An Upcoming Presentation

On Monday, March 27,2011, I will be giving a keynote address at the MGMA 2011 Financial Management and Payor Conference. The topic I was asked to address is "Adapting to the New Healthcare Market." I am sure this topic was driven by those seeking answeres as to what we need to do to adapt to the changes being mandated or regulated though the new healthcare reform law. What is it that it will take to be successful in the future? Certainly, I will answer this question in the presentation, the conent of which I will share with you in next week's blog.
However, as I was reflecting on the comments I would be making, I pondered the question....Are we responding to the "law" or our "reality"? I asked myself.......is it less about "what is being done to us" and more about "what we are doing to ourselves"? What I meant by this, is have we really created a healthcare delivery process that is not sustainable and needs to be changed irregardless of whether a new health care law has been passed and is maintained in place? Clearly, as I have mentioned in prior blogs as the CEO of CHRISTUS Health, health care delievery in the US today is a very high cost product delievered many times in an incosistent and uncoordinated fashion that then often  creats mediocre quailty outcomes. Studies are often duplicated and critical information does not often travel with the patient from one provider or location to the next. Because of all of this lask of coordination, the costs of the product is hig, and often unafordable, especially for those who have little or nor insurance.
In addition, because of the lack of access to primary care in many locations, the patient, as we know, often makes his or entry point into our delivery process at the most expensive and inaappropriate point....our Emergency Departments. And because our pricing of care has often no reasonable relationship with the cost of our care, the bills for this minor care are often exorbitant.
With all of this said , clearly we do have to adapt and change our ways to function in the new market. But I think we are faced with this challenge more so because of what we have been doing, rather than because of the changes heathcare reform is forcing upon us. Either way, we need to change, introducing  new and innovative ways to creat a delivery system that will utlimately guarantee the highest quality of care at the most affordable cost possible.
In next week's blod, I will review the market drivers, many of which we have created, for healthcare reform and what we must do to reignite the enthusiam for creating not only a sustaining, but thriving healthcare industry and enviorment. We have no time to ponder more on who or what is responsible for where we are today. Our job has to be making tomorrow much better for those we serve!