DuPage Medical Group CEO On Organization's 'Robust Capabilities'

Steve Nelson shares his strategies for the future as well as how the organization's culture and passion have energized him.

The American Medical Association launched five online resources last month to help physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic, including tools to combat physician burnout, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Steve Nelson, the new CEO of physician-led DuPage Medical Group (DMG), located in Illinois, said recently that he hopes to focus on physician burnout, among a number of other clinical initiatives, to demonstrate the value of his organization in the healthcare sector.

Nelson has over 30 years of experience in healthcare, including serving in various leadership positions for United Healthcare, Health Net, Tivity Health, and Henry Ford Health System.

Nelson spoke with HealthLeaders about his short-term and long-term strategies for DMG, and how the physician-led organization's culture and passion have energized him during the pandemic.

Steve Nelson, CEO, DuPage Medical Group (Photo courtesy of DuPage Medical Group)

This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

HL: How has your background in healthcare leadership and your career path led you to DMG?

Nelson: There are not many things that people care about more than their health, their family, and their money. I've been able to spend 30 years in a career that impacts all those things, so I feel lucky to have found that path and follow it, and never had a day of regret.

The field of healthcare in general is about 20% of our economy, so when somebody says healthcare, that's a pretty big space.

As a young person starting in the delivery side of healthcare, I quickly learned that the healthcare ecosystem is broad. One of the things that I was curious about is ‘What does healthcare look like from different angles, different tiers, and different perspectives?’ We call it a healthcare system, but in fact, it doesn't behave like a system. It behaves like a bunch of different parts, which is part of the reason that we're in some of the challenges that we're in when it comes to healthcare.

As I got through the first [decade] of my career with integrated delivery systems, I was curious about what the healthcare world looked like from other spots. I ventured into some entrepreneurial opportunities with large publicly-traded payers and spent a bunch of time there.

The combination of all these different chairs, different fields, and different lenses has uniquely prepared me to come to DMG. [I am] bringing this varied and unique experience to a place that is incredibly well positioned to be innovative and transformative in the healthcare marketplace that we call "Chicagoland."

HL: What do you hope to accomplish in your first year as CEO? What are some of your short-term and long-term strategies for those initiatives?

Nelson: We laid out five long-term strategies that have a lot of short-term implications:

1. We want to achieve robust growth. We think we have a great mission, purpose, and value to offer patients in the marketplace, and so we want to grow.
2. We want to deliver world class outcomes with innovative models of care.
3. We want to [offer] a distinctive patient experience.
4. We want to be a place where [physicians and associates] can do their best work.
5. We want to deliver social impact.

I hope a year from now we can say collectively that we have moved the needle on all five of those [goals.]

To do that, there are several short-term [goals] we are pursuing.

One of the interesting things about DMG is, and this happened before I got here, that they put together an incredible set of building blocks to [create] a robust and comprehensive integrated delivery system without hospital beds [through] robust ancillary and ambulatory capabilities. [This includes] everything right up to the ER and going into the hospital, imaging, [and the] busiest ambulatory surgery center in the state.

The opportunity from here, and if you think about those five [goals] that we talked about, [is that] we can layer some more capabilities on top of that. The idea of bringing consumer-facing technology and digital tools to the physician decision-making, consumer engagement, and patient journey is going to be powerful.

We have an opportunity to support physicians better. One of the big issues in the U.S. certainly, if not throughout the world, is physician burnout. A lot of physicians are feeling fatigued by what the health system is requiring of them to deliver good care. So, to make their job easier and more fulfilling is a short-term goal.

Also, [there is an] opportunity to clearly articulate what the value of an organization like DMG brings to the marketplace and to demonstrate the world class outcomes that are being delivered here. We have an opportunity to create some more robust and strategic relationships between us, and payers, and hospital systems in our market and other marketplaces.

HL: What has transition to your new role been like and how has the pandemic affected the transition?

Nelson: DMG is physician-led, physician-owned. I work closely with almost 1,000 physicians to help them further and advance their agenda, and they've been receptive and excited about the different kind of leadership perspective and mindset that I bring.

The pandemic has been interesting. Since we're frontline, essential healthcare workers, we are very much at work and very much engaged. I've been masking up and visiting [our] sites throughout the Chicagoland area and interacting with our staff, associates, and physicians on a regular basis.

I have been impressed with the culture, the passion, and the energy that the associates and physicians at DMG have around transforming healthcare, and the triple aim, and trying to leverage their unique situation.

We're one of the largest independent physician groups in the country, so that means [DMG] is not tethered or economically incentivized to advance the mission of a hospital or a payer. Our customers are the patient and we try and do the best for them.

HL: DMG was named on Forbes’ 2020 America's Best Employers by State list for Illinois. What about DMG’s culture do you think enabled the organization to achieve that recognition?

Nelson: The culture is one of physician leadership [and] patient focus. Everything goes around that, has strong purpose, and [is] clearly defined and emphasized. When you work for an organization that has a clear purpose, that tends to be much more fulfilling and attracts a certain kind of person. That's part of our culture and part of the reason that people like working here.

The other reason is [DMG] is a large company but it has a small feel; not hierarchical. One of our challenges is to continue to grow and maintain that same culture and feel, but that's one of the advantages, and I think people feel that.

The last thing is [that] during the pandemic we pivoted quickly to create safety for associates, and for clinicians, and for our patients but continued to do the work we needed to do. [We have a] great track record [with] safety metrics and so one of the things that I think resonated with our associates and physicians is the opportunity to be helpful, but at the same time, safe.