Today's guest is Jeff Hughes, the Chief Strategy Officer for Wentworth-Douglass Hospital (WDH) in Dover, New Hampshire. In this podcast, Jeff talks about his career in planning and strategy in a wide variety of healthcare organizations from community hospitals to teaching hospitals to health systems and even a medical school. Wentworth-Douglass has recently gone through the process of becoming an affiliate of Massachusetts General Hospital, and Jeff talks about the lengthy process WDH went through to decide on this strategy. The podcast is a fascinating insight into the reasoning behind the industry-wide trend in consolidation.
Links to the Podcast
Soundcloud:
Full length interview: https://soundcloud.com/healthleaderforge/jeffrey-hughes-chief-strategy-officer-wentworth-douglass-hospital/
Abridged interview: https://soundcloud.com/healthleaderforge/jeffrey-hughes-chief-strategy-officer-wdh-abridged/
(The abridged interview starts with Jeff's position at WDH, the full length interview includes his work history leading up to WDH.)
Podcast Outline Time Topic
0:01:03 education - finding direction
0:03:14 Yale program in health services administration and epidemiology
0:05:33 Healthcare Administration Residency
0:08:35 first role as planning coordinator for Newport Hospital
0:09:22 moving to Danbury Hospital, becoming director of operations
0:10:34 becoming a manager
0:12:11 meshing together strategy and operations
0:12:26 Price Waterhouse Coopers consulting
0:16:19 what do consultants do?
0:18:12 returning to direct care, starting own consulting practice
0:28:41 recruited by WDH
0:29:44 starting at VP of Planning at WDH
0:31:03 redesigning the strategic planning process at WDH
0:34:21 creating strategic questions
0:36:36 moving from process measures to outcomes measures
0:37:39 about WDH
0:38:41 what were the strengths and skills he developed leading up to WDH
0:40:54 Affiliating with Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners Health Care
0:45:04 strategic affiliation analysis
0:46:22 examining options: NH-based system vs. Mass Gen
0:48:47 negotiating from a position of strength
0:50:25 the NH option - horizontal vs. vertical merger
0:53:21 clinical affiliations - what are the benefits?
0:56:25 the future of telehealth
0:59:00 what are the strategic challenges in healthcare now?
Links of Interest:
