Health System CEOs Detail Growth Strategies, Cite Medicaid Coverage Risk
At Becker's Nov. 3 CEO + CFO Roundtable panel, leaders from UCSF Health, Sutter Health, Adventist Health and Northwest Permanente described balancing outpatient expansion with rising inpatient complexity. Strategies ranged from UCSF's focus on complex, high-acuity care and recent community hospital acquisitions, to Sutter's ambulatory buildout and proposed combination with Allina Health, to Kaiser's hospital-at-home program and Risant Health value-based care expansion. Adventist Health CEO Kerry Heinrich said his system has paused capital planning due to HR 1, citing estimates that 20% to 30% of the Medicaid population in Los Angeles could lose coverage. Heinrich also flagged behavioral health and substance use patients who crowd emergency departments for lack of social support systems.