Memo to the president-elect

Modern Healthcare assembled its own "transition team" to offer President-elect Joe Biden advice on policy priorities for the incoming administration.

“First, a coordinated response to COVID that ensures providers have the resources they need to deliver care to those in need. Second, investing in the tremendous gains made in virtual care over the last several months to expand access to safe and affordable care. Third, stabilizing the Affordable Care Act and expanding coverage for those who still do not have access, including those who lost insurance during the pandemic." 

Joe Impicciche
President and CEO
Ascension

“Our nation’s pandemic response is the priority issue. Take time to listen to the people caring for patients on the front lines. Follow the best advice of the clinicians and scientists. They will guide us in the right direction and get us back on track.”

Dr. Rod Hochman
President and CEO
Providence

“We need to invest in creating enduring infrastructure for sharing individual patient data between healthcare providers and public health organizations. This includes: defining the information flow so that data is only sent once by the original source, but it is shared with all agencies and organizations that need it; further development of existing data-sharing standards; and monetary incentives so that money is available for public health organizations to implement the standards and software.”

Dr. Stan Huff
Chief medical informatics officer
Intermountain Healthcare

“We support President-elect Biden’s focus on addressing the urgent needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but believe there must be a focus on the social determinants of health that have exacerbated the situation. …We strongly urge the president-elect to work with Congress to create a national commission—one that includes industry leaders—focused on creating a new model of care that addresses both the immediate and underlying causes of poor health and health inequalities.”

Randy Oostra
President and CEO
ProMedica

“I would encourage President-elect Biden to free the FDA, CDC and other scientific and medicine-based agencies from political influence. I would advise him to fund the agencies responsible for pandemic preparation and responses as we will see more pandemic threats in the future, in addition to rejoining the World Health Organization. As to hospitals—to evaluate overregulation and underfunding particularly for safety-net hospitals serving the underserved.”

Chris Van Gorder
President and CEO
Scripps Health

“Policy and overregulation of the healthcare industry is increasing the cost of care by hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Over course of the almost 50 years that I’ve been in healthcare, we have added layers upon layers of regulations, attempting to correct the challenges created by the last batch of regulations. (It is) time to step back, be honest, and realize that, yes the baby is ugly.”

Chuck Christian
Vice president of technology
Franciscan Health

“I didn't notice people who are running hospitals/agencies/nursing homes, etc., on his (coronavirus) task force team. Some real-life experience would be informative in putting together a cohesive national strategy.

• If the Supreme Court keeps the ACA intact as it is now, then what is the plan(s) to fix the issues that were problematic?
• Medicaid and safety net issues: Need to move away from block grants and encourage expansion of Medicaid enrollment.
• Criminal justice reform: Address existing barriers to employment after involvement with the criminal justice system; without jobs, people cannot be in good health (lack of jobs leads to lack of insurance, food, housing, etc.).
• Immigration/DACA: formalize a strategy around DACA that is definitive and enduring. Address the immigration rollback and the public charge issue. On the latter, people are fearful of accessing services such as healthcare or food support.”

Karen Teitelbaum
President and CEO
Sinai Health System

“I would implore President-elect Biden to put more of a focus on our industry by collaborating and cooperating with us instead of adding regulations, keeping reimbursement too low for a fair living wage and not recognizing our caregivers and the care they deliver.”

David B. Parker
President
ProMedica Senior Care, formerly HCR ManorCare

“The pandemic has revealed and further opened significant fractures in our society, especially around disparities in healthcare. Understanding those and addressing them in ways that help unify us all is foundational to moving forward. Prioritize a comprehensive COVID-19 response—especially focusing on testing, contact tracing and vaccine distribution—while taking on the interrelationship between our collective pandemic response and the economic challenges it has caused.”

Greg Adams
Chairman and CEO
Kaiser Permanente