The Greenville Health System Board of Trustees approved a resolution to explore changes to the organization’s current governance structure that would keep GHS as a public, not-for-profit organization but as part of a larger multi-regional health system that provides the flexibility needed to survive in today’s changing healthcare environment.
Here to explain these changes is Michael C. Riordan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Greenville Health System.
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Changes in GHS Governance Model
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Learn more about Michael C. Riordan
Michael Riordan, President and CEO, Greenville Health System
Michael C. Riordan, President and Chief Executive Officer, joined Greenville Health System in 2006. Riordan is responsible for leading this highly integrated system, one of the largest not-for-profit healthcare providers in the Southeast with 1,268 beds across five medical campuses, more than 11,000 employees, including over 1,000 physicians and providers, and operating revenues of approximately $1.5 billion. In 2012, GHS provided $318.6 million in quantifiable benefits to its surrounding communities. Prior to joining GHS, he served as president, chief executive officer and trustee of the University of Chicago Hospitals and Health System and as chief operating officer, and later, senior associate hospital administrator of Emory University Hospital and Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. He also served three years in the United States Marine Corps as a lieutenant.Learn more about Michael C. Riordan
Transcription:
Melanie Cole (Host): The Greenville Health System Board of Trustees approved a resolution to explore changes to the organization’s current governance structure that would keep GHS as a public not-for-profit organization but as part of a larger, multi-regional health system that provides the flexibility needed to survive in today’s changing healthcare environment. My guest today is Michael Riordan. He’s the President and CEO of Greenville Health System. Welcome to the show, Michael. So, we’re hearing about so many changes in the healthcare environment. What are some of these changes and how are they affecting hospitals and health systems?
Michael Riordan (Guest): Well, thanks, and I’m glad we’re doing this. The big change is if you just look at it through a national perspective, it’s what the expectations along quality and cost are from a healthcare standpoint. We hear from businesses all the time that it’s unsustainable how much healthcare costs. We also know that the quality of healthcare has to sort of be not just “on the episode”. We do great things. We deliver a baby or an operation but the quality has to be those metrics that really indicate the health and the wellness of a community. So, we’re hearing this from businesses and we’re certainly hearing it from the Federal government, whether it’s a Medicare population which is for the elderly, or a Medicaid population. How do we manage those costs and really maintain a great focus on quality?
Melanie: So, while we’re talking about the greater focus on that value of care, where does that lead you? What are you looking at for the consumer?
Michael: When we think about value, and I hope I can explain this well, but even for us, we’re a large employer. We have 15,000 employees. We spend $2,000,000-2,500,000 per week on our own employees’ healthcare. $2,500,000 times 52 is a big number. We’re self-insured and what we have discovered is that 50% of those costs are due to 5% of our families or our employees’ families. So, that in and of itself, gives us the opportunity to focus our resources on that 5%. So, are there issues around behavioral health or depression? What about diabetes--Type I or Type II diabetes? We can now look at what is going on with these large populations and put the resources there so that we can have people not come to the hospital but keep them at work, working well, keep them in the community and not using up the resources of a large acute healthcare system.
Melanie: As we’re all looking towards preventive medicine, Michael, and community partners that provide needs that are outside sort of a more multidisciplinary and looking outside the hospital system, what’s GHS doing in that regard?
Michael: So, the whole notion of partnerships is a key word in what you just said. Our ability to partner with other organizations that do it well—I’ve heard somebody refer to this somewhat glibly but I got it. They said, “We have to be able to treat people all the way from dental to mental and everything in between.” We have to be able to connect with partners that can look at oral health and that can look at behavioral health because so much of what is going on with somebody isn’t just the 5 days that they’re in an acute care hospital. It’s where they came from. It’s access to primary care physicians. It’s the social determinants of “is there transportation? Is there an income coming into the family where things can be afforded?” So, we are going to actively look throughout the community for those organizations that do things and do things well to keep people healthy and engaged inside of their communities.
Melanie: How wonderful for the community that you’re doing these things and how do the changes in this healthcare market affect your decision to create this new organization?
Michael: Well, thank you for saying that. I do think it’s wonderful as well. I think the fact that more and more businesses are looking to pay us to manage the wellness and to take care of their employees is really important. The analogy I like to sometimes us is that I remember when I bought my first car. If you bought the car, every 90 days or every 3,000 miles, you would go pay for your oil change. Now, car makers are saying, “Here’s your car and we’re going to do all of that maintenance for the next 100,000 miles.” That’s what’s happening in healthcare. The marketplace is telling us, “You just don’t take care of people every time they need something and charge them. We want you to manage the entire wellness of a population and to be at risk for that wellness.” So, it’s not just we generate more things, we actually are fully invested in the health and well-being of our patients in our community and the businesses that they work at.
Melanie: Where do you see technology coming into play for all of this and for the benefit of the community?
Michael: Technology is big and I’ll just use a personal example. I have 5 children and one of them, the youngest one, is a Type I diabetic. So, for people that listen, they might have a familiarity with diabetes. Type I is different than Type II. The technology that this young man has access to allows me to, if I wanted to right now, look on my iPhone and tell you what his blood glucose number is. So, with Bluetooth technology and the ability to sort of monitor things, how we can connect that to individuals because no one will take care of an individual better than that individual or that family. Also, how we can connect those individuals to their caregiver is really important. I think another broader scale is, gosh, we have just spent incredible amounts of money on a computer system and it’s called “EPIC”. It is now connecting our entire system where clinical information can be shared seamlessly. Not only that, it’s connecting us to other providers throughout the country. So, technology doesn’t solve everything but if it can get people to own their healthcare a little bit better and it can get providers and systems to coordinate care between each other better, I think it’s the big payoff for us.
Melanie: Let’s discuss some of the benefits of this new system in the medical professionals and attracting and maintaining top talent to the region. How do you see that happening?
Michael: A lot of our strategy is “how do we train that next generation of healthcare givers? What do we do to embed them in a system that really looks at the community?” An exciting event was that we just graduated the inaugural class of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine – Greenville and that was several years in the making. They went through 4 years of medical school but before they come—at least a couple weeks--early. They get here early and we’ve done this for every class since then. They all go through EMS training so they become an EMT. In fact, they have to go on runs with EMS. They have to see where people are living; see the environment; get a feel for the community and I think that just sort of flips the mindset. A person’s illness does not begin when they show up in the ER. Then, when they’re discharged 5.2 days later, the issues that led up to, perhaps, that admission and the issues that will prevent them from being readmitted unnecessarily all happen out in the community. So, we are even getting our physicians--the new medical students—thinking about that very early in their training. It’s just that sort of subtle mindset change that we’re looking at. Public health is an important part of what we’re doing. We take clean water for granted and other things but we have to look at all the aspects that go into public health in order to really treat the entire person.
Melanie: I applaud all the great work you’re doing. That’s absolutely fascinating. In just the last few minutes, Michael, please try to wrap it up about this new GHS governance system and what you want the public to really know about this change and how it will impact them.
Michael: We’ve got a history. We’ve been around for over 100 years and part of that is coming out of a city hospital; connecting to a larger Greenville County. In 1947, those entities came together and through an act of legislation, that’s where we were created. That was a long time ago and I really want to honor our forefathers and mothers who thought about this and brought us together. That is a governmental system that has really served us well. We have lived up to, and will continue to live up to, our public mission. We will have a strong local presence in Greenville County and will continue that. We have had a historic connection to diversity inclusion and will continue to do that but we also know that if we’re going to manage larger populations, we have to be geographically spread out and we have to go back to a word you used earlier. We have to figure out partnerships. The old governmental model was designed for us to own things—own other organizations—and not partner. There were some real restrictions around that. For that reason in and of itself, this opens up a whole new vista of partnerships for us. Many communities have a lot personal and individual pride, just as the Greenville community does. They don’t want to have to give that up by answering up to a political body at Greenville. It’s not a reflection of that body. We’ve got great legislators. It is a reflection of maintaining their identity but connecting to a bigger whole. So, we have the big idea of how we’re going to connect and take care of patients and many communities and we needed a structure that gave us that flexibility so that we didn’t have to own everything; that we could partner in order to deliver the care that we believe is important.
Melanie: Thank you so much. It’s just such great information for your community. We’ve been speaking with Michael Riordan, President and CEO of Greenville Health System. You’re listening to Inside Health with Greenville Health System. For more information, you can go to GHS.org. That’s GHS.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Melanie Cole (Host): The Greenville Health System Board of Trustees approved a resolution to explore changes to the organization’s current governance structure that would keep GHS as a public not-for-profit organization but as part of a larger, multi-regional health system that provides the flexibility needed to survive in today’s changing healthcare environment. My guest today is Michael Riordan. He’s the President and CEO of Greenville Health System. Welcome to the show, Michael. So, we’re hearing about so many changes in the healthcare environment. What are some of these changes and how are they affecting hospitals and health systems?
Michael Riordan (Guest): Well, thanks, and I’m glad we’re doing this. The big change is if you just look at it through a national perspective, it’s what the expectations along quality and cost are from a healthcare standpoint. We hear from businesses all the time that it’s unsustainable how much healthcare costs. We also know that the quality of healthcare has to sort of be not just “on the episode”. We do great things. We deliver a baby or an operation but the quality has to be those metrics that really indicate the health and the wellness of a community. So, we’re hearing this from businesses and we’re certainly hearing it from the Federal government, whether it’s a Medicare population which is for the elderly, or a Medicaid population. How do we manage those costs and really maintain a great focus on quality?
Melanie: So, while we’re talking about the greater focus on that value of care, where does that lead you? What are you looking at for the consumer?
Michael: When we think about value, and I hope I can explain this well, but even for us, we’re a large employer. We have 15,000 employees. We spend $2,000,000-2,500,000 per week on our own employees’ healthcare. $2,500,000 times 52 is a big number. We’re self-insured and what we have discovered is that 50% of those costs are due to 5% of our families or our employees’ families. So, that in and of itself, gives us the opportunity to focus our resources on that 5%. So, are there issues around behavioral health or depression? What about diabetes--Type I or Type II diabetes? We can now look at what is going on with these large populations and put the resources there so that we can have people not come to the hospital but keep them at work, working well, keep them in the community and not using up the resources of a large acute healthcare system.
Melanie: As we’re all looking towards preventive medicine, Michael, and community partners that provide needs that are outside sort of a more multidisciplinary and looking outside the hospital system, what’s GHS doing in that regard?
Michael: So, the whole notion of partnerships is a key word in what you just said. Our ability to partner with other organizations that do it well—I’ve heard somebody refer to this somewhat glibly but I got it. They said, “We have to be able to treat people all the way from dental to mental and everything in between.” We have to be able to connect with partners that can look at oral health and that can look at behavioral health because so much of what is going on with somebody isn’t just the 5 days that they’re in an acute care hospital. It’s where they came from. It’s access to primary care physicians. It’s the social determinants of “is there transportation? Is there an income coming into the family where things can be afforded?” So, we are going to actively look throughout the community for those organizations that do things and do things well to keep people healthy and engaged inside of their communities.
Melanie: How wonderful for the community that you’re doing these things and how do the changes in this healthcare market affect your decision to create this new organization?
Michael: Well, thank you for saying that. I do think it’s wonderful as well. I think the fact that more and more businesses are looking to pay us to manage the wellness and to take care of their employees is really important. The analogy I like to sometimes us is that I remember when I bought my first car. If you bought the car, every 90 days or every 3,000 miles, you would go pay for your oil change. Now, car makers are saying, “Here’s your car and we’re going to do all of that maintenance for the next 100,000 miles.” That’s what’s happening in healthcare. The marketplace is telling us, “You just don’t take care of people every time they need something and charge them. We want you to manage the entire wellness of a population and to be at risk for that wellness.” So, it’s not just we generate more things, we actually are fully invested in the health and well-being of our patients in our community and the businesses that they work at.
Melanie: Where do you see technology coming into play for all of this and for the benefit of the community?
Michael: Technology is big and I’ll just use a personal example. I have 5 children and one of them, the youngest one, is a Type I diabetic. So, for people that listen, they might have a familiarity with diabetes. Type I is different than Type II. The technology that this young man has access to allows me to, if I wanted to right now, look on my iPhone and tell you what his blood glucose number is. So, with Bluetooth technology and the ability to sort of monitor things, how we can connect that to individuals because no one will take care of an individual better than that individual or that family. Also, how we can connect those individuals to their caregiver is really important. I think another broader scale is, gosh, we have just spent incredible amounts of money on a computer system and it’s called “EPIC”. It is now connecting our entire system where clinical information can be shared seamlessly. Not only that, it’s connecting us to other providers throughout the country. So, technology doesn’t solve everything but if it can get people to own their healthcare a little bit better and it can get providers and systems to coordinate care between each other better, I think it’s the big payoff for us.
Melanie: Let’s discuss some of the benefits of this new system in the medical professionals and attracting and maintaining top talent to the region. How do you see that happening?
Michael: A lot of our strategy is “how do we train that next generation of healthcare givers? What do we do to embed them in a system that really looks at the community?” An exciting event was that we just graduated the inaugural class of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine – Greenville and that was several years in the making. They went through 4 years of medical school but before they come—at least a couple weeks--early. They get here early and we’ve done this for every class since then. They all go through EMS training so they become an EMT. In fact, they have to go on runs with EMS. They have to see where people are living; see the environment; get a feel for the community and I think that just sort of flips the mindset. A person’s illness does not begin when they show up in the ER. Then, when they’re discharged 5.2 days later, the issues that led up to, perhaps, that admission and the issues that will prevent them from being readmitted unnecessarily all happen out in the community. So, we are even getting our physicians--the new medical students—thinking about that very early in their training. It’s just that sort of subtle mindset change that we’re looking at. Public health is an important part of what we’re doing. We take clean water for granted and other things but we have to look at all the aspects that go into public health in order to really treat the entire person.
Melanie: I applaud all the great work you’re doing. That’s absolutely fascinating. In just the last few minutes, Michael, please try to wrap it up about this new GHS governance system and what you want the public to really know about this change and how it will impact them.
Michael: We’ve got a history. We’ve been around for over 100 years and part of that is coming out of a city hospital; connecting to a larger Greenville County. In 1947, those entities came together and through an act of legislation, that’s where we were created. That was a long time ago and I really want to honor our forefathers and mothers who thought about this and brought us together. That is a governmental system that has really served us well. We have lived up to, and will continue to live up to, our public mission. We will have a strong local presence in Greenville County and will continue that. We have had a historic connection to diversity inclusion and will continue to do that but we also know that if we’re going to manage larger populations, we have to be geographically spread out and we have to go back to a word you used earlier. We have to figure out partnerships. The old governmental model was designed for us to own things—own other organizations—and not partner. There were some real restrictions around that. For that reason in and of itself, this opens up a whole new vista of partnerships for us. Many communities have a lot personal and individual pride, just as the Greenville community does. They don’t want to have to give that up by answering up to a political body at Greenville. It’s not a reflection of that body. We’ve got great legislators. It is a reflection of maintaining their identity but connecting to a bigger whole. So, we have the big idea of how we’re going to connect and take care of patients and many communities and we needed a structure that gave us that flexibility so that we didn’t have to own everything; that we could partner in order to deliver the care that we believe is important.
Melanie: Thank you so much. It’s just such great information for your community. We’ve been speaking with Michael Riordan, President and CEO of Greenville Health System. You’re listening to Inside Health with Greenville Health System. For more information, you can go to GHS.org. That’s GHS.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
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