Becker's Hospital Review

20 Sign up for the COMPLIMENTARY Becker's Hospital Review CEO Report & CFO Report E-Weeklies at www.BeckersHospitalReview.com or call (800) 417-2035 focus is on higher acuity services. These services are a tremendous cost to employers, but they are examples of where if you deliver the absolute right care in the right place, you can have an impact in the overall cost in treating the disease of a patient. The employers [we've worked with] offer benefit packages to travel to Cleveland Clinic for high-end cardiac care. What Lowe's said to us was very interesting. They said, "What if we just get patients to the right place the first time?" We would eliminate the costs that don't necessarily deliver the best outcome. Q: What should other academic medical centers do right now to improve their financial strategies and the healthcare delivery system at large? SG: It's not much different than some of the items we've talked about. How can you deliver a clear delivery model? In large systems like Cleveland Clinic and other academics, we have complex patients with multiple comorbidities, and we need an integrated system where information flows along with the patients. Patients need a very clear, evidence-based medicine treatment plan as they progress through the care delivery model. For the academic medical centers, we do a good job of leveraging that and building that out so we can take out the variability in those complex cases. Q: How do you see President Obama's healthcare reform law panning out over the next several years? What provisions of it do you see as promising? Which ones need tinkering? SG: Like everybody else, we are sitting back and watching this unfold. There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty on how this is going to work. The [health insurance] exchanges start enrollment Oct. 1, and we are still waiting to hear how all of this is going to work — signing patients up, get- Subscribe Today! Becker's Hospital Review CFO E-Weekly Report Current news, analysis and best practices on hospital finance, debt financing and investments as well as revenue cycle issues, including coding, billing and collections, the transition to ICD-10 and Recovery Audit Contractors To sign up for the FREE E-Weekly, visit www.BeckersHospitalReview.com and click on the CFO Report drop down under the "E-Weekly" tab or call (800) 417-2035 ting information on types of plans that will be participating in exchanges, types of coverage in those plans, how those patients will enroll. We obviously like the idea within Obamacare of having coverage for everyone. With all the uninsured out there, the burden falls on hospitals and health systems to provide that care for no reimbursement. Programs within Medicare and Medicaid help pay for that, but charity care is part of the burden the healthcare system needs to carry. We really like the idea of having coverage out here — but where's patient responsibility? Engaging wellness is an example. We don't think accountable care organizations are some kind of panacea, but the thinking is, within accountable care, [patient responsibility] could be a driver toward managing overall care. Those are very good components of Obamacare, but we need to make sure we still have that patient accountability in there. Q: Cleveland Clinic has been a leader in environmental stewardship. Do you believe this strategy also has long-term financial benefits? SG: Yes. [President and CEO of Cleveland Clinic] Dr. Toby Cosgrove is a big believer in this. Part of it is creating a culture of sustainability in an organization and being very mindful that resources are not abundant. They are not unlimited. We have a responsibility, and it's really about stewarding those resources. Speaking as CFO, if done right, [sustainability efforts] could have good financial results for an organization. There are many examples out there. We make sure we are mindful of the environment and utilizing resources that could reduce waste, our footprint and costs. Sometimes it requires investments. For example, we changed out our lighting systems and HVAC systems, but those have also allowed us to continue to reduce our energy consumption. If you have a good sustainability program, you can translate that into good, sustainable financial results. Q: Cleveland Clinic has branched out internationally, most notably with its facility in Abu Dhabi. What are your organization's main goals with these global health initiatives? SG: It's important first to recognize that this isn't new. The Clinic has long trained physicians from all over world, and we've also developed strong relationships in other countries for physicians to practice medicine there. For the past decade, we've been getting out on the international front and educating other countries. It facilitates your international business. When we were approached by the government in the United Arab Emirates, specifically Abu Dhabi, their objective was to make an investment to advance the delivery of healthcare in their country. They liked this physician practice model of medicine with physician leaders at the top. They said we'd love if Cleveland Clinic could develop that model. We are well into this project. We will complete construction in a little under a year and are looking forward to that. When we do something like this, we do it very seriously and according to [the right] standards, so we are very excited as this comes closer to going live. n MORE ONLINE: Want more information on hospital and health system CFOs? See the following articles available at www.BeckersHospitalReview.com. n In the Height of Transactions: Q&A With Franciscan " Health System CFO Mike Fitzgerald" (July, 2013) n What Are the Biggest Issues Impacting Hospital " CFOs Today? 10 Industry Experts Explain" (July, 2013) n Creating Regional Health Networks: Q&A With " LifePoint Hospitals CFO Jeff Sherman" (April, 2013)

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