Atlantic Health System CEO on Changes in Healthcare Industry

Steve Adubato and Brian Gragnolati, President & CEO, Atlantic Health System & Chair-Elect of the American Hospital Association, discuss some new initiatives at Atlantic Health including the doctor-led network, Atlantic Alliance, where like-minded physicians are coming together to strengthen care. Gragnolati also talks about some of the biggest changes that are occurring in the healthcare industry.

4/7/18 #208

Excerpt:

"We are pleased to welcome Brian Gragnolati, who is President and CEO, Atlantic Health System, and Chair-elect of the American Hospital Association. Good to see you Brian. Good to see you. Thanks for having me here. By the way, Atlantic Health System, describe the hospitals within the system. Well we have Morristown, Overlook, Newton, Chilton, and Hackettstown, as well as our rehab hospital. We actually had one of your colleagues, Mike Maron, from Holy Name, and they received an award that you received from the federal government, five stars for what and from whom? From CMS, and we're real thrilled about that. It's about the quality of care we provide, and Mike's got a great organization. Let's talk about this. Some of the challenges, I'm curious about this. While all folks... all sorts of folks when we talk about... talk to in the healthcare industry talk about the challenges they face, innovation is key. There is a physician lead network that you're involved in called what? The Atlantic Alliance. And the Atlantic Alliance is really an opportunity for us to work with about 2,500 physicians who are still independent to help them improve quality and access to care and coordination of care Why does that matter? You know, healthcare is about teamwork, and we're only gonna do better if we work together. And I think, as we've gone through these changes in healthcare, particularly over the last five or six years, you're seeing this divide between physicians who choose to stay in private practice, as well as physicians who choose to become employed. And what we're trying to do is bridge that gap, because everybody's got a role. Brian, you've talked a lot about the importance of access to quality healthcare. A, what does it mean? And b, what's the problem? Yeah. So I think access is really in two parts. One is access to insurance, and then the second is access to care. And we need to work on both of those as a country. And that's what the ACA was trying to achieve in one of its parts... The Affordable Care Act? Tes, the Affordable...Otherwise known as Obamacare? Right. That's what it was trying to achieve was this notion of access both to insurance and care, but the second part was about the affordability of care, and we need to work on all of those parts moving forward . You know, the other part of this that fascinates me in the hospital related programming we've been doing is the role of technology. Mm hmm. How important has technology become? And will..."