Spotlight On: Andrew Molosky, President & CEO, Chapters Health System
October 2024 — In an interview with Invest:, Andrew Molosky, president and CEO of Chapters Health System, discussed Chapters Health’s focus on personalized care and flexibility, how it uses data analytics and artificial intelligence to supplement medical expertise, and the reason for its rapid expansion.
What stands out the most to you about the rapid growth at Chapters Health System, with the employee base tripling to over 3,000?
There are a couple of ways to get here, but we always default to the same story. Our belief is that growth, finance, and metrics are lagging measures to doing what matters most. As an organization, we have a simple mantra within the organization. There are only two jobs: “Taking care of patients, or taking care of those who do.” We have focused on caring for our people in markets like Tampa Bay, Orlando, and Washington, D.C. This approach translates to more employees, revenue, services, and cities. We have made purposeful and calculated investments to care for our people, which then translates to more employees, more revenue, more service, more cities, and so on. Our growth plan is to continue expanding, but only as a reward, not a penalty, to those doing the heavy lifting.
What is your strategy regarding your presence in Orlando, particularly with Cornerstone Hospice and the new hospice house on Pennsylvania Street?
Orlando is a textbook example of a successful collaboration. Partnering with the Cornerstone Hospice team a few years ago brought exceptional talent in leadership, caregiving, and intellectual areas. By taking care of our team, we were able to open new services like the hospice house and expand our Population Health Innovation division, CareNu.
This affiliation allowed us to introduce full-risk primary care and the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) model in Orlando. The partnership with Cornerstone Hospice enhanced existing services and enabled new ones, illustrating that one plus one equals three.
With each quarter, Chapters Health aims to replicate our portfolio and bring our services to more markets. While Orlando is advancing rapidly, some smaller markets are progressing at a different pace. Our investment in Orlando will continue, bringing innovatively all our resources to advance chronic illness and end-of-life care.
How does Chapters Health strive to maintain its culture given how much workplaces have changed recently?
Every organization, especially the good ones, has its unique way of taking care of employees. It’s the difference between those who say it and those who actually do it. At Chapters Health, our executives set the strategy, but it is the role of leadership to listen to our team, caregivers, and employees. We are an employee-led organization, relying on purposeful listening engagements, town halls, open forums, open-door policies, email outreach, and employee engagement surveys. This feedback becomes the operational steps to achieve our strategic plan. This is why we are proud to announce that for the seventh year running, we were awarded a Great Place to Work accolade.
Success comes when the entire organization moves in lockstep. No matter how good a strategic plan is, without the team’s support, it will not succeed. We lay out our goals and take everyone’s feedback on what we need to change, improve, or modify to get there. Leading by example is crucial, and it is working for us.
How is Chapters Health leveraging technological advancements, such as data analytics and artificial intelligence, in healthcare?
We strongly believe in the value of advanced intelligence to supplement the artistry of medicine. It is not to replace or cut costs, but to enhance the experience.
In our CareNu division, we have great success stories. By employing AI-driven machine learning algorithms and combining them with social determinant elements, we have achieved statistically significant outcomes. We have seen a 52% decrease in ER visits, a 61% reduction in unnecessary hospitalizations, and a 43% increase in net savings over just three years. This shows that integrating AI and data analytics into caregiving, as a supplement rather than a replacement, is our future.
What innovative approaches has Chapters Health implemented to improve the quality of care for seniors in Florida?
Living in Florida, we recognize the Disney parlance of being “on stage.” As a large healthcare provider in Florida, focusing on advanced and chronic illness — the most challenging and expensive aspect of healthcare in America — we have a significant platform to either shine or fail.
We have a mantra within our organization that keeps things simple yet profound: manage our business the same way we take care of our patients. Every patient is unique, and more than just the sum of their medical parts. Similarly, every business opportunity is bespoke, more than just dollars and cents or staffing ratios.
We approach challenges with flexibility, seeking input from all team members, patients, and families to customize solutions that reflect the essence of our organization and the individuals involved. This approach differs from the traditional model of simply allocating resources and hoping for the best.
In dealing with advanced chronic illnesses, this personalized approach is not just beneficial but necessary. We prioritize individuality in both patient care and business challenges, recognizing that each requires a tailored response.
Through all this, Chapters Health has embraced the opportunity to redefine advanced illness care, especially since Florida is home to so many seniors. This is not just about growth but also innovation, quality, and demonstrating a model that is both doable and financially sustainable. If it works in major markets like Orlando, Tampa, and Miami, there is no reason it cannot work in smaller towns across America.
What are the top challenges Chapters Health faces, and how are you addressing them?
There is one universal truth we can all agree on and that is that the demand for healthcare will keep rising while resources will keep diminishing. Inflation and stress will continue to mount. There are universal headwinds that affect us all.
For an organization like Chapters Health, with priorities on employees, quality, and innovation, this is an opportune moment. Our focus on quality creates a margin that is not stressed by employees leaving or lawsuits for poor care, allowing for reinvestment and expansion. While others may struggle with labor shortages or financial constraints, we have developed strategies that turn these headwinds into tailwinds for us. Our focus on quality not only maintains margins but also fosters reinvestment and further expansion. By proactively addressing these challenges, we have positioned ourselves to excel when others may falter. It is not just about how it is presented. It is about purposefully building a company to thrive in such environments.
What does having the HMO designation mean for CareNu and the communities you serve?
One of the hallmarks of our organization is taking responsibility for the totality of one’s care, not just focusing on a single diagnosis or test. We believe in holistic, encompassing care and fiscal responsibility. In healthcare, there are often misaligned incentives: Practitioners are driven by care, administrators by logistics, and payers by volume and money. By expanding into being the direct payer ourselves, we align these incentives.
This alignment allows us to care for patients from top to bottom, combining fiscal resources, caregiving resources, and intellectual capital. With this, we can nurture high-quality care in an optimal cost environment. While many organizations excel in one or two areas, managing the intellectual capital, data, payer elements, and bedside provision allows us to truly change healthcare delivery. This approach represents the purest motivation and the most sophisticated way to see our mission through.
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