Santa’s Little Helper

Posted on December 25, 2012 by John G. Self

Four year olds know more than any rational adult would like to admit. Their intellectual powers, especially about all things Santa, are particularly acute in the days leading up to Christmas

When a little girl, asked by a television reporter how Santa Claus keeps up with the wish list of the children across the world, she replied without pause or doubt: “He has an iPad.” Asked about how Santa keeps tracks of all the addresses, this little St. Nicholas expert confidently explained: “There is a special Santa app.”

If anyone doubts the late Steve Jobs’ vision for Apple products to change the world, I think that case is closed.

Baylor, Scott & White Detail Mega Health System

Posted on December 14, 2012 by John G. Self

DALLAS MORNING NEWS

Promising better and more efficient patient care, Baylor Health Care System and Temple-based Scott & White Healthcare said Friday that they plan to merge, creating the largest not-for-profit health system in Texas.

Combined assets of the new system, named Baylor Scott & White Health, would total nearly $8 billion and include 42 hospitals, 4,000 doctors and 34,000 employees. Annual revenue would be $6.7 billion.

The systems anticipate completing a definitive merger agreement next year.

Baylor is one of the largest health care providers in North Texas with about $4 billion in annual revenue. Scott & White, with a national reputation for quality care and efficiency, is dominant in Central Texas. Its facilities are clustered along the Interstate 35 corridor from Waco to Pflugerville and stretch east to College Station and west to Mason.

“It’s a historic day,” Baylor president and CEO Joel Allison said. With the Affordable Care Act, declining provider reimbursements and a renewed focus on wellness programs to keep patients out of the hospital, health care is going through a transformation, Allison said.

“We have the opportunity to create that new mode of health care that others will be looking to,” he said, stressing a coordinated and integrated approach.
Coming together

Allison, 64, will become CEO of the merged organization. Robert Pryor, president and CEO of Scott & White, will become president and chief operating officer.

A unified board will have seven trustees from each system. Drayton McLane Jr., chair of the Scott & White board, will become chair of the new organization. Baylor chair Jim Turner will serve as chair-elect.

Medical staffs will remain separate and independent.

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It’s Not All Bad News

Posted on November 26, 2012 by John G. Self

“Brothers and Sisters: Before we open our hymnals and sing the many grim verses of ‘Now Comes the Hard Part’, the Post-Election Day quadrennial dirge, the congregation is kindly requested to engage in a brief interlude of soul replenishing joy.”

So began David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker in a recent Talk of the Town comment on the election outcome.

With apologies to Mr. Remnick for hijacking his lead sentence, I think healthcare workers should stop and take a breath. It is not all bad news for our industry.

While Mr. Romney, who touted his executive and superior leadership skills to fix Washington gridlock, lost, the good news for physicians and hospitals may be that Mr. Romney could well have been more aggressive with regard to the size of Medicare benefit reductions and the speed with which they would have been implemented, than President Obama will be. The truth is that healthcare is going to face tumultuous times regardless of who won the battle for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. At least that bit of uncertainty has been settled.

As we steam ahead to Christmas and the inevitable end of the year predictions for what will really happen to hospitals, physicians and other providers in 2013, let me assert one theme that I have adopted, and recommend to my colleagues: be optimistic. Optimism is the fuel that inspires mankind’s soul and allows us to move ahead through troubled times. Besides, pessimists are rarely leading the pack for innovative thinking. They are too busy being afraid of consequences—what happens when “this is the way it has always been” no longer works as a rationale for the status quo.

Innovation will be the most important competency a healthcare leader will need to survive the impending transformation. That, and optimism.

There will be many irritants, frustrations, and moments of angst and downright fear, but healthcare professionals cannot lose sight of the fact that they must continue to fulfill their mission of people caring for people. Seriously, the possibility of not having effective healthcare is not on anyone’s radar. The kind of delivery model we will have going forward is where the debate, and innovation, will occur.

I find this prospect both exciting, challenging and a time of great opportunity for optimists—executives, managers, and employees—who can innovate.