Yale New Haven Health System — YNHHS — administrators presented three key initiatives: the Access 365 program to streamline patient access, a redesigned operating model aimed at improving organizational alignment and a plan to expand clinical services into new geographic regions.
In their collective decades of work across the health-care sector, each of the four former executives I spoke to for this story, including Potter, arrived at the same conclusion: Patients’ needs are fundamentally at odds with insurers’ financial incentives and the ever-growing demands of Wall Street.
It has become all too common: A healthcare system and an insurance company approach the expiration date for their contract and become embroiled in a nasty dispute.
Letters from each blaming the other side are sent to patients covered by the insurance company, warning that their physicians may end up out of network if a new contract is not reached before the expiration deadline.
Health insurance companies are under increasing scrutiny for allegedly using artificial intelligence bots and algorithms to swiftly deny patients routine or lifesaving care — without a human actually reviewing their claims.
Amid its climb toward financial stability, Delta Health Hospital lost its footing after a string of unexpected expenses and complications, from Medicaid “clawbacks” to the loss of millions in drug discounts.
That stumble left the hospital with only a few days of on-hand cash; however, Delta Health executives emphasized the hospital is not in peril of closing.