SSM Health is proud to co-sponsor the 3rd Annual Case Competition of Cornell University’s Sloan Program in Health Administration on March 30-31 at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital’s Conference Center. Two dozen graduate students, from eight of the nation’s top graduate programs in health care, will compete by presenting strategic plans for lowering costs and improving access to health care services in the US.
The goals of this competition, led by the Healthcare Students Association at Cornell University, are to demonstrate knowledge and skills in strategy formation and to demonstrate strategic foresight skills, by scanning an emerging market for trends and options on the horizon. In this case, they are challenged to devise real-world applications for the Health Care Utility (HCU) business model – a novel, non-profit structure in which otherwise competing entities, such as health systems, collaborate in a mission-oriented way to provide an essential good or service they all need – as do patients – at the lowest possible cost.
The first established HCU, Civica Rx, in which SSM Health is a founding member, played a significant role in ultimately driving down the market cost for insulin by announcing it would manufacture and distribute the life-saving diabetes medicine for $30 per vial. Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state will formally support and fund Civica Rx’s efforts to produce insulin, saying in a statement that contracting with Civica Rx will “prevent the egregious cost-shifting that happens in traditional pharmaceutical price games.”
Ned McCoy, Civica president and CEO, is among the esteemed judges joining our SSM Health/Sloan case competition, along with Rima Cohen, a special advisor to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Stefan Scholtes, director of the Centre for Health Leadership & Enterprise at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School; Tom Valdivia, a notable serial healthcare entrepreneur; and members of SSM Health’s senior leadership team.
“This competition is just one more way in which we’re showing that when it comes to pursuing cutting-edge innovation and serving our communities — it’s about achieving both together,” said Carter Dredge, SSM Health’s Senior Vice President and Lead Futurist, who also serves on Civica’s Board of Directors and is the lead architect of the HCU model.
“The mission of a Health Care Utility is to make an essential service accessible to everyone at the same low and transparent cost,” he said. “It’s a powerful business model for doing good – and we’re excited to engage the next generation of health care leaders in thinking about how it can best be put to use.”
In addition to the competition, the event will feature remarks by Laura Kaiser, President and CEO of SSM Health, and Sean Nicholson, Director, Sloan Program in Health Administration at Cornell University, plus panel discussions with several other notable attendees.
About SSM Health
SSM Health is a Catholic, not-for-profit health system serving the comprehensive health needs of communities across the Midwest through a robust and fully integrated health care delivery system. The organization’s 40,000 team members and more than 11,600 providers are committed to providing exceptional health care services and revealing God’s healing presence to everyone they serve.
With care delivery sites in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, SSM Health includes 23 hospitals, more than 300 physician offices and other outpatient and virtual care services, 13 post-acute facilities, comprehensive home care and hospice services, a pharmacy benefit company, a health insurance company and an accountable care organization. It is one of the largest employers in every community it serves. For more information, visit ssmhealth.com or find us on Facebook and Twitter.
