Becker's Hospital Review

8 CFO / FINANCE has also become even more critical, ensuring teams have the resources, capabilities, technology and clarity they need to deliver high-quality care across multiple settings. Ultimately, this transition has reinforced that leadership today is less about managing assets and more about enabling people to deliver care in new and better ways. is includes a data-driven approach to managing and enhancing consumer experience across and in between all sites of care and services. With our work to transition the portfolio, a focus on how to better serve populations where and how they need care and the development of a new operating model to drive rigor throughout the organization, we aim to lead the way in aligning and developing new economic models that further strengthen our future. Q: How do you manage the cultural and organizational tension that comes with this transition, particularly when some parts of the system are shrinking while others are growing and gaining influence? AS: Managing this tension begins with transparency and a shared understanding of purpose. Change can be difficult, especially when it impacts long-standing institutions, but our mission provides a unifying foundation that guides how and why decisions are made. Over the past several years, we have remained focused, disciplined and both mission-driven and data-informed, building greater stability across the system and creating more predictable operating performance. at clarity helps teams understand how their work fits into the broader strategy, even as parts of the organization evolve. As we have refined our definition of growth, we have also established clear key performance indicators that reinforce expectations, support accountability and help teams see how progress is measured. When people see that decisions and actions are grounded in data, responsive to community needs and anchored in our mission, it helps relieve tensions, turning cultural divides into sustained and elevated trust across the organization. Q: Where does the Henry Ford-Ascension Michigan joint venture stand today? More broadly, how have experiences like that shaped how you think about partnerships as a growth model as systems move away from hospital-centric care? AS: e Henry Ford-Ascension Michigan joint venture continues to move forward with a clear focus on building a fully integrated network that delivers exceptional clinical care, quality, safety and service. e work today is centered on coordinating and adapting care across settings to meet evolving consumer expectations: expanding access, addressing health disparities, lowering costs and ultimately improving health outcomes for people across Michigan and beyond. More broadly, experiences like this have reinforced my belief that partnerships are essential and can enhance the impact on the communities we serve. When partners come together with shared goals and complementary strengths, they can accelerate innovation, extend access closer to where people live and work and better align care around the patient rather than the facility. Done well, partnerships allow health systems to grow in smarter, more sustainable ways by creating a connected continuum of care that is more responsive, equitable and resilient for the future. n 'The best ideas come from the front lines': Why Penn State Health's CEO still practices medicine By Madeline Scheetz W hen Michael Kupferman, MD, became CEO of Hershey, Pa.-based Penn State Health in late June 2025, he brought a special background that not all health system executives have: decades of work as a physician. Dr. Kupferman completed his residency in 2004 and is a trained head and neck surgeon. In his new role, he works with clinical colleagues one to two days monthly while maintaining his CEO responsibilities. "It keeps me grounded being able to be part of day-to-day patient care," Dr. Kupferman told Becker's. "It's what I've always loved to do. It's why I became a physician. Even though I don't get to spend as much time with patients directly, I feel like my role is to empower our caregivers to do their best work so that they can provide exceptional patient care." Dr. Kupferman also splits his time across Penn State Health's hospitals and clinics each week, meeting with colleagues, patients and their families. It's through these interactions that he is able to more deeply understand any pain points at the system and address them accordingly. "The best ideas come from the front lines, [they don't] come from the C-suite," he said. "The best initiatives, the most foundational ideas really come from our physicians, our nurses and our team members. They're the ones who we engage with in this process." Along with creating a strong front-line presence with employees, Dr. Kupferman is also leading Penn State Health through an Epic integration to improve clinician and patient experience. The six-hospital system began implementation of the new EHR in June, and plans to go live with it in the fourth quarter of 2026. "Everything's going quite well," Dr. Kupferman said. "We are making the hard decisions around systemness, and that's what the Epic implementation entails. Bringing the broad array of stakeholders together to align around how, for example, our laboratories are going to run, how our imaging centers are going to run, how we're going to manage our operating rooms and what that patient experience looks like when they check in at the front door." Penn State Health is also working to integrate its academic and community physicians into a single unified medical group, further cementing its identity as the only integrated academic health system in the region. "We cover the entire waterfront," he said. "The systemness created by the integrated medical group is going to enhance that exceptional patient experience, that exceptional patient access that we continue to promise and deliver in this region." n

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