Joshua T. Honaker, MD, MBA, FAAF
Norton Healthcare
Job Title: Chief Medical Administrative Officer, Norton Medical Group
Member of KHC since: January 2019
KHC Committee Participation: Executive Committee, KY Performance Measurement Alignment Committee (PMAC)
Dr. Honaker serves as the clinical administrative leader of the Norton Medical Group, which employs more than 1,100 providers at Norton Healthcare. In his role, he provides oversight of clinical, quality, safety, patient experience, physician leadership development, and recruitment of providers.
What are you currently working on that you are most excited about? How do you think it will drive improvements to health and healthcare in the community?
We are developing a strategic plan for our system around Behavioral Health. I believe this is the last large gap our society has to overcome to achieve greatness in healthcare delivery. Without the appropriate Mental and Behavioral Health resources, we are unable to address organic diseases adequately, nor take care of the patient as a whole. Two-thirds of patients with chronic diseases suffer from anxiety or depression, and half of patients referred to resources will not show up for the appointment. If we are going to give the very best level of care, manage costs, impact the growing chronic disease tsunami, we must tackle this challenging topic.
Improving health is one of the three main priorities of the Triple Aim. What are the best strategies for improving health in our community?
I believe the best way to improve health in our community is early intervention and by means of prevention, by empowering parents to enable children to grow up to be secure and healthy adults. Most adult chronic diseases are secondary to poor lifestyle choices, many of which stem from early childhood trauma or deficits in their early years.
What is the KHC’s biggest contribution to improving community health and healthcare?
The power of bringing all the stakeholders together in one room is key to solving the challenges in health care. Since the employers are the ultimate payer for a large portion of society’s health costs, we must partner with them to provide quality in a cost effective manner. Without such unity, we will all pay a higher price with less returns.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Any outdoor survival television show, like “Alone.”
What are you passionate about?
Improving the ease of accessing and navigating quality health care.
