Hospital CEO: Prepare for disruption

Yet when it came to launching Kindle, Amazon was fearless about the e-reader’s impact on its own book-shipping model, says health care chief Rod Hochman.

“They disrupted their own business,” says Hochman, who is president and CEO of the five-state, 76,000-employee Providence Health & Services system, based in Renton, Wash.

That approach appealed to Hochman, whose company has raided Amazon and other Seattle tech companies for talent in an effort to disrupt the current health care model through digital technology.

Hochman spoke with Ragan.com during a recent visit to Chicago where he was addressing a health care conference. As the industry undergoes sweeping disruption due to digitization and federal reforms, Hochman calls for a new model that would bring major changes for patients. It is sure to upend communications in the industry, as well.

“It’s really getting down to each individual: How he or she wants to be communicated with is the key as we move from health care to health,” says Orest Holubec, Providence’s senior vice president of marketing and communication, who was also in the Windy City.

This will mean bringing on more communicators with experience in data analytics and consumer insight to reach audiences, he says.