Frontlines: What the executives were saying

“We now have a road map. I think healthcare is going from a mom-and-pop local community to something that needs to be much more standardized across the country, much more integrated. It's like the Industrial Revolution in healthcare.”

—Cleveland Clinic President and CEO Dr. Delos Cosgrove

“We have viewed this legislation as a step toward 100% coverage. The ruling doesn't certainly get us there, but it takes a significant leap forward. There's still, depending on whose estimate you look at, 20 million Americans still uninsured, even after the legislation goes into effect.”

—Ascension Health President and CEO Robert Henkel

“The only way we can control the healthcare costs in this country is to give access to the people. The best care is cheap care. That's a fundamental issue that we need to understand.”

—Cook County Health and Hospitals Systems CEO Dr. Ram Raju

“It's a great step forward for the country and I think it will help tens of millions of Americans. I hope now that the decision is behind us, we can now move on to thorough implementation.”

—Former CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick

“We've created the infrastructure to help manage care differently, as the ACA really incentivizes providers to focus more on more ambulatory-care delivery sites, so we've been gearing up for all of this. It's a big day for healthcare in America.”

—Presence Health President and CEO Sandra Bruce

“This will allow us to see our patients earlier and not when they're so sick. This is a win for patients.”

—American Medical Association

“We recognized, upon passage, it wasn't a perfect bill. It would require, over time, modifications, and I'm certain we will be actively engaged in those discussions going forward, as we were in the past.”

—Trinity Health President and CEO Joseph Swedish

“Both parties need to to stop using this bill as a political weapon. It could be a very effective resource to improve healthcare quality and improve costs. The old way isn't going to work anymore. We aren't going back.”

—Nebraska Medical Center

“The ACA has really set the tone for delivery systems to deliver higher value. This does reinforce that this is the right path.”

—Billings (Mont.) Clinic CEO Dr. Nicholas Wolter

“Reform is absolutely inevitable, and most healthcare organizations are preparing to manage the health of people in a very different way than we have been called on to do so in the past. The genie is out of the bottle.”

—Alegent Health President and CEO Richard Hachten

“The conditions that gave rise to advent of the ACA still exist. Providers need to lead the way and not leave it to state and federal legislatures to tell them what to do. We know what we are doing and we need to lead the process.”

—Carolinas HealthCare System President and COO Joe Piemont

“I do think it's important that we all acknowledge there's a lot to do in healthcare, and PPACA is not the final answer to reforming healthcare in this country.”

—Aurora Health Care President and CEO Dr. Nick Turkal