Hackensack Meridian CEO on Technology's Impact on Healthcare

Steve Adubato goes on-location to Hackensack Meridian Health’s “Celebrating Life & Liberty” event to speak to Robert Garrett, CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health, about the current trends in healthcare and how technology has impacted the way patients and physicians communicate with each other.

11/9/19 #324

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Hi, I’m Steve Adubato. That's right, we are at MetLife Stadium for the Celebrating Life and Liberty event. You can hear the music playing, and just about an hour or so, there's going to be about 6,000 people here. We're honored to be talking to Robert Garrett. Bob Garrett is CEO, so we're actually gonna be doing a half-hour special on this event talking to survivors family members, clinicians, others who are part of this event. But right now, we want to talk to Bob about some important healthcare issues. So if I say to you trends in healthcare... big picture... you say...? Big picture? I'd say first and foremost, I'd say that consolidation in the healthcare industry continues to accelerate. Does that mean mergers? Mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, partnerships, we've seen a lot of it. We're gonna continue to see that happen. I think it's actually not a bad thing. I think it's actually a very very good thing because when health systems can consolidate and can merge, you can share best practices. So clinical care can improve, you can also not duplicate services, and read some efficiencies and some synergy. So hopefully healthcare becomes more affordable more accessible you get to a certain size and scale that you're able to reinvest in the communities that we serve so those... those trends are gonna continue to happen. I think the market just continues to change. it's gonna be really hard for the... the old-time Community Hospital a free-standing Community Hospital to really be able to survive without at least an affiliation at least a partnership, if not... You know scale? Yeah, you need the scale to really survive. The other big trend that I see, Steve, is healthcare... we know that more and more healthcare is being provided outside of the four walls of the hospital. So you know you see more ambulatory care popping up, whether it's retail health care centers, surgery centers, fitness and wellness centers... but now the big trend is really toward homecare. Homecare? Yes. And the future of health care is really health care being delivered in the home with the right technology. And that's... that's really gonna be key because... and it's almost like what goes around comes around. I mean, if you think about back in the Middle Ages, that's where health care was really being delivered. In the home it's going back to the home, but this time, it's gonna be with technology. So... Hold on Bob, I'm curious about this... the technology part of it...Yes. You talk about innovation a lot. actually, check out our website, you'll see an entire series we're doing on innovation. With the innovation, with the technology... but go back doctors or..."