Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

Sign up for the Free Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control E-Weekly at www.beckersasc.com/clinicalquality. 17 7 Hospital and Health System CEOs: What Disruptive Innovation Means to Me By Molly Gamble D isruptive innovation is broadly defined as the creation of new market values and breaking away from existing market trends. Like many other buzzwords, its generous definition is open to interpretation among hospital and health system leaders. Becker's Hospital Review asked seven current presidents and CEOs to explain what the term means to them, their organizational strategy and the healthcare industry as a whole. Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and CEO of The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. "Technologies that change the direction of medicine are disruptive. They can be as diverse as how we deliver healthcare services, drugs that markedly change a patient's prognosis, or new surgical procedures that offer outcomes previously unachievable. From that perspective, moving from fee-for-service medicine to risk management, some of the new drugs to treat various cancers, and mitral valve repair instead of mitral valve replacement, are all examples of disruptive technologies." Robert C. Garrett, President and CEO of Hackensack (N.J.) University Health Network. "Hospitals and health systems across the country are facing a state of 'controlled schizophrenia,' as I refer to it. This represents the dilemma of moving forward with accountable care organizations in order to keep our patients well and out of the hospital, while keeping in mind that the majority of a hospital's reimbursement comes from hospital inpatient admissions. As an industry, we need to focus on other areas of business growth to compensate for reduced admissions. By way of example, Hackensack University Health Network [recently formed a] joint venture partnership with community physicians and United Surgical Partners International in the acquisition and operation of two ambulatory surgery centers, and [established a] clinical affiliation with MinuteClinic, the retail healthcare division of CVS Caremark. Implemented appropriately, these changes could also help lead the way toward opening areas of opportunity for other aspects of care. The outcome is a healthcare delivery system that results in higher quality and is less costly.  This is an exciting time for the healthcare community. HackensackUMC is optimistic that changes made to accommodate upcoming reform will eventually help to better serve our community and patients while maintaining a stable financial position." Carlos Migoya, President and CEO of Jackson Health System in Miami. "Too often, the corporate world thinks of disruption as a negative — we talk about a disruptive employee or a disruptive incident. At Jackson Health System, we think about the ways the Beatles and Rolling Stones disrupted music and Julia Child disrupted home cooking and Jonas Salk disrupted medicine. Disruption is a natural part of innovation. It's coming to our industry whether we like it or not via healthcare reform, increased competition and shifting market forces. We can be overtaken by it or we can leverage it and shake off our complacency." Kenneth L. Davis, MD Susan Nordstrom Lopez, President of Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. "In healthcare, every major advance in science and technology is accompanied by a low-tech response. Each miraculous high-tech development creates an echoed demand to re-infuse medicine with a high-touch, integrated and compassionate approach. For example, at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, an urban, community-based teaching hospital, the demand for a comprehensive hospice program accompanied major advances and life-sustaining treatments. Our Alternate Birthing Center was a success in bringing much sought-after home-birthing into a setting offering nurse-midwife-assisted deliveries in a safe hospital setting. Now, as ACOs [are] supported by sophisticated computer-based and data-intensive outcomes tracking systems, we're simultaneously reminded that each patient is best served by coordinated, patient-centered care. In my experience, disruptive innovation is a reminder of what we can't afford to leave behind as our skills develop. Listening to patients is critical — not just to what they say, but to what their actions tell us. Home medical testing, surging Google self-diagnosis and the use of complementary treatment modalities constantly remind us we can't simply offer a menu of stand-alone islands of excellence. The care we offer to the patients and communities we're privileged to serve must be accompanied by a system of integration, assuring they won't be sacrificing the long-term partnership, coordination or care they need now more than ever before." Randy Oostra, President and CEO of ProMedica in Toledo, Ohio. "The current model in healthcare is unsustainable. Disruptive innovation challenges the status quo and our current business models. The past challenges to the delivery of high-quality, cost-effective care have now been replaced with a whole new set Robert C. Garrett Carlos Migoya

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