HJAR Mar/Apr 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  MAR / APR 2023 21 health understands that the customer lifetime value of each patient is more important than the more traditional mindset of maximizing volume of procedures, surgeries, and visits. It embraces digital solutions and tools that yield a personalized, patient-centered, data-driven approach to understanding our customers and what matters most to them. Traditional health systems tend to obsess over their competi- tors and spend an inordinate amount of time reviewing metrics like market share. Systems that deliver health instead obsess over custom- ers and how to better serve them. So, while traditional health systems obsess over com- petitors and market share, systems that deliver health obsess over a market of one, the patient. A system that delivers health shifts its ques- tions from “How were we?” to “How are you?” We will ask “How well do we know you and how can we know you better? How can we bet- ter understand your needs and goals so that we can help you achieve them? How can we identify the challenges you face and the barri- ers that stand in your way so that we can help you make progress against any struggles you may have?” And instead of wanting to convince you of how good we are, we will want to show you how good you can become — and earn your trust, loyalty, and advocacy in the process. In early 2020, our top leader stood on a stage in a packed auditorium of a few thousand people and declared that we were going to transition from a health system to a system that delivers health. It has become our initiative, our duty and obligation, to fulfill our vision of im- proving the health of the people we serve and inspiring healthier communities. The first part of the transition is to increase participation in value-based contracts, such as the Medicare Shared Savings Program. However, the flaw of value-based contracts that depend on shared savings is that they still rely heavily on the same transaction-based, scale-driven economic model that got us here in the first place. There must be a willingness to change the fundamen- tal economic model and reengineer how we do business. These opportunities clearly exist for health systems within Medicare and especially in Medicare Advantage. Unfortunately, com- mercial payers and insurance companies are still largely standing in the way of those neces- sary changes for employers and younger adults, as their own business models remain largely predicated on the economics of transaction- based financing. Nevertheless, business model reinvention and new care model development, enabled by digital tools, services, and solutions that align completely with financial and clini- cal outcomes still illuminates the path forward. Where do we begin? It starts with a vision to inspire healthier lives and build stronger com- munities followed by relentless execution of a strategy focused on putting patient needs first. What follows are solutions that better meet customer needs like digital solutions that bet- ter engage and empower patients. It is broadly inclusive of a diverse array of thought and opin- ion that manifest more explicitly as teamwork within newly redesigned models of care like community health centers and clinics designed around better meeting the more specialized needs of older adults. The result is a marriage of digital connection and human connection that fosters continuous, connected customer relationships. It requires new business models, a deep understanding of patients — along with their pain points, needs, values, preferences, and goals — and an entirely new approach to metrics that matter. And it will not stop until it ensures seamless access, affordability for all, and superior experience of care for patients, providers, and care teams, while differentiating itself from traditional health systems by deliver- ing the health outcomes that matter most. In short, it will not stop until it changes the world. n Kenny J. Cole, MD, MHCDS, is the system vice president for clinical improvement for Ochsner Health in New Orleans. He is a practicing primary care internist with advanced degrees from LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and Dartmouth, as well as executive training from Harvard Business School. Prior to joining Ochsner Health, Cole was the chief clinical transformation officer for Baton Rouge General Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he designed, developed, and implemented a completely reimagined multidisciplinary team-based model of primary care that focused on aligning clinical with financial outcomes. His current work at Ochsner Health builds on that prior foundation where he is now scaling new care models across the state that specialize in improving health outcomes for older adults. Kenny J. Cole, MD, MHCDS Value-Based Healthcare Correspondent