Healthcare Bundles, Physician Alignment & the Future of Surgical Care
Guest Spotlight: Scott Polenz
Scott Polenz is the CEO of OakLeaf Surgical Hospital, an independent, physician-founded surgical hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, serving patients across 15 specialties with 52 surgeons. With 25 years of healthcare experience, Scott has built his career across finance, hospital operations, physician engagement, executive leadership, and consulting. A CPA and FACHE, he has held leadership roles with Marshfield Clinic Health System, served as a hospital CEO, helped build a new hospital, and worked as a healthcare consultant.
Since joining OakLeaf in February 2026, Scott has focused on rebuilding trust with physicians and staff while navigating the financial and operational pressures facing independent hospitals. His experience working closely with physicians has shaped his approach to leadership, emphasizing mutual respect, shared values, and stronger physician involvement in organizational decisions. In this conversation, he also shares his perspective on revenue cycle challenges, bundled payments, and the growing demand from employers for more predictable healthcare costs.
Here are the 3 Key Takeaways from our Conversation:
1. Physician Alignment Starts With Trust and Involvement
Healthcare organizations cannot effectively retain and engage physicians without building trust and giving them a meaningful voice in the organization. Scott emphasizes that physicians are not commodities, they are central to the patient experience and should have a greater role in both clinical and business decisions.
2. Bundled Care Could Create More Predictable Healthcare Costs
Employers are increasingly looking for defined prices for procedures such as hip and knee replacements. For surgical hospitals, bundled payments could create opportunities to work more directly with employers while offering patients greater cost certainty. But organizations first need to understand their costs, margins, risk, and how complications or readmissions would be handled.
3. Healthcare Needs to Rethink Its Traditional Payment Model
Revenue cycle complexity, delayed payments, prior authorizations, and administrative friction continue to create challenges for hospitals. The conversation explores how faster payment models, direct employer-provider relationships, and risk-sharing arrangements could reshape healthcare delivery, particularly for independent and rural hospitals.
Listen to the full episode of When Health Freezes Over now!
👉 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7CR1wzokjtVdyyWHLziUJQ/
👉 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3bRobaBZlM3IbCJ5334PJV?si=41aa6416371e4bc2
👉 Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/when-health-freezes-over/id1887501951
#WhenHealthFreezesOver
