February 23, 2021

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Thank you to all of our team members, physicians, and leaders for your extra efforts the last few weeks to ensure we were able to capably and safely serve every patient in need during the severe winter weather conditions. Thankfully, it looks like we’re through the worst of it, with milder spring weather ahead!

COVID Update

And speaking of through the worst of it, we continue to see COVID cases declining at TriHealth and throughout the region and nation! I’m happy to report that today, we only have 62 inpatients and 9 on ventilators here at TriHealth – that’s 16 fewer inpatients than a week ago! This moderating trend is very encouraging, and hopefully, an indicator that we are nearing the end of this third wave and on the road to eradicating this virus and pandemic. We continue to monitor the emerging COVID variants – now seven – and are prepared to act quickly and decisively if these strains pose a new threat (through either rising cases or resistance to the vaccine), in order to ensure the continued safety of our team members, physicians, and community.

Last week, Governor DeWine and his Chief of Staff reached out to talk with me directly about TriHealth’s Vaccination Program. Thanks to our exceptional vaccine team and support staff – and the amazing organization and operation of our call center, scheduling systems and vaccination centers – TriHealth is seen as a health system that is “getting the vaccination process right” (and a lot more!), even as our nation struggles with too little supply of the vaccine itself. The Governor complimented our outreach to communities of color, our decision to operate a call center for vaccine information and scheduling, and our proactive scheduling of the most vulnerable patients based on age and underlying health conditions. Not surprisingly, I took advantage of the call to ask the Governor when we could expect to receive larger shipments of the vaccine and what his administration’s plans were for expanding eligibility to populations below the age of 65. He was candid in sharing that he does not expect vaccine supplies to increase very much until April and May, when production of the Johnson and Johnson single dose vaccine (assuming FDA approval) begins to ramp up. He also shared that it is unlikely that eligibility will be expanded until vaccine supply catches up with demand. I was proud, once again, to “brag” about our team’s resourcefulness and attention to detail – and to be recognized for it by the Governor – as we have quietly vaccinated nearly 20,000 members of our community in recent months and now stand ready to dramatically expand our vaccination capacity once vaccine supplies increase!

18^th LDI Takes Place Tomorrow for all TriHealth Leaders

On Wednesday, February 24^th, we will conduct our next quarterly Leadership Development Institute (LDI), themed, “Hoping, Helping, Healing.” Once again, the LDI will be held through a safe, virtual format. We have also condensed this LDI into a half-day session, held from 8am – 12pm. This will allow our leaders to get back to the important work of helping our teams care for our patients and manage through the continued challenges of COVID and our vaccine roll-out program. Thank you for your support of our leaders as they take this time to focus on improving themselves and further hardwiring the TriHealth Way, so they can be even better servant leaders to you and our patients! Look forward to a video link that will be posted on Bridge and included in my next Weekly Update, sharing an abbreviated version of the LDI.

FY22 Annual Strategic Planning Underway           

Our annual planning process and strategic priorities will, no doubt, look somewhat different this year because of the pandemic and the way COVID is reshaping healthcare and our society. So, we are developing the next phase of our plan to “Get Healthcare Right” – Better Care, Better Health, and Better Value – with an appreciation for, and understanding of, the long-term impacts of COVID on consumer behavior, a weakened national economy, new employer and payer expectations, and financing of healthcare services. As we prepare to emerge from, and to operate in, a “post-pandemic world,” it is a near certainty that the healthcare landscape and our social norms will be altered by the lasting impacts of COVID on:

• How, where, and when healthcare services will be delivered – examples include, greater telehealth usage, shift to outpatient services, and a continued long-term reduction in ED and inpatient care.
• Rising costs on payers and health systems to care for more than 25 million Americans with lasting health effects of COVID.
• A weakened economy with increased unemployment, resulting in a higher percentage of uninsured and struggling state governments.
• Healthcare workers choosing to leave the industry because of the stress and “trauma” of this pandemic.

Our fiscal year 2022 annual planning process will address and respond to these and other new realities resulting from this pandemic that are re-shaping the healthcare industry and, in some ways, accelerating the shift from “Fee for Service” to “Value Based” care and financing models. As our plan comes together, we intend to review in more detail these important “post-pandemic” assumptions about the environment and industry, as well as our strategic priorities for addressing them with our team members, leaders, and physicians at upcoming Town Halls.

Thank you for continuing to do your part to help us get healthcare right – for our patients, for our community, and for each other! Better, brighter days are on the horizon, and I am confident that together, we will once again lead the way in helping our region emerge stronger and more resilient in the “post-COVID world” ahead.