Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / How Hackensack Meridian Health Is Evolving Population Health at Scale

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How Hackensack Meridian Health Is Evolving Population Health at Scale · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders
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  together to unpack the most pressing issues facing
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  the industry.
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  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
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  This April, more than 3,500
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  health care executives will return to Chicago for
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  Becker's sixteenth Annual Meeting.
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  Join us April 13 through the sixteenth.
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  For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right.
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  This is Scott Becker with the Beckers HealthCare
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  podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by a
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  brilliant leader that we get to visit with
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  periodically.
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  We're joined today by Patrick Young,
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  and and Patrick serves as the president of
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  population health at Hackensack Meridian Health.
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  Hackensack Meridian Health, a magnificent system.
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  Patrick,
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  you've been running population health for some time
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  now. Tell us a little bit about I
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  mean, you you've been in this role now
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  at at at population health for about ten
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  years. Talk about the evolution of population health
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  over the years. And, also, let me take
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  a step back and ask you to take
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  a moment to introduce yourself to the audience.
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  Sure.
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  First, Scott, thank you very much for giving
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  me the opportunity to, be a part of
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  your podcast. I really appreciate it.
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  I have been,
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  at HMH now for, going on eleven years,
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  and present population, I thought you mentioned. So
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  population health means a lot of things to
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  different people. I handle
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  our payer contracting reports into my area, care
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  management to the nurses,
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  social workers, and utilization nurses at the hospitals
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  who discharge planning report into me. I handle
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  our,
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  home care division, which is a $160,000,000
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  home care business that has, you know, home
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  care private duty,
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  dialysis. Everything that's done in the home is
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  in our home care division. I handle our
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  social determinants of health program that is just,
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  you know, grown by leaps and bounds. It's
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  been very, very sex successful for the company.
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  I am chairman of the board of our,
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  clinically integrated network, and, we have 4,600
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  physicians who participate with that.
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  I handle community outreach and development, and I'm
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  also chairman of the board of a, joint
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  venture that we have with, Horizon Blue Cross
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  Blue Shield and Robert Wood Johnson.
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  It's a 60,000
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  member MA program here in New Jersey.
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  And Hackensack Meridian Health, as you know, is
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  the the largest,
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  not for profit,
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  comprehensive integrated health care network in New Jersey.
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  We have 18
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  hospitals, five,
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  100 different,
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  outpatient care locations.
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  We have about 38,000
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  team members.
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  And if you're not aware of it, we
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  were also ranked,
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  a top 20 hospital in the nation. Hackensack
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  Meridian Health Hospital was was ranked
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  number one, and we're very excited about that.
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  And that goes along with being number one,
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  in New Jersey for our children's hospital as
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  well. So that that's a little background about,
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  my responsibility
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  and our system.
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  So
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  amazing what's going on there. And, obviously, you've
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  got population health defined fairly broadly in what
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  you do, but I guess that makes sense
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  because it is the population.
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  Talk for a second, Patrick, about
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  when you look at population health today,
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  what are you most focused on and excited
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  about? What what is working? What's going well?
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  Where are you most focused and excited?
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  Sure. So I think that, you know, for
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  us, the fundamentals are probably as as as
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  important now that they've ever been. Making sure
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  that the contracts that you have with the
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  payers
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  are very definitive to ensure that you're receiving
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  your net operating,
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  revenue that you expected when you did the
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  contract.
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  As you know, the contracts right now with
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  a lot of the payers are contentious across
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  the country, a lot of termination. So that's
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  really critical that you have good sound contracts
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  that allows the organization
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  to receive
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  compensation for the services that they're providing. So
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  I think that's a really fundamental,
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  aspect of what we do. It's not necessarily
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  glamorous,
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  but it's critically important to the organization.
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  I think that what I'm excited about a
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  lot is, you know, our home care area,
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  it's one of the fastest growing areas in
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  the organization.
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  You know, we have grown that area significantly.
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  And,
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  last year,
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  we launched a hospital from home,
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  with an organization called Medically Home, and, it,
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  is now been acquired by dispatch health.
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  And, you know, we had,
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  at that organization in our home care division,
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  you know, we enrolled, you know, a 31
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  patients
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  from the hospital or from the ED into
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  the home, and we manage those individuals.
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  And I really have been excited about that
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  because it's a whole new way in which
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  individuals are receiving care,
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  and it's great care. The satisfaction levels are
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  very, very high, so I'm very excited about
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  that, you know, from that perspective.
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  You know, there's a lot of, trendy things
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  that are taking place. AI, everyone's talking about
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  AI. We're very much involved in AI, you
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  know, around the omnia clinical,
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  intelligence to reduce documentation
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  and billing. I think for pop health, it's
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  still more analytic based. I don't know if
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  it's really moved into the practical application.
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  I think there's some applications
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  associated with,
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  you know, reaching out to patients, calling the
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  patients, having an individual ask them questions, get
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  them engaged in their own health care. So
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  I think some of that technology and AI
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  is starting to develop.
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  We're very much involved in, you know, care
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  twenty four seven for telehealth, and I just
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  talked about the home care business. So there's
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  a lot of exciting things going on right
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  now. I think that, you know, provider systems
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  are going to be under pressure
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  given some of the changes taking place in
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  '26 and then, obviously, '27 with the big
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  beautiful bill. And I think we're trying to
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  make sure that we position our organization as
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  best we possibly can.
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  Thank you. And talk for a second.
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  Your population health
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  used to mean when we've had so many
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  different changes over the years and what it
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  means,
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  Talk for a second about how you view
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  population as health has changed in the ten
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  years that you've been really driving population health.
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  Yeah. So I think, you know, as I
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  as I think back when we started, you
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  know, our clinically integrated network when I came
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  here had 300 physicians.
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  Today, we have 4,600
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  physicians.
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  We have had shared savings
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  in our clinically integrated network for the last
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  five years of a $186,000,000
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  in shared savings primarily around our commercial. So
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  I think we've be we've evolved,
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  and I think we've become much more sophisticated
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  in how we are reaching out, touching members,
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  improving the quality
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  of their health care, but also
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  with social determinants of health program, we are
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  working on the quality of their life.
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  So, you know, we give medically tailored meals
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  to individuals based on a screening process at
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  all of our hospitals. They get seven meals,
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  lunch and dinner.
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  They're medically tailored for them, and then we
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  work with the social determinants of health team
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  on a more sustainable model. So, you know,
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  the way I look at it is is
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  the whole industry is evolving
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  using sophistication,
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  using AI,
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  but also applying some practical applications
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  that are having an impact on individuals' lives
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  and the quality of life that they have,
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  which is ultimately what we're trying to do.
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  Thank you. And and and and talk for
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  a second, Patrick,
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  about
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  what has surprised you the most when you
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  think about changes in population health? I mean,
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  those that have been in health care for
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  a long time,
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  we remember when home health care was just
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  started as a
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  benefit
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  from Medicare,
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  and the different ups and downs to that,
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  now the evolution back to home health. During
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  COVID, of course, population health met so much
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  of making sure everybody's vaccinated.
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  What what has surprised you in terms of
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  the changes in population health?
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  You know, I would I would say the
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  population health, in my opinion, has
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  changed, but it's really more of an evolution
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  versus a revolution.
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  I think that,
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  you know, we have taken a lot of
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  the foundational
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  aspects of what we do here at HMH,
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  and Bob Garrett and and and the board
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  has allowed population health to diversify
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  its scope.
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  But, you know, when you really think about
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  it by
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  having home care, you know, the the the
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  nurses who are doing post post discharge planning
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  are referring to my other team. That's the
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  home care team.
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  And the people who are doing the contracts
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  here at HMH are working with the team
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  and the nurses to make sure that, you
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  know, our payers are fulfilling their contractual obligations.
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  So, you know, that integration
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  of how population health has come together, it's
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  not just about
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  managing a specific population,
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  but it's really the entire ecosystem
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  of our health care delivery system that we
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  have and how that's evolving. You know you
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  know you know, if you go back ten
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  years, you know, the idea of sending someone
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  from the ED to the home, people couldn't
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  even conceive that idea. It wasn't even practical.
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  The technology wasn't there, the advancements. And so
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  I think that as you start to apply
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  some of these new technologies
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  and, it it becomes easier,
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  for for care to be received in different
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  sites,
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  whether that's at the home, at an ambulatory
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  site, or at the hospital.
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  I think it's it's about the evolution of
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  the ecosystem of care. And we're very excited
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  because we've invested tremendously in our ambulatory footprint.
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  Our home care business is growing tremendously.
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  Our hospitals are doing extremely well. So the
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  the evolution of population health has really,
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  grown given all those dynamics, which I think
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  ultimately,
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  is,
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  reason for our success.
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  It's really remarkable to watch the Hackensack Meridian
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  story. I remember when Bob Garrett was co
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  CEO and then CEO, and the leadership team
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  that you've put together there is remarkable.
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  Take a second, Patrick, because you're one of
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  the most centered, brightest, capable leaders I get
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  to talk to. I love visiting with you.
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  What advice would you give to emerging leaders?
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  Yeah. It it's a great question. I would
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  say that
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  stay focused in the fundamentals. I think sometimes,
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  individuals become
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  enamored with what's next, what's the next big
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  thing.
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  But, you know, the reason why we have
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  been able to expand our scope of of
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  functionality
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  and services that we do on population health
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  is you do the fundamentals
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  extremely well. We are generating shared savings. We
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  are not a drag on the economics of
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  the organization.
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  We are providing revenue,
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  and profitability to the organization
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  from population health. And I think that adds
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  credibility to what we do, and that allows
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  the organization to continue to support programs like,
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  you know, in medically decaled meals for patients
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  who need that. We you know, funding initially
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  was from HMH, but now it's being provided
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  by us going out and receiving grants and
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  and private funding. But we're changing people's lives
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  there. So I'm I'm excited about the opportunity
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  to continue to grow and, you know, what
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  is the next big thing for HMH.
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  You know, I would tell everyone that you
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  gotta do the fundamentals well because if you
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  can do the fundamentals well and it produces
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  good results for the organization,
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  that allows you to do other great things,
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  within your organization.
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  But talk about this, this this constant focus
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  back to the fundamentals.
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  I I feel like sometimes in business, that's
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  lost on people. And at the end of
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  the day, you and I probably come from
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  the same school of thought that 80% of
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  everything you do is doing the fundamentals right
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  and showing up every day and taking care
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  of patients, taking care of people.
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  Talk about how important that is just to
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  not get lost in all the shiny new
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  things, all the different ideas,
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  but a lot of focus on the fundamentals.
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  Yeah. I mean, patient satisfaction is critical for
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  our organization, and that's all aspects of our
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  business, whether it's home care, it's an ambulatory
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  visit, it's a primary care physician specialist, the
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  emergency room or a hospital. So, you know,
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  focusing on the fundamentals of ensuring that you
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  are good financial stewards for the organization,
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  ensuring that patients are receiving great care, that
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  our team members
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  are happy and satisfied with working here. You
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  know, if you can do those fundamentals
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  well,
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  it really sets the stage
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  for the organization
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  to
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  go beyond what we are doing today, and
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  it allows us to really, you know, look
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  at the future and then determine what are
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  the greatest opportunities for us to work on
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  and then move in that direction. And under
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  Bob Garrett's leadership, that's the kind of leader
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  he's always been,
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  and, I I think that's really positioned HMH
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  unbelievably well for the future.
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  And we all do know that there's some
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  headwinds coming. And to the extent that you're
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  doing the fundamentals well, that, I think, ultimately
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  will allow you to take some risks that
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  you maybe couldn't have taken if you hadn't
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  done the financials and the fundamentals well.
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  Patrick, we love visiting with you. We're a
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  huge fan of what you do in Hackensack
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  Meridian Health. Thank you so much for joining
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  us today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  Thank you. It was it was great, talking
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  to you again, Scott. Thank you.