In today’s constantly changing healthcare landscape, there is no shortage of challenges facing hospitals and other healthcare providers. On top of the inherent complexities of providing care, the industry is dealing with a host of game-changing trends including the Affordable Care Act, the shift toward standardized care, the emphasis on outpatient services, and the need to keep up with innovative technology developments.
Montefiore Health System President and CEO Dr. Steven Safyer has a front-row seat for all of this action, and he shared his insights on Monday night at The Business Council of Westchester’s Leadership Conversation Series held at Manhattanville College. Sponsored by First Niagara Bank, the event drew more than 100 business leaders who heard a lively and wide ranging 45-minute interview with Dr. Safyer that was conducted by Business Council President and CEO Marsha Gordon.
More on our health system: Westchester’s Changing Healthcare Landscape
Dr. Safyer, who oversees an integrated care delivery network with more than 150 locations across the region, pointed to providing affordable care without sacrificing quality as one of the major challenges for hospitals today. Montefiore’s model of integrating care and payments is a key element of the Affordable Care Act, he noted. “That’s the model of the future,” Safyer said. “You can have affordable care that is high quality.”
He also addressed the consolidation that is dominant in the industry today—as evidenced here in Westchester where Montefiore has made acquisitions of Sound Shore Medical Center and Mount Vernon Hospital as well as its recent affiliation with White Plains Hospital. Montefiore also maintains administrative offices in the former Kraft Foods complex in Tarrytown. “There will be more consolidations. There will be more branching out of systems,” Safyer predicted.
The trend within the healthcare community of moving toward more outpatient services designed to keep people out of hospitals was another focus at the event. Safyer described Montefiore’s new “bedless hospital” that is opening at the Hutchinson Metro Center in the Bronx. The 300,000- square-foot ambulatory surgical care center is the first of its kind in the New York Metro Area.
One of the upsides of all this industry shakeup, according to Safyer, is that new jobs that will be created in the healthcare field. However, he said many of those jobs will not necessarily be professionals with advanced medial or nursing degrees but managers who will help patients with their ongoing care.
For more insight from Steven Safyer and other Westchester healthcare executives, read “Westchester’s Changing Healthcare Landscape” from the Q1 2014 issue of 914INC.
