More than 1,200 people attended GNYHA’s 2018 Annual Meeting and Reception, which was held on May 16 at the Jacob Javits Center’s River Pavilion in Manhattan.
GNYHA President Kenneth E. Raske, in his opening address, discussed the recently enacted New York State budget and hailed Governor Andrew Cuomo and the legislative leaders for the budget’s $1 billion Health Care Transformation Fund and $525 million in capital funding for providers. Describing these items as part of GNYHA’s offensive legislative strategy on behalf of the industry—the GNYHA/1199SEIU Healthcare Education Project conducted a massive campaign to ensure the enactment of these programs—Mr. Raske made clear that GNYHA has been forced to play aggressive defense at times as well.
Kenneth E. Raske presents his opening address
“We will continue to defend the health care industry,” Mr. Raske said, noting that advertising and coalition building are key components of GNYHA’s defensive effort nationwide to ward off Medicare and Medicaid cuts, including as part of last year’s dramatic debate to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Mr. Raske also noted that while operating margins for New York hospitals overall have been rising, fueled primarily by ACA implementation and the extraordinary funding New York State has provided for hospitals with negative operating margins, hospital costs covered by Medicare and Medicaid have been declining. Mr. Raske stated that 30% of New York’s hospitals are in such poor financial shape that they are “endangered,” and he pledged to devise solutions to help financially struggling hospitals while also ensuring that financially healthy hospitals can thrive and retain their “sovereignty.”
Panel of experts, moderated by Lee H. Perlman, discusses consolidation and supply chain
Consolidation and the potential disruption of new supply chain entrants such as Amazon were discussed by a panel on the Hospital Response to the Vertical and Horizontal Integration of the Health Care Industry, moderated by GNYHA Ventures President Lee H. Perlman. The panel included Susan DeVore, President and CEO, Premier Inc., who provided insights on what large employers are thinking about, including potential direct contracting with providers for their employees’ health care, Manish Chopra, Senior Partner, McKinsey, and Charles Ditkoff, Senior Advisor, MTS Health Partners.
Second panel of experts, moderated by David C. Rich, discusses the political landscape
During the Political Landscape and the 2018 Midterm Elections panel, which was moderated by GNYHA Executive Vice President David C. Rich, Jefrey Pollock, Founding Partner and President, Global Strategy Group, and Glen Bolger, Partner and Co-Founder, Public Opinion Strategies, discussed how attitudes toward health care could impact the November elections.