Spoke Guest Editor Profile:
Ashley Sodergren Ashley Sodergren is a long-time resident of Kern County, raised in Pine Mountain Club, and now resides in Tehachapi. As the Alzheimer's Association's Senior Director for Walk to End Alzheimer's she oversees the staff and volunteer teams that manage the 13 Walks that take place in Kern, Tulare, Los Angeles, San Bernardino & Riverside Counties. She is responsible for raising a total of $1.7 million to ensure the Association is able to provide free care and support services to anyone impacted by Alzheimer's or another dementia. In her spare time, Ashley enjoys spending her time outdoors either camping, fishing, or kayaking with her dog Ludo.
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Paul Harris Fellow Award - Molly Busacca.
John Schuler, announced the birth of his new granddaughter.
Shawn Kennemer, Invited everyone to buy tickets for a Night Honoring the Retirement of Jim Baldwin.
Click Here for the details on this March 13 Virtual event
Ed Paine – New grandfather – new grandchild named Roselin Rae.
Sheryl Barbich shared the good news that Mike McCoy has been released from the hospital. In addition, she shared a socially distant event at the Neon Plaza on June 18. There are 22 signs now and it looks to be a fun event.
Tracy Kiser shared the good news that Evelyn is turning 95 years old on Sunday. Happy Birthday!
Program:
Ken Keller, President/Chief Executive Officer at Dignity Health Bakersfield Memorial Hospital shared the following:
Hospital State of the Union Address
Thoughts on Biden’s approach to key health care issues:
The leader of a physician association focused on the transition to value-based care has written a letter to the incoming Biden administration urging the adoption of three approaches to improve the U.S. healthcare system.
Led by innovations adopted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the country has been shifting away from the fee-for-service (FFS) care model to value-based care models such as Medicare Advantage health plans. The goal of this movement is transitioning from the FFS care model's emphasis on reimbursing medical services based on the volume of services provided to value-based care models that emphasize lowering costs and increasing quality.
The letter to the Biden administration is from Donald Crane, JD, president and CEO of America's Physician Groups. APG represents more than 300 physician groups that employ or contract with about 195,000 physicians who provide care to nearly 45 million patients.
- COVID-19 was the singular most disruptor ever of the health care industry.
- Exposed weaknesses within the overall international supply chain including a shortage of sterile water, PPE, masks, etc.
- Due to the quick nature of the spread of COVID, it caused the most expensive and extensive overhaul of the delivery experience ever.
- Exposed lack of access to health care across diverse communities.
- Independence vs. Systemness - Systemness, or the ability to provide a consistent experience for patients and employees, regardless of care setting across the continuum, has become a priority for many. Systemness can improve patient experience, lower costs, reduce risk, and provide insights into a wide range of care and management issues.
- Version 2.0 of physician groups and external business venture cohorts helps physicians organize.
- In 2009 – Healthcare Partners was sold to Devita for $4 Billion. Triggering event for a number of investment groups.
- Artificial Technology – AI – most diagnostic work has been done by physicians and that is shifting. Surgical, diagnostics, etc.
- Apps for diagnostics – apps for finding a provider – apps for healthcare concerns.
- Migration from in-person to telemedicine – a major event that was triggered a little by COVID – but Medicare changed the rules and would pay for virtual visits across the board. Then it was followed by other care entities. Virtual visits are now commonplace.
- Last year Dignity Health virtual visits occurred 5 – 50 / month and now are 5-7 thousand/month. The issue could be not getting blood pressure readings as needed.
- Physical therapist center – Get Luna – deliver on-demand physical therapy in home
- The innovative care process will need to adapt over the coming years.
- CMS rules – when they change their rules to pay for XYZ… other systems quickly follow and adjust based on CMS changes.
- When Medicare makes a change, they can make it very quickly and immediately other payers have to adapt and healthcare providers have to adjust along with it.
Q&A –
Q - Jim Damian – Surprise bills – Asking up front what the cost would be. They couldn’t tell him how much it would cost. Then the bill was extensive – What do healthcare systems have to say around this topic?
A – These types of bills could get worse with legislation changes. Not anticipating any changes anytime soon. On a $1 of healthcare cost/ the complexity of the process costs .20-.30 cents.
Q – Ray Karpe – PPE – As COVID moves forward, will Dignity and other large healthcare systems store an excessive amount of PPE.
A – Yes. The shortage came about because of the past inventory orders that have taken place. Need to be multiplied in a short period of time, which equated to a reduction of PPE. Now they are mandated to have 25 days worth of PPE and other supplies. Dignity has the ability to ship items based on needs in other dignity facilities. Looking back 1 week to see what has happened and adjust based on the needs of the past week. They had learned from the first spike of COVID to be better prepared for the second big spike.
Q – Jon Sampson Does Dignity have a Chief Experience Officer?
A – they have an equivalent. Because they are transitioning to value-based care, they also looked at patient satisfaction. They now get paid for patient experience especially through Medicare.
President Ken stated that the Club will be making a donation on behalf of Ken for $50 to Mission of Kern County.
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