MORGANTOWN — WVU Health System President and CEO Albert Wright offered his vision for the future of the system, and healthcare in the state, to more than 300 system leaders Wednesday afternoon.
“We’re accomplishing amazing things as a healthcare system,” he said during the WVU Medicine System Leadership Meeting.
But WVUHS has to be a “disruptor,” a leader in changing how healthcare is delivered in West Virginia, he said. In the recently released national health rankings, West Virginia rose for 46th to 44th.
“If we do things the exact same things the exact same way we’ve always done them … do you expect that we’ll change anything about the healthcare of the state,” he asked. By being a role model, WVUHS can change the trajectory and rise to 40th and above.
Wright participates in the Healthcare Advisory Board, a DC think tank, that has predicted that at some point there will be just 150 healthcare systems in the nation – an average of three per state, he said. Of course, California, Texas and big states will have far more.
“Our job is to make sure West Virginia gets one by doing a good job,” he said. “If we don’t do our job, we might not have any healthcare entities that are controlled locally here in West Virginia.”
Some smaller hospitals are struggling to survive while bigger systems are growing – as WVUHS has in part – via consolidation, merger and acquisition.
“Are looking to become part of a larger system? No, we’re looking to be one of those 150 systems,” he said. Now, WVUHS has nine hospitals in its system and manages four more.
Part of transforming healthcare, he said is moving from fee for service — getting paid to treat a cold or give a shot or remove an appendix — to some kind of value-based care that motivates and rewards patient health.
But the healthcare system nationwide isn’t built that way, he said.
Among the problems: “You are never going to lower the costs of healthcare or improve the outcomes until the payer and the provider are financially aligned.”
Now, the payers — the insurance companies — figure ways to avoid paying. But healthcare provided are good at figuring out ways to do things to get paid for, he said.
There has to be a way to do things that are good for the patient but are also good for the system’s bottom line.” We [the insurance companies and the providers] have to find a way to share. … Probably the most important part of my job is, ‘How do we figure this out?’”
Another problem: healthcare costs. About 8 to 10 percent of healthcare costs goes to administrative overhead, to people who don’t see patients, according to a Journal of the American Medical Association study.
And, “We are getting killed by pharmaceutical companies and medical suppliers.” The U.S is one of only two countries that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs. And we pay twice as much for drugs than any other country.
“If we’re going to lower costs, we have to find a way significantly lower the costs of pharmaceutical companies and medical supplies.”
The holy trinity of healthcare, he said, is cost, quality and access.
For WVUHS, access involves three areas. One is bricks and mortar – clinics and facilities across the state.
Another, important for a rural state, is virtual platforms, he said. WVUHS offers MyWVUChart, its online patient portal. There is also telemedicine. In five years, about one third of all the system’s business will be telemedicine, he said, and the system isn’t yet ready to handle that volume.
The third is partnerships — with Mon Health, Marshall and other system. WVUHS can’t expect to own and operate everything.
“Our goal is not to dominate the world,” he said. “Our mission is to improve the health of the citizens we serve.”
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