‘LET US BE BOLD’
Assembly encourages ministry to embrace and lead change
By LISA EISENHAUER
SAN DIEGO — Several hundred people from within the Catholic health care ministry heard the call to “lean into our vision and embrace bold change with bold thinking” at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly here.
CHA President and CEO Sr. Mary
Haddad, RSM, issued the appeal, which reflected the event’s theme of “Embrace bold,” at the start of the June 9-11 gathering. She challenged those in attendance to follow Jesus’ example by shaking off current assumptions and norms and embracing “radical freedom” and “to go beyond what is comfortable” in envisioning a better health care system.
Following up on the CHA vision statement adopted last year, “We will empower bold change to elevate human flourishing,” Sr. Mary announced that the association has approved a complementary strategic plan for the next three years. The pillars of the strategic plan are: care for all, health reimagined and united for change.
Continued on 4
Identity, understanding and love key to promoting mission, say panelists
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
SAN DIEGO — How can Catholic health care’s mission and vision continue to advance care for all that promotes dignity and the common good? How can Catholic health care do that in a polarized American society?
A panel of speakers addressed those issues at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly. CHA President and CEO Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, moderated the discussion and asked the panelists about bold approaches.
Cathleen Kaveny, professor of law and theology at Boston College, asked the audience to go back to their roots, to imagine what it would be like if the Irish sisters led by Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, were to get off the boat or a
CHA releases 2025 to 2027 strategic plan focused on health ecosystem change
By JULIE MINDA
CHA’s board has adopted a strategic plan for 2025 to 2027 that advances the association’s vision to “empower bold change to elevate human flourishing.”
The newly released plan focuses on three pillars of activity: care for all, health reimagined and united for change. The plan challenges the association to unite Catholic health care providers and their partners to prioritize the dignity of all people and promote the common good.
CHA Chief of Staff Amy Ballance says the association will work with member groups and committees as well as with new advisory groups to get input on how best to implement the plan. Ballance calls member engagement “a critical component to the success of this plan as members will help us prioritize where to start, consider who else we should bring into the conversation and amplify our message.” Continued on 6
Cardinal McElroy poses four questions for Catholic health care from synod
By LISA EISENHAUER
SAN DIEGO — Cardinal Robert McElroy says four central questions for Catholic health care providers to ponder have emerged from the church’s current synodal process.
The questions are:
How should Catholic health care build a culture of discernment?
How can the ministry contribute to Catholic theology and the renewal of moral theology?
How should the ministry bring a consistently Christ-like pastoral stance to Catholic health care institutions?
What is the countercultural mission of Catholic health care in the present moment?
“Bringing these questions to the center of your leadership and service will yield moments both of cross and resurrection, but in the end it will reflect the overwhelming grace of our God,” said Cardinal
Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, CHA's president and CEO, shares the stage with Ascension CEO Joe Impicciche, center, and Damond Boatwright, president and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System, at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly. Boatwright handed off the baton to Impicciche as chair of the CHA Board of Trustees.
Cardinal McElroy
Dr. Claudia Ruiz Sotomayor discusses polarization in American culture alongside fellow panelists Michael Sean Winters and Cathleen Kaveny and moderator Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, right, at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly.
Let’s keep moving together toward a future shining with hope
JOE IMPICCICHE
2024-2025 chairperson
CHA Board of Trustees
CEO of Ascension
St. Louis
I am both honored and humbled to step into the role of chairperson at such a significant time in CHA’s history — where our shared vision is to “empower bold change to elevate human flourishing.”
There is so much meaning conveyed in that vision statement. And it’s a commitment I know each of us holds sacred as we join hundreds of thousands of associates, clinicians, leaders and partners across our ministries in meeting the changing needs of the times. We live in a world that needs bold change. But not just any type of change — change that elevates human flourishing by promoting and defending human dignity.
And that type of transformational change must begin with us. What if we began to think and talk about our ministry not as a collection of health care systems, hospitals, clinics and related facilities, but as a loving ministry of Jesus that not only promotes human dignity, but is also dedicated to enabling people to thrive? How would that change our conversations? How would that influence our decision-making? How would it shift the stories being written about us? How might that even influence the way we treat one another?
The commitment to human dignity is at the very heart of our shared ministry. The belief that every person is made in the image and likeness of God — and is deserving of respect — is the light that illuminates and guides our service each day. Looking
JOB POSTING: SENIOR DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR THEOLOGY & ETHICS IN CATHOLIC HEALTH
CHA is seeking a senior director for the new Center for Theology & Ethics in Catholic Health.
The mission of this center is to help health care ministries of the Catholic Church address complex issues so that they may more effectively fulfill their missions. It does this through intentional and honest dialogue, faithful and creative scholarship, and practical consultations. Through the center’s work, the U.S. church and its ministries may more effectively witness to the dignity of human life and more compellingly communicate their vision for a just, equitable and compassionate society. The vision of this center is to be the most comprehensive resource for faithfully exploring how Catholic health care ministries can best serve in today’s world.
The senior director will be responsible for assisting the executive director in implementing the overall mission and vision of the center. The senior director will develop robust resources within Catholic theology and health care ethics to address the needs of Catholic health. In coordination with the executive director, the senior director will maximize the center’s effectiveness and work closely with CHA staff and members and the center’s advisory board to advance the center’s priorities.
To view a more detailed posting for this position, including a list of position requirements, visit the careers page on chausa.org. For consideration, please email your resume to HR@chausa.org.
Interested parties should direct questions to:
Cara Brouder
Senior Director, Human Resources
Catholic Health Association
Phone: 314-253-3498
back into our history, we know that being agents of love and compassion in a world filled with suffering shaped the original calling of the women and men who founded these ministries. Central to their “yes” to service — and central to ours today — is the promise set by Jesus in his very example of love.
As I prepared for this role, I spent some time reflecting on the mission statements of each of our ministries. You’ll notice the word “love,” or one of its derivatives, is the most common promise across all of our mission statements. This is a profound invi-
tation for those delivering care and those who support care delivery. We can each participate in the loving ministry of Jesus by the way we engage with and lead our ministries.
By his example, Jesus offers us a radical invitation — to be agents of love through each decision we make, each communication we offer, and each interaction we have. And I’ve become convinced that if we all did just that — focusing on bringing love to each interaction — so many of our problems would find solutions. Jesus’ ministry was radically loving and inclusive. What better model to follow than his?
One of my favorite books is Holy Moments: A Handbook for the Rest of Your Life by Matthew Kelly. Kelly is a prolific Catholic writer whose basic premise in the book is that we all have the ability to create meaningful moments if we slow down just long enough to open ourselves to the presence of God, set aside self-interest, and do what we prayerfully believe God is calling us to do. It also means each of us has the power — by virtue of our very humanity — to be agents of bold change by creating dozens of loving, holy moments each day.
Our tradition is filled with examples of the power of presence in such moments.
One of my favorites is the gospel story of Jesus visiting Martha and Mary. St. Luke tells us that when Jesus visits the home of these sisters, Martha is busy with chores — cleaning the home, preparing a meal, tending to every detail — much like I saw my Italian grandmother do countless times.
This certainly rings true for us in Catholic health care today. The past four years have been filled with change, worry and
suffering — especially the trauma our clinicians experienced as they led the pandemic response. Our ministries face great internal challenges — associate engagement, retention, financial headwinds, and operational pressures. And, collectively, Catholic health care in this country is a lightning rod, politically and socially. While all of these challenges require our steadfast response, they can also become distractions from what matters most.
Martha’s sister, Mary, shows us a different way. She responds to Jesus’ presence by sitting at his feet and listening to him speak. Her example shows us that, while there is work to be done, focusing on the real priority properly orders everything else.
Every ministry across our CHA community is different — and at different places in their journeys. Yet, united by our shared vision statement, we are rooted in a tradition of radically inclusive love that allows us to grow together, toward a future shining with hope.
By virtue of our very humanity, we have all the gifts we need to respond with courage, creativity and compassion and to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Catholic health care ministry, especially for those who need us the most.
Each one of us has a distinct and indispensable role within the tapestry of Catholic health care. Our presence in these roles is not arbitrary; rather, it is a manifestation of divine providence, a calling from God. We are not here by accident. He has called us to his service to do his will at this particular time in history. How will we respond to his call? Our answer to that question is all that really matters.
Time to embrace change that elevates human flourishing
DAMOND BOATWRIGHT
2023-2024 chairperson
CHA Board of Trustees
President and CEO
Hospital Sisters Health System Springfield, Illinois
As I look back at my time as chair, serving this most honorable of associations, I’ve had the opportunity to do so much to support our work in Catholic health. Hands down, my most memorable time was spent working with the board to finalize our new vision statement: “We will empower bold change to elevate human flourishing.”
Why did the CHA board adopt a vision statement? In these challenging and changing times, the CHA board, with the determined leadership of Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, recognized that as we continue to serve in dynamic ways, we also must evolve the way we approach our work.
The vision represents our apostolic belief that every person is a treasure, every life a sacred gift, every human being a unity of body, mind and spirit. It gives us clarity of purpose, priorities and principles.
It declares that it is our time and our moment as stewards of Catholic health care to be bold in our advocacy and to demand that we get a better payment model and system of care that allows us to take care of all God’s children in the most equitable way possible to achieve human flourishing.
I challenge each of us to think about what this vision means not only to CHA, but also to each of us personally.
For me, this vision statement brings several things to mind. First, it calls to mind those individuals who have played crucial roles in my life. In particular, I think about my grandmother Bernice Conner, God rest her soul and spirit, who raised me and taught me about the power of prayer.
I think about Karen DeMarco, who believed in me. I was working the second shift as a manager in housekeeping in
Charleston, South Carolina, when Karen told me, “Damond, you will be a CEO one day and you will make a positive difference, I promise you.” Karen is also the one who introduced me to her husband, Frank, who was a health care executive and a true professional mentor to me until the day he passed away.
And I think about the one and only Sr. Jomary Trstensky, who served as president and CEO of HSHS for 16 years and is now the chair of the HSHS ministerial board. I have truly learned more about my own Catholic faith, Catholic traditions, the Catholic Church, and the power of CHA and associations because of her support. Thank you, Sr. Jomary, for empowering me to boldly find ways to create a sustainable Catholic health care model that will allow human flourishing to exist well into the future. God willing, I will do my absolute best to sustain this holy work.
What does CHA’s new vision statement mean to you and are you willing to share that story with someone else? We are made
to be a witness to the good news of God. As was written in the book of Esther: “Perhaps this is the moment for which you were created.”
However, nothing happens without our individual effort. In John 5:8, Jesus was in Jerusalem at a pool called Bethesda, which had miraculous healing power. A man, paralyzed for 38 years, laments that no one will help him get to the water. Jesus encourages him to, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!”
This story is a reminder to us all that the power to make change is in our control. But we must first change our mindset to better understand what truly needs to change around us.
In health care we are constantly and persistently paralyzed by what we know — our current and past conditions, the ways we’ve always done things. We are certainly not the only industry that is too often stuck in old staffing models, old processes, old sites of care, outdated payment and benefit models. We can become frustrated when we get to the point where we know this cannot continue, and lament that we have no one to help us. The fact is it is now up to us to heal ourselves. Those who put those old staffing models, old processes and old agreements in place are no longer in charge. We must move on. The mission — and the responsibility to sustain it — is in our hands now. It is our calling.
So, I encourage all of you to take up your mat and embrace change for yourself and for your organizations. By renewing our commitment to our mission and living our values, we are truly formed in the way necessary to continue this important work — work that has a 2,000-year track record of success, by the way.
I look forward to continuing to work with CHA and all of you to create a Catholic health care ecosystem that continues to be innovative when necessary, bold when required, compassionate and healing, always. Pace e bene.
Joe Impicciche
Damond Boatwright
Economist offers ‘startlingly simple’ fix for U.S. health care system
By LISA EISENHAUER
SAN DIEGO — Economist Amy Finkelstein says a way to meet what has historically been the nation’s overriding imperative when it comes to health care — to provide access to essential medical care, regardless of resources — is “startlingly simple.”
“I’ll give it away now, so you’re not on the edge of your seats for most of my talk,” Finkelstein said at the start of her keynote address at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly. “It’s automatic, universal, basic health care that’s free for everyone, with the option for those who want and can afford to, to supplement beyond the essential.”
She added that the nation’s social contract or moral obligation to see that everyone has basic care could be accomplished without raising taxes.
Finkelstein is a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, specializing in public finance and health economics. She has received numerous honors for her research, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2018.
She used her address at the Assembly to cover the key points made in her new book, We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care, which is based on research by her and her co-author, economist Liran Einav of Stanford University.
Unmet promise
Finkelstein said despite the Affordable Care Act’s promise of universal coverage, many Americans are still left out. For
example, she said, one in 10 of those under 65 are without insurance at any given time and one in four of that same group will have a lapse in coverage over a two-year period.
While the law reduced the share of Americans who are uninsured, Finkelstein said, it did little to cut the share of people at risk of losing coverage. That’s because it further expanded what was already a patchwork of programs to provide health insurance, she said.
“Unfortunately, what happens is, if you have multiple different pathways to eligibility, some people don’t find their path or don’t have a path,” Finkelstein said.
She said one of the most startling statistics cited in her book is that six of 10 of those who are uninsured are eligible for free or heavily discounted insurance. They aren’t covered for various reasons, she said, including not knowing what programs are available, whether they qualify for any of them or how to continue to prove that they qualify for the coverage.
“And that’s what fundamentally led us to the belief that rather than layer on more patches on this system, the way to ensure that everyone has basic coverage is to provide everyone with good coverage,” she said.
Change of view
Finkelstein said her book notes that
because of the way the U.S. health care system is set up and the nation’s aversion to letting people die in the streets, no one is completely without some access to care. The uninsured still get medical care, she said, they just pay for about one-fifth of the cost with the rest picked up by public funding.
For decades, Finkelstein said, health economists such as herself have argued that people should have to pay at least part of the cost of their medical care so that they don’t overwhelm the system with demands for care. She now believes that position was wrong because across the globe, whenever co-pays have been instituted, so have layers of exemptions and exceptions.
“So they basically created the mess we have in the United States, albeit at the small level of cost sharing, and not actually saved any money,” she said.
Finkelstein said the United States spends about 18% of its economic output on health care. The average for other highincome countries, where universal care is standard, is about 9%. However, she said, U.S. costs are about evenly split between public and private funds, so U.S. taxpayers are spending 9% of the nation’s economic output on health care.
“Our tax dollars are already paying for universal basic coverage,” she said. “We’re just not getting it.”
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Finkelstein said her and her co-author’s proposal is, in essence, to flatten out the public spending to provide free “basic automatic universal care.” People with means could continue to spend their own money on care upgrades such as choosing their doctors and getting nicer hospital rooms.
“I’m very excited that this organization is embracing bold change,” Finkelstein told the Assembly audience. “I think it’s high time and long overdue in U.S. health care and I hope these ideas have inspired or excited some of you.”
leisenhauer@chausa.org
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We Will
Catholic Health Association of the United States, July 2024 Catholic Health World (ISSN 87564068) is published monthly and copyrighted © by the Catholic Health Association of the United States.
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Amy Finkelstein opens the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly in San Diego with a keynote address on potential ways the U.S. could provide basic, universal care for all without necessitating a tax increase.
Four join CHA board, Holubec is chairperson-elect
During the Membership Assembly at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly in San Diego, voting members of the association elected four new members to three-year terms on the CHA Board of Trustees, beginning July 1:
Rachelle Barina, chief mission officer and senior vice president of mission for Hospital Sisters Health System of Springfield, Illinois.
Kendra Calhoun, senior vice president of marketing, communications and digital strategy for Avera Health of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Anna Newsom, chief legal officer of Providence St. Joseph Health of Renton, Washington.
John Starcher, president and CEO of
Bold change
From page 1
“This plan creates the foundation for actualizing our vision and will guide our work for the next three years and beyond,” Sr. Mary said.
In another major announcement, Sr. Mary revealed that CHA has launched its Center for Theology & Ethics in Catholic Health. The center is under the direction of Dan Daly, an associate professor of moral theology at Boston College. The center will develop resources to guide Catholic health care on current and evolving ethical issues and build strong working relationships with academic centers of ethics and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“The center aims at excellence in theology and ethics in Catholic health,” Daly told the Assembly. “It’s responsive to the needs, the theological and ethical needs of the ministry, the needs that you all have, and it will do its work in concert with church teaching, and the best expression of Catholic theological ethics in dialogue with other relevant disciplines.”
New stewards
On the second day of the Assembly, Damond Boatwright danced across the Assembly’s main stage to deliver his spirited address as outgoing chair of the CHA Board of Trustees. Boatwright asked the audience to reflect and act upon the association’s vision; its mission to care for people and communities; and its core values of respect, integrity, stewardship and excellence in their work.
“It is our time and our moment as stewards of Catholic health care to be bold in our advocacy and to demand that we get a better payment model and system of care that allows us to take care of the Lord’s brothers and sisters, and all God’s children, so they can achieve human flourishing regardless of the circumstances in which they were
Bon
Mercy Health of Cincinnati.
The members also voted to reelect three trustees whose terms were expiring to a second, three-year term:
Sr. Patricia Codey, SC, president, Catholic HealthCare Partnership of New Jersey in Princeton.
Shelly Schlenker, executive vice presi-
dent and chief advocacy officer, CommonSpirit Health of Chicago.
Fahad Tahir, president and CEO, Ascension Saint Thomas in Nashville, Tennessee, and senior vice president and ministry market executive for Ascension Tennessee.
Two board members’ terms will end
born into,” said Boatwright, president and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System.
Referencing the biblical story of Jesus counseling the paralyzed man at Bethesda to pick up his mat and walk, Boatwright said the health care sector is likewise “constantly and persistently paralyzed by what we know — our current and past conditions, the ways we’ve always done things.”
Boatwright exhorted Catholic health care leaders and providers to move past outdated staffing, payment and benefit models and adopt new innovative practices.
“We have no one to help because the people who put those old staffing models, old processes in place, quite frankly, old agreements in place are no longer in charge,” Boatwright said.
He added: “The mission and the responsibility to sustain it is in our hands now.”
New board chair
Boatwright’s address was followed by the installation of his successor as CHA board chair, Ascension CEO Joe Impicciche,
who further championed the push for bold change grounded in Catholic teaching.
“By his example, Jesus offers us a radical invitation — to be agents of love through each decision we make, each communication we offer, and each interaction we have,” Impicciche said. “And I’ve become convinced that if we all did just that — focusing on bringing love to each interaction — so many of our problems would find solutions.”
Impicciche asked his audience to reflect on their “distinct and indispensable role within the tapestry of Catholic health care.”
He added: “Our presence in these roles is not arbitrary; rather, it is a calling from God. We are not here by accident. He has called us to his service to do his will at this particular time in history. How will we respond to his call? Our answer to that question is all that really matters.”
Call for sacrifice
At the Assembly banquet, CHA cel-
June 30: Laura Kaiser, president and CEO of SSM Health of St. Louis. Fr. Joseph Cardone, chief mission officer of Bon Secours Mercy Health.
During the Assembly, Ascension CEO Joe Impicciche was installed as chair of the CHA board for 2024 to 2025. Orest Holubec will become the vice chairperson/ chairperson-elect. Holubec is executive vice president and chief communication officer for Providence St. Joseph Health. The outgoing CHA board chair, Damond Boatwright, will become speaker of the membership Assembly. Boatwright is president and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System.
ebrated its Tomorrow’s Leaders and other honorees. President and CEO Michael Maron accepted the 2024 Achievement Citation on behalf of Holy Name Medical Center of Teaneck, New Jersey, for its sustaining partnership with Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, Haiti. In brief remarks, he urged the audience to measure success not only in terms of profit, system size and market share, but also “to see the true value of giving and sacrificing.”
“Much like our philosophy in Haiti, we encourage you to see what we do, how we do it, and engage on your own, that would be our greatest award,” Maron said. “May we all strive to be instruments of peace and agents of change in our world. Yes, embrace the bold but also listen to the constant soft whispers, for I have found in them live the deeds that make a very positive impact on others and the grace of God.”
He got one of many standing ovations at the banquet.
‘Radical freedom’
As the Assembly wound down, Sr. Mary returned to its theme, noting that being bold “requires taking risks, staying focused on the goal, and steering away from distractions.” She specifically mentioned CHA’s efforts to counter the increased media coverage of Catholic health care’s commitment “to uphold the dignity of every person from conception to natural death.”
That strategy includes the launch of the HealthCareHere.org site, which amplifies stories and examples of how insurance companies have adopted and implemented practices and policies that impede timely decisions related to treatment coverage at the expense of patient care. The strategy also includes an ad and social media campaign called When Healthcare Really Cares focusing on positive stories about Catholic health care.
Sr. Mary pointed out recent policy changes and legislative action that align with CHA’s advocacy work. Among those was legislation that targets disparities in maternal health for women of color and approval of $1 billion in additional funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
In closing, Sr. Mary reflected on the courage shown by Jesus in contradicting the societal norms of his time, such as sacred traditions about what was clean and what was unclean. She said his actions “were grounded in a deep abiding trust in his Father, which allowed him the freedom to do God’s will regardless of what anyone thought or said.”
“Jesus’ radical freedom made him fearless,” Sr. Mary said. “So, as we leave this time together and return to our collective work of elevating human flourishing, let us be bold. Let us hold fast to our mission and do what we must, trusting in the loving presence of our God and the guidance of God’s Spirit.” To read profiles of CHA’s 2024 honorees, go to chausa.org/chw.
leisenhauer@chausa.org
Barina Newsom Calhoun Starcher Holubec
Secours
President and CEO Michael Maron, left, accepts the 2024 Achievement Citation on behalf of Holy Name Medical Center of Teaneck, New Jersey, from Joe Impicciche, Ascension CEO and incoming CHA board chair. Holy Name was honored for its sustaining partnership with Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, Haiti.
Dori Leslie, center, chats with other Assembly attendees at a reception that followed the awards banquet. Leslie was honored with CHA’s Sister Carol Keehan Award for her work supporting people with disabilities as president of CHI Friendship of Fargo, North Dakota.
Postcards from San Diego
The 2024 Catholic Health Assembly drew several hundred people to hear about initiatives launched across the ministry in the last year, predictions of what’s ahead for health care, and inspiring messages about how to advance the vision of empowering change that elevates human flourishing.
Photos by Jerry Naunheim Jr./©CHA
Strategic plan
CHA President and CEO Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, says the new plan does not seek to prop up the current ineffective health system but to work toward creating a new system. “Our health care system is broken and unsustainable, and incremental changes to failed health policies will no longer suffice,” she says. “If we truly believe that health care is a basic human right, then we must strive to create a health ecosystem that supports this commitment.”
Long-term view
The development of the plan follows CHA’s yearlong effort to define its vision. Sr. Mary says, “Last year, the CHA board made the decision to articulate a new vision for the organization and the ministry. We recognized that bold change was needed if we are to ensure that all people have access to affordable quality health care, and we believe that Catholic health must assume a leadership role in transforming health care in this country.”
The vision that CHA articulated late last year was, “We will empower bold change to elevate human flourishing.”
Sr. Mary says the new strategic plan “creates the foundation for this work and establishes a direction for achieving our vision.”
Ballance explains that to develop the plan from the vision statement, the CHA executives who led the strategic plan’s creation engaged the association’s leadership team, board members and staff. The CHA leadership team met several times over the course of the past year to create a plan that would “challenge the status quo in order to … push for change,” she says. CHA also sought input from CHA staff members “as they are close to the issues our members
Culture panel
From page 1
plane in America today.
“Where would they see the most need? Where would they go?” Kaveny asked. “And I think that the question that in some sense has to help determine where you all are going today ... who are the most marginalized today?”
The panel also included Dr. Claudia Ruiz Sotomayor, chief of the Ethics Consultation Service and clinical ethicist for the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University; and Michael Sean Winters, a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter
Sotomayor, while discussing the importance of people understanding one another’s needs, talked about working with a Mayan community in Mexico as a physician. She was treating a little girl who likely had tuberculosis, which was curable with medicine, but the girl died after her skeptical parents didn’t want to give it to her. Sotomayor met with a shaman to learn more about Mayan culture and ways of treating illness.
She told him she wasn’t there to impose her religious beliefs or engage in colonialism. “This is not my agenda. I really want to help. How can I help?” she asked.
She got a crash course in Mayan health care, and gradually earned the community’s trust. “It really takes a long time, but it’s about building trust and getting to know who you are serving,” she said. “But that step is what we need to take to really understand who our population is, who the patient is. ... It’s important.”
Winters spoke of ways to better engage with others, especially given today’s polarized society. “Polarization is one of those things you can’t come at head-on,” he said. “You have to come at it at a 45-degree angle.
“You have to get people working together on something that they share an interest in, and not let them notice that they’re working
face and have awareness of what needs to be done to impact change,” Ballance says.
CHA Chief Operations and Finance Officer Loren Chandler says the team that developed the plan recognized that accomplishing bold change “is an iterative process that builds upon success.” Given this fact, he says, “we kept a longer-term view in setting our goals, knowing that each successful strategic cycle will elevate human flourishing.”
Unification
Ballance says the plan seeks to address the problem that the “U.S. health care system no longer keeps the patient at the center of the care model due to administrative burdens created by our reimbursement system. So many factors have contributed to this over the years, but the current environment makes it challenging for patients to get access to the care they need while stretching the financial sustainability of our members.”
The “care for all” section of the plan focuses on ensuring patients have access to the care and insurance coverage they need within the current system. The “health rei-
magined” section has a goal of convening CHA members to collectively agree on the need for change and then begin dialogue both within and outside the membership on what that change may look like. And, Ballance says, the “united for change” section organizes CHA’s work as a membership association, unifying members, church leaders and other partners to speak in the same voice and work collaboratively for change.
Chandler notes that “a key word in the vision statement is ‘we,’ and as a ministry of the Catholic Church, ‘we’ continue Jesus’ mission of love and healing. This is foundational to Catholic health and in order to elevate human flourishing, ‘we’ must come together and be unified in our actions.”
Sr. Mary agrees, “We must come together as the Catholic health ministry and collaborate with others who are committed to working towards the creation of a just system of care. As a membership organization, CHA is in a pivotal position to help bring members together and facilitate our collective efforts toward achieving our vision.”
jminda@chausa.org
together. And then downstream, they can notice that, and maybe you can say, ha, see? You can overcome this.”
People might have different understandings of a concept like freedom, he pointed out, but they have to talk about those different perspectives to come to an understanding.
“And I think everything in our media ... the algorithms of social media, the nature of our political system right now, is designed to keep us from doing that,” he said.
Kaveny said that there are ways of defining identity in a pluralistic culture that aren’t particularly helpful, and that Catholic health care leaders shouldn’t look at identity as something that separates or distinguishes them from others. “That’s a brand, not an identity,” she said.
Catholic health care leaders shouldn’t focus on the things that they don’t do, Kaveny said. “The nuns who started Catholic health care were defined by what they imagined, what they did, what they built, not what they didn’t do,” she said.
CHA president shares successes of the past year
She went back to foundress McAuley who said that some people think they need to pray to be holy rather than dressing a cancer wound. “Our identity is getting caught up in the messiness and the pain of other people’s lives, as Catholics and as people engaged in caring for whole human beings,” said Kaveny.
Sr. Mary pointed out that Pope Francis speaks of a culture of encounter as a necessary means to develop authentic or right relationships, and asked the panel to describe a right relationship, and how Catholic health care can do a better job promoting such relationships.
Sotomayor said it takes a dance of love and respect to build trust. “It’s more complex than that, I realize,” she said. “But I think that the bottom line is if we as Catholic institutions really want to bear witness of the love of Christ, we have to start with that. Love. What is love? Love is the essence of who we are.”
vhahn@chausa.org
SAN DIEGO — The launch of its theology and ethics center, of a campaign to amplify positive stories about Catholic health care, and of an initiative to spotlight how insurance companies profit by denying care were among the many CHA milestones that Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, cited during the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly.
“Throughout this past year, CHA has been impelled to act boldly on many fronts and issues including defending our identity and integrity,” said Sr. Mary, CHA president and CEO, as she closed out the three-day event.
Among the CHA successes from the past year that Sr. Mary spotlighted were:
The Center for Theology & Ethics in Catholic Health, which will provide guidance on current and evolving ethical issues and build strong working relationships with academic centers of ethics and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
HealthCareHere.org, a website that amplifies stories and examples of how insurance companies are using practices and policies that impede treatment and coverage at the expense of patient care. “These delays and denials are strong social determinants of health as they negatively impact the health of patients,” Sr. Mary said.
When Healthcare Really Cares, an ad and social media campaign focused on positive stories about Catholic health care.
A new strategic plan for the ministry based on three pillars — care for all, health reimagined and united for change — and reflective of the association’s vision statement, “We will empower bold change to elevate human flourishing.”
Building upon the We Are Called initiative to confront racism by achieving health equity. The ministry is doing this by continuing to prioritize health equity and integrate it into everything CHA does. This includes advocating for legislation that advances climate justice and addresses disparities in maternal health. An example Sr. Mary noted was joining with the March of Dimes and other national organizations to achieve approval of $1 billion in additional federal funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
Advancing the Protect What’s Precious campaign that spotlights the importance of Medicaid to raise awareness and provide education and resources about the staggering losses in coverage as eligibility is reevaluated post-pandemic.
Issuing a discussion paper on issues impacting the recruitment and capacity building of the global health workforce and partnering with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the Holy See to advance the discussion.
Working with CHA members and partners to form a community of practice led by a Harvard human flourishing researcher. That community will extend support to chaplains, clergy and all those who accompany people in spiritual crisis due to moral injury.
Adding to the Ministry Identity Assessment a new feature that allows benchmarking within a specific health system and across the entire Catholic health ministry. The assessment tool enables members to objectively demonstrate their commitment to ensuring Catholic identity.
— LISA EISENHAUER
Sr. Mary
Audience members listen intently to an Assembly panel discussion about Catholic health care and American culture.
Jerry Naunheim Jr./©CHA
Ascension chaplains work with care team, hospital leaders to reduce readmissions
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
SAN DIEGO — When an Ascension Saint Thomas chaplain wanted to help ensure that patients with congestive heart failure wouldn’t need to be readmitted to the hospital, he got assistance from some of the about 500 churches in one four-county area that Ascension serves in Tennessee.
In a session at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly, Rev. Brandon M. Cook, a chaplain within Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown in Nashville, spoke along with Rev. Calin Tamiian, system director of spiritual care and clinical pastoral education with Ascension Saint Thomas, about the efforts of the chaplain, Ben Wiles, and about why chaplains and hospital administrators should work together to reduce readmission rates.
They pointed out that chaplains and hospital administrators want patients to go home and live healthy lives, and they want hospital resources spent wisely so the facilities can continue to operate years from now.
Chaplain referral
Ascension Saint Thomas comprises 16 hospitals with over 250 sites of care across central Tennessee, including Nashville, Murfreesboro, and rural communities.
In the effort led by Wiles, Rev. Cook said a task force looked at heart failure readmissions, which were some of the highest readmission rates for hospitals within the Ascension Saint Thomas system. The task force made sure that every patient who came in with heart failure received a chaplain referral. The chaplains learned that many of the patients relied on church food banks where many of the foods were high in sugar and salt.
The hospitals worked with the churches to create heart-healthy food pantries, and they raised money to buy scales so the patients could monitor their weight at home. One church started a ride program to take patients to follow-up medical appointments. After the efforts began, the regional hospitals saw a year-over-year reduction in the patient readmission rate for congestive
heart failure of 94%.
The chaplains’ role in reducing readmissions was to “be a broker between the hospital and the faith communities to come to a mutual understanding of an action plan,” said Rev. Cook. “Perhaps, most importantly, it was to ensure that each person, each patient felt as though they were being heard and cared for.”
Costly issue
Readmissions cost hospitals money, Rev. Tamiian pointed out. According to one study, in 2018 there were 3.8 million 30-day all-cause adult hospital readmissions, with a 14% readmission rate and an average readmission cost of $15,200. In 2020, that cost increased to $19,500.
Unplanned readmissions within 30 days of discharge are part of a definition used by Medicare to determine financial penalties, the speakers said.
Rev. Cook wanted people to keep in mind the effect of readmissions not only
Cardinal McElroy
From page 1
McElroy, bishop of San Diego.
During a keynote address at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly, the cardinal shared his knowledge of how the “Synod on Synodality” is unfolding and how health care is part of the conversation.
The synod is a worldwide three-year dialogue and process of listening. It was initiated by Pope Francis in October 2021.
Its goal, according to the Vatican’s website, is “to provide an opportunity for the entire people of God to discern together how to move forward on the path towards being a more synodal church in the long term.”
The cardinal is a member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. He is among 400 members of a “universal synodal team” from across the globe who gathered in Rome last October to review the themes raised in the first two years of the process.
on the hospitals’ bottom line but also on patients’ lives.
“They just know that their lives are being impacted by being in and out of the hospital,” he said. “So our ultimate goal is not only to improve the Medicare definitions of readmissions so that we’re improving our reimbursement, keeping our hospitals financially healthy, but it is also to reduce readmissions overall, because every patient matters and their stories are important.”
Ministry imperative
Rev. Tamiian pointed out that reducing readmission rates is in line with the ministry’s Catholic values: respect for human dignity, integrity, stewardship, and excellence, and that might mean different things to different hospital departments.
“They might take different forms,” he said. “They might have different terminology, but ultimately, we all pay attention to the way in which repeated hospitalizations are manifested as a form of
Explaining the questions
In his keynote address, Cardinal McElroy elaborated on how the questions related to Catholic health care mesh with the wider synodal discussion that will determine the future direction of the church.
On the need for discernment, he said it must be “rooted in perceiving the presence of God, listening, truly listening, with profound respect to the voices of others, and make all feel included and respected.”
On contributing to Catholic theology, he said those in the Catholic health care ministry must be involved because “at critical junctures the church’s mission to heal the sick raises key elements of emergent realities that must be addressed by the church’s theology and teaching.”
On the question of how the ministry can enflesh Jesus, he noted that “Pope Francis has made this pastoral dimension of our faith the foundation of his pontificate.” He said Catholic health care providers “must wrestle with how to make this inclusive, loving, compassionate, nonjudgmental healing presence resonate throughout its ministries and institutions in this hypercompetitive environment.”
On being a countercultural force in society, he said it in part means “serving most strenuously those in society whom our culture discards and ignores: the destitute, the undocumented, the unborn, the mentally ill.”
Issues coming to the fore
Early in his address, Cardinal McElroy
impoverishment.”
Over the last year, Rev. Cook has worked with a research team on a project to correlate readmission rates with services provided by spiritual care and palliative care teams. The sample size is 331 patients. The research team is waiting for results from statisticians.
Since patients are most likely to first encounter the spiritual care department through a eucharistic minister or a priest, it’s important that those pastoral care providers understand the dynamics of readmissions so they can hear patient concerns and inform the care team, said Rev. Cook.
For example, he saw a patient who had been readmitted several times for heart failure. The patient told him she was afraid to go home because there was nobody there to help her.
“Out of that discussion,” he said, “we were able to get her to a post-acute care setting where she felt like she had more support before going home.”
New responsibilities
Chaplains at each Ascension Saint Thomas hospital sit on readmissions committees that meet every other month. They watch for trends and look closely at cases in which patients have died after several readmissions.
Chaplains are very comfortable in their spiritual care roles and being a pastoral presence for a patient, said Rev. Tamiian, but it’s a challenge to be entrusted with a clinical role. He said Ascension Saint Thomas leaders have supported the chaplains in adjusting to their new responsibilities. The chaplains can work with the clinical care team to get a clear indication of what a patient prefers or talk with a patient about their fears before undergoing procedures, he said.
“I actually will go as far as to say that Jesus probably missed a great opportunity (during) the Sermon on the Mount to say blessed are those who have a chance to work with the chaplains,” Rev. Tamiian said, drawing chuckles and applause from the audience. “Truly, the trust has been given to us.”
vhahn@chausa.org
gave a rundown of some of the overall issues that have been most prominent in the synodal dialogues that have involved 500,000 American Catholics. He cited, for example, a call for leaders “to recognize the unique charisms and pastoral gifts women bring to the church.” Another topic he said has been a recurring theme is “anger with the indefensible way in which bishops knowingly reassigned priests whom they knew to have sexually abused minors in their past.”
“One of the most striking realities reflected in our national dialogues was the commonality of the questions and perceptions of the people of God across dioceses, regions and cultures within our country,” Cardinal McElroy said. “While sometimes framed in different languages or with different emphases, the major joys, the hopes, the sorrows and the fears of God’s people were remarkably similar from place to place.”
After the cardinal’s address, his audience broke into small-group sessions to experience a synodal-type “spiritual conversation” themselves. Each person was assigned to a round table where they quietly pondered three questions. One was: How can we be a united voice for Catholic health care in society and with the church?
Participants were asked to practice intentional listening and reflective speaking. Every person was given the same amount of time to share their thoughts. At the end, a table host summarized the comments, which are being shared with CHA’s mission leaders. leisenhauer@chasusa.org
Cardinal Robert McElroy, bishop of San Diego, celebrates Mass on the second day of the Assembly. He was also one of the event's keynote speakers.
Rev. Tamiian
Rev. Brandon M. Cook speaks about how chaplains can work with clinical care teams and others to help reduce patient readmissions. Rev. Cook is a chaplain with Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jerry Naunheim Jr./©CHA
Jerry Naunheim
Jr./©CHA
Futurist Tom Koulopoulos says crisis brings ‘opportunity to reimagine ourselves’
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
SAN DIEGO — Author and futurist Tom Koulopoulos knew he would make the room full of health care leaders and providers bristle when he said: “These are the good times.”
Many in his audience at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly chuckled nervously. But he explained himself.
“One of the greatest gifts God gives us is a moment of crisis,” he said. “It is an opportunity to reimagine ourselves, our role, our meaning in life ... that’s when you discover meaning.”
Technology, including artificial intelligence, is developing at unimaginable speed and the health care sector should harness and embrace it to allow people to flourish, he said during a keynote address.
Koulopoulos focused his discussion on two questions: What technologies will allow humans to flourish? What will not change?
Technology is about behavior, he said. He asked how many in the crowd checked their smartphone from bed before waking up that morning. Most everyone raised their hands. Fundamental behavior changes such as people constantly checking their phones are insidious, he said, and sometimes people don’t realize that as they are using technology, they are using AI.
He said AI is going to become more and more a part of life. “Part of the responsibility we have both ethically and morally, I believe, is to go into that future consciously, with our eyes wide open, so that we make informed choices about where AI is and isn’t appropriate in our lives, in our work, in our organizations, in our society.”
Extraordinary advances
Koulopoulos showed photos of early computers, large enough to take up a room, and the first “portable” computer, shown sitting on a forklift. About 1,000 computing devices existed in 1960, more than 10 billion devices exist today, and many more will exist in the future, he said. Today’s devices are as powerful as the human mind as far as computational capability, he said.
“We are on the precipice of the most extraordinary technological advances humanity has ever seen,” he said. “We are living it in the moment right now. And we — you, I — are the architects of this future.”
He showed a photo of his son Adam playing computer games in front of three computer screens. His son’s form of playing is unlike the outside play of his own childhood, he said, which used to bother him. However, he noted that his son doesn’t care about the skin color of the other players,
their religious background, or where they’re from. His son just cares that they can play the game.
“Technology creates behaviors, and those behaviors may seem aberrant,” said Koulopoulos. But he added that often those behaviors “allow us to flourish, to become more human.”
He pointed to benefits he foresees coming from the use of AI in health care. For example, he said the detailed and lifespanning information in electronic medical records should improve continuity of care and move health care to more outcomedriven models.
He even flipped the idea that the cost of health care is a drag on economies, saying instead it in the future may be “the single biggest contributor” to growth in the gross domestic product.
Goodness or greed
During the keynote address, Koulopoulos showed a video clip of three versions of himself speaking and conversing with one another. He asked the audience to see if they could tell which versions were real or fake. He revealed all three were avatars.
“This will not be a period without enormous disruptive potential for all of us,” he said. “We will question what is truth, we will question what is real, but no technology cuts in one direction. Every technology forces us to ask that fundamental question: Does the arc of humanity bend towards goodness or bend towards greed?”
He told a story of a time when he was 10 years old and got sick during a trip to Athens, Greece, where he grew up. He came back to the United States and was diagnosed with a severe case of hepatitis A. His doctor visited him daily in the hospital, and the doctor would always say, “Tommy, don’t ever forget how much you can overcome.”
Forty years later, Koulopoulos tracked down the doctor, called him, and was shocked the doctor remembered him. As they ended the call, the doctor told him: “I’m just really glad you called. It’s good to hear from you. And, with all you got going on, don’t forget, there’s nothing you can’t overcome.”
Koulopoulos reminded the group that this kind of humanity should not change, and that humanity stands at “the beginning of an incredible era,” he said.
He concluded: “My charge to you is to take that journey, to embrace it, to engage with these new technologies, to understand how they amplify our humanity, how they further your mission of helping the human condition flourish.”
vhahn@chausa.org
KEEPING UP
PRESIDENTS/CEOS
CommonSpirit Health and subsystems within that organization have made these changes:
Peter Powers to market president for the Greater Colorado and Kansas market, effective July 22. There are nine hospitals in that market. Previously, Powers was CEO of Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida.
Christy Spitser to interim market president at CHI Saint Joseph Health in Lexington, Kentucky. She was market chief financial officer. She replaces Anthony Houston, who has accepted the role of market president for the CommonSpirit Health Arizona market. CommonSpirit Health has launched a national search for a permanent market president in Kentucky.
Kyle Brostrom to CEO of Holy Cross Hospital — Davis, which is in Layton, Utah. Brostrom was vice president, strategy and business development for the mountain division of HCA Healthcare.
Mike Cafasso to CEO for St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City, from interim CEO. He will continue as CEO of St. Mary — Corwin Hospital in Pueblo. Both hospitals are in Colorado.
Mark Longacre to president of CHI Health Lakeside in Omaha, Nebraska, and CHI Health Midlands in Papillion, Nebraska. He was vice president of Monument Health Rapid City market, including the Monument Health Orthopedic and Specialty Hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota. Longacre succeeds Kevin Miller, who is retiring.
Kristi Olson to CEO of Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Previously, Olson was interim CEO of Penrose and market chief operating officer for Penrose Hospital and St. Francis Hospital of Colorado Springs.
Gina Temple to CEO of St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs. Temple previously was CEO of HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital in Tampa.
ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES
Saad Chaudhry to chief digital officer of SSM Health of St. Louis.
Steve Kazanjian to executive vice president and chief mission integration officer of CHRISTUS Health of Irving, Texas.
Saurabh Tripathi to executive vice president and chief financial officer of St. Louis-based Ascension.
CommonSpirit Health and organizations within that system have made these changes: Audre Gvildys Bagnall to chief strategy officer for CommonSpirit Health’s mountain region. And, Dr. Hans P. Cassagnol to chief medical officer of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Tacoma, Washington. California hospitals within Providence St. Joseph Health have made these changes: Michelle Oxford to chief administrative officer of Petaluma Valley Hospital and Healdsburg Hospital and Donovan Taylor to chief administrative officer of Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
R. Kevin Sale to chief operating officer of St. Francis Health, effective July 25. St. Francis, which is in Monroe, Louisiana, is part of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System.
Amit Mody to executive vice president of business development for Holy Name Medical Center of Teaneck, New Jersey.
Melissa Caccamo to vice president of practice operations for St. Mary’s Health System in Lewiston, Maine. St. Mary’s is part of Covenant Health in Andover, Massachusetts.
Mercy Hospital Ada in Oklahoma has made these changes: Rev. Kaycee Young to vice president of mission and Shazaib Cheema to executive director for clinical operations.
Brian Nelson to program director of environmental stewardship for Vancouver, Washington-based PeaceHealth. This is a new position at PeaceHealth.
Jerry Naunheim
Jr./CHA
During his keynote address at the 2024 Catholic Health Assembly, author and futurist Tom Koulopoulos shares his vision of a future where technology plays an ever-widening role in health care but the human aspect remains vital.
Powers Cafasso
Kazanjian
Spitser Olson Sale
Brostrom Temple Mody