Leaders in Healthcare Archives - Page 4 of 4

Shelley Wilson

Dec 29, 2016

A major car accident put Shelley Wilson on the sidelines for three years. The recovery period gave her time to consider how valuable it would be to have the help and support of professional homecare services. In 1996, at only 21 years old, she founded Wilson Homecare, Hawai‘i’s largest private-duty home health care service provider. She opened Wilson Senior Living Kailua in 2013 and together, the two make up Wilson Care Group. Running a home health care business, Wilson has a unique position within the industry but says that health care is evolving across the board.

On health care tech in Hawai‘i:

Info technology is a blessing and a curse. The vast majority of our company is composed of remote employees—hundreds and hundreds of them—and we rely on technology to help manage the processes we have in place. Information technology allows for fast, efficient communication, but it also removes a portion of the human element. Things like tone of voice and facial expression are eliminated from much of our communication, and in an industry that is all about humans caring for other humans, it is challenging to ensure that our messaging reflects the spirit and intention behind our words.

I recently returned from a meeting with similar-sized home health care agency owners and CEOs from various markets across the country, where we openly shared the “inner workings” of our companies. We are absolutely on par with the rest of the nation in implementing new technologies. That’s the beauty of new technology—geography doesn’t really affect its reach.

On patient care at home:

The number-one benefit of home health care is that it allows patients to receive personal care in the privacy and comfort of their own homes. For aging and homebound individuals, in-home care helps them remain as functional and independent as possible, providing a greater sense of security and dignity. Home health care helps to reduce unavoidable readmissions to the hospital, and studies have shown that patients recuperating from illness, injury or surgical procedures heal more quickly and more successfully when recovering at home versus in a medical facility. Home care services also restores a sense of normalcy to the relationship between family and patient. While we are providing care, the family members can return to their typical roles. Even if it’s only for a few hours each day, homecare services provide much-needed respite.

Timothy Roe

Dec 29, 2016

Dr. Timothy Roe has overseen completion of a facility-wide renovation, a complete revamp of hospital grounds and development of several new inpatient and outpatient programs at Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific, the only provider of comprehensive medical rehabilitation services in Hawai‘i.

On the state of the industry:

One of the biggest challenges is responding to the changing nature of health care reimbursement, particularly in regards to Medicare. The Medicare program faces significant challenges of its own over the next few decades and is making major changes in how it pays for services received by its beneficiaries.

Bundled payment for care and value-based payments are two major changes. In both approaches, providers are being asked to link their reimbursements to outcome measures to measure the quality of care provided. These approaches are very different from traditional fee-for-service reimbursement and will ultimately drive major changes in how care is provided to patients.

My role is to ensure that our staff are prepared for these types of changes as they occur. We are currently realigning how our services are provided to better integrate a service-line approach. This involves streamlining our delivery of care and improving our flow of patients from our inpatient to our outpatient services. Coordination of our patients’ care, overseen by experienced registered nurses, will play a key role in this transformation.

On the state of health in Hawai‘i:

Although we lack some of the cutting-edge research treatments available at larger integrated health systems and academic medical centers on the mainland, Hawai‘i has an enviable community of physicians and other health care professionals who have training and experience from the finest health care centers in the world.

Art Ushijima

Dec 28, 2016

As president and chief executive officer of the state’s largest private hospital, Art Ushijima has a critical role in the midst of one of the industry’s biggest transformational periods to date.

On the state of the industry:

Technology has increased the cost of health care, but it has dramatically improved the delivery of care. Financial pressures have intensified as the industry moves from a fee-for-service payment system to a fixed-payment system, and eventually to a capitated system based on covered lives.

On consumer-driven health care:

Most of us still want that “magic pill.” We expect the doctor and the health care system to fix the outcomes of our bad habits and lifestyles. We need to work with students at the elementary level to teach them about making healthy choices, before bad habits set in.

On industry consolidation:

The health care industry has to consolidate because of the need for scale and efficiency to support essential capital investments in facilities, new technology, equipment and IT.

On outcome-based payment:

The value-based or outcome-based payment models appear logical on the surface, but they rely on the implicit assumption that all patients have the same makeup. This may be applicable in the less acute situations, but when patients have comorbid conditions that increase the complexity of care and outcomes, today’s payment systems largely fail to recognize the associated costs. The industry is working to remove inefficiency, but the nature of the work still drives costs. The most significant way to reduce costs is for employers and employees to reduce the demand for services. Outcome-based payments don’t reduce demand.

Shelley Wilson

Timothy Roe

Art Ushijima

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