Part of being a health system or hospital CMO is working hand-in-hand with the organization's chief financial officer.
CMOs have a role to play in financial stewardship at health systems and hospitals, the new CMO of Christ Hospital Health Network says.
Marcus Romanello, MD, MBA, started working as vice president for medical affairs and CMO of Christ Hospital Health Network on Oct. 1. He was most recently CMO of Kettering Health Hamilton, a hospital in Hamilton, Ohio.
Christ Hospital Health Network features The Christ Hospital, a 555-bed nonprofit facility in Cincinnati.
Financial stewardship and high-quality clinical care are intertwined, according to Romanello.
"Financial stewardship harkens back to the concept of any healthcare organization that delivers clinical excellence in a compassionate manner will never want for customers," he says. "If you keep your eye on the goal of delivering the best possible clinical outcomes, oftentimes, the financial pieces will quickly fall into place."
CMOs need to help control costs, Romanello explains.
"As CMO, I am frequently working side-by-side with the chief financial officer of the organization looking at ways in which we can elevate our care but do so in a cost-conscious manner," he says.
CMOs can contribute to financial stewardship by having a hand in the acquisition of the products and supplies used in clinical care settings, according to Romanello.
For example, there can be product choices in the operating room environment, where there may be several options available to the surgeon to choose between products that have equivalent outcomes. "The CMO needs to help the surgeon understand there are cost differences, and their selection of a product has an impact on the bottom line," he says.
Implants are another area where a CMO can help a health system or hospital contain costs, Romanello explains.
"With a knee-replacement implant, one particular brand may be two times the cost of another brand," he says. "Oftentimes, those price differences are not well described to the surgeon. So, the CMO can help them become aware."
At healthcare organizations, resources are finite, and CMOs can present valuable information to clinicians that supports financial stewardship, according to Romanello.
"A CMO can promote financial stewardship through bringing cost data to the table, so that it can be considered," he says.
Marcus Romanello, MD, MBA, is vice president for medical affairs and CMO of Christ Hospital Health Network. Photo courtesy of Christ Hospital Health Network.
Service line success
For CMOs, a primary consideration in the success of service lines is working to ensure that there are effective hand-offs of patients between service lines, Romanello explains.
"When we look at the integration of healthcare delivery models, service line architecture often breaks down during hand-offs of patients between service lines," he says. "It is important for the CMO to visualize these hand-offs and make the bedside physician or other members of the care team within a vertical service line aware of hand-offs and make sure they go seamlessly."
Romanello cited the example of a patient with debilitating knee pain.
If the patient is seen in the outpatient setting by a primary care physician, that clinician could refer the patient to the musculoskeletal service line for physical therapy. There may be imaging to diagnose the problem, and, ultimately, the patient could be referred to an orthopedic specialist.
"For each of those hand-offs, there is the risk of incomplete communication. It is important to integrate the service lines, including the primary care service line and the orthopedic service line in this case," he says. "When a hand-off occurs, you want to make sure that information is not lost and the aims of the treatment are not lost."
A CMO plays an essential role in service line success, according to Romanello.
"A CMO should ensure that each service line has clearly identified their metrics for success so service lines can maximize the value of the care delivered to the patient," he says. "Any referring physician or customer seeking out services needs to be confident that they are getting the absolute highest level of quality. That drives the business."
Key metrics for service lines include hospital length of stay, complication rate, mortality rate, and how soon after discharge patients are following up with a physician to ensure everything continues to go well, Romanello says.
Artificial intelligence and clinical care
Artificial intelligence is on the cusp of becoming an essential component of clinical care, Romanello explains.
"AI will never replace a physician, but physicians who use AI will likely replace those who don't use AI," he says. "The volume of data surrounding healthcare has ballooned to the point where it is difficult for any one individual to fully assess data. That is where the AI models can help us better calculate patient risks, better calculate the optimal treatment strategies for patients, and expand our capacity to care for patients."
Romanello has worked on AI initiatives in clinical care before coming to Christ Hospital Health Network.
"For example, I have previously been involved in projects where we have looked at using AI to digest the entirety of a patient's chart to look for all medical problems, both active problems and historical problems, so those problems can be brought to the attention of the treating physician," he says.
Romanello plans to be involved in AI initiatives at The Christ Hospital.
"I am interested in the interface of technology and healthcare," he says. "In the coming years as we integrate AI models into care delivery here at The Christ Hospital, we are going to elevate the level of care we are giving."
Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Financial stewardship and high-quality clinical care are intertwined, according to the new CMO of Christ Hospital Health Network.
CMOs can contribute to financial stewardship by having a hand in the acquisition of the products, supplies, and implants used in clinical care settings.
CMOs can contribute to service line success by ensuring there are effective hand-offs of patients between service lines.