Becker's Hospital Review

26 26 CEO/STRATEGY Here's What Community-Driven Healthcare Looks Like: Thoughts From Geisinger President and CEO Dr. David Feinberg By Megan Knowles P lenty of innovation is coming out of the area code 17821 — a food phar- macy to better tackle hunger as a health problem, advancements in precision medicine and an innovative refund pro- gram where dissatisfied patients can get up to $2,000 back. Here's the interesting thing: 17821 isn't in Silicon Valley. It's the zip code for Danville, Pa., the seat of a 18,000-per- son county. In Danville is Geisinger, a 100-plus-year-old system led by David Feinberg, MD, president and CEO. During the keynote address he delivered at Becker's Hospital Review's 6th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable in Chicago Nov. 14, Dr. Feinberg discussed how Geising- er has pioneered patient care innovations in oen overlooked locations. e 12-hospital system serves a number of rural populations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, covering approximately 50 counties. In many of these areas, Geisinger is increas- ingly making connections to how the local environment and industries impact patients' health. "e death rate is higher in some zip codes here than in some underdeveloped countries," Dr. Feinberg said. Healthcare quality, according to Dr. Feinberg, needs to move beyond the conditions that only make up 10 to 15 percent of care, such as patient access and convenience. "We need to address the other 80 percent — patients' genome, their zip codes, housing, transporta- tion, opiates, medical literacy." In response to this idea, Geisinger examines how patients' surroundings impact their health and then explores the medically ac- tionable conditions it can change, such as how diabetes affects low-income patients in particular zip codes. For example, to fight diabetes patients' food insecurities in these zip codes, Geisinger launched its Fresh Food Pharmacy in 2016, just one of several innovations the system has adopted to improve patients' health outside of medical offices. e pharmacy partners with the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank in Harrisburg to provide low-income, diabetic patients in Shamokin, Pa., with bags full of fresh pro- duce, lean proteins and healthier sugars. "Our philosophy is to make sure that every time a patient comes in, they have fresh fruits and veggies each week," Dr. Feinberg said. e effort has seen tremendous success. "We've seen an amazing transition for dia- betes patients, and it's been — this is hard to say — 100 percent successful," Dr. Feinberg said. "Every single patient has had a decrease in blood sugar, hemoglobin A1C levels and medication use." Yet another patient-centered innovation is Geisinger's effort to understand genomes. In 2014, the system collaborated with the Re- generon Genetics Center to create a biobank and DNA sequencing study, which exam- ines DNA that contains disease-related infor- mation and provides results to participants at risk for specific diseases. "Providers need to look toward patients' en- vironments and genetic backgrounds, which are as important as everything else we talk about when we talk about hospitals and physicians," Dr. Feinberg added. Geisinger is extending its reach with genome mapping through its 2015 affiliation with AtlantiCare. e system's headquarters — Atlantic City, N.J. — is more racially and ethnically diverse than central Pennsylvania. However, perhaps the most significant in- novation for Dr. Feinberg, who has long prioritized patient satisfaction, is Geising- er's ProvenExperience. e system piloted the initiative, which provides refunds to patients if they are unhappy with their care experience. Since the program launched in fall 2015, Geisinger has given over $1 million back to patients. Dr. Feinberg discussed the idea driving the program, emphasizing that patients should be able to feel "dignified" in their experience when they are dissatisfied with the care re- ceived. Patients are too oen voiceless in the healthcare system. "Imagine you're in Star- bucks and they made your drink wrong. e barista sips the coffee and says, 'No we made it the right way, so you have to drink it.' at's what we do in healthcare." n 3 Health Systems Recognized for Corporate Equality By Morgan Haefner T hree large health systems scored an 80 percent or higher on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index 2018. The index ranks major businesses on corporate policies and practices relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees. The ranking com- prises Fortune magazine's 500 largest companies, The American Lawyer maga- zine's top 200 firms in terms of revenue and hundreds of publicly and privately held businesses. Here are the three health systems earning at least 80 percent on the index, with 100 percent being the highest score. 1. Kindred Healthcare (Louisville, Ky.) — 100 percent 2. HCA Healthcare (Nashville, Tenn.) — 90 percent 3. Tenet Healthcare (Dallas) — 80 percent n

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