3,700+ attendees were present at the Becker’s Hospital Review 9th Annual Meeting in Chicago this year. Having attended several Becker’s events over the years here are a few things abeo has come to expect from this conference.
Healthcare reform rhetoric can grow tiresome. Anyone working in this industry is engulfed with the problems and politics surrounding our US health care system. And, how can we ignore the familiar “What keeps you up at night?” question which was posed to a group of panelists at the conference where they all circled back to, COST.
Conferences like Becker’s Hospital Review are great for energizing your thoughts with fresh ideas and a dose of optimism. You can count on Becker’s to be brimming with words of wisdom that you can apply to your leadership efforts and strategic thinking like these two quotes shared by Warner Thomas, President and CEO of Ochsner Health System. Mr. Thomas shared this quote from Jack Welch, the prior long-standing Chairman and CEO of General Electric,
“If the rate of change on the outside of an organization exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.”
He went on to discuss The Knowing Doing Gap and encourage the crowd to be leaders and respond to adversity saying,
“in this state of constant change, you have to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.”
Becker’s brings their A-game when it comes to developing a line-up of influential women and men in healthcare. This year we heard from executives from Allina health, Novant Health, Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Woman’s Hospital, LifePoint Health, Dignity Health and the Ochsner Health System.
The keynote line-up never stops there. Celebrity keynotes are always a highlight and not one, but two U.S. Presidents stopped by to speak. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush brought their own variety of topics to discuss. Lastly, Sarah Kliff from Vox.com spoke on the repeal of the ACA’s individual mandate being the most uncertain part of how law will play out moving forward.
You’ll have that moment when a slide flashes up with facts or stats that make an impression and you later share with everyone you talk with. For abeo, it was the session titled “Healthcare 2018 The Trends That Matter to Hospital Leaders.” It wasn’t even a discussion that was foreign to us, yet it still made an impression.
In particular it was the Leavitt Partners discussion about physician consolidation. Smaller practice physicians want to alleviate the burden of managing a practice and concentrate on what they love doing: studying medicine and helping patients. According to the Leavitt Partners Analysis Physician Compare Data study, from June 2013 to November 2017 there was a 20.9 percent decrease in 0 – 2 physician sized groups and an 18.2 percent decrease in the 3 – 9 physician sized groups.
Data Source: Leavitt Partners Analysis of Medicare Physician Compare Data, Becker’s Hospital Review 9th Annual Meeting
What is astounding is the growth of the 500+ mega group practice which grew 46.2 percent during that same time period. This is an incredible shift to have take place in just a four-year time period. A shift that has greatly impacted the business and delivery of health care in the US.
It is during these moments at the Becker’s Hospital Review conference where the value of attending is realized as you are exposed to new ideas that motivate and inspired by even the simplest words spoken. Plus, there is always the added bonus that you get to enjoy the great city of Chicago!
For more highlights on the 2018 conference jump over to #BeckersHR18 and check out our favorite tweet from the presentations we attended.
Becker’s Hospital Review 9th Annual Meeting in Downtown Chicago
abeo Management Corporation (abeo) serves as a leading source of revenue cycle management and practice management with a specialization in anesthesia. The company leverages its people, processes, and software to serve independent practices, surgery centers, hospitals and healthcare systems with a scope of services that include billing, coding, transcription, practice management, and business consulting.