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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
How Hackensack Meridian Health Is Evolving Population Health at Scale
00:13:55
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- [00:02]
A
Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders together to unpack the most pressing issues facing the industry. And every year, those conversations shift in profound and unexpected ways. This April, more than 3,500 healthcare executives will return to Chicago for Becker's 16th annual meeting. 795 elite speakers will offer new lessons, new case studies, and predictions about what comes next. Join us April 13th through the 16th. For the agenda and event details, visit Beckershospitalview.com and click on the events tab in the upper right.
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B
This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant leader that we get to visit with periodically. We're joined today by Patrick Young, and Patrick serves as the president of Population Health at Hackensack Meridian Health. Hackensack Meridian Health, a magnificent system. Patrick, you've been running Population Health for some time now. Tell us a little bit about, I mean, you've been in this role now at Population health for about 10 years. Talk a bit about the evolution of Population Health over the years and also let me take a step back and ask you to take a moment to introduce yourself to the audience.
- [01:18]
C
Sure. First, Scott, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to be a part of your podcast. I really appreciate it. I have been at HMH now for going on 11 years. I am president of Population Health, as you mentioned. So Population Health means a lot of things to different people. I handle our payer contracting reports into my area, care management to the nurses, social workers and utilization nurses at the hospitals who discharge planning report into me. I handle our home care division which is $160 million home care business that has home care, private duty, dialysis. Everything that's done in the home is, is in our home care division. I handle our social Determinants of health program that is just grown by leaps and bounds has been very, very successful for the company. I am chairman of the board of our clinically integrated network and we have 4,600 physicians who participate with that. I handle community outreach and development and I'm also chairman of the board of a joint venture that we have with Horizon, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Robert Wood Johnson. It's a 60,000 member MA program here in New Jersey and Hackensack. Meridian Health, as you know, is the largest not for profit comprehensive integrated healthcare network in New Jersey. We have 18 hospitals, 500 different outpatient care locations. We have about 38,000 team members. And if you're not aware of it, we were also ranked a top 20 hospital in the Nation Hackensack Meridian Health Hospital was ranked number one. And we're very excited about that. And that goes along with being number one in New Jersey for our children's hospital as well. So that's a little background about my responsibility and our system.
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B
So amazing what's going on there. And obviously you've got population health defined fairly broadly in what you do, but I guess that makes sense because it is the population. Talk for a second, Patrick, about when you look at population health today, what are you most focused on and excited about? What is working, what's going well, where are you most focused and excited?
- [03:34]
C
Sure. So I think that, you know, for us the fundamentals are probably as important now than they've ever been. Making sure that the contracts that you have with the payers are very definitive to ensure that you're receiving your net operating revenue that you expected when you did the contract. As you know, the contracts right now with a lot of the payers are contentious across the country. A lot of terminations. So that's really critical that you have good, sound contracts that allows the organization to receive compensation for the services that they're providing. So I think that's a really fundamental aspect of what we do. It's not necessarily glamorous, but it's critically important to the organization. I think that what I'm excited about a lot is, you know, our home care area. It's one of the fastest growing areas in the organization. You know, we have grown that area significantly. And last year we launched a hospital from home with an organization called Medically Home. And it is now been acquired by Dispatch Health. And you know, we had at that organization in our home care division, you know, we enrolled, you know, 1,031 patients from the hospital or from the ED into the home. And we manage those individuals. And I really have been excited about that because. Because it's a whole new way in which individuals are receiving care and it's great care. The satisfaction levels are very, very high. So I'm very excited about that. From that perspective, there's a lot of trendy things that are taking place. AI everyone's talking about AI we're very much involved in AI around the ambient clinical intelligence to reduce documentation and billing. I think for POP Health it's still more analytic based. I don't know if it's really moved into the practical application. I think there's some applications associated with reaching out to patients, calling the patients, having an individual ask them questions, get them engaged in their own healthcare. So I think some of that technology and AI is starting to develop. We're very much involved in Care24, 7 for telehealth and I just talked about the home care business. So there's a lot of exciting things going on right now. I think that, you know, provider systems are going to be under pressure given some of the changes taking place in 26 and then obviously 27 with the big beautiful bill. And I think we're trying to make sure that we position our organization as best we possibly can.
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B
Thank you. And talk for a second. Your population health used to mean it's had so many different changes over the years and what it means. Talk for a second about how you view population health has changed in the 10 years that you've been really driving population health.
- [06:27]
C
Yeah, so I think, you know, if I think back when we started, you know, our clinically integrated network when I came here had 300 physicians. Today we have 4,600 physicians. We have had shared savings in our clinically integrated network for the last five years of $186 million in shared savings, primarily around our commercial. So I think we've evolved and I think we've become much more sophisticated in how we are reaching out to touching members, improving the quality of their health care. But also with Social Determinants of Health program we are working on the quality of their life. So you know, we give medically tailored meals to individuals based on a screening process at all of our hospitals. They get seven meals, lunch and dinner. They're medically tailored for them. And then we work with the Social Determinants of Health team on a more sustainable model. So you know, the way I look at it is the whole industry is evolving using sophistication, using AI, but also applying some practical applications that are having an impact on individuals lives and the quality of life that they have, which is ultimately what we're trying to do.
- [07:42]
B
Thank you. And talk for a second, Patrick, about what has surprised you the most when you think about changes in population health. I mean those that have been in health care for a long time. We remember when home health care was just started as a benefit from Medicare and the different ups and downs of that and now the evolution back to home health during COVID Of course, population health meant so much of making sure everybody's vaccinated. What has surprised you in terms of the changes in population health?
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C
You know, I would say the population health in my opinion has changed, but it's really more of an evolution versus a revolution. I think that, you know, we have taken a lot of the foundational aspects of what we do here at HMH and Bob Garrett and the board has allowed population health to diversify its scope. But you know, when you really think about it, by having home care, you know, the nurses who are doing post, post discharge planning are referring to my other team. That's the home care team. And the people who are doing the contracts here at HMH are working with the team and the nurses to make sure that, you know, our payers are fulfilling their contractual obligations. So, you know, that integration of how population health has come together, it's not just about managing a specific population, but it's really the entire ecosystem of our healthcare delivery system that we have and how that's evolving, you know, you know, you know, if you go back 10 years, you know, the idea of sending someone from the ED to the home, people couldn't even conceive that idea. It wasn't even practical. The technology wasn't there, the advancements. And so I think that as you start to apply some of these new technologies and it becomes easier for care to be received in different sites, whether that's at the home, at an ambulatory site or at the hospital. I think it's about the evolution of the ecosystem of care. And we're very excited because we've invested tremendously in our ambulatory footprint. Our home care business is growing tremendously, our hospitals are doing extremely well. So the evolution of population health has really grown. Given all those dynamics, which I think ultimately is reason for our success, it's.
- [10:15]
B
Really remarkable to watch the Hackensack Meridian story. I remember when Bob Garrett was co CEO and then CEO and the leadership team that you've put together there is remarkable. Take a second, Patrick, because you're one of the most centered, brightest, capable leaders I get to talk to. I love visiting with you. What advice would you give to emerging leaders?
- [10:38]
C
Yeah, it's a great question. I would say that stay focused on the fundamentals. I think sometimes individuals become enamorated with what's next, what's the next big thing. But the reason why we have been able to expand our scope of functionality and services that we do in population health is you do the fundamentals extremely well. We are generating shared savings. We are not a drag on the economics of the organization. We are providing revenue and profitability to the organization from population health. And I think that adds credibility to what we do and that allows the organization to continue to support programs like, you know, medically tailored meals for patients who need that. You know, funding initially was from HMH but now it's being provided by us going out and receiving grants and private funding. But we're changing people's lives there. So I'm excited about the opportunity to continue to grow and, you know, what is the next big thing for hmh? I would tell everyone, you got to do the fundamentals well, because if you can do the fundamentals well and it produces good results for the organization, that allows you to do other great things within your organization.
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B
But talk about this constant focus back to the fundamentals. I feel like sometimes a business that's lost on people and at the end of the day, you and I probably come from the same school of thought that 80% of everything you do is doing the fundamentals right and showing up every day and taking care of patients, taking care of people. Talk about how important that is just to not get lost in all the shiny new things, all the different ideas. But a lot of focus on the fundamentals.
- [12:27]
C
Yeah, I mean, patient satisfaction is critical for our organization and that's all aspects of our business, whether it's home care, it's an ambulatory visit, it's a primary care physician specialist, the emergency room or a hospital. So, you know, focusing on the fundamentals of ensuring that you are good financial stewards for the organization, ensuring that patients are receiving great care, that our team members are happy and satisfied with working here, you know, if you can do those fundamentals well, it really sets the stage for the organization to go beyond what we are doing today. And it allows us to really, you know, look at the future and then determine what are the greatest opportunities for us to work on and then move in that direction. And under Bob Garrett's leadership, that's the kind of leader he's always been. And I think that's really positioned HMH unbelievably well for the future. And we all do know that there's some headwinds coming. And to the extent that you're doing the fundamentals well, that I think ultimately will allow you to take some risks that you maybe couldn't have taken if you hadn't done the financials and the fundamentals well.
- [13:40]
B
Patrick, we love visiting with you. We're a huge fan of what you do in Hackensack. Meridian Health, thank you so much for joining us today on the Beckers Healthcare podcast.
- [13:49]
C
Thank you. It was great talking to you again, Scott. Thank you.