In the life of a health system CEO, there is always something to worry about.
This has been especially true for Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris in the past few weeks. His organization has weathered not only the proverbial stormy waters of increasing denials rates and an ongoing national provider shortage — but also the literal stormy waters that roared during Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
When I sat down with Couris last week at the HLTH conference in Las Vegas, I asked him what concerns are keeping health system CEOs like himself up at night. He responded immediately.
“I think the single biggest problem is our inability as an industry to coordinate care effectively and at scale,” Couris declared.
He noted that while there are a lot of health systems launching innovative projects to make a difference in their local communities, the truth still remains that clinical outcomes in the U.S. “are average at best.” Healthcare costs continue to rise and fluctuate between 17-21% of the GDP, he added.
This cost trajectory is unsustainable — and it’s not creating value for U.S. patients, Couris said.
“There is an inability to coordinate care efficiently and effectively — and to break down silos, eliminate friction and reduce fragmentation. That adds to the cost and quality challenges that we have,” he remarked.
In Couris’ view, healthcare leaders should focus on “the basics” until these problems are solved. This means prioritizing solving issues related to access, care coordination and patient-provider friction.
To illustrate this idea, he recalled a panel he attended at HLTH.
“I listened to a panel discuss their perspective on healthcare and what our issues were. They were taking it from an employer and payer perspective — and I heard one panelist say, ‘Well, employers shouldn’t really be worried about access and how long it takes to get an appointment. They should be thinking about insurance for their employees more strategically.’ My argument to that person would be: If you can’t get the blocking and tackling down, how can you actually deal with the bigger issues in a thoughtful way?” Couris explained.
Healthcare organizations from across the industry — such as hospitals, payers, employers and pharmacies — need to come together and “get serious” about solving access and care coordination issues before they dive deep into flashier projects, he stated.
To Couris, these problems can’t be solved simply with new tech tools. Without thoughtful collaboration from healthcare players across the sector, these issues will only continue to worsen, he declared.
Photo: FG Trade, Getty Images
