At a time of enormous change and uncertainty for the health care industry, the San Fernando Valley region is home to many who are embracing the challenges boldly with new ideas and fresh vision. The 10 innovators profiled in the following pages are emblematic of the important work performed by health care workers every day. They are working to improve care and lower costs — and answer the urgent need for a better health care system. Though Michael Hunn never rowed as part of a crew, that’s the image he likes to use when talking about integrating health care. His goal: to get independent-minded physicians pulling alongside hospitals to improve quality and reduce costs in health care. “If we’re not all rowing at the same pace in the same direction, we’re not going to cross the river,” Hunn said. Hunn, who is senior vice president and chief executive of Providence Health & Services California Region, is aligning doctors and hospitals through a new for-profit joint venture. The venture will be equally owned by physicians and Providence and led and governed by doctors. Providence is recruiting area physicians now, and hopes to have as many as 500 join the new organization, to be called Providence Partners for Health (PPH). A unique aspect of PPH is that independent doctors can join and also retain their relationship with other hospitals. The hope is that the two groups will be able to coordinate patient care, and together find ways to improve that care while lowering the cost at the same time. The model has been called one of the most innovative ways to accomplish the elusive goal of alignment between doctors and hospitals. “Michael is a brilliant visionary,” said James Lott, executive vice president of the Hospital Association of Southern California. “He studies the industry like no one else, and he is charting a course that can serve as a template for any major health care provider.” Alignment between doctors and hospitals is critical. Without it, doctors are incentivized to admit and keep patients in the hospital while hospitals are trying to reduce patient stays to keep costs down. When there’s a lack of coordination, doctors wind up ordering unnecessary tests, repeating expensive CT Scans or MRIs. “We don’t want to waste scarce resources on inappropriate or unnecessary tests, screens or medication,” Hunn said. The new joint venture specifically targets independent doctors who don’t belong to a large medical group or an independent practice association. Hunn said the idea for PPH occurred to him and other Providence executives when they looked at their referring doctors and realized that half are independent. These physicians often lack electronic medical records, so when they refer patients to the hospital, the hospital often has no idea what tests or scans they’ve had or medications they are on. Providence is investing $900 million systemwide in a new, state-of-the-art electronic medical record and information system. Doctors will be able to access this system at a discount of up to 85 percent off the cost of such a system, hospital officials have said. And starting soon, doctors will also have access to a new data warehouse from Microsoft called Amalga, which will collect disparate data from across the delivery system —including the doctors that join Providence Partners for Health — and make it possible to monitor and potentially even identify at-risk patients before they become sick. For example, Amalga would be able to collect data such as a high sugar count or high blood pressure and identify the patient who is at risk of developing diabetes or get a stroke or a heart attack. “It’s a huge deal,” he said. If the goal of innovation in health care is to deliver better care less expensively, such data will be crucial. Hunn says finding ways to reduce waste is not an option. It’s a must, or else an aging population will drive the country, along with many health care providers, to the brink of financial ruin. “We absolutely have to figure out ways to keep people healthier and bend the cost curve,” he said. “We have to take out the waste and duplication.”
Michael Hunn
