Lightning Willie and Captain Violet 2 Executive changes 7 Addiction and spiritual care 8 PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
MARCH 15, 2020 VOLUME 36, NUMBER 5
Ministry chaplains stay nimble to keep pace with evolving role Health care landscape changing quickly; chaplains must adapt By JULIE MINDA
The sweeping waves of change that have been reshaping health care delivery in the U.S. in recent years also have been fundamentally altering the role of the health care chaplain. Just like their clinician counterparts, health care chaplains have been using metrics in order to quantify their contributions to patient care. They must adhere to standardized protocols, integrate their work with that of clinical colleagues, increase their physical and virtual presence in outpatient care, and respond to expanded expectations for addressing spiritual, emotional and even socioeconomic needs of patients. To stay ahead of these amplified expec-
Medicaid block grant proposal raises fears of funding, service cuts By LISA EISENHAUER
While federal officials are pitching their proposal to offer block grants for Medicaid expansion funding as a way to give states more flexibility over their health care programs and expenses, CHA and others fear
Fr. Eoli Roselada, OFM, a chaplain at HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon, Illinois, blesses Sammie Story. While bedside patient care remains a vital part of chaplaincy, the role has expanded to include much work outside of hospital walls.
tations and ensure patients and others get the spiritual care that is a hallmark of Catholic health care, chaplains must continually learn and adapt.
“We need to be nimble,” says Tim Serban, chief mission integration officer for Providence in Oregon, a member of Continued on 4
Rural hospitals struggle to keep their footing By LISA EISENHAUER
PHOENIX — Shrinking populations, the shift from inpatient to outpatient care, and the refusal by some states to expand Medic-
aid are among the challenges that researchers link to a wave of rural hospital closures, including 19 last year. Ideas for confronting and withstanding those forces were in the spotlight at
A map created by the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program shows where 166 rural hospitals have closed since 2005.
the American Hospital Association’s Rural Health Care Leadership Conference in February in Phoenix. “For all our rural hospitals and health systems, regardless of how they are positioned, these challenges are not only creating financial instability, but affecting the economic health of the entire community,” Dr. Melinda L. Estes, chairwoman of the American Hospital Association’s board of trustees, said at the start of the conference. CHA and Mercy Virtual, a subsidiary of Chesterfield, Missouri-based Mercy health, were among the sponsors of the four-day event, which drew more than 1,100 people. Estes, president and chief executive of Kansas City, Missouri-based Saint Luke’s Health System, pointed out that rural hospitals — defined as those outside of metropolitan statistical areas — serve as the main source of health care for 20 percent of the nation’s population and often are a
the change will ultimately mean less care and for fewer people. The proposal, called “Healthy Adult Opportunity,” was detailed in January by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It focuses on what the agency calls a “limited population” — adults under age 65 whose eligibility for Medicaid is not based on pregnancy, a disability or a need for long-term care. States could apply for waivers of traditional Medicaid rules and seek either an aggregate block grant to cover total costs for
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A worker helps a resident of Joseph’s Home, a homeless service provider in Northeast Ohio that is exclusively focused on medical respite care. Many of its residents rely on Medicaid. Joseph’s Home is a ministry of Cleveland-based Sisters of Charity Health System.
Critical Conversations 2020 explores Catholic health care’s singular history, future By JUDITH VANDEWATER
ATLANTA — Fr. Charles Bou– chard, OP, CHA’s senior director of theology and sp ons orship, sparked a lively exchange at the a s s o c i a t i o n ’s Critical Conversations meeting here last month Fr. Bouchard when he asked the ministry chief executives in attendance whether they feel ready for the day when there are no women religious working in Catholic health care. Generations of women religious built the Catholic health care ministry into the largest nonprofit health sector in the U.S.,
Patrick McCruden, standing, SSM Health’s chief mission integration officer, converses with Laura Kaiser, SSM Health’s president and chief executive, and Larry LeGrand, SSM Health board chair, during a break at CHA’s Critical Conversations 2020 meeting in Atlanta last month.
and did so while advancing whole person care, Catholic social teaching and Catholic principles of social justice. Although there are women religious on the sponsor boards at most of the largest Catholic systems, the number of sisters active in the ministry continues to decline. Lay men and women have for some time held the top executive and operating posts at the largest Catholic health systems, the vast majority of which are organized as ministerial juridic persons with laity represented on sponsor boards that are responsible for their organization’s Catholic identity and fidelity to church teachings. “It is clear to all of us that whatever happens in the future,
the sisters will not be doing it,” Fr. Bouchard said to the gathering of about 80 ministry leaders, which, in addition to chief executives, included members of sponsor boards and executive mission leaders from across the ministry. The Critical Conversations meeting is convened every two years as a forum for CHA members to share mission-relevant information and expertise and to provide input that will advance CHA’s work. This year’s attendees gave input that will inform the drafting of a strategic plan for FY 2021-23. (See sidebar page 6.) Elizabeth Dunne, president and chief executive of PeaceHealth and a CHA board member, answered Fr. Bouchard’s question Continued on 6