Meeting Population Health Challenges at Intermountain Healthcare

[HS Leadership Podcast Series] David Dirks, Assistant Vice President of Healthcare Transformation for Intermountain Healthcare, and Healthcare Success CEO Stewart Gandolf discuss “shared accountability,” Intermountain’s overarching term for their transformation efforts in patient population health and healthcare delivery.

David Dirks

Many hospitals, health systems and providers throughout the United States face the future proactively, bringing a new vision to their communities in providing the highest quality healthcare at more affordable, sustainable rates.

In our conversation, David Dirks describes Intermountain Healthcare’s Shared Accountability Initiative strategy as having three primary components in bringing everyone together for meaningful health care delivery. These include:

• Evidence Based Medicine and delivering the best care available for patients;
• Aligning Financial Incentives to assure that doing the right thing is without penalties; and
• Meaningful Patient Engagement to assure people are involved in their own health.

Successfully managing the strategy, process and implementation of population health requires a close integration and collaboration among hospital medical groups and affiliated physician groups.

The marketing approach that results in implementing a population health strategy, for Intermountain, includes a mission statement shift from “providing the best healthcare services” to “helping people live the healthiest lives possible.” This shift puts a new emphasis on the long-term partnership between the hospital and the patient in lifestyle, healthy living and medical services.

CONNECT HERE FOR MORE about Intermountain's Shared Accountability Initiative, and delivering better care for patients and affordable, sustainable costs.

Stewart Gandolf, MBA

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David Dirks, Assistant Vice President of Healthcare Transformation Assistant Vice at Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, UT, works with hospitals, physicians, insurance companies and community resources. He is responsible for leading multiple healthcare transformation strategies including new physician payment models, value-based contracting strategies, population health management data and analytics systems, predictive analytics, and staffing management and process improvement. He was graduated from Weber State University with a degree in finance and has an MBA from Westminster College.