: 6 takeaways from new global report card By Molly Gamble H ealth system performance in the U.S. is dramatically lower than that of nine other countries in a new assessment from the Commonwealth Fund. In Commonwealth Fund's "Mirror, Mirror 2024" report, the foundation analyzed 70 health system performance measures in five areas — access to care, care process, administrative efficiency, equity and health outcomes — for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In its eighth report comparing countries' health systems, the Commonwealth Fund finds that no single country ranks at the top or bottom across all performance areas. However, the report notes: "Nevertheless, in the aggregate, the nine nations we examined are more alike than different in terms of their higher and lower performance across various domains. But there is one glaring exception — the U.S." Americans have the shortest life expectancy and the highest rates of avoidable deaths among the 10 countries, placing the U.S. last for health outcomes. Notably, this year's report accounts for the impact of COVID-19 on health system performance, using data collected since the pandemic began and excluding data from before 2020. Here are six key takeaways from the foundation's latest global report, which can be accessed in full here: 1. e U.S. ranked last overall, dropping to 10th place for access to care and health outcomes, and ninth for equity and administrative efficiency. e only area where the U.S. performed well was care process, where it ranked second. 2. Care process evaluates health system prevention, safety, coordination, patient engagement and sensitivity to patient preferences. It does not evaluate quality of care for acute care conditions, especially in hospitals. e U.S. ranks second in this area, driven by its chronic care management, preventive services like mammograms and flu vaccinations, as well as a focus on patient safety, which has led to reductions in adverse events during hospital stays. e Commonwealth Fund describes this high performance as "particularly interesting" for the U.S., suggesting that value-based care reimbursement models may contribute to these results, although they do not translate into improved health outcomes for the country. 3. In terms of access to care, the U.S. ranks lower than the other nine countries, scoring last in affordability and low for availability. U.S. patients are more likely than their peers in most other countries to report they don't have a regular physician or place of care and face limited options for getting treatment aer regular office hours. Shortages in primary care services exacerbate these availability issues, occurring against a backdrop of fragmented insurance coverage, Following the 'squiggly' path to the C-suite: 3 things to know By Kelly Gooch T he path to top executive roles is less straightforward than it once was, with leaders often gaining experience across various industries, job functions and companies. That's according to Aneesh Raman, chief economic opportunity officer at LinkedIn, who recently spoke with Fortune in a video interview. "What's changing about careers is that they used to be a ladder, and now they are a path," Mr. Raman, who also is a former CNN war correspondent and speechwriter to President Barack Obama, told the publication. "So you're seeing a bunch of people move around from different functions, whether it's starting in finance and going into HR." A new report from LinkedIn, which examined the career and skills patterns of executives at S&P 500 firms and venture-backed U.S. "unicorn" companies, revealed the following: 1. In 2023, 66% of executives worked in only one industry before their C-suite role, compared to 89.2% in 2018. 2. Similarly, 59.4% of executives in 2023 had only worked in one job function, compared to 86.9% in 2018. 3. More than 46.2% of C-suite members were internal hires last year, down 10% from 2018. "The higher up you go, the more adaptability is going to become a required skill, and so the squiggly line just becomes a badge around adaptability," Mr. Raman told Fortune. In healthcare, organizations have continued to see leaders from other industries. For example, Ben Shahshahani, PhD, was named Cleveland Clinic's first vice president and chief AI officer after working for SiriusXM and Pandora, while Marty Boryszak worked at UPS for 12 years before joining Buffalo, N.Y.-based Catholic Health in 2009. Mr. Boryszak currently serves as the system's senior vice president of acute care and president of Mercy Hospital of Buffalo. Mr. Raman advised current and aspiring executives to "develop people skills, but start to find and feature curiosity." n

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