Hospitals & Health Networks: Features

Connecting the Continuum

John Morrissey — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

Click here for PDF of gatefold

About the series

As health care moves rapidly toward a value-based delivery model, a greater emphasis will be ...

Investing in Value-Based Care

null — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

PDF of special supplement

Welcome to "Investing in Value-Based Health Care," a special su...

A Commitment to Value, Unleashed

Rich Umbdenstock — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

Sweeping changes in health care delivery are coming in all directions. No hospital can stand still in this environment. Everyone has to have a plan that is relevant to its community and its situation — a plan that moves them toward a value-oriented world that demands more accountability for the quality and cost of care.

In this evolving health care world, costs and quality are each integral parts of a hospital's recipe for success. Providing value in everything you do is the key to remaining...

Defining Value

Joseph Fifer — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

We live in a time of great change in the health care marketplace. From the Affordable Care Act to changes in payment to an increased drive for price transparency, multiple forces are conspiring to reshape the market landscape beneath our feet. Yet, for their many divergent aspects, all of these forces have one thing in common: the drive for value. In the days ahead, it will become imperative for all health care providers to articulate the exact nature of the value they bring to the table, and to develop ...

Reducing the Cost of Care

Michael D. Connelly — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

Without a doubt, reimbursement realities and cost pressures are causing health care in America to change dramatically. The greatest causes of the federal deficit are Medicare and Medicaid. And employers and employees are feeling the effect of the growing cost of health benefits. By the end of the decade, the average family insurance plan could exceed $27,000 per year. This is unsustainable.

America's health care system was designed for the 1950s, but illness has changed significantly since then. M...

Directing Capital to Value-Makers

Frederick A. Hessler — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

Health systems continue their transformation journey focusing on patient-centered, cost-efficient, high-quality outcome, integrated care. And the health care industry continues to evolve as new payer programs are developed and tested and new partnerships emerge while we see the early signs of consumerism appearing on the horizon. In the midst of all this change, capital providers should be investing in those companies and organizations that create value. Companies that create and provide value don't jus...

Managing Risk in a Population

David Bernd — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

We all know that finances can ignite a powerful shift in focus. But is the anticipated value-based payment powerful enough to move an industry from focusing on episodic care to managing "health"? To really change the future of health care delivery, we must integrate financial risk management across the continuum of care. For the survival of our health system, we need to get off the treadmill of fee-for-service medicine. Sentara Healthcare is strategically well-positioned to adapt to this change. We call ...

IT: Key Enabler of Value-Based Care

John Glaser — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

We've reached the tipping point for the U.S. health care system — costs, quality and access issues have to be addressed. It is not possible to make the progress we need without the effective implementation of diverse, sophisticated information technology. Indeed, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act HITECH program recognized the need for this IT imperative. Meaningful use incentives, regional extension centers, state health information exchange grants, quality measures development and data ex...

Dear Reader

Frederick A. Hessler — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

Dear Reader

We are excited to host the 14th Annual Non-Profit Health Care Investor Conference. The conference brings leading health care providers together with capital market participants to address major topics at the forefront of the health care industry. In light of ongoing market volatility, changing investor needs and implementation of health reform, the conference continues to be one of the most important platforms for connecting health systems with the capital markets.

The theme ...

Investing in Value-Based Health Care

Julius A. Karash — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CST

FRAMING THE ISSUE:

Health care experts agree that delivery must become value-based rather than volume-based.

This transformation will occur through a combination of higher quality, increased efficiency and lower costs.

Attaining this transformation will require close coordination among providers, payers and health plans.

Even as media attention continues to focus on the unfolding of the Affordable Care Act, there are certain objectives that health...