Hospital leaders share insights at AHA executive forum on driving innovation, value

Pictured, clockwise from top left: A panel including AHA Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Maryjane Wurth; AHA Chair-elect Melinda Estes, M.D.; and Earl Rogers, president and CEO of the Georgia Hospital Association. To the right: Amir Dan Rubin, president and CEO of One Medical. Bottom: Shannon Sale, senior vice president, chief strategy officer, Grady Health System; Brian Mitchel, consulting director, 3M Health Information Systems; John Brennan, M.D., executive vice president and chief clinical integration officer, WellStar Health System; and Christina Fisher, who moderated, and Bruce Bailey, president and CEO, Tidelands Health.

At an AHA executive forum today in Atlanta, hospital and health system leaders shared insights and explored opportunities and challenges for driving innovation and value through collaboration with providers, payers, employers and community partners.
 
“We’re looking to all stakeholders, including non-traditional stakeholders, and I really think we have an opportunity to build a better coordinated system for the future,” said AHA Chair-elect Melinda Estes, M.D., president and CEO of Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, Mo. “And now is the time to lean in.”
 
Topics at the forum ranged from innovating to meet consumer needs and enhance the patient experience to partnering with community stakeholders to improve outcomes and enhance value.
 
“Everyone needs to recognize that if you don’t disrupt yourself then somebody will come in and disrupt for you,” said Earl Rogers, president and CEO of the Georgia Hospital Association. “You have to look ahead and try to figure out what’s going to happen and what you can do to make it happen.”
 
In addition to hospital and health system leaders, the executive forum featured speakers from other areas of health care and community organizations. Amir Dan Rubin, president and CEO of One Medical – a primary care organization transforming health care with its innovative member-based, technology-powered model – shared insights on ways to partner with disrupters. A panel with leaders from the Mississippi Urban League, Alliance for a Healthier South Carolina and Hispanic Services Council also explored how hospitals can reach beyond their four walls to partner with community stakeholders to improve outcomes and promote health equity in the communities they serve.
 
AHA Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Maryjane Wurth and Priya Bathija, a vice president at the AHA, also presented at the forum.