CMO Perspective

My First Year in Retrospect

I suppose the grace period for saying “I’m new” is drawing to a close, considering I recently completed my first year as HealthTrust CMO. It has been a privilege to meet so many of you in person and collaborate on strategies to advance your organization’s clinical agenda.

The holy grail of a clinical integration strategy is the ability to obtain evidence regarding safety and product effectiveness combined with an analysis of clinical, financial and operational impacts. In many contract categories, we are providing members with that information so their discussions can evolve from preference dialog to fact-based conversations that can be aligned with their organization’s clinical and economic objectives.

Paramount to my team’s commitment to helping members achieve a clinically integrated supply chain is data. Internal clinical data and analytics capabilities are in the process of review and restructure. This will enable us to leverage the collaboration of both personnel and data sources as we continue developing an integrated and aligned clinical services team and data solution. While there are many miles to go, I’m proud to report our first major deliverable was realized the third week of January when we provided our equity members with analytic dashboards for 18 clinically relevant patient population groups for facility comparison around national and regional benchmarks.

5 Areas of Influence

As I travel with the leadership team for member and prospect meetings, rather than focus on the individual groups within Physician Services, I’ve found it helpful to summarize the work of my team in terms of how we support the HealthTrust membership.

1. Informed Purchasing

Aggregate clinical evidence and outcomes research in partnership with respected physician feedback, obtained from HealthTrust Physician Advisors, to make recommendations to advisory boards for adding clinical products to HealthTrust contract portfolios, enabling members to transform product discussions from preference-based to fact-based

2. Knowledge Building

Develop education, publications and other resources to keep members on top of relevant healthcare issues as well as create awareness of new technologies and important FDA product updates

3. Access to Innovation

Vet new technologies for presentation during HealthTrust’s Innovation Summit. Member clinical, supply chain and operational advancements and ingenuity are recognized annually with a Member Innovation grant

4. Share Successes, Fill Knowledge Gaps, Improve Efficiencies

Sponsor live summit events, webinars, courses and The Source magazine to encourage member information- and best practice-sharing as providers develop strategic and systematic approaches to key clinical, supply chain and operational challenges

5. Positively Impact Cost, Quality & Outcomes Initiatives

Combine best-in- class consulting, evidence-based solutions, clinical analytics and technology to enhance provider service line performance. Improve outcomes and lower service line costs with targeted forensic analysis to ensure providers reduce practice variation and enhance utilization and standardization

I look forward to providing additional updates on these areas of influence as I embark on year-two of my tenure and the deliverables mature. Members are welcome to contact me with feedback regarding their clinical agenda and how my team can assist via thesource@healthtrustpg.com.