Clinical Technology Under C-Suite Scrutiny

This article appears in the November 2012 issue of HealthLeaders magazine.

In our annual Industry Survey, 21% of CEOs said their organization is cutting back on high-level, high-price technology for at least some service lines. How can leaders effectively make decisions regarding the right mix of clinical technology and products to offer, considering cost, quality, and competition, among other factors?

Gary Muller President and CEO
Marquette (Mich.) General Health System

We, in the past, have not had the capital to invest in clinical technology. The new partnership we have with Duke LifePoint is going to help us. They have a whole process that is really good about business planning and return on investment and improving quality. We would work through the Duke LifePoint process to vet the clinical technology from a quality standpoint, a service standpoint, and return on investment.

We know there are going to be Medicare cuts and cuts with readmissions. If you don't decrease them, you lose. The accountable care organizations carry a big risk. The uncertainty is huge. With our new capital partner, it will help us determine some of that and then we can invest. But for the freestanding hospital, with all this uncertainty, I'd say probably not. You need the scale to give you the comfort and security to make those decisions.