Kada Health News & Insights
From the CEO’s Desk | The CEO Who Made a Fortune While His Hospital Chain Collapsed
September 15, 2024
2 min read time
BROWSE BY CATEGORY
This August 18 article run by the WSJ is stomach-churning for sure and brings a lot of issues to the table for discussion.
Let's start with a quick review of The AMA Code of Medical Ethics, which states...
"The relationship between a patient and a physician is based on trust, which gives rise to physicians’ ethical responsibility to place patients’ welfare above the physician’s own self-interest or obligations to others, to use sound medical judgment on patients’ behalf, and to advocate for their patients’ welfare."
A similar standard should be held by all who have the privilege of serving in a leadership position in health care. Our first duty when serving as CEO or senior leader of a hospital or health system should be to place our community's welfare above our own self-interest or obligations to others, to use sound judgment on our community's behalf, and to advocate for our community's welfare. To me, this should boil down to leading health systems with the community-focused purpose of offering all patients exceptional health care that is both affordable and available to them.
I am a big believer in free markets and capitalism, but it is reasonable to wonder if it is too difficult or perhaps even impossible for some private equity or for-profit health system models to deliver on the duty stated above. The same can be true though for non-profit CEOs who at times lead their organizations to mergers or consolidations knowing they are likely to receive a large financial payout themselves once the transaction is complete. After all, there is plenty of evidence that health system mergers often only reduce competition and drive up prices and the cost of care.
We need to get back to the blocking and tackling of healthcare leadership and management. Improving care quality and productivity should be the main focus, rather than creating and executing complex business structures, mergers, and other activities that distract the leadership team from increasing productivity and meaningfully reducing the cost of exceptional care for the patients, employers, and communities we serve.
To read the original article, click here.
Let's start with a quick review of The AMA Code of Medical Ethics, which states...
"The relationship between a patient and a physician is based on trust, which gives rise to physicians’ ethical responsibility to place patients’ welfare above the physician’s own self-interest or obligations to others, to use sound medical judgment on patients’ behalf, and to advocate for their patients’ welfare."
A similar standard should be held by all who have the privilege of serving in a leadership position in health care. Our first duty when serving as CEO or senior leader of a hospital or health system should be to place our community's welfare above our own self-interest or obligations to others, to use sound judgment on our community's behalf, and to advocate for our community's welfare. To me, this should boil down to leading health systems with the community-focused purpose of offering all patients exceptional health care that is both affordable and available to them.
I am a big believer in free markets and capitalism, but it is reasonable to wonder if it is too difficult or perhaps even impossible for some private equity or for-profit health system models to deliver on the duty stated above. The same can be true though for non-profit CEOs who at times lead their organizations to mergers or consolidations knowing they are likely to receive a large financial payout themselves once the transaction is complete. After all, there is plenty of evidence that health system mergers often only reduce competition and drive up prices and the cost of care.
We need to get back to the blocking and tackling of healthcare leadership and management. Improving care quality and productivity should be the main focus, rather than creating and executing complex business structures, mergers, and other activities that distract the leadership team from increasing productivity and meaningfully reducing the cost of exceptional care for the patients, employers, and communities we serve.
To read the original article, click here.
