Consolidation, safety, cost biggest topics at hospital CEO breakfast
The annual Crain’s Chicago Business Hospital CEO breakfast showcases the impact of healthcare on the Chicago area. As Crain’s Executive Editor Jim Kirk noted in his introduction, the industry directly or indirectly accounts for about $65 billion in annual economic activity in the region. As the discussion showed, size comes with great complexity and often conflicting demands.
The breadth and depth of the industry was on full display with the panel. There, we could find Jim Skogsbergh, co-president and co-CEO of Advocate Aurora Health, now billing itself as the 10th largest not-for-profit system in the U.S., and Patrice Harris, M.D., the incoming president-elect of the American Medical Association. They were joined by Anthony Guaccio, president and CEO of Swedish Covenant Health in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, and Shawn Vincent, president and CEO of Loyola Medicine in Maywood.
Check out the photo gallery from the Crain’s Hospital CEO Breakfast on December 7.
The three topics that generated the most interesting comments were consolidation, safety and cost.
On consolidation, Skogsbergh was an enthusiastic defender: “Every time we have added scale, we have been successful.” Vincent, who joined Loyola only a month before the breakfast, said even with consolidation, Chicagoland remains a hyper-competitive market for hospitals. Later, in response to a question about future consolidation in the region, Skogsbergh said, “Are you asking us or the legal system? There’s some judges that have something to say about that. Isn’t that right, JP?”, making a pointed reference to the Advocate Health Care’s failed attempt to merge with NorthShore University Health System as he motioned to J.P. Gallagher, NorthShore’s president and CEO.
The safety discussion was framed by the deadly shooting at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center on Nov. 20. While such shootings draw the attention, the sad fact is that less dramatic assaults on caregivers happen every week, Guaccio said, adding, “It can’t be part of the job.... They didn’t sign up for work to be beaten or threatened.” Vincent noted a balance must be struck between access to care and security. Harris returned to a theme she first struck during a comment about combatting opioid use disorder, that there is no health without mental health. She called for integrating behavioral health services into primary care services by, for example, co-locating those services in the same building if possible.
Harris, the first African American woman to be elected president of the AMA, also called on the industry to do better in diversity and inclusion.
Vincent and Guaccio noted that diversity and inclusion goes beyond race. Vincent emphasized a workforce that reflects the social and economic diversity of the region. Guaccio said Swedish Covenant has employees who speak 40 languages and strives to keep up with the increasing diversity within the LGBTQ community.
The panelists offered a variety of takes on costs. Skogsbergh cited it as the biggest problem in healthcare: “It is slowly but surely crippling America.” Harris said the issue is not the total spent on healthcare and social services — this is roughly in line with other similar countries — but the relative balance between these two categories, with the U.S. spending a much greater percentage on healthcare. Better defining value between those two categories would help, Harris added. Guaccio said America has not grappled with the constant demand for “better, faster” in healthcare in light of cost pressures.
As the discussion then turned to providing living wages to healthcare workers, I was struck by the enormity of the challenge of better, faster, cheaper.
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