'The Clock Is Meaningless Now': Allegheny Health Network CEO Reports From the Front Lines of COVID-19
498 patients tested, 2,000 employees WFH
Cynthia Hundorfean is president and CEO of Allegheny Health Network, a Highmark Health health system in western Pennsylvania, and a member of the Managed Healthcare Executive editorial board. We emailed her some questions about how her health system is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Has Allegheny Health Network had any COVID-19 cases? Yes. We are currently treating 2 COVID-19 inpatients.
Do your facilities have access to COVID-19 testing? We are currently utilizing commercial labs for testing and have tested 498 patients to date. Most of this testing continues to be done in the outpatient setting and at our emergency departments.
Have you canceled elective surgeries and other nonurgent sorts of care? If so, have you taken steps to reduce staffing levels in some way?
Yes, we have postponed all elective surgeries and nonessential clinical care. As a result, we have been moving staff into cross-functional roles as needed.
How many people are working from home and in what kind of jobs? AHN currently has more than 2,000 employees deployed to work from home across our finance, revenue cycle, analytics, clinical access, and administrative support teams. We continue to explore solutions to allow for additional teams to work remotely.
As a healthcare leader, what has been the hardest part of dealing COVID-19. Have there been any gratifying moments? The hardest part is constantly worrying about our physicians, nurses, and everyone else in our hospitals that will be routinely exposed to the virus. They will continue to be tested by this scenario, and I hope they know how much we honor them for the work they have been and are about to do.
Gratifying moments-the clock is meaningless now. There’s no beginning or end to our workday. It’s everyone working together with the same goal. It should be like this all of the time.
Medicaid Cuts Remain Center Stage as Experts Address Industry Challenges
March 28th 2025In a recent conversation with Jennifer McGuigan Babcock, senior vice president for Medicaid policy at the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP), and Gabe Scott, a partner at K&L Gates Health Care Group, the two discussed efforts to protect Medicaid’s role in the healthcare system and the consequences of the budget cuts announced in February.
Read More
Breaking Down Health Plans, HSAs, AI With Paul Fronstin of EBRI
November 19th 2024Featured in this latest episode of Tuning In to the C-Suite podcast is Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research at EBRI, who shed light on the evolving landscape of health benefits with editors of Managed Healthcare Executive.
Listen
In this latest episode of Tuning In to the C-Suite podcast, Briana Contreras, an editor with MHE had the pleasure of meeting Loren McCaghy, director of consulting, health and consumer engagement and product insight at Accenture, to discuss the organization's latest report on U.S. consumers switching healthcare providers and insurance payers.
Listen
FDA Approves Two More Denosumab Biosimilars, Conexxence and Bomyntra
March 27th 2025The fourth pair of denosumab biosimilars, Conexxence and Bomyntra, are expected to launch in the United States in mid 2025, as a result of a global settlement with Amgen, according to a company news release.
Read More
FDA Approves First Drug for Excess Hunger in Prader-Willi Syndrome
March 27th 2025Vykat XR will be available in April to treat the intense hunger that is a hallmark of the rare genetic disease Prader-Willi syndrome. The price is based on a patient’s weight, and the average patient in the clinical trials would have had an average annual cost of $466,200 for the first year.
Read More
