Partners
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Kevin Gildart
Rewarding Innovation
When the Legislature established MeHAF ten years ago, Kevin Gildart was watching closely. Although he thought it was a good idea at the time, he now realizes how prescient and wise it was.
"The Maine State Legislature was the force behind pushing to set aside the money for MeHAF after the sale of [nonprofit] Blue Cross and Blue Shield to Anthem. I don't think they knew how smart they were. It was a decision that was wise beyond its years. MeHAF, in its short life, has gone way beyond what people may have anticipated when the Legislature originally pushed for this."
Gildart had several reasons for keeping tabs on health care. As Vice President for Human Resources at Bath Iron Works, he knew the growing expense of offering care to employees strained BIW's bottom line. "It was more and more of a struggle because of rising costs, which forced us to learn more about outcome-based health care. I had to learn a lot about our medical system in this country and Maine specifically, and find ways to help my company without just taking coverage away. There are things you can do to control costs, but we're dealing with a system that's not really a system. It's a culture that's very set in its ways, and it's compensated in ways that don't reward innovation."
When he became a MeHAF Trustee, Gildart shared how Maine's business community was struggling to maintain employee health coverage at reasonable costs. He advocated for MeHAF to go beyond grantmaking to push real innovation - to challenge traditional health care models and call upon organizations that were just staying afloat in the old system to become leaders in a new one.
Gildart cites MeHAF's leadership for developing a statewide health information technology system as the single most important investment the Foundation has made. "The ability for providers to share information and have a library of accessible information in real time is priceless. I don't think it would have happened if MeHAF hadn't been willing to give resources and been forceful in driving the project. The implications of this are still underestimated, in my opinion."
He challenged MeHAF to bring people together to address tough issues. "The change I observed over time was an understanding of what an influential role [MeHAF] could play in changing the health care landscape in Maine. There was not a common ground for talking about health care. I wanted to convince MeHAF that they could be the convener to bring people to a neutral place, not to spend time arguing about their differences, but looking at where there was agreement or a willingness to have agreement."
Thinking back to the Legislature's action Gildart says, "It was a wise decision then, but has become something more beneficial than anything that was expected. [It] has paid great benefits, and will pay those benefits for many years to come."