Episode Description
In this episode of the Health Systems CXO podcast, Robin Brand interviews Dan Liljenquist, Chief Strategy Officer at Intermountain Health, about the challenges facing rural healthcare and the innovative hub and spoke model being implemented to address these issues. The conversation covers the virtual hospital concept, the importance of collaboration among healthcare systems, and the need for advocacy and policy engagement to support rural health initiatives. Dan shares insights on the guiding principles of their coalition, the scalability of their model, and the positive outcomes they are already seeing in patient care.
Key Takeaways
1. Rural healthcare is facing significant challenges, including hospital closures and care disparities. 2. The hub and spoke model aims to stabilize rural healthcare by connecting rural hospitals with urban specialists. 3. Intermountain Health has developed a virtual hospital concept to provide remote support to rural facilities. 4. The coalition formed to address rural health includes partners like Microsoft and Gates Ventures. 5. Advocacy and policy engagement are crucial for securing support for rural healthcare initiatives. 6. The guiding principles of the coalition focus on critical health outcomes and operational sustainability. 7. Scalability of the hub and spoke model is essential for broader implementation across the country. 8. Training and support for clinicians are vital for the success of the virtual hospital model. 9. Measuring clinical outcomes is important to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model. 10. Collaboration among healthcare systems is key to driving innovation and improving care delivery.
The full transcript of our conversation is also available to read. Show the Transcript.
About our host
Robyn Brand serves as VP of Industry Insights at The Health Management Academy.
Dan Liljenquist is the Chief Strategy Officer at Intermountain Health and has been at Intermountain for 13 years. Intermountain, is a large integrated delivery system, non-profit system, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, but operates in six states.