Delivery System Transformation
For all its challenges and complexities, health care transformation also presents tremendous opportunities for hospitals — and their boards.
One area in which this duality is playing out is population health management, increasingly important as value-based payment systems become…
Peter Boling, M.D., graduated from medical school almost 40 years ago, and his career has been driven by a single question.
“Is the hospital emergency room and the inpatient ward the best way to solve the problems of an immobile 80-year-old with complex multimorbid conditions who can't…
There are more people older than 60 alive today than at any other point in history. The United Nations estimates that by 2050 there will be twice as many people older than 60 as there were in 2015. In fact, by 2020, the global population of individuals 65 and older may outnumber children…
Health care organizations must develop accessible, integrated systems of care that are convenient, affordable and intuitive. Importantly, the organizations do not need to own all the system components. These systems can be assembled through partnerships and virtually through technology.
A decade ago, leaders of four health systems serving Milwaukee residents recognized that they needed to do something different. Their organizations increasingly were burdened by high rates of uninsured and underinsured patients. Primary care services were underused, and emergency departments were…
In 2016, Milwaukee’s infant-mortality rate was 9.1, meaning that slightly more than nine babies died for every 1,000 live births. By contrast, the national infant-mortality rate was 5.8 in 2014, the most recent year for which information is available, according to the Federal…
Wellness and well-being are inextricably linked to the social and economic conditions of people’s lives. Up to 40 percent of health outcomes may be attributed to nonmedical factors like income, housing status and access to sufficient healthy food.
In the early 1990s, Jack McConnell, M.D., was struck by the number of poor individuals who had no access to health care on Hilton Head Island, S.C., where he had retired.
One in three of those who live in the coastal town don’t have health insurance, a level about twice the…
The leaders of health systems must focus on a handful of crucial strategies to ensure optimal performance of their organization. There are no simple solutions to the complex problems facing health care providers. It is essential that boards and executives focus on what is important now and not…
Health care delivery and methods of paying for it will continue to evolve during 2018 in a changing economic, political, technological and demographic landscape. Digital and other technological tools are coming of age in an increasingly consumer-driven world, and health systems will…