Editor's Letter: Help Wanted

Those are two words we haven't seen enough of in the healthcare industry since the economic slump started way back at the end of 2007. But help is indeed wanted—in fact, needed—by today's hospital CEOs.

This month Senior Editor Philip Betbeze explores how the role of hospital CEO is rapidly changing. The job is more demanding than ever. On top of navigating arguably the most complex and dynamic industry sector, chief executives face an uncertain future, as Congress continues to debate what goes into and what is excluded from health reform—and President Obama continues to push for a package that meets his stated goals of decreasing both the number of uninsured and the cost of healthcare.

Even as healthcare organizations face these unprecedented changes, patients continue to demand a higher level of personalized service. These consumer expectations, in fact, make the patient experience one of the top priorities for today's health leaders.

In analyzing our latest industry survey results, Senior Editor Gienna Shaw tells us that nearly 90% of top healthcare executives who participated in our poll rank the patient experience among the their top five priorities (see analysis and results on page 54). This finding brings to mind a moment from last month, when we were in Chicago for our annual event, HealthLeaders Media '09: The Hospital of the Future Now.

Throughout this two-day conference, panelists and participants made many references about the growing emphasis on enhancing the patient experience—we even dedicated our first session to the topic. But it was during our final session—a leadership luncheon—that someone made perhaps the most profound insight.

Patricia Gabow, MD, CEO and medical director for Colorado-based Denver Health, was a panelist for our event and her organization was a winner of the Large Hospital and Health Systems category of our annual Top Leadership Teams in Healthcare program.

Gabow wondered aloud whether the increased focus of enhancing the patient experience might lead some organizations astray. Hospitals—and their CEOs—might be spending too much time and effort on the esthetic pleasures to improve HCAHPS and other patient satisfaction scores; these patient-experience programs could help perpetuate patients' desire for four-star hotel treatment and, therefore, continue to drive up the cost of providing healthcare.

And striking the right balance is a very real challenge for hospital leaders today. At one point during the conference, an attendee raised a question about how to help a hospital's chief executive lead through a time of change. Ultimately, panelists and fellow attendees said this hospital's CEO had two options: trust others on the leadership team to help manage through this difficult time, or convince the hospital's board to reset their expectations for the CEO.

Note well, readers, how neither of these options lets the CEO go it alone. He is going to need some help.

Rick Johnson
Editorial Director
rjohnson@HealthLeadersMedia.com