Executive Notes

High Performance Network

Dan DeBarba
EVP, Western Connecticut Health Network
President, Danbury Hospital and New Milford Hospital

As we transition to value based care, we have to rethink and reshape the way we deliver care across the continuum. Additionally, we need to find ways to become stronger and more efficient to meet our current financial challenges due to the unprecedented state taxes ($55 million a year) which are eroding our margins.

In addition to selecting Cerner as our single patient and financial record, we have launched Powering for Performance and Prosperity (aka P3) – a Network wide initiative to sustain excellence by increasing productivity, reducing expenses and supporting a High Performance Network.

We recently engaged Berkeley Research Group (BRG) to work with management and staff to assess opportunities across all three hospitals and affiliates to identify additional revenue enhancement opportunities and cost savings. Locally, BRG has worked with Yale New Haven Health System, Backus, Middlesex, UCONN Health and other Connecticut hospitals with impressive results.

The initial assessment identified an estimated $50 - $80 million in expense reductions and revenue enhancement. Internally, we will now begin analyzing the opportunities. Focus areas include: Clinical Redesign – Clinical Variation and Patient Flow; Management and Staff Productivity; Non-Labor; Revenue Cycle; Physician Practices and Portfolio Optimization.

I will be leading the work in clinical integration and Mike Daglio will be leading efforts in hospital operations. Our Hospital Quality and Efficiency Program (HQEP) will be key to successful clinical integration. We will be looking at clinical variation, utilization and patient flow to help maximize efficiencies in how we standardize care across the hospitals, ambulatory care settings, the medical group and home care. Clinical leadership – Drs. Miller, Tietjen, Berman and Keller will play a key role in driving this transformation, bringing members of the medical staff into the process.

Additionally, we will be creating a Primary Care service line to support our PCP strategy and a Central Referral Office to expedite physician referrals while leveraging the exceptional talent that exists within our system. We will also work on optimizing our service lines, taking a hard look at what programs and services we offer, utilization trends and potential opportunities to grow or consolidate services. We’ll also look at WCMG practice operations to enhance performance. On the hospital operations side, we will be looking for ways to reduce waste and costs without compromising quality care. We will review strategic pricing, charge capture and accounts receivables where small improvements can result in significant savings.

We are currently developing work teams and expect the implementation phase to run 9 – 18 months. Stay tuned for updates in DOCline and at staff meetings and feel free to reach out to me or any of our clinical leaders with ideas or concerns you may have.

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