4 months into his job as CEO of Sutter Well being, Warner Thomas has recognized what he desires to perform throughout his first yr main the Northern California nonprofit well being system, and plans to borrow some concepts from his time at Ochsner Well being.
Thomas began his function on the built-in 23-hospital system based mostly in Sacramento in December, after a 10-year stint as New Orleans-based Ochsner’s CEO. Easing Sutter’s staffing and capability constrains are amongst his prime initiatives, he stated in an interview.
In 2020, Ochsner and Loyola College New Orleans partnered to launch a pre-licensure undergraduate nursing program. The following yr, Ochsner teamed up with Delgado Group School to assist practice extra nurses.
Sutter will look to related affiliations with Northern California tutorial establishments to shore up Sutter’s workforce, Thomas stated.
“We are able to’t pay our means out of the healthcare challenges we face immediately, we’ve to coach and educate our means out,” he stated. “We now have a novel alternative in our market right here to construct tight partnerships with tutorial establishments to verify we’re coaching and educating the following era of the healthcare workforce.”
Thomas additionally touched on increasing Sutter’s distant monitoring capabilities, increasing its outpatient footprint, establishing relationships with policymakers and This is what’s on Thomas’ to-do record.
Increase distant monitoring
The well being system should construct out its distant monitoring infrastructure and capability, together with its digital intensive care unit program, to liberate area in its hospitals and ambulatory clinics, lots of that are full, Thomas stated. Sutter already has hospitals and ambulatory clinic expansions within the works, however a extra concerted effort on outpatient development is on the horizon, Thomas stated. “We are going to look to construct our digital partnerships and supply modern expertise to our sufferers. That is likely one of the causes I got here to Sutter,” stated Thomas, noting its proximity to Silicon Valley.
Improve coaching alternatives
Sutter, which trains about 200 residents and fellows a yr, plans to double that quantity over the following yr, Thomas stated. Sutter operates in one of many highest-wage markets within the nation, so the system must differentiate itself in its office tradition, he added.
Rapport with regulators
Sutter has invested almost $10 billion over the previous decade in earthquake security measures, amid a looming 2030 deadline for assembly a California legislation designed to maintain hospitals absolutely operational after earthquakes. By 2020, normally, the state required hospitals to both improve their present buildings to resist an earthquake or exchange them. “My concern is that a number of hospitals will be unable to fulfill the 2030 necessities,” Thomas stated.
Thomas hopes to create a robust relationship with state and federal policymakers to have candid conversations about rules just like the seismic retrofit requirements and the way they have an effect on suppliers, he stated.
Bolster group hospitals
Sutter needed to flip away hundreds of sufferers final yr as a result of it was at capability, Thomas stated. The well being system ought to proceed to delegate assets to its group hospitals to assist them deal with low-acuity sufferers, he stated. “If smaller amenities can’t maintain sufferers and must switch them, that may be a large concern,” Thomas stated.
