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Intermountain, Stanford Children’s CEOs say hospitals need to get comfortable being a ‘frenemy’
Health systems have had to adjust to a lot of change in a short amount of time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Among the biggest changes they need to get comfortable with?
Collaborations with their rivals, said Intermountain President and CEO Marc Harrison, M.D., at Fortune’s Brainstorm Health virtual event Wednesday.
“I think that the opportunity is to get comfortable with the whole ‘frenemy’ relationship,” Harrison said. “Other industries recognize that an organization is both going to compete and collaborate with another organization, often simultaneously.”
Intermountain and the other system have co-branded drive-thru testing sites to eliminate redundancies, they share personal protective equipment numbers and they load level patients between systems. They have also “harmonized” clinical trials to ensure consistent criteria for all patients admitted to them, he said.
“I think that’s fantastic,” Harrison said, speaking during a virtual panel called Reinventing the Hospital. “We will compete in the future in certain areas but I’d love to continue to see this.”
The increasing level of collaborations amid the pandemic is also among the biggest changes Paul King, CEO of Stanford Children’s Health, has noticed since COVID-19 began its spread across the U.S.
“That is one of the silver linings of what we’ve seen with this crisis, particularly in the children’s hospital space. We’ve seen a level of collaboration, heretofore unseen, with the amount of sharing of best practices real-time,” King said. “The other outcome of this crisis is the idea of speed. We’ve been able to really stand up some capabilities that we would’ve said weren’t possible just 12 weeks ago. That level of collaboration is part of the genie we don’t want to go back in the bottle.”
Merkel says pandemic reveals limits of ‘fact-denying populism’
Merkel says pandemic reveals limits of ‘fact-denying populism’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told European Union (EU) countries Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic is showing the limits of “fact-denying populism” as she urged the bloc to reach an agreement on an economic recovery package.
Merkel said that the EU “must show that a return to nationalism means not more, but less control,” according to France 24.
Without naming any specific nations, Merkel said: “We are seeing at the moment that the pandemic can’t be fought with lies and disinformation, and neither can it be with hatred and agitation.”
“Fact-denying populism is being shown its limits,” she added. “In a democracy, facts and transparency are needed. That distinguishes Europe, and Germany will stand up for it during its presidency.”
The pandemic has killed more than 100,000 people in the 27 EU nations and sparked what is expected to be the largest recession the continent has experienced in decades.
On Tuesday the EU released a report predicting the bloc’s economy will contract more than initially expected due to coronavirus-related lockdowns.
Merkel on Wednesday joined EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni in urging the commission to quickly reach an agreement on the 750 billion-euro stimulus package proposed earlier this year.
“The depth of the economic decline demands that we hurry,” Merkel told lawmakers, according to The Associated Press. “We must waste no time — only the weakest would suffer from that. I very much hope that we can reach an agreement this summer. That will require a lot of readiness to compromise from all sides — and from you too.”
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A brewing physician-health system disconnect
https://mailchi.mp/7d224399ddcb/the-weekly-gist-july-3-2020?e=d1e747d2d8
We’re hearing from medical groups around the country that in the past few weeks, office visit volumes have quickly approached pre-COVID levels. Some are even busier, running at 110 percent of their February volumes, or more. At the same time, practice has become more stressful, with doctors balancing virtual care with in-person visits, new safety procedures slowing operations, and staff and patients worried about COVID exposure. Everything feels different, and irrespective of the number of patients on today’s schedule, all of the changes make a physician feel like she’s working harder than before.
A chief clinical officer from a Midwestern health system relayed the discord this has created when discussing incentives: “Our doctors were fully on board with the need to reduce salaries back in April, so we all took a 15 percent pay cut through the summer. Now that they’re busy again, they want to be bumped back to 100 percent. But the system’s financial picture hasn’t changed.”
The growing disconnect between how hard many staff are working and the economic reality of the system isn’t unique to doctors. But physicians, most of whom have their compensation tied to individual productivity, may feel it more acutely. While there are no easy solutions, it’s critical to discuss this disconnect openly, rather than letting resentment fester under the surface.
The pandemic has brought to light the brittleness of health system and physician practice finances. Prescient systems will use this moment to work with their doctors to rethink practice and align compensation with the financial success of the system, while meeting doctors’ needs for stability and security.
HENRY KOTULA 