Creating the future of healthcare together

Healthcare can achieve the unimaginable when leaders build collaborations based on data and outcomes. Just ask Mike Alkire, president and CEO of Premier.

Not long ago, his friend received a late-stage colon cancer diagnosis. He had 12 months to live. When the disease metastasized to the man’s brain, doctors recommended he undergo irradiation, which would cause severe memory loss in his final year of life.

“Before we go down that path, let me help you get a second opinion,” Alkire told his friend.

The second opinion led to a therapy that provided a much better outlook. But how can healthcare scale that kind of success rather than rely on luck?

To get answers, thousands of healthcare leaders recently attended Premier’s Breakthroughs 24 Conference & Exhibition, an annual event showcasing innovation and collaboration in healthcare. They came from across the healthcare ecosystem in search of strategic partnerships, novel best practices and emerging technologies—precisely the combination that Alkire’s friend needed to beat cancer. 

In the opening keynote, Alkire sat down with Dan Peres, president of Modern Healthcare, to discuss how the healthcare ecosystem can unite to solve the industry’s greatest challenges, for the benefit of patients, staff and organizations across America.

Unity to address unmet needs

As a relative newcomer to healthcare, Peres questioned why the industry remained fragmented.

“As a journalist, as I’ve come to an executive position through a newsroom, I’m constantly trying to pick things apart,” Peres said. “So, I was really trying to understand, ‘Why aren’t all aspects of this industry working together more closely?’”

This disconnect has serious consequences for patients, Akire noted. The result is a healthcare system that is incredibly complex, especially for patients needing specialized treatment plans. He pointed to his friend’s cancer journey. 

“Many people who live in rural and underserved communities don't believe they have access to the best cancer centers in the nation,” Alkire said. "We need to leverage technology to ensure all people have access to the best possible care."

A second opinion from MD Anderson Cancer Center led to a much better treatment plan and prognosis. But most people don’t have personal connections who intimately understand the healthcare system. To improve patient support, care coordination and access, providers, suppliers and payers must form partnerships across the ecosystem.

“This theme of being united is all about how we collectively come together and make it easier for folks to consume healthcare in our local communities,” Alkire said.

Reflecting on his own journey, Peres came to a similar conclusion about the need for collaboration.

“I wrote a book a few years back about my addiction to prescription painkillers, and this idea of unity factors heavily into my recovery,” Peres said. “I’m sober now for 17 years, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. But it doesn’t happen without a community.”

Healthcare’s top challenges and opportunities

Alkire and Peres each have a unique view of how healthcare leaders are working to improve lives—and what obstacles they’re up against. For Peres, this insight comes from frequent conversations with health system CEOs. For Alkire, it comes from Premier’s connection to 76 percent of the healthcare ecosystem, which puts him in close relationships with provider, manufacturer and payer CEOs. 

Workforce is one of the biggest issues, they agreed. As baby boomers age, healthcare is bracing for a “silver tsunami,” which will cause a rapid surge in demand for healthcare services. That represents a challenge for a healthcare workforce facing shortages tied to retirements and burnout.

The shift from fee-for-service to value-based care, meanwhile, requires healthcare organizations to keep pace with evolving quality incentives and reporting standards.

Finally, healthcare leaders must fortify and digitize supply chain operations, Alkire said. 

Taking a lesson from the pandemic, healthcare will need to reduce its reliance on foreign manufacturers like China to mitigate disruption and quality risks.

The good news? Each challenge provides opportunity. Data and technology replace workforce shortages with unparalleled remote access to specialists. Strategic partnerships reveal efficiencies that benefit both the enterprise and clinicians. Value-based care empowers patients to get ahead of the diseases that send people to emergency departments. And stronger supply chains ensure healthcare is ready for whatever comes next.

“We have to constantly look for ways to extend the manual processes that occur in a health system,” Alkire said. “Technology is going to be paramount to extend labor and allow those things to happen.”

Technology and data advances

Emerging technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence have primed healthcare to realize tremendous improvements.

AI, for instance, can reduce the administrative burden of tasks like prior authorization and risk adjustment. The technology also expands patient access to clinical trials by identifying eligible participants more efficiently, regardless of location.

While AI can streamline processes, expand access to new treatments and reduce healthcare disparities, realizing its potential requires healthcare organizations to unite around best practices.

“It’s important that we make sure people are comfortable sharing their data, and then that stewards of data make sure it’s protected,” Alkire said.

Care quality and patient safety: The need to get it right

As healthcare leaders move forward, Alkire and Peres stressed that patients must be at the center. Few sectors have as little room for error as healthcare.

“I grew up in manufacturing, and we had this focus on zero defects,” Alkire said. “Healthcare has to get there. We have other industries that we expect to have zero defects, and one is the airline industry.”

Recalling his daughter’s traumatic experience on the Alaska Airlines flight that lost a door plug in early 2024, Alkire underscored the imperative for industries like aviation and healthcare to deliver flawless services.

An infrequent flier, Alkire’s daughter, Natalie, texted him when the cabin door tore open mid-flight. As masks dropped from the ceiling and passengers panicked, the pilot prepared to make an emergency landing. It was a parent’s worst nightmare.

“As a dad whose only daughter was on that flight, it was a harrowing 16 minutes,” Alkire said. “It personalizes zero defects. In healthcare, we have to do our best to create a zero-defect environment because it’s somebody’s dad, mom, daughter, son or family member going through the system.” 

For Alkire, the incident exemplified why healthcare must prioritize unity. By embracing shared goals and collaboration, leaders can scale the solutions that empower patients, clinicians and organizations to thrive.

“The unification of this industry will certainly have positive business outcomes,” Peres said. “But at the end of the day, it will more importantly have positive patient outcomes.”