Claus von Zychlin, president and CEO of Mount Carmel Health System, announced Friday that he would not return from the medical leave he began in October von Zychlin said he needed the next year to focus on his health and family after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma what all do you want to do and what all do you want to accomplish?'" von Zychlin said president and CEO of Trinity Health's West Michigan Region — Mount Carmel's parent system — has served as interim president and CEO since von Zychlin's absence began Spoelman also will help with the search for von Zychlin's replacement steering the health-care network through transitions that included partnerships with regional hospitals and an overhaul in the hospital's philosophy Though his prognosis is strong — doctors have said von Zychlin is faring better than the average patient — he said continuing as CEO "wouldn't be fair." but I still get tired in the afternoons," he said "They really need someone who's 100 percent engaged." Von Zychlin said he would continue to work part-time with Mount Carmel and on national health care projects He also will serve as a liaison between Mount Carmel and community projects already in the works "That’s a whole different mindset that we have to gear towards that when a patient gets admitted to the hospital that’s a failure of the health care system versus that’s what we want because that’s where we make money," he said "We need to design systems that take us from intervention to prevention knowing we'll always have interventions we need but we can eliminate them (through) better eating habits but we really haven’t incorporated them and encouraged people to do them in a way that truly bends the health care curve." larenschield@dispatch.com @larenschield The president and CEO of Mount Carmel Health System will take a leave of absence from his post in late October to undergo cancer treatment Claus von Zychlin told employees in an email last week that he plans to return to work in January and that he plans to stay involved in the hospital system’s operations by email Von Zychlin said doctors diagnosed multiple myeloma but it was detected early and doctors are optimistic about his prognosis He is under the care of an oncologist at the Zangmeister Center and a specialist at Ohio State University’s Arthur G president and CEO of the Trinity Health West Michigan Region will serve as interim CEO for Mount Carmel in von Zychlin’s absence the second largest Roman Catholic health-care system in the United States bsutherly@dispatch.com @BenSutherly This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Sign In Register More NATIONAL OBITUARIES > Claus von Zychlin has been at the helm of Mount Carmel Health System as its president and CEO since 2006 — a time during which health care has undergone much transition has helped spur more collaboration among health-care providers Before beginning a leave of absence in late October to undergo treatment for multiple myeloma von Zychlin shared his organization’s perspective on partnerships with Columbus CEO as part of a look at how central Ohio’s hospitals are responding to new pressures on health-care delivery Q: What is Mount Carmel Health System’s philosophy when it comes to partnerships and affiliations with independent hospitals A: We’re a not-for-profit Catholic ministry It’s important that people recognize our commitment to care for all and the underpinnings of our responsibility to the Catholic ethical and religious directives (But) our background in ministry doesn’t impede us from doing very many things Diley (Ridge Medical Center) is an example we were at odds (with Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster) almost to the point of a lawsuit “Let’s look at the community first.” We came up with a model that serves the community (Mount Carmel) came together with Ohio State (to take an ownership stake) at Madison County Hospital we helped that hospital recruit physicians and develop a model of care that supports that community If you go to the current relationship with HealthSouth (with which Mount Carmel is building a 60-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Westerville) They have done partnerships with other faith-based organizations They bring a level of expertise and sophistication that we could not have done on our own Instead of recruiting our own set of interventional neurosurgeons and each doctor having less than a full base of patients we’ve gotten high-quality physicians from Ohio State who are supporting our doctors (and they) need to use those skills (to stay sharp) What we want to do is create a system of care that lowers cost it’s “How do we reduce utilization and get better outcomes?” Q: To what extent is Diley Ridge a reflection/acknowledgement of the changing landscape created by the Affordable Care Act A: Health care hasn’t changed a whole lot in the past 50 years It has revolved around the inpatient hospital bed If you look at the philosophy of the Affordable Care Act instead of making the hospital a profit center the hospital ends up being almost a failure of the health-care system The change of care was already kind of underway (before the Affordable Care Act) If you think about the banking industry 40 to 50 years ago Now people go to iPhone and do banking online You’re seeing that transition of health care from being hospital-centric to patient-centric Q: Mount Carmel has no telemedicine network so what are other ways that Mount Carmel seeks to build relationships with independent hospitals A: Those are the services that will evolve over the next five years I commend OhioHealth and Ohio State for those services We’re in the process of looking at some things like that We could end up having three telestroke networks in this market or partner with one of two existing ones to benefit our patients (Mount Carmel has) 170,000 lives in some form of population health I don’t know if anyone else in town is even close to that We see ourselves evolving through the new worlds of system of care and care delivery and leading in this arena We’re already in talks with a number of community hospitals about partnering in population health central Ohio’s largest-circulation business magazine or sign up for Editor Mary Yost’s weekly e-newsletter Two of central Ohio’s three adult hospital systems announced an affiliation yesterday that they said builds on a history of collaboration but stops short of a merger Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center and Mount Carmel Health System said their collaboration will benefit patients particularly those who have been underserved But executives said the details are pending “Given the evolving health-care environment and increasing emphasis on demonstrating value (the two hospital systems) recognize one key success factor is developing a relationship that can provide patients with access to the most appropriate setting of care based on patient need and the relative expertise of each organization,” states the affiliation agreement obtained by The Dispatch The two hospital systems say they will work together to cut costs and leverage their combined clout where possible including in managing their supply chains and making joint purchases But each organization will keep its own team of executives and will continue to negotiate reimbursement rates with insurers independently And both said they will continue to collaborate with other hospital systems The affiliation “doesn’t interfere with our ability to deal with others,” said Dr Wexner Medical Center’s chief executive officer Ohio State recently announced an initiative to commercialize medical innovations with the Cleveland Clinic while Mount Carmel jointly owns Diley Ridge Medical Center with Fairfield Medical Center Mount Carmel remains part of Trinity Health which just completed a merger with Catholic Health East to become CHE Trinity Health president and CEO of Mount Carmel Health System said their respective health systems will maintain their own clinical cultures including on matters pertaining to reproductive health “We will maintain our independence,” von Zychlin said noting the health system will remain respectful of its Catholic heritage and “adhere to the religious directives of the Catholic Church." A looser affiliation doesn’t force such cultural issues to the extent that a merger would said Alwyn Cassil of the Center for Studying Health System Change a nonpartisan research group in Washington the two hospital systems will work together to improve access to health care and primary care; manage the health of large populations; expand medical education for students and doctors; and expand patient access to clinical trials The systems also will work together on information-technology projects to improve quality and lower costs Greater coordination between hospital systems can provide benefits for patient care But there’s also an unanswered question about any savings that the affiliation generates: “Will those savings be passed on to patients and consumers and the people who are paying premiums in the community?” Cassil said Mount Carmel and Wexner Medical Center each holds a 29 percent stake of the local adult patient market OhioHealth announced last week that it is moving toward becoming the parent company of Athens-based O’Bleness Health System and said last month that it is working toward a similar arrangement with Mansfield-based MedCentral Health System OhioHealth had little to say about the OSU-Mount Carmel affiliation “We think that whatever improves health care in our community is a positive thing We look forward to continue working with both organizations long into the future." Mount Carmel and Ohio State officials also sidestepped the issue of competition yesterday Ohio State and Mount Carmel already work together in some ways Through the nonprofit OSU/Mount Carmel Health Alliance they own 40 percent of Madison County Hospital in London They also have a shared obstetrics/gynecology residency training program shared physician coverage for maternal/fetal medicine and clinical rotations at Mount Carmel for OSU medical students