Dive Brief:
- Geisinger Health System CEO Glenn Steele, MD, an influential figure in national discussions of care delivery and reimbursement, will resign in 2015, after serving since March 2001.
- Dr. Steele, who earned $5.4 million in total pay in 2011, attracted national attention for his work expanding the health system's footprint and promoting his value-based healthcare model.
- While leaving the CEO post, Dr. Steele will continue to work as chairman of xG Health Solutions, a Columbia, MD-based organization helping providers create value and boost quality.
Dive Insight:
Geisinger's system of care not only attracted widespread attention within healthcare, it has served as one of the models for policymakers crafting not only the ACA but other initiatives as well. In fact, federal leaders have pointed to Geisinger as a microcosm of what national healthcare delivery can become. The pillars of Geisinger's system, including medical homes and a focus on transitions of care, have clearly become core parts of the national transformation of the health system. Dr. Steele clearly deserves a great deal of credit for this.
The notion that Geisinger's approach can be implemented nationally is a questionable one, as many processes and theories work well in one setting and fail in others. But it's clear that studying Geisinger's methods has been of benefit to providers, payers and policymakers. Particularly in the wake of Dr. Steele's departure, it will be interesting to see whether Geisinger's more complex efforts, notably bundled services, go from interesting outliers to broadly-implemented standards of care delivery.