Rural Hospital CEOs Describe Building Trust for Regional Networks
At a Nov. 4 Becker's CEO + CFO Roundtable panel, hospital executives described how they built partnerships with competing hospitals despite rivalries. David Walker of George E. Weems Memorial Hospital said seven rural Florida hospitals set aside competition to pursue federal rural health transformation funding together as a regional network rather than merging. R. Kyle Kramer of Day Kimball Healthcare in Connecticut, whose payer mix is 70-75% federal, much of it Medicaid, said past merger talks with several systems failed before the hospital began affiliation discussions with UConn Health, citing HR 1 as adding financial pressure. Chris Clark of Saint Vincent Hospital and Allegheny Health Network described both gains from transparency with independent hospital CEOs and a past instance where sharing information led a competitor to poach affiliated surgeons.