In this episode of Tuning Healthcare, David Zaas, MD, MBA, the CEO of Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Health – Charleston Division and Chief Clinical Officer for MUSC Health, discusses why healthcare leaders must step up, with academic medical centers (AMCs) leading the way. Preserving the current fee-for-service business model is not sustainable. Instead, health systems need to manage more of the healthcare premium dollar, shift to a patient/customer-centric system, and partner with organizations to drive innovations that drive real change and address the needs of their communities.

“I think AMCs have the opportunity to have unique partners, not just with other hospitals and providers whether it's technology companies and payers, and to go back to the foundation of our mission. We should be the most mission-driven organizations of any industry in the country around improving the health of the communities we serve, educating all of our future leaders, driving the innovation and research to change what we do. For us to really achieve that at a greater scale and to accomplish things more quickly, we're going to need to understand different partnerships. … How do we become nimble to identify those partners, to figure out how we work together to be willing to leverage our talent and brand to drive not just revenue and not just the existing business models, but to drive true transformation?”
– David Zaas, MD, MBA, CEO of MUSC Health – Charleston Division, and Chief Clinical Officer for MUSC Health

In this episode, Dr. Zaas and Lumeris Senior Vice President Nigel Ohrenstein discuss:
• How academic medical centers should lead the transformation of healthcare
• A blueprint for health systems to be successful in the post-COVID-19 world
• The role of leadership, mentorship, and collaboration in solving problems and improving health outcomes
• Finding synergies with outside partners to take risks and drive true innovation that meets the needs of communities
• The importance of not mistaking incremental progress for real transformation and change
• Shifting to a mindset that treats patients as customers, while also addressing the disparities of care delivery and social determinants of health
• Managing more of the premium dollar to create sustainable growth and support population health needs.

Cited works:
• Text Message Alert 1 Sound. Available at http://soundbible.com/2154-Text-Message-Alert-1.html.
• ECG Sound. Available at http://soundbible.com/1730-ECG.html.
• AM Radio Tuning Sound. Available at http://soundbible.com/2099-AM-Radio-Tuning.html.
• Intro music. Gordon Household. August 2019. WAV File.