Hospital CEOs cut wait times via operations amid Medicaid gaps
At a Becker's CEO + CFO Roundtable panel in November, Gary Paxson of UNC Health Blue Ridge and Greg Baxter of Elliot Health System described prioritizing operational efficiency over new capital projects to manage anticipated Medicaid funding pressure. Paxson said UNC Health Blue Ridge projects a $40 million gap over five years from anticipated North Carolina Medicaid reductions, and the system redesigned clinic workflows rather than adding capacity, cutting primary care new patient wait times from 36 to 24 days and specialty wait times from 38 to 28 days. Baxter said Elliot Health built a virtual ER program handling a couple hundred patients a month instead of adding a freestanding emergency department, with about 75-80% of visits resolved without a facility visit. Both executives said they are also investing in exportable specialist service lines to grow volume amid reimbursement compression.