"The Ronan Report" provides insight about the activities at the Western Maryland Health System in Cumberland, Maryland, and about the changes taking place in healthcare today from a CEO's perspective.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Yesterday's Message to Staff at WMHS

At yesterday's Department Director meeting there were a series of presentations related to our current fiscal situation and our FY 2013 operating budget.  Regarding our current state of the System, we are making great progress in improving the quality of care and improving the health of our population.  A great deal of work will continue in both areas, but our early results are most promising.  The area where we have fallen short is in the area of generating a cost saving through the improvement in quality and delivery of care.  It takes a great deal of effort to virtually change the way you do business in any industry, but patient care is especially challenging as we have found out first hand.  Would I change the direction of the organization away from a model based on the value of the care rather than the volume of the services provided, absolutely not!  In fact, I am staking my career on the direction of health care continuing to reduce readmissions, greater focus on quality and safety, reducing utilization, caring for the patient in the most appropriate setting and the list goes on. 

As I have blogged before, health care spending at its current level is unsustainable.  It is my opinion that it doesn't matter what happens with the upcoming Supreme Court decision, even if the Affordable Care Act is overturned, the delivery of health care will continue to change in the direction which WMHS has embraced and that is consistent with our strategic plan.

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