Interview with: Bill Leaver, President & Chief Executive Officer, Iowa Health System
To be able to manage the changes, challenges and complexities that healthcare reform will bring along, it is essential that healthcare organizations shape up beforehand. Healthcare CEOs should ask themselves what the core processes that touch patients’ lives are, and how they can be enhanced and standardized to made sure that they happen for every patient every time, recommends Bill Leaver, President and CEO of the Iowa Health System. A speaker at the marcus evans National Healthcare CXO Summit Spring 2010 taking place in Florida, April 25-27, 2010, Leaver discusses healthcare CEO best practices, creating consistency and improving efficiency.
What are the most prominent issues challenging healthcare CEOs at the moment, and what solutions would you recommend?
Bill Leaver: The uncertainties around the healthcare reform and not knowing exactly what will be required or implemented as part of the legislation is a challenge. The current delivery system and payment mechanism are not sustainable;
Physicians are also facing the same uncertainties and are unhappy with the Medicare payment methodology that Congress passed some time ago, whereby every month they need to take action to prevent an automatic 21 per cent decrease of their payments.
What cost reduction and efficiency strategies would you suggest?
Bill Leaver: Over the last two years, we have been preparing for a very different patient care delivery model, focusing more on treating the patient population as a whole, creating better and more frequent contact with patients, particularly chronic care patients, as they are the biggest single driver of cost.
We are working on creating a common vision on how we treat the chronic patient population across our organization and aligning everyone to that goal. We tried to assess which key elements and processes were necessary for a good patient outcome and experience every time, and came to an understanding that standardizing what we do could maximize the quality of healthcare delivery and improve patient safety.
What best practices or long-term strategies would you advise to healthcare CEOs?
Bill Leaver: It is important for healthcare CEOs to create consistency and constancy of purpose, and focus the organization around the elements that are critical to success. They should think of the core processes that touch all patients that are perhaps done hundreds of times a day that can be improved. And they need mechanisms and management in place to ensure that they happen every time. What makes healthcare so complex is that we are relying on hundreds or thousands of people to carry on those steps every time. Thus, a very clear standardized process is needed.
We are also focused on making sure our clinical IT platform supports our core processes, and where necessary, matching and leveraging technology to support those core processes.
Contact: Sarin Kouyoumdjian-
Tel: + 357 22 849 313
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About the National Healthcare CXO Summit Spring 2010
This unique forum will take place at The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, Hollywood, Florida, April 25-27, 2010. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The summit includes presentations on patient safety, the healthcare reform, best practices and the future of healthcare delivery.
For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website at http://www.healthcare-
Please note that the summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.
About marcus evans Summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-on-one business meetings. For more information, please visit http://www.marcusevans.com
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