A New Era for Integrated Healthcare Executives

If you’ve been a reader of Integrated Healthcare Delivery, you’ll notice something different with the September/October 2015 issue. We’ve changed our name to IH Executive. It’s a small change, but it emphasizes our commitment to recognizing and serving leaders who are driving much greater change in the U.S. healthcare system.

Leaders like Eric H. Beck, DO, MPH, CEO of Evolution Health, who is profiled in this issue (p. 14). Beck and his leadership team are building new models of team-based delivery that make healthcare more efficient and effective, and offer patients and providers a better experience.

Leaders like the ones spearheading innovation at the 10 organizations we’ve identified as “Integrated Delivery Networks to Watch” (p. 17). Under their guidance, these organizations are partnering with communities, collaborating with other providers, creating alternative pathways of care and embracing new reimbursement structures.

Leading From the Inside Out

Demonstrating leadership in the midst of radical transformation can be, by turns, challenging, frustrating and enormously rewarding. But more than anything else, it is essential. Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, and his co-authors emphasized this in their JAMA article, “Change From the Inside Out—Health Care Leaders Taking the Helm,” in March of this year. “It is time to look beyond [the Affordable Care Act (ACA)] to the next phase of U.S. healthcare reform,” the co-authors said. “Although many physicians contributed to the development and implementation of the ACA, the forces that have steered it so far have been primarily governmental. Leaders from within healthcare should now more firmly take the tiller.”

Ideas From Across the Continuum

In a healthcare system as large and complex as ours, leadership takes many forms. It includes teams and individuals across a variety of care types and settings. As those leaders navigate their organizations toward the IHI’s Triple Aim—and through the uncharted territories of value-based purchasing and accountable care—sharing information will be more vital than ever. So IH Executive will bring you stories from across the care continuum. We’ll look beyond hospitals and health systems to highlight advances in home health, hospice, skilled nursing, assisted living, mobile integrated health and more. We’ll profile current and aspiring leaders who are championing change, measuring progress and designing new systems and strategies.

Welcome to the new era for integrated healthcare executives. We invite you to be part of the leadership conversation. What aspects of your role in healthcare leadership keep you up at night? What challenges have you faced? What wins have you notched so far in this new era? Email us at Editor@IHExecutive.com.

Scott Cravens, EMT-B, is the publisher of Integrated Healthcare Executive.