WV Hospitals: Mission Driven and Ready to Serve

I've worked in healthcare for most of my career, but never have I seen the pace of change that our healthcare system is currently experiencing. It touches all of us - healthcare providers, employers, insurers, policymakers and, most importantly, our patients.

As the national and state healthcare landscape continues to shift dramatically - from the transformative and challenging evolution of private and public insurance, to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, managed care and more, the WVHA and its member hospitals and health systems have been there every step of the way-for more than 90 years in fact!

Although change is what seems to describe our industry these days, there are constants that remain at the core of every hospital's mission: to provide high quality, safe care and to create a healthy West Virginia. This mission to serve is at the forefront of everything our hospitals do regardless of the constant financial, regulatory and political pressures that we encounter regularly.

I frequently hear nationally about how many hospital's mission statements become fixtures on the wall beside strategic planning documents of the past, lacking relevance and meaning for staff, stakeholders, and the communities they serve. I can say with confidence that the 64 member hospitals and health systems of the WVHA do not fall into this category. Every day, West Virginia hospitals and their leaders are looking for ways to bring their organizations' mission to life with inspiration and relevance. The story on the previous page by our board chair is just one example ofthat effort across West Virginia hospitals.

A generation ago, the hospital was the site for most care. Today, our hospitals have transitioned to also becoming modern outpatient centers for emergency department services, outpatient surgery and lab tests, to name a few hospital services. In fact, according to the American Hospital Association (AHA), trends indicate that inpatient stays are dropping while outpatient visits are rising, as a result of new technologies, reimbursement rules and payment models. Our hospital leaders are responding to these changes by reorganizing and streamlining their care delivery processes, with the goal of improving quality across the continuum of care. The shift from inpatient to outpatient care isn't the end game but simply a start toward a more integrated model that reaches patients in other settings.

Our hospitals are not only embracing new technology to provide care in other settings, they are also incorporating new tech trends for patient treatment. Mobile health - includingpatientengagementapps, mobile-optimized patient portals and remote patient monitoring-are just a few examples. In fact, mobile and wireless devices, often referred to as "connected health tools," hold the promise of positively impacting the future delivery of patient care. These tools are projected to become increasingly important as our hospitals explore ways to provide quality care at a lower cost, while at the same time increasing satisfaction for patients.

Finally, when I started my career in healthcare, the hospital's role was to take in patients, place them in hospital beds, treat their conditions and make them better before discharging them home after a several-day stay. Today, the hospital coordinates with a network of post-acute providers and is tasked with taking care of the broader population, identifying the most dominant local health challenges and providing proactive care that keeps people out of those hospital beds.

It is stunning, this pace of change.

Whether it's a trend toward outpatient services; new technology or a greater emphasis on care coordination, our foundation rests on a mission that focuses on the patient and recognizes the important place that hospitals hold in our local community. It's also a foundation that recognizes the essential - modernized role - that our 44,000 hospital professionals play in our healthcare system.

In the pages that follow, you will read many excellent examples of how West Virginia hospitals and their dedicated healthcare professionals are meeting the mission of patient care and service through a variety of new and innovative methods. After all, the care provided by West Virginia's hospitals, at its core, remains about caring for people. Despite all the changes, it always will.