Becker's Hospital Review

Sign up for the COMPLIMENTARY Becker's Hospital Review CEO Report & CFO Report E-Weeklies at www.BeckersHospitalReview.com or call (800) 417-2035 21 Dr. Gabbe with OSU: It depends on how you want to quantify your return on investment. When you start a new curriculum, like ours, that's an investment of millions of dollars, but the short-term ROI is the quality of the students you recruit to your school. [Editor's note: OSU's College of Medicine took five years to develop a new three-part, four-year curriculum, which went into effect with the medical school's class of 2012.] full-time jobs. Then a new innovation comes up. We prove it makes sense and then it needs to be passed off. The people you're passing it off to don't have a lot of extra time, and they need to get up to speed on something the innovation people [have gotten] used to for the past six months. Dr. Coye with UCLA: I think some of the barriers are common in all health systems, and others are particular to an academic institution. Common barriers are issues like bandwidth. Everybody is working so hard at keeping up with patient demand and trying to reorganize for health reform and all the other impending changes that sheer bandwidth is a major issue. In an academic environment, this is sometimes exacerbated by conflicts between research, teaching responsibilities and the redesign of patient care; these make our organizational structures unwieldy when we're trying to bring about transformation. We've seen a dramatic increase in our applications. Long term, it's how those students [trained here] progress through their medical careers and contribute to their communities. There will be different metrics. None of these are a quick fix; these projects will go on for years. We're willing to put resources in and stay in this for the long haul to see these outcomes. Dr. Feinberg with UCLA: We've undertaken major innovations that are actually harmful to our bottom line, under the old business model for healthcare. Our purpose is to heal humankind. We do that by alleviating suffering, promoting health and delivering acts of kindness. That's what we measure things against. If we take care of people — and I want them cared for like they're my mom — I don't want them in the hospital if they don't need to be. Dr. Marsh with OSU: One of the challenges of medicine in general, and academic medical centers specifically, is [the amount] of tradition and culture. How we train physicians is relatively static, for example. But [some traditions] target only one approach for all. People really want things [in healthcare to resemble things] we have in other areas, like the airplane industry for safety. Another sector that may foreshadow what will happen in healthcare is banking. For most of us to make a bank transaction, we rarely go to see the teller at the bank. We go to the cash machine if you need cash. Medicine is evolving in this way, and eventually, perhaps telemedicine or computer-driven medicine may take the place of routinely seeing the doctor in person. We've put a primary care medical home in almost all [of our] primary care physician clinics. The PCMH has care coordinators, behavioral health professionals and pharmacists all supporting the PCP office. It's been remarkably successful in decreasing readmissions and ER visits, and hugely successful in supporting patient, family and provider satisfaction. We're doing the wrong thing from a business standpoint. We've decreased unnecessary hospitalizations and ER visits — those are things that make money — but [decreasing them] makes sense for the patient. n Q: How do you weigh an innovation's financial implications? How do you approach a project that may not have large financial returns? Hospital Review Profiles on 300+ Hospital & Health System CEOs and CFOs Now Available! For listings and biographical information on hundreds of hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs across the country, visit our CEO/CFO Directory at www.beckershospitalreview.com/ceo-and-cfo-profiles.html Latest profiles include: Piedmont Healthcare CEO Kevin Brown Tampa General Hospital CEO Jim Burkhart Catholic Health Initiatives CEO Kevin E. Lofton To request a profile on a hospital or health system leader, email editorial@beckershealthcare.com. CEO and CFO Directory

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