Bill George

“Hospitals of the future will not choose one care model—they must orchestrate episodic efficiency, payer discipline, specialty excellence, and value-based continuity at the same time.” Recent #McKinsey report identifies four #outcomefocused #carearchetypes shaping the US healthcare system - 1.episodic care models, 2.payer-led utilization models, 3.PCP-led value-based care, and 4.specialty-led complex care models. Interestingly, all four models already exist in the #Indian #health and #hospital #ecosystem, though in a #hybrid and #uneven form. India has made strong progress in #episodiccare, with a visible shift toward day-care surgeries, home-based care, tele-OPDs, and shorter hospital stays. #Payerled models are particularly dominant, driven by government schemes like Ayushman Bharat and insurer-TPA controls that influence pricing, utilization, and length of stay—often more assertively than in the US. #Specialty-led models are well established in tertiary and quaternary care, especially in oncology, cardiology, transplants, and IVF, where outcomes, protocols, and centers of excellence define care delivery. However, #PCP-led risk-bearing and #value-based care models remain the weakest link, constrained by limited gatekeeping, referral discipline, and risk-sharing mechanisms. Unlike the US, India is not transitioning sequentially across these models—it is operating all four simultaneously, without full integration. The strategic challenge ahead lies in connecting these archetypes into a coherent, outcome-driven health system. Centre of Health Management Excellence HMX MAHATMA GANDHI UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY, JAIPUR Mahatma Gandhi College of Hospital Administration

20

Hospitals are heading into peak summer demand with unclear federal vaccine guidance, rising staff fatigue, and patients asking, “What now?” The solution isn’t to “wait for clarity.” It’s to renegotiate internally—now. Here are four negotiation strategies I’m advising healthcare leaders to implement immediately: 1. Get legal, clinical, and HR in one room. Don’t rely on email chains. Schedule a joint session to renegotiate vaccine protocols and liability exposure. Map out what changes if ACIP guidance is challenged in court—and what holds firm. 2. Reframe vaccine discussions as risk management, not ideology. Your front-line clinicians and executive teams are more aligned than you think—but only if you frame it around operational safety, not political rhetoric. Use risk-mitigation language to reset the tone and focus. 3. Negotiate up: Boards need proactive clarity. Don’t wait for trustees to ask how you’re handling the chaos. Bring them a position. Use negotiation framing to align fiduciary duty with public health protection. 4. Empower department heads to lead their negotiations. Centralized mandates are brittle right now. Give clinical leaders the tools to negotiate vaccine expectations with their teams, anchored in your institutional values and risk assessment. The HEAR Framework was built for this: cross-functional negotiation under pressure. You don’t need perfect federal guidance to lead; you need internal alignment built through negotiation. #HealthcareNegotiation #HEARFramework #HospitalLeadership #OperationalRisk #InformedConsent #PatientTrust #StaffEngagement

12

Are you an impactful board member? In my roles as Board Chair, Vice Chair, and Governance Committee Chair I’ve had the opportunity to engage the Boards in shaping our agendas. We’ve been focusing on 5 key areas in 2025 (see slide below). I’ll share posts highlighting 1 key area each week for the next 5 weeks. Here’s the first: Agenda Topic: AI Oversight & Cyber Resilience Boards & Algorithms: Are We Ready? AI is no longer just an operational tool—it’s a governance issue. As directors, we must understand how algorithms impact decision-making, bias, and risk. Cyber threats are evolving too, with AI-powered attacks on the rise. Discussion questions for the board: • Is our AI use ethical and transparent? • Are we prepared for AI-driven cyber risks? Action Items: What do we need to do to move from awareness to accountability. #AIgovernance #CyberResilience #BoardLeadership #boardofdirectors #impactfulboards

37

2 Comments

This HMPI paper led by Professors Stefanos Zenios and Kevin Schulman reframes healthcare inefficiency through Precedents Thinking - using proven models from other industries to solve a $265 billion administrative challenge. 1. Innovation by recombination 2. Two scalable solutions 3. Governance being the true bottleneck 🔗 Read the full Stanford HMPI study: https://lnkd.in/d7JWRheU 🔗 Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/d_DgDdtB #StanfordGSB #HealthcareInnovation #PrecedentsThinking #DigitalHealth #HealthPolicy #Leadership #Research #TheULab

7

Proud to have helped author this study funded by the Beryl Institute PX Scholars Program, exploring a question many health system leaders are quietly wrestling with: How do physician–hospital integration models really affect the patient experience? Using data from 2,716 U.S. acute care hospitals, we examined how different PHI structures (“tight,” “loose,” and “multimodal”) influenced patient experience before and after the peak of COVID-19. A key finding: Hospitals with “tight” PHI models—those with greater control over physicians—were associated with lower physician communication scores and lower overall hospital ratings. Meanwhile, organizations with “looser” integration structures demonstrated greater resilience in maintaining patient experience, likely due to physician autonomy and flexibility in care delivery during crisis conditions. The takeaway is smarter balance between control and connection. Rigid structures may optimize for control, but adaptability appears to matter deeply when trust, communication, and human connection are most tested. For leaders focused on patient-centered care, this raises an important question: Are our organizational structures enabling connection, or constraining it? Grateful to my co-authors (Lilac Lee and Jae Man Park) and to The Beryl Institute for supporting this project through their PX Scholars Program which helps move patient experience from aspiration to evidence-based action. https://lnkd.in/eYxTQwSH #PatientExperience #PhysicianEngagement #HealthcareLeadership #HealthSystems #PXResearch #BerylInstitute #PatientCenteredCare

34

4 Comments

✅ Can technology help solve the physician shortage? Healthcare systems are at a crossroads. Demand is rising rapidly, yet physician supply is not keeping pace. While technology holds great promise, strikingly, 0% of physician executives surveyed say their organizations are truly on the “leading edge” of innovation. I recently had the privilege of joining the Korn Ferry Briefings Podcast with Jim Vincoli, MBA and Michael Dill from the The AAMC to explore this critical challenge. Together, we discussed how innovation, leadership, and technology can unlock transformation in healthcare. Our takeaway? Technology is only part of the answer. Real transformation requires clinical leaders at the executive table, ensuring innovation drives not just efficiency, but true improvements in patient quality and outcomes. Watch the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/eDN8sKdS

9