MDNews - Minnesota

but Gillette is the center for patients who require integrated, innovative care tailored to their chronic and complex conditions. Q What are the most significant fiscal challenges facing healthcare systems? A: Like most healthcare organizations, Gillette believes part of the value we create for our patients is being cost-sensitive. But a significant fiscal challenge for us — and for all healthcare organizations — is that revenue flow is not stable. As the Affordable Care Act and the challenged economy have evolved, the debate over who is going to pay for care and how much they are going to pay has intensified. Commercial insurers are no longer willing to pay higher rates to cover the gaps hospitals face with government payers. And, government payers are slow to review and adjust the rates they pay because doing so adds expenses to their already strained budgets. As a result, hospitals are planning for less revenue, which often translates into difficult expense reductions. But we are committed to finding the balance between revenue and expense challenges. We will continue to work with payers and government agencies to review the mounds of data that illustrate the unique and intense work that we do for a highly specialized population. Q What are the most important things healthcare leaders must understand as they strive to overcome those financial challenges? A: We must understand the slight but critical difference between saying we are patient-centered and making decisions that we perceive are best for our patients. Often, health care is labeled as being 'patientcentered,' but the reality is that business pressures lead us off track. Those pressures can lead to supersized healthcare delivery systems built around what we want to do as providers, versus systems that are focused on a specific set of patients' needs. I favor the perspective of integrated, valuebased care offered by [Harvard Business School Professor and author] Michael Porter and his colleagues.1 At Gillette, that means we cannot and should not try to be all things to all people. Our goal is to do what is relevant to our patients and leads to the best possible outcomes. For decades, the care team at Gillette has focused on delivering the appropriate assessments, treatments and interventions to patients who have disabilities and complex medical needs. Q in what key medical or other te c h n o l o g i e s d o e s yo u r organization plan to invest in coming months? What benefits will they provide? A: Every year, we make investments to ensure we have the necessary medical technology for our specialized population. We continually assess interoperative equipment, imaging modalities, rehabilitation therapy equipment and other assets for our use and application. In addition to our patient-specific technologies, we continue to invest in our informatics infrastructure, sometimes called enterprise information management. It takes significant investments to align Gillette's information management priorities with our strategic directions for patient care and research; coordinate information systems across our organization; build a logical architecture to best integrate data from various sources; and ensure the integrity and confidentiality of our data. Our vision for how we use our information is built on the premise that it will enrich decision-making across our clinical, research and business functions. Q What's next for gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare? A: Several people have asked me already whether I think Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare will survive independently, given healthcare reform and the anticipated financial tensions that will result from it. My answer is that by providing value at a g l an c e + had you not entered health care, what occupation would you have pursued? my other interest was being a fighter pilot. + what is your motto? 'it doesn't matter what you believe just as long as you're sincere.' (Charles m. Schulz) it is fitting that i recently moved to St. Paul. + what is your business motto? 'When someone's hurt, nobody ever yells, "is there a hospital administrator in the house?"' i keep a September 1996 Newsweek magazine with that saying in my office. it resonated deeply with me early in my career. i'm comfortable knowing that patients are not coming to gillette because we have an awesome senior management team. They come because we have talented and committed physicians, nurses, therapists and other clinicians. + how do you like to spend time away from the office? deviceless. + in five or fewer words, what is your greatest piece of advice? go ahead and try it. + what is your favorite book? it changes every time i read one. + what song is on your iPad right now? my playlist is extremely diverse. This morning it was One Headlight by the Wallflowers. + favorite movie? There isn't just one, but i do prefer comedy because i don't like to think during movies. and impactful outcomes, Gillette already employs a model of care that healthcare reform is seeking. Our focus has been, and will continue to be, to provide specialized care for those who have disabilities and complex conditions. That mission guides our decisions, even the tough financial ones. ■ Reference 1. Redefining Health Care, 2006, by Michael Porter and Elizabeth Tiesberg; "The Strategy That Will Fix Healthcare," by Michael Porter and Thomas H. Lee; Harvard Business Review, October 2013 MdNewS.CoM ■ MD News Twin Cities | 21

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