by Annice Cody, President and CEO
My first 100(-ish) days at PCC have featured many conversations. I’ve talked with staff, with health center partners, with funders and government officials and others in the healthcare space. What I have not found is a need for dramatic change in who we serve or how we do so. PCC has a strong skill set driven by a smart strategic plan and continues to do critical mission work, even as we face incredible uncertainty.
What I have found, are:
I’ve said before that the who PCC is/what we do conversation is a challenge. Trying to distill 30+ years of backbone work into a brief, memorable introduction that is detailed enough to be useful and short enough to be accessible is no small task. But we’re getting closer.
My current thinking about the PCC “Secret Sauce” is using our knowledge (of supporting vulnerable populations) and expertise (in being the backbone builders and managers of coalitions) as leverage to create positive returns. What does that look like? Here’s one example: PCC has established a small but mighty department of four people who work with pharmaceutical manufacturers’ charitable assistance programs to secure free medications for chronic conditions. With less than $300,000 in annual operating expenses, they bring more than $8 million in free medication for uninsured Montgomery County residents. Positive returns—in health, well-being, and financial impact for the communities we serve.
What else is important for positive returns? Partnership. Partnerships are core to everything we do. Bringing together coalitions, whether they include hospitals, health centers or community-based organizations, and maximizing each organization’s unique capabilities creates a multiplicative effect for the partnership as a whole, while adding value to the individual members.
Nexus Montgomery is a great example of this, as a joint venture of the six Montgomery County hospitals focused on reducing avoidable hospital utilization and improving health in ways that no single hospital could achieve on its own. The Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Alliance that PCC manages for Nexus Montgomery has reduced readmissions enough that it more than pays for itself—all while improving quality for patients.
As for the opportunities, these reflect my “no-regrets priorities” of partnership, stewardship, medical and social care integration, and equity for meeting our current moment. For instance, can we replicate the SNF Alliance in other communities? Can we leverage economies of scale by creating centralized support services available to all partner health centers? Can we help smaller nonprofit organizations with their administrative needs so they can focus their resources on the direct work?
Looking ahead, projected changes to Medicaid—including tightened eligibility and increased documentation requirements—point to a system that will require more navigation. How can we help? By supporting patients and providers in ensuring eligible beneficiaries get enrolled. A recent webinar from Health Management Associates noted that while these changes are focused on administrative requirements, they create opportunities to build out broader supports, like career-focused workforce development to help residents meet work requirements.
PCC will be ready to meet challenges with an eye for opportunity. We will be ready not just to find solutions to shared problems but to identify ways of leveraging resources and partnerships to add value. We have made a conscious effort to talk about funding for nonprofit work—including our own—as an investment in our shared community, and this outlook is exactly why. When we talk about stewardship and efficiency, it’s not a scarcity mindset about doing more with less. It’s a mindset of positive returns. It’s a mindset of making the right thing for our community make good sense.
My first 100(-ish) days at PCC have featured many conversations. I’ve talked with staff, with health center partners, with funders and government officials and others in the healthcare space. What I have not found is a need for dramatic change in who we serve or how we do so. PCC has a strong skill set driven by a smart strategic plan and continues to do critical mission work, even as we face incredible uncertainty.
What I have found, are:
- Clearer ways I think about who PCC is and what we do
- Opportunities to leverage past success and current plans for even greater impact
I’ve said before that the who PCC is/what we do conversation is a challenge. Trying to distill 30+ years of backbone work into a brief, memorable introduction that is detailed enough to be useful and short enough to be accessible is no small task. But we’re getting closer.
My current thinking about the PCC “Secret Sauce” is using our knowledge (of supporting vulnerable populations) and expertise (in being the backbone builders and managers of coalitions) as leverage to create positive returns. What does that look like? Here’s one example: PCC has established a small but mighty department of four people who work with pharmaceutical manufacturers’ charitable assistance programs to secure free medications for chronic conditions. With less than $300,000 in annual operating expenses, they bring more than $8 million in free medication for uninsured Montgomery County residents. Positive returns—in health, well-being, and financial impact for the communities we serve.
What else is important for positive returns? Partnership. Partnerships are core to everything we do. Bringing together coalitions, whether they include hospitals, health centers or community-based organizations, and maximizing each organization’s unique capabilities creates a multiplicative effect for the partnership as a whole, while adding value to the individual members.
Nexus Montgomery is a great example of this, as a joint venture of the six Montgomery County hospitals focused on reducing avoidable hospital utilization and improving health in ways that no single hospital could achieve on its own. The Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Alliance that PCC manages for Nexus Montgomery has reduced readmissions enough that it more than pays for itself—all while improving quality for patients.
As for the opportunities, these reflect my “no-regrets priorities” of partnership, stewardship, medical and social care integration, and equity for meeting our current moment. For instance, can we replicate the SNF Alliance in other communities? Can we leverage economies of scale by creating centralized support services available to all partner health centers? Can we help smaller nonprofit organizations with their administrative needs so they can focus their resources on the direct work?
Looking ahead, projected changes to Medicaid—including tightened eligibility and increased documentation requirements—point to a system that will require more navigation. How can we help? By supporting patients and providers in ensuring eligible beneficiaries get enrolled. A recent webinar from Health Management Associates noted that while these changes are focused on administrative requirements, they create opportunities to build out broader supports, like career-focused workforce development to help residents meet work requirements.
PCC will be ready to meet challenges with an eye for opportunity. We will be ready not just to find solutions to shared problems but to identify ways of leveraging resources and partnerships to add value. We have made a conscious effort to talk about funding for nonprofit work—including our own—as an investment in our shared community, and this outlook is exactly why. When we talk about stewardship and efficiency, it’s not a scarcity mindset about doing more with less. It’s a mindset of positive returns. It’s a mindset of making the right thing for our community make good sense.
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