A New Format, But Big Issues Remain

You’ll notice something new about this latest issue of Integrated Healthcare Executive: It’s entirely digital. That’s both a nod to the current realities of publishing and an acknowledgement that our future, like everyone else’s, will be increasingly electronic.

In that vein, we’ve also recently unveiled a new and improved website: www.ihexecutive.com has been redesigned for clarity, functionality and overall user-friendliness. Check it out for daily news and analysis from across the fast-moving healthcare field.

But while delivery formats may evolve, the big issues of integrated care remain, and in any format IHE will keep bringing you the latest best practices, insights and hot takes. This issue has them aplenty.

In our cover profile, CEO Kevin Schoeplein of OSF HealthCare discusses his organization’s early commitment to the Pioneer ACO Model, why it stuck with that program while others left, and its current participation in the new Next Generation model.

“We felt it was important for us to actively engage [in these models] if we were going to operationalize our vision of helping to lead and really learn about this journey we’re undertaking to embrace a value-based approach,” Schoeplein says. “We didn’t get into Pioneer for the short-term financial opportunities… We felt we had an opportunity to learn what would work and what wouldn’t in these new models of care delivery. What were the attributes that would allow us to be more successful?”

Other features look at the Robert Wood Johnson Health System’s award-winning commitment to diversity (surprisingly, it’s helped lead to a reduction in readmissions) and generational differences in how we can keep patients engaged. There were also surprises in the latter piece: Older Americans aren’t as technologically illiterate as we might have surmised, while younger patients can benefit from more help with engagement.

In this issue’s Technology column, a contributed piece by Cisco looks at the benefit of high-definition video and telemedicine systems in Virginia, and in the Law & Regulation section, Florida attorney Ann Bittinger discusses how healthcare diversification efforts can run afoul of the law.

On the finance front, associate editor Pepper Jeter interviews expert Dale Jarvis on the federal transition to value-based reimbursement in behavioral care, and in management matters he talks to Dartmouth’s Chris Trimble about effective innovation teams. Finally, this issue’s Journal Watch delves into a recent study examining contributing factors to hospital readmissions.

A final note regarding social media: IHE has a LinkedIn group where top executives from healthcare organizations can come together to network, follow the news and discuss big issues. Find that at www.linkedin.com/groups/8229042. We’re also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IntegratedHealthcareExecutive and Twitter at @IHExec.

Let us know your thoughts!