Key Takeaways
- Shift procurement strategies from lowest-price bidding to long-term public-private partnerships to prioritize total cost of ownership over upfront savings.
The global healthcare sector stands at a critical juncture. Beset by converging pressures – escalating costs driven by demographic shifts and chronic disease prevalence, the relentless pace of technological innovation demanding constant investment, persistent health inequities leaving vulnerable populations behind, and a complex, often lagging regulatory environment – healthcare organizations face unprecedented challenges.
As John Sun, LEED AP, Chief Growth Officer for Semper Fortis Group and a strategist with over three decades supporting the federal government, observes that healthcare "policy doesn't align with the needs... policies are outdated." He points to the slow adoption of telehealth, a technology available for over 20 years, as a prime example where policy lagged significantly behind capability, hindering access until shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic forced change.
The long-standing reliance on conventional procurement, often characterized by fragmented, short-term contracts and an overriding focus on minimizing upfront expenditure, systematically hinders long-term strategic planning and fails to deliver sustainable value. Sun notes that "traditional government contracting... stifles creativity, stifles agility, and stifles innovation." In this turbulent landscape, a fundamental strategic pivot is not just advantageous, but essential. The adoption of long-term public-private partnerships (PPPs) offers a compelling, sophisticated alternative, a way to "leverage the public private partnerships versus a traditional government contract," fundamentally reframing the relationship between healthcare institutions and their solution providers from transactional exchanges to deeply integrated, collaborative engines for value creation.
The limitations of conventional procurement methods are not merely theoretical; they manifest daily in operational inefficiencies, compromised patient care, and mounting financial strain within healthcare organizations. This model, often rooted in public sector purchasing rules designed for commodity goods rather than complex service ecosystems, creates several systemic disadvantages:
The "Lowest Price Technically Acceptable" (LPTA) Fallacy: While seemingly prudent, prioritizing the lowest bid that meets minimum specifications often proves profoundly counterproductive in healthcare. This approach actively discourages vendors from proposing more advanced, integrated, or innovative solutions that, while potentially carrying a higher initial price tag, could offer substantially lower total cost of ownership (TCO), superior clinical outcomes, enhanced patient experience, or greater operational efficiency over the long term. Hospitals may acquire equipment that quickly becomes outdated, lacks crucial interoperability features, or requires expensive workarounds, ultimately costing more and delivering less value. Consider diagnostic imaging: an LPTA approach might secure a basic MRI scanner, but neglect the value of integrated AI-driven diagnostic support software, advanced sequences, or seamless integration with the hospital's EHR/PACS systems – features a slightly more expensive but value-focused bid might have included. Sun points out that with LPTA, "the winning contractor doesn't necessarily have the best solution."
Policy Misalignment and Innovation Lag: Healthcare policy frequently struggles to keep pace with technological advancement and evolving models of care. Reimbursement structures, licensing regulations, and data privacy laws can create significant barriers to adopting beneficial innovations. Telehealth, for instance, possessed technical viability long before policy adjustments facilitated widespread reimbursement and cross-state practice, delaying access for countless patients, particularly those in remote or underserved areas. Traditional contracts, often rigid and bound by current regulations, lack the flexibility to adapt dynamically as policies evolve, locking hospitals into potentially suboptimal arrangements and hindering the adoption of proven, value-enhancing technologies or care pathways.
Pervasive Short-Termism and Lack of Sustainability: Standard contracts, typically spanning only a few years, necessitate frequent rebidding cycles, creating uncertainty and consuming significant administrative resources. This short-term focus fundamentally undermines strategic planning for long-term technological evolution, essential staff training (especially critical in environments with high turnover, like rural facilities reliant on travel nurses), and the development of sustainable service delivery models. When procuring complex capital equipment like linear accelerators or robotic surgical systems, a short-term view covers the initial purchase but dangerously neglects the crucial, ongoing lifecycle needs: software upgrades, preventative maintenance, cybersecurity updates, specialized training, and eventual decommissioning or replacement. This lack of a holistic, long-term perspective is particularly damaging in resource-constrained settings where continuity of service and predictable budgeting are paramount.
Stifled Innovation and Adversarial Dynamics: The inherently transactional and often adversarial nature of traditional competitive bidding processes discourages the deep collaboration required for true innovation. Vendors are incentivized primarily to meet the explicit terms of the contract at the lowest cost, rather than proactively identifying opportunities for improvement, adapting solutions to unforeseen challenges, or engaging in co-creation to develop solutions genuinely tailored to the unique needs of a specific clinical environment or patient population. This dynamic hinders the development of bespoke solutions and prevents the realization of synergistic value that can arise from genuine partnership.
Exacerbating Health Inequity: The inherent weaknesses of traditional models disproportionately harm vulnerable and underserved populations. Rural and tribal communities, often grappling with limited broadband access, aging infrastructure, and clinic closures driven by financial unsustainability, fall further behind when procurement models fail to support long-term, integrated solutions. An LPTA approach is ill-equipped to address the deep-seated infrastructural and systemic challenges – like establishing robust telehealth networks or funding mobile diagnostic units – required to bridge health equity gaps. Short-term funding cycles make it nearly impossible to sustain specialized services or outreach programs in areas where they are needed most.
In stark contrast to the limitations of conventional methods, the PPP model offers a fundamentally different approach. It transcends simple procurement, establishing a long-term, synergistic relationship designed to achieve shared objectives and deliver holistic value. How does PPP work in practice within the complex healthcare ecosystem? It operates through a meticulously structured, long-term (typically spanning 15 to 50 years) collaborative framework, underpinned by several core principles:
Strategic Risk Allocation and Management: A cornerstone of the PPP approach is the intelligent allocation of risks to the party best equipped to manage them. Unlike traditional models where the public entity often bears the brunt of unforeseen costs or technological failures, PPPs distribute risks – financial (e.g., construction cost overruns, financing costs), technological (e.g., obsolescence, integration failures), operational (e.g., service downtime, maintenance costs), and even demand-side risks (in some models) – based on capability and control. For instance, a technology partner might assume the risk of equipment obsolescence by contractually committing to regular hardware and software upgrades throughout the partnership term. This deliberate risk transfer shields the hospital from significant potential liabilities and introduces greater predictability into long-term financial planning.
Performance-Based Accountability: Moving beyond simply paying for the delivery of a product or service, effective healthcare PPPs intrinsically link financial compensation to the achievement of specific, measurable, and mutually agreed-upon outcomes. These Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can encompass a wide range of metrics, such as equipment uptime guarantees, diagnostic accuracy rates, reduced patient wait times, improved patient satisfaction scores, energy efficiency targets, or specific clinical outcome improvements. This performance-based structure creates powerful incentives for the private partner to optimize operations, maintain high service quality, innovate continuously, and remain acutely focused on delivering the results that matter most to the hospital and its patients. It shifts the dynamic from cost minimization to value maximization.
Whole-Life Value Optimization: The PPP philosophy mandates a shift from minimizing the upfront purchase price to optimizing the total cost and value over the entire lifecycle of the asset or service. This "whole-life" perspective explicitly incorporates all associated costs, including design, construction/installation, financing, operations, maintenance, technology refreshes, training, utilities, and eventual disposal or decommissioning. By considering the TCO, PPPs facilitate more informed investment decisions, preventing the "buy cheap, buy twice" phenomenon. This approach ensures that the chosen solution delivers not just immediate functionality but sustained performance, adaptability, and economic efficiency throughout its operational life, representing true value for money.
Inherent Adaptability and Scalability: Recognizing the dynamic nature of healthcare, well-structured PPP contracts incorporate mechanisms for flexibility and adaptation. Change management protocols allow the partnership to respond effectively to evolving clinical needs, technological advancements, regulatory shifts, or changes in patient volume. This might involve clauses for technology substitution, service scope adjustments, or renegotiation triggers based on predefined events. Furthermore, PPP models can often be scaled – applied to a single department (like radiology), expanded across multiple facilities within a health system, or even implemented regionally to address specific population health needs. This inherent flexibility ensures the partnership remains relevant and effective over its extended duration. As Sun notes, this mechanism is "long term, is sustainable, is adaptable... but also scalable."
Enhanced Sustainability and Predictability: By ensuring predictable, often government-backed or ring-fenced hospital funding streams aligned with long-term operational needs, and by building in comprehensive ongoing support (maintenance, upgrades, training), PPPs create far more sustainable solutions than traditional capital budget-dependent purchases. This is particularly crucial for resource-constrained facilities or those serving underserved communities, where financial predictability and operational reliability are essential for maintaining critical services. The long-term nature fosters stability and allows for strategic investments that might be impossible under fluctuating annual budgets.
The PPP model is not monolithic; various structures can be adapted to specific healthcare needs:
Managed Equipment Services (MES): Perhaps the most common healthcare PPP, where a private partner provides and manages a suite of medical equipment (e.g., diagnostic imaging, laboratory) including maintenance, upgrades, and sometimes staffing/training, for a recurring fee tied to performance.
Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) / Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain (DBFOM): Typically used for larger infrastructure projects like new hospital wings or standalone clinics, where the private partner finances, designs, builds, operates, and maintains the facility for a concession period before transferring it back to the public sector.
Service Concessions: Granting a private partner the right to operate specific non-clinical services (e.g., facilities management, IT infrastructure, logistics) or even some clinical support services under a long-term contract with performance standards.
The strategic adoption of PPPs unlocks a cascade of advantages that address many of the core challenges facing healthcare providers today. The advantages of public private partnership are not merely incremental improvements; they represent a paradigm shift in capability and sustainability:
Unlocking Significant Financial Efficiency and Predictability: This is often the most immediate driver for considering PPPs. By converting large, unpredictable capital expenditures into smooth, manageable operating expenses spread over the partnership term, PPPs improve budget certainty. The transfer of specific risks (like technology obsolescence or maintenance cost overruns) further shields hospital budgets from unexpected shocks. Rigorous TCO analysis embedded in the PPP process ensures better value compared to repeated, fragmented procurements. While the total contract value over 20 years might seem high compared to an initial purchase price, it encompasses lifecycle costs (upgrades, maintenance, training) that would otherwise represent massive, unfunded future liabilities under traditional models. This predictability is invaluable for long-range financial planning and stability.
Catalyzing Innovation and Elevating Service Quality: Performance-based incentives intrinsically motivate private partners to optimize operations, introduce new technologies, refine workflows, and proactively enhance service delivery. Hospitals gain access to specialized expertise, cutting-edge technology, and proven operational efficiencies that might be difficult or cost-prohibitive to develop in-house. Contractual obligations for technology refreshes ensure that equipment and systems remain state-of-the-art, directly impacting diagnostic accuracy, treatment effectiveness, patient safety, and overall care quality. The collaborative nature encourages joint problem-solving and the development of innovative solutions tailored to specific clinical challenges.
Expanding Access and Promoting Health Equity: PPPs can be powerful tools for extending essential services to underserved populations and geographies. Sustainable funding models enable hospitals, particularly rural or community facilities, to acquire and maintain advanced diagnostic and treatment capabilities they might otherwise be unable to afford. PPPs can facilitate the establishment of telehealth networks reaching remote patients, fund mobile health clinics, or support the infrastructure needed for specialized remote consultations. By ensuring the long-term viability of critical services in resource-limited settings, PPPs directly contribute to reducing health disparities and improving access for all.
Building Organizational and Systemic Resilience: The stability inherent in long-term partnerships enhances resilience against various disruptions. Predictable operational costs and guaranteed service levels provide a buffer against economic downturns or sudden budget cuts. Contractually defined service continuity plans and risk mitigation strategies strengthen resilience against supply chain interruptions, public health crises (like pandemics), or natural disasters. By ensuring critical infrastructure and services remain operational, PPPs contribute to the overall robustness and responsiveness of the healthcare system. Sun emphasizes this resilience to political shifts as a key benefit.
Successfully transitioning from traditional procurement to a strategic partnership model requires more than just a different contracting mechanism; it demands a profound shift in organizational mindset, culture, and capabilities. Achieving the full potential of the PPP model hinges on several critical success factors:
Embracing Genuine Co-Creation and Human-Centered Design: The most effective and sustainable solutions emerge from deep, empathetic understanding and authentic collaboration. This requires moving beyond predefined vendor solutions and engaging in intensive dialogue with all stakeholders – clinicians, nurses, technicians, administrators, patients, and community representatives. Providers must actively listen to understand the nuanced needs, workflows, and pain points. As Sun emphasizes, "we must go to where the need is to listen to the community, to listen to the physicians, to listen to the directors... What do you need and why do you need it?" Building trust, particularly with historically underserved or skeptical communities, is foundational. "Let them tell me what they need versus me telling them what they need. You form a trust, and that's how a partnership is formed." The process should be one of co-designing solutions, not simply procuring commodities.
Establishing Robust Outcome Measurement and Performance Management: The focus must irrevocably shift from inputs (dollars spent, equipment delivered) to tangible, measurable results (improved health outcomes, reduced hospital-acquired infections, enhanced patient-reported experience measures, demonstrable efficiency gains). Defining clear, relevant, and achievable KPIs from the outset is crucial. This requires sophisticated data collection, rigorous performance monitoring systems, and transparent reporting mechanisms. Linking financial incentives directly to these outcomes ensures alignment and drives accountability, providing clear justification for the partnership investment to governing bodies and the public. As Sun notes regarding government programs like the Cancer Moonshot, demonstrating "measurable outcomes" is critical for sustained support, contrasting with situations where "taxpayer dollars are going to every one of these agencies, but more importantly, what have they accelerated... and one could say that they have not."
Cultivating Visionary Leadership and Championing Change: C-suite executives and clinical leaders play an indispensable role in championing the strategic shift towards PPPs. This requires overcoming significant institutional inertia, challenging the pervasive focus on short-term budget cycles, and effectively communicating the long-term strategic value proposition. Leaders must educate their organizations, foster a culture that embraces collaboration and managed risk, build internal capacity for partnership management, and possess the foresight to invest in relationships that yield value over decades, not just fiscal quarters. Sun identifies a key objection to overcome: leaders "shy away from it is one they don't understand it. And then two is all about the dollar," focusing on immediate revenue over long-term value.
Ensuring Strategic Alignment and Effective Governance: The goals of the private partner must be explicitly aligned with the hospital's core mission, values, and strategic objectives. This requires careful partner selection and meticulous contract negotiation. Furthermore, establishing clear governance structures – joint steering committees, defined escalation pathways, transparent communication protocols – is essential for managing the partnership effectively over its long duration, resolving conflicts constructively, and ensuring mutual accountability.
Proactive Management of Potential Challenges: While offering significant benefits, PPPs are complex and not without potential pitfalls. Organizations must anticipate and mitigate risks such as contract inflexibility if not structured properly, the potential for vendor lock-in, ensuring transparency throughout the partnership lifecycle, managing complex stakeholder relationships, and guaranteeing that public interest and patient welfare remain paramount. Thorough due diligence, expert legal and financial advice, and robust contract management capabilities are essential safeguards.
As the healthcare sector navigates an era of unprecedented complexity and demand, clinging to outdated, transactional procurement models is no longer tenable. Strategic public-private partnerships represent a mature, sophisticated, and powerful mechanism to address the sector's most pressing challenges head-on. By moving beyond the limitations of conventional contracting and embracing collaborative, long-term relationships focused on shared risk, performance accountability, and measurable outcomes, healthcare leaders can unlock transformative efficiencies, drive meaningful innovation, enhance equity and access, and build a fundamentally more resilient, patient-centered, and financially sustainable health system.
Understanding how does PPP work and appreciating the full scope of the advantages of public private partnership are the first steps. Realizing these benefits of public private partnership requires strategic vision, organizational commitment to change, meticulous planning, and a willingness to invest in building true collaborative relationships, moving beyond simply "selling" to becoming genuine partners. The transition demands effort, expertise, and a long-term perspective, but the potential rewards – superior clinical outcomes, optimized resource utilization, enhanced patient experiences, and enduring financial health – offer a compelling path towards a higher-performing future for healthcare delivery worldwide. The PPP model is not just a procurement tool; it is a strategic imperative for organizations committed to thriving in the complex healthcare landscape of tomorrow.
<p>the taxpayer dollars are going to every one of these agencies but more importantly what have they accelerated in mental health how have they supported Suicide Prevention and one can say that they have [Music] not hello everyone this is Cole from the American Journal of healthc care strategy uh just speaking with a really excellent consultant we had reached out to on LinkedIn to discuss some of the policy changes that are happening right now how to prepare for policy changes how to work with uh internal and external Partnerships and a variety of other discussions and so I want to introduce you all to this special guest uh John Sun John please introduce yourself and what you do now sure thank you Cole my name's John Sun I am the chief growth officer for Sun King group out of San Antonio Texas I've been in healthc care for about uh 22 years all within the federal government I've been um supporting the federal government for about 31 years uh all the way from my first career in architectural design and construction uh now leading into uh federal health as a uh strategist for not only companies but also for federal customers it's great to have you on and I I really appreciate the breadth of your experience and it really does for the the audience it stretches from uh working on like you said the hospitals and and Facilities with architecture and and those government kind of contracts and whatnot all the way up to working in medical device um and so it's a really large breath of experience uh I wanted to ask kind of the first question what do you see as being the major problems right now that you know Healthcare institutions are facing great question I I truly believe there's many many things but if I have to pick one is that our policy see doesn't align with the needs doesn't align with how it should help people especially with the desparate population um and the policies are outdated and I'll give you a perfect example of you know tellah Health has been around over 20 years um what the idea is that if I travel to a foreign country or another state or another city I could receive uh medical help uh and advice through my own doctor through uh a tele Health through my mobile phone or laptop well it wasn't until recently right before Co thank God that the policy changed that the access to teleah health was much better uh before if I had to if I you know I live in San Antonio if I was visiting California I got sick I couldn't even see my own doctor through tellah house just because of the policy how that physici where my physician gets paid and get get reimbursed well uh luckily we actually through telea Health Association uh had some lobbyists and got that pass and now the policy is actually more robust and and and and uh designed to help more people it's still not 100% um um the greatest but at least is better and we were actually prepared for covid but uh but the right now we really need to look at uh Center center for Medicare Med to see how they could do much better job in uh G and giving providers more access so that the patients could have more access in rural Health do you think that's really because I mean I agree I mean rural health is a huge issue and it's a huge issue because too other countries don't operate this way and it puts us kind of at a competitive disadvantage right when you know in one country your insurance will work throughout the whole country and all the different districts and yet in the United States it very much is specific to geography and where what state or even what county you live in I know that there's a lot of issues people vacationing right they you know they spend half the time in Florida and half the time in New York and I know that that's a headache for them to go through and so uh and like you said with rural Health that's the biggest problem right is out in the rural areas as farming especially gets more and more efficient you have fewer and fewer people per acre of land in those areas um but what do you think is going to happen and I guess part of the difficulty too is how can you tell how do you actually learn this information because that's one of the biggest issues I see is not just that we don't know what's coming but we find out so late in in healthc care that is right and and that that is one of the biggest concerns coming out of covid is that the hospital systems has closed a lot of the rural clinics and hospitals uh just because they couldn't see any specialist so they're losing Revenue so they're closing down all these clinics and uh and in Aurora areas so um one of the things said I I think that uh again politics aside um I truly believe that things are going to progress uh with uh Mr musk uh with his star length because one of the biggest Achilles heals in tahal is broadband uh and and and people living in those areas uh for Native Americans especially they not only do not have Broadband they can't afford good stable Broadband so to bring in tahal during Co some of the patients has to dve drive to a Starbucks or drive to a library or Hospital uh that is actually closed for normal patients but they could pick up the Wi-Fi and uh and get an engagement but now with um more advanced Wi-Fi I I think uh Verizon won a huge deal under the government to brought in bring in cband but you know it's it's it's again with policy right they even though they won the contract they can't really execute because of the policy into restrictions under those policies to to execute to help with Native Americans in RAR areas so I think you know it starts with good people good-hearted people to look at okay how can we improve and bring in technology so they could bring in tallah house or even remote teaching I mean during covid I was going crazy because you know my daughter had different five different platforms that that her her different teachers want to use well these people don't even have Broadband so yeah um so the idea is to start with a need and then the need uh translates into a policy and then the policy gets executed uh with um private companies bringing the solution but that is also another K eals because traditional Government Contracting is is not sustainable meaning it's not long enough to bring in these Technologies there's a lot of protest during these uh uh curement process and then sometimes it's lowest uh uh price technically seel so the the winning contractor doesn't necessarily have the best solution so I think little by little we're hoping that uh with this new Administration that they're going to think outside the box all the way from procurement all the way uh back to thinking about how can a policy improve the uh to access the care and and it's uh we're recording this on January 22nd of course it'll come out later for the audience but just yesterday of course the CEO of Oracle you probably saw it spoke with Trump and actually said tribal uh tribal you know native reservation um the kind of tribal medical service will be able to get and provide the same level of care that somebody at NYU um or or Mount Si or whatnot or Stanford would be able to get and and that was of course with Elon with the starlink starlink as you're mentioning it's still very slow uh with Verizon cband the actual starlink is fast but right but the the service that they're providing is SL right it's these policy these intricacies the challenges um and we had talked before this episode one of the examples you gave regarding I believe it was an MRI machine um but that's kind of the question is let's say you are a small institution right now you're a small Hospital how can you take advantage of kind of what's going on with the change in the government right now to really try to get the services improved for your community great question is a great concern and uh but I really think there's a light at the end of the tunnel because uh Vivic and Elon starting with the Doge uh they're all about efficiency and they're all about U value more importantly so these two gentlemen are billionaires for a reason they know how to get things done and and I always joke that you know don't bite the uh uh the hands that feed you you know 31 years in Federal Government Federal Government Contracting is is what stifles creativity stifles agility and uh stifles Innovation I truly believe these two gentlemen became billionaires because they know how to work with the federal government and more importantly leverage the public private partnership versus a traditional government contract uh like I said before this mechanis mechanism is long-term um is sustainable is adaptable to even leadership and presidential changes uh but but also scalable can you start with a single clinic and then all the way to a big Healthcare System uh can you start out with a community and then to a more of a tribal uh uh state or region so I I truly believe that this is coming um and uh um the clinic needs to also understand that hey this alternative uh um acquisition mechanism is out there is used all the time by the military by the federal government but is traditionally aligned to a road a bridge a building but you know we must learn how to build a solution underneath this a public private partnership so that this Clinic to have a partner for a long time to have the MRI in devices to have all the software upgrades to have all the training that's necessary for even the visiting nurses and and Physicians that way not only is the contract mechanism is sustainable their solution is also sustainable and you're like you said you're resilient to political changes as well when you pursue it that way regardless of of kind of the presidential changes or whatever happens you become more resilient because it's that long-term contract and can you give that example you gave to me yesterday about that 18-year contract that you'd worked out yeah so so many uh uh tribal hospitals and even Roar hospitals uh they have much need and but they don't have a lot of funding so to kind of understand what they need uh first you have to understand and go there and listen not many companies go out and listen to what they need they just say hey oh I have an MRI machine to sell you that's it um but what I mean by human Center design and co-creation is you so we must go to where the need is to listen to the community to listen to The Physicians to listen to the directors of these clinics and hospitals what do you need and why do you need it and maybe it's not an MRI maybe it's a CT but after you go through the requirement process and listening then you create a partnership and say you know what I know you don't have a lot of funding but you have guaranteed funding whether through a grand through a hospital through aeder federal government now is time how do we you know when there's a will there's a way how can we leverage this long-term public private partnership normally is 15 to 20e term I supported three Deals that was 50-year term and and the clinic basically said you know what I do have guaranteed funding I can't afford three MRI machines well I'm like well list let's make this deal uh we we supply three MRI machines with unlimited uh uh software upgrades with unlimited training knowing that Staffing retention and Staffing shortage is a huge problem so now instead of being uh having me as a vendor let's let let me be a partner of yours and and it was delivered within a month and they're happy and uh uh the company you know films they're they're happy as well so this is how it works and I truly believe moving forward especially in Health Equity purposes there's got to be a partnership and we got to stop sellings uh and and going back to your first point about Native American and and the Oracle and this AI uh um uh agency that Trump is uh um uh pretty much standing up I also challenge the people the Native American people needs to rise up and Trust The Outsiders once and for all because I get challenged a lot as a Chinese person why are you here when I was a Phillips well you you represented Dutch company what are you here to sell because we we don't trust you well they need the help and I truly believe through co-creation let them tell me what they need versus me telling them what they need you form a trust and and that's how a partnership is form and and and because of that I was called an ally in the Montana so so that's I think we need to Benchmark and helps all the despair populations not only in this country but around the world and and you still are involved down to this day I believe right right with with the the community there you have relationship I am even though I left Phillips uh I am still part of the Native American Community meaning that I have supported about 18 different tribal communities and and trying to bring Solutions like I and it doesn't even have to be Healthcare but it could be social determinance of Health my wife and I are donating a water drove to the Navajo Nation so now for once and for all they could get fresh water clean water I can't believe that you know when we talk about brown Water we automatically go Michigan but these tribal communities been living with brown waterer all their lives wow and why I guess what I what I wonder is why do you know when I speak with uh some Executives they they shy away from these public private Partnerships you know nonprofit hospitals they don't really want to create you know official Partnerships like this over a long term um but I see a lot of advantages why is that how do you overcome some of the objections yeah one that's a great question it's it's also been what I have obser is that first of all they don't know what it is they do not know uh how a public private partnership works because at the end of the day they're like oh long term they they like to stay away from longterm just because they need a revenue today they have share holders to to to M and everything but you know during the co years um everyone had a Health Equity strategy or Health Equity narrative but Co you know sometimes I I get discouraged because you say something but you don't act on anything right so so I think you we must challenge the sea suit of these Hospital systems and and say you know what do you really preach are you are you only preaching or are you really truly meaning that you want to help if you you want to help then you gota this is a long term because you can't hear this overnight you know the the spare population then there's so many but guess what they have the data because they're in their own communities so why don't leverage your data see what it is is it breast cancer is it prostate cancer is it mental health um understand your own data and then how does you how do you leverage that data to help your own dispar population in your own community and then solve it but that's not an overnight thing so that's why I think to answer your question they shy away from it is one they don't understand it and then two is all about the dollar I I wonder if some of the challenge might be also kind of not recognizing that Brands like Phillips uh like GE seens that they're more flexible than what we think right sometimes we think oh an MRI machine costs this much and this is what you're going to pay and there's no negotiation or flexibility um how do you how do they approach that like let's say I was a rural hospital and I I have no money or very limited funds but you know I really desperately need a CT machine or another one of these very expensive machines how do I approach Phillips or GE or one of these other companies that's a great question you know I can't speak for other companies I can't even speak for Phillips where I left but at the end of the day you you must have passionate people you must have people that has a purpose a deeper purose a purpose in life and through that purpose and that's how I was challenged at Phillips is okay how do I really help I have all the solutions that a mankind needs but yet they desperately need it but I can't get it to them so so it it takes someone with creativity first it takes someone to you know what challenge this SE suits and and it takes someone to to to Really Care and visit that Community is say hey is is is the MRI really what you need um and then you co-create a solution together you don't tell them what you need you don't tell them the the terms or or uh do you really need AI when you don't even understand it uh so so those are the type of things that if it it just takes one person to care and with a right purpose is to visit that community and you know what a lot of the companies don't have that resource because all they want that person to do is sell sell sell sell sell and this is why you kind of have have gotone into your new role now right where you're no longer kind of beholden to the sales of of you know a big company uh but at the same time you're still able to do that is that kind of where you found yourself heading as you got you know went through through your career that's exactly right you know I'm not knocking on these large 4 and 500 companies they have been successful for a reason so my goal and my purpose is life is to connect the dots now so knowing that there's Phillips and GE and Seamans and the bo Allens and lios is out there my goal is to connect the dots and say hey this community these X Y and Z you know Phillips you may have x g may have y but boo May hi Z let's put it all together let's let's let's form a Consortium that we could really help the despair population knowing that you know for the uh uh what you need is a long-term contract let's do it and do you think that there's going to be some initial Panic or concern as some of these maybe government funds or government opportunities go away uh with with Elon and and V and as it shifts more towards this private thing and and what should people do instead of panicking what should their their kind of First Step be yeah I mean and that's a great question and a great thought because you know under uh president Trump's first uh um uh presidency uh he shut down the cancer moonshot everyone said well geez why would a any human stop a cancer research opportunity well again it's all about measurable outcomes um a lot of the critics of the Moon shot is like well nothing has happened we're just pouring a lot of taxpayer dollars and there's really nothing that accelerated cancer research Therapeutics development so why are we pouring more money into this program so there's always a left and a right side but if you're in the middle and say you know what um instead of panicking can we show this Administration what we have done right and if you don't then yeah you're you're going to be under the microscope and that the funding will either be a much smaller or be cut alog together um so that's the idea is for me to support these government agencies like what instead of complaining and panicking what can you show the administration or the Doge your measurable value and does that go back to why you said we need to make sure that we're co-creating a solution and not adding things like AI even when we don't know what it does because then you end up with this bloated kind of MRI machine that has all this you stuff attached to it that you don't really need and then you maybe are missing out on things you do like the nurse training for rural areas that have a lot of frequent travel nurses and things like that yeah you know what what the federal government does best is react and and when you have various populations like the veterans and Native Americans and and others even African-Americans and asian-americans when we have an increase in mental health substance abuse suicides here comes samama right the the uh uh substance abuse mental health agency is now they have all this funding billions of dollars but yet the VA also has a mental health program a suicide prevention program oh so does NIH and so does uh Indian Health Service so you have all these agencies wanting to to do good but they're not coordinated they don't even communicate but yet the taxpayer dollars are going to every one of these agencies but more important what have they accelerated in mental health how have they supported Suicide Prevention and one can say that they have not so so it's it's really sit down and and and telling president Trump this is this is how we're going to propel and and and prevent suicide preventions to this and that but I'll be honest with you you know the veteran populations they're dying every day they're they're killing themselves every day because it's whatever we're doing right now is not working yeah and so we need to to then figure out by collaborating with the veterans themselves correct I think that's that's probably one of the biggest takeaways from this is all shareholders stakeholders need to be in the room for the decision instead of leaving out our patients or leaving out the vendor or leaving out the CEO we need to bring everyone in together and that's what you do as a consultant is you take your time that you know the company and the public might not have and really invested on bringing those people together exactly again it's about alignment where realignment and you know sometimes the solution is just right there in your fingertips and and we just don't know how to leverage that or modernize that you know uh on this same topic you know there's a reason why the biggest square footage when you enter a VA hospital is the waiting L the lobby is because these veterans love to sit around and just talk about war stor and share stories that's how they'd release their stress and and and anxiety while there's a bunch of money being poured into Suicide Prevention and most of the Innovations is is an app right well if you're trying to commit suicide we wanting to commit suicide are you going to really reach for an app right right so lack of that human connection exactly so why not bring that waiting room where that LOB be into a household you know how how can each waiting room have a simple camera where you could listen or maybe U make it more quiet I don't know maybe that's not the solution but but all I'm saying is that I I truly think sometimes we look into technology and te sometimes technology is not the right solution I appreciate that so uh and I appreciate you coming on today I know that we're at time but I think that it's really important to to kind of re re iterate we have a lot of changes coming with the kind of changes in in politics and like what you're saying it looks like it's going to be very efficiency goal orientated at least that's you know what they're what they're saying a lot is efficiency and we know you know Elon Musk uh says that he's he's quite efficient at his factories we know vivec is the same way and you're right they do prioritize those public private Partnerships so we need to work with the actual public and the stakeholders to try to get that efficiency uh as things go on and of course we'll your website and your your LinkedIn on the episode so that people can reach out to you and get further advice but this is really important it's important for me as well because I am just starting to delve into private Public Partnerships so I couldn't be more appreciative of your time John thank you so much yeah thank you for this opportunity I hope uh it gave some insight as far as what's uh could be uh coming and hopefully like I said my purpose is to help people help companies but uh agencies but more importantly the people in despair population is my purpose so I really appreciate the opportunity</p>
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