What Evolving Healthcare Costs Mean for NJ Businesses

The healthcare landscape in New Jersey has been evolving and may industries are working to provide the best care at the lowest cost. This panel takes a closer look at what healthcare costs mean for businesses throughout the state, and the ways providers are redefining care by focusing on population health and care coordination to keep people well, keep costs down, and improve the health of all New Jerseysans. Guests Include: Mary Ann Boccolini, President & CEO, Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice; Richard Miller, President & CEO, Virtua; Frank Rizzieri, CEO and President, Rizzieri Salons, Spa and Schools and Betsy Ryan, President & CEO, New Jersey Hospital Association.

1/7/17 #2594

Excerpt:

"Welcome to Caucus, I'm Steve Adubato. You know, the healthcare landscape in New Jersey continues to evolve with the mission to deliver the best care at the lowest cost. Here to discuss these very significant changes in healthcare today, we have Mary Ann Boccolini, who is the president and CEO of Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice, Rich Miller, president and CEO of Virtua,Frank Rizzieri, is president and CEO of Rizzieri Salons, Spa, and Schools, and finally, Betsy Ryan, president and CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association. I want to thank all of you for joining us to talk about the healthcare landscape in New Jersey. Rich, you've been with us just a few times? Yes. I'm curious, is the landscape changing, A? And B, is it moving in the right direction? Loaded question, I know. Yeah, it's a great question Steve. I think it is. I really do, and I think over the last couple of years, it's been moving more toward an outpatient model of care. We're seeing patients outside the hospital walls. And the goal is to keep the patients outside the hospital walls. And what we're really talking about is caring for them at home... Hmm. ...through care coordination, and making sure they're seeing their primary care physician. So at Virtua, it's more of a health and wellness model than it is a sick care model today. Yeah, Rich talked about the role of the primary care physician. Let's jump in here. And by the way, the perspectives here are so interesting, because you have four... it could be like fifty perspectives, but on healthcare. Mm hmm. But four really interesting ones. Important ones. The role of the primary care physician today? How important? Critical. Critical. As Rich said, to keep the patient out of the hospital, to... How? To provide care to them before they get sick, to identify disease early, to treat it early, and to keep the patient out of the hospital where possible. For ex... I'm a... you know... have been with us long enough, both of you, for the first time. You'll be back, but here's the question. I always ask "for example?" So what would this primary care physician do, where he or she would actually help keep a patient out of the hospital because he or she would do something that was proactive..."