Larry Griffin, co-founder and partner at Bridge Partners, LLC, underscores the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in recruiting for the C-suite and workforce.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the social and political unrest that took place during 2020 brought to light the significance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). For hospitals and health systems, it's important to implement DEI not only as a part of patient care, but also into the workforce.
Joy Lewis, who previously served as AHA’s vice president for strategic policy planning, was promoted to serve as senior vice president for health equity strategies. In this new role, she will focus on issues surrounding DEI.
In recent years, more hospitals and health systems have been taking steps to include DEI into strategic planning and focus as well.
Most recently, Allegheny Health Network announced in December the appointment of Veronica Villalobos, J.D. as vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion, to serve alongside the health system's new chief diversity officer, Dr. Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew.
Johnese Spisso, CEO of the UCLA Hospital System, shared in an interview this month with HealthLeaders how the California-based health system is ramping up its efforts in DEI not only in healthcare, but for the workforce as well.
Providers recognize the importance of focusing on DEI in recruiting and executives should understand the most effective tactics to retain current C-suite and workforce members.
Larry Griffin, co-founder and partner at Bridge Partners, LLC, a minority-owned executive search firm located in New York, spoke with HealthLeaders about DEI in recruiting and his tips for hospital executives.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
HealthLeaders:Why is it important for health organizations to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in recruitment?
Griffin: Providers need to understand the culture of the people that that they're serving. As demographics change, the constituents or the customers [change] as well. Internal knowledge about the customers, their cultures, how to communicate, and how to serve them, is what's really important.
A few years back we did a search for a large hospital in the northeast; this was for a head of ambulatory care. They specifically wanted someone who spoke Spanish because the population that they were serving was increasingly Latino. There were communication issues, [and] they wanted to make sure that they were providing the best service that they possibly could to their community.
HL: How can a lack of diverse leadership directly impact an organization's ability to recruit and retain people such as women or minorities?
Griffin: The healthcare industry [is] no different than other industry. If you don't have diverse leadership, the people that are within the organization, from a career standpoint, look up and they say 'Well, will I have an opportunity to pursue my career goals at this organization if nobody at the top of the organization looks like me?'
What happens is that many organizations do a good job of recruiting women and people of color at the lower levels, but their challenges come when they start to talk about retention. People move up to a certain level, they look up, and say, 'Well, nobody looks like me, am I going to have an opportunity to progress within this organization?'
On the leadership side, when they look back into their organization to promote women and people of color, the bench now is weaker than it was before because they don't have any examples up at the top.
Organizations that do a good job in terms of recruiting and retaining typically have diverse leadership, and they've put DEI front and center within the organization as a core value. They've created an organization that has built a brand around DEI so that people want to work there and they want to stay there.
That's particularly important at the senior level, because when you're talking about the war on talent and trying to recruit senior diverse leaders, there certainly has to be a strong mission proposition as far as why somebody would want to walk across the street and join your organization, as opposed to another organization. That whole topic around DEI and the importance of it, the value that the organization places on DEI, certainly is a game changer for some leaders.
HL: If a hospital or health system has a C-suite that lacks diversity, what steps can be taken to change that?
Griffin: One of the things that they can do is, place DEI at the forefront of who they are, of what they are trying to do, as an organization.
[A hospital could] possibly bring in a leader of DEI across the organization so those issues and topics are talked about, which can certainly be helpful.
Trying to embed DEI into all their processes, whether it's from public relations, communications, marketing, or human resources from a talent perspective, will just increase the visibility of DEI across the organization.
Even if the leadership is not diverse, it's impactful if people within the organization know that it's front, center, and top of mind for leadership. Eventually, that will lead to diverse leadership.
If they are looking to go outside of the organization and bring in diverse leadership, they cannot continue to employ the same tactics that they used in the past. They must look at it from a different perspective, they have to utilize different partners if they are going outside, and it's just got to be a completely different approach to recruitment.
HL: What best practices can health systems and boards put in place to ensure diversity in its interviewing and hiring procedures?
Griffin: Where you see organizations that are successful at it, they communicate a comprehensive story about what's going on within the organization with regards to DEI [to prospective applicants]. Not only just on whatever the role is on.
Many organizations are trying to address those topics in terms of culture and of the people that they're trying to serve. Leadership boards [should] be cognizant of that, and talk about that, and not shy away from that in the hiring process, and make sure that everybody's on the same page when it comes to those topics.
The disbandment comes only three years after Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase formed Haven Healthcare "to create better outcomes, greater satisfaction, and lower costs for their U.S. employees and families."
Haven Healthcare, the joint venture of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., will disband at the end of February, the company announced earlier this week.
According to the Haven website, which has since been taken offline, the company's original vision was "to create better outcomes, greater satisfaction, and lower costs for their U.S. employees and families."
Despite the end of the much-heralded project, which was first announced in 2018, the three companies will continue to “collaborate informally to design programs tailored to address the specific needs of their own employee populations."
Although Haven initially aimed to disrupt the healthcare sector, the company faced turbulence from the beginning, including losing multiple C-suite leaders in a short timeframe.
COO Jack Stoddard resigned for personal reasons in May 2019, after serving for only nine months. Dr. Atul Gawande stepped down as CEO in May 2020 to serve as chairman of the company's board of directors, after serving for almost two years in the role. Megan McLean resigned as chief of staff in May 2020, after serving for almost 10 months.
Lack of traction towards goals
Jeff Becker, a senior analyst serving eBusiness and channel strategy professionals for Forrester Research told HealthLeaders that the inability to maintain a stable C-suite was "damaging to [their] ability to set a strategy, and then execute on that strategy.” He added that the strategic issues served as a “big red flag” for outsiders looking at the company.
"I think a lot of people saw [the disbandment] coming," Becker said. "There were certainly enough signs that things weren't going as planned. Haven's at three years now and we haven't seen any tangible evidence of traction towards its established goals."
But, while Haven struggled to gain traction, Becker said that Amazon continued to innovate in the healthcare sector.
"[This] led people to start questioning, what's actually coming from Haven?" Becker said. "While Haven was relatively quiet, you saw Amazon Pharmacy, Amazon Care, [and] quite a few things that we would have thought were going to be coming out of Haven, ended up coming out of Amazon proper."
"The Amazon in healthcare story isn't over," he added.
While Haven is wrapping up its operations, Becker said other companies are still interested in disrupting the current healthcare system.
"The cautionary tale is that healthcare is a $3.6 trillion market in the United States, and it's appealing to tech companies, large enterprise organizations to come and try and do better," he said. "But what we see time and time again, is that outside organizations come to healthcare and stake a flag in the ground and try and do better and they just end up turning tail a few years later. There's been a sense among outsiders that they're going to be able to come in and do it better, but I see no evidence or reason why we should continue to think that outsiders will be able to come in and fundamentally do this better."
"[Haven] certainly arrived with a lot of fanfare and promise,” Mitchell said. “I do think it was important that three leading CEOs of private businesses said that the current U.S. healthcare system isn't working for employers and for their employees, and something needs to change. I think that was the right position.”
Mitchell added that Haven’s most significant hurdles to addressing the institutional issues in healthcare was a lack of “focused execution and, apparently, political will.”
"There is as much demand as ever for new entrants who can tackle the growing problem of lack of affordability, variable quality, and poor experience in the healthcare system,” Mitchell said. “It is going to take concerted effort, not bright shiny objects, [to] figure out how to change an entrenched system that, quite frankly, is happy with the status quo.”
Mitchell continued: "That said, there are a lot of innovative provider partners out there who are ready for change. Clearly the pandemic is consuming providers, appropriately so. They need to be focused first and foremost on patient care, but we're also seeing the pandemic put unbearable pressure on primary care when we need it most. We are going to have to rethink the U.S. healthcare system coming out of this pandemic."
Transforming healthcare is complex
HealthLeaders also received written statements from stakeholders about Haven's disbandment.
Will Hinde, managing director and leader of healthcare and life sciences at West Monroe said in a statement: "Only those directly involved in the joint venture know the exact reasons why the effort was abandoned. That being said, the venture was always light on specifics—including how it was going to tackle historic and incredibly complicated issues like insurance coverage and prescription drug prices.”
Hinde continued: “The fact that three large, successful, and intelligent organizations faced significant challenges in solving these issues illustrates just how complex they are. The venture was an interesting concept in an ecosystem ripe for disruption, but it’s not entirely surprising that it didn’t work out and will join many others who have attempted to evolve and improve healthcare in the U.S."
Paddy Padmanabhan, CEO of Damo Consulting said in a statement: "Haven’s problem may have been internal issues and execution gaps, complicated by the competing interests of its major shareholders. That said, it isn’t easy to simply ‘disrupt’ healthcare by throwing tech and dollars at the problem. I believe a combination of market-driven change and policy action at the federal government level will transform healthcare eventually. This is already happening, as we have seen with the rapid rise in telehealth adoption during the pandemic.”
Padmanabhan added: "Transforming healthcare requires a full-time commitment. The shareholders of Haven are in very different businesses and were not in a position to dedicate themselves completely to the success of the initiative. It is possible that they will individually succeed through a piecemeal approach by addressing specific aspects of the healthcare value chain. For instance, Amazon has made significant progress in the pharma distribution aspect of healthcare services."
In a released statement, McLaren St Luke's calls the ruling a "victory” that will enable Paramount Healthcare members to still receive care at the hospital.
McLaren St. Luke's was granted a preliminary injunction in its antitrust lawsuit against ProMedica by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, at the end of December.
Per the ruling, Paramount Healthcare members can still receive care from McLaren St. Luke's and WellCare Physicians Group providers.
In November, McLaren St. Luke's filed an antitrust suit against ProMedica, to stop ProMedica from terminating the organization and its physicians from both its commercial and Medicare Advantage health plans at the start of 2021.
A month later, ProMedica filed a motion to dismiss McLaren St. Luke's antitrust lawsuit, where in a 21-page memorandum, ProMedica stated it "respectfully requests an order granting its motion to dismiss with prejudice." This motion was denied during the preliminary injunction by Judge Jack Zouhary.
HealthLeaders received a statement from the hospital on Wednesday, where McLaren St Luke's called the ruling a "victory."
"The Court’s ruling is a victory for not only the Paramount health plan members who will be able to continue receiving care from the McLaren St. Luke’s physicians and caregivers they know and trust, but also the entire community,” the statement read. “Now more than ever, our area needs strong hospitals and patients deserve a choice in where they receive care. While we are disappointed ProMedica has chosen to appeal, we remain confident that Judge Zouhary’s decision will be upheld. In the meantime, it is important for Paramount members to understand they can continue to choose McLaren St. Luke’s and WellCare Physicians Group for care."
Meanwhile, ProMedica released a statement to HealthLeaders on Wednesday, indicating that the system "intends to comply with the court's orders.”
"ProMedica strongly disagrees with the court’s decision and has filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,” the statement read. “In the interim, ProMedica intends to comply with the court’s order. We are currently in the process of informing all affected health insurance members, and we remain committed to helping our members access the highest quality of care to improve their health and well-being."
The UCLA Hospital System CEO shares her journey from nurse to health system CEO, and how she strives to be an "inclusive, collaborative leader."
Before climbing her way up the C-suite ladder, Johnese Spisso, RN, MPA started her more than 30 yearslong healthcare journey as a registered nurse specializing in critical care, emergency care, and trauma. From there, her career path brought her through the C-suite of several academic health systems.
"[Over] the years, I took on progressive management responsibilities [and] went from being a staff nurse, to eventually a charge nurse, to a unit nurse manager, to an assistant director of nursing, to a director of nursing, then to a chief nursing officer, a chief operating officer, and [to a] CEO role," Spisso told HealthLeaders.
She currently serves as president of UCLA Health, CEO of UCLA Hospital System, and associate vice chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences. She assumed these roles in 2016, after serving in various C-suite positions for UW Medicine in Seattle.
During her tenure at UW Medicine, an academic healthcare system with over 300 care clinics across Washington, Spisso was promoted through the ranks of the C-suite to eventually serve as chief health system officer and president of medical affairs for the University of Washington.
Spisso said that her nursing background has helped shape her understanding of healthcare leadership.
"Having a background as a nurse gave me expertise in patient care, not only for what nurses do, but since nurses are often the leaders of the team, understanding what everyone else on the healthcare team does to bring what's needed to serve patients and their families," Spisso said.
Each step on her career path may have not been planned, but they helped bring her to the top.
"Every role that I've had, I've been able to learn more and master that before moving on to the next role,” she said. “It's not something that I planned, there were just opportunities that were available. And I was fortunate to be asked to apply and, following national searches, being selected for those positions."
Mentorship and strong role models
In recounting the mentors and role models she has had throughout her career, Spisso cited her parents' work ethic and values.
"My mother was a teacher and one of the first women principals of the school district. I had strong female role models in successful leadership [roles]," Spisso said.
Spisso said she's also had great mentorship opportunities at "every position" she's worked, including positions held at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of California Davis, UW Medicine, and UCLA.
"Working in teaching institutions, there's always the opportunity to learn. I like that type of environment, which [is] one that [inspires] learning and inclusiveness," Spisso said.
Spisso has also seen that inclusiveness when it comes to being a woman healthcare leader.
"This is another area that I've been fortunate in," Spisso said. “I've never felt that the fact of being a woman has limited my ability. I felt that I chose organizations wisely and looked for those that supported women in leadership. And as I was making career decisions about where to work, [I looked] at the makeup of the organization. The institutions that I've [worked] in promoted women in leadership."
She has also worked to lift others along the way, including women executives, whether through mentorship activities or creating an environment that breeds success for leaders.
Leading through collaboration and commitment
When it comes to recruiting, Spisso said that being inclusive is important and that she strives to be “a collaborative leader.”
"What I've learned is you often have to make sure that you are casting a wide net to get people to want to participate in the new positions … and make sure that everybody's been given those same opportunities for success," Spisso said. "I like to hear input from all levels of the organization. Having started my career at the bedside and working at every level, I, as an employee in those positions, always wanted to be able to have input.”
She continued: “I try to make sure we are paying attention to different opinions and different ideas, so that we can collectively come up with the best plans for the organization."
According to Spisso, she also has a strong focus on efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among the workforce and in healthcare.
"As we're [turning out] more efforts into creating more equity within healthcare, and more diverse, inclusive organizations, it's about making everyone feel that they belong in the organization and have a voice," Spisso said. "Recently we've been continuing to educate our leaders about the importance of our commitment to DEI and making sure that leaders have the skill set they need to foster that type of environment."
"I'm excited about the work that we're doing right now on DEI. We have a renewed enthusiasm and commitment of our staff to address the issues and get on that road map to being an organization that is truly anti-racist and looks at providing the best opportunity for everyone," Spisso said. "It's been great to see the enthusiasm of our staff [address] the difficult issues and being part of our plans to improve."
Spisso said she's proud of the work the staff does "24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide exceptional patient care to patients, to support their family, to deliver on our mission of excellence, and deliver acts of kindness to patients and their families."
"It's so inspiring," Spisso said. "I feel so fortunate and privileged to be able to work with such a dedicated team of healthcare professionals and support staff."
Advice for future C-suite leaders
Spisso's advice for those in the workforce who want to make their way up into the C-suite is to "continue to do your best in the position that you're in” and “look for opportunities to take on more responsibilities."
"Senior leaders notice staff who are going the extra mile for the institution, and tend to seek them out for additional opportunities," Spisso said.
She also suggested making career aspirations known. "Continue to let others know of your interest on your career path and look for ways that the organization can help support you on that path."
Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:04 a.m., January 7, 2021.
The two health systems will form a new integrated health system called Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, where the focus will be on "quality, safety, and patient experience."
CHI Franciscan, a subsidiary of CommonSpirit Health, and Virginia Mason announced Tuesday afternoon that the two organizations have finalized an agreement to integrate.
The two Washington state-based health systems made the announcement almost six months after signing a memorandum of understanding for joint operation in mid-2020.
The new integrated health system will increase patient access over 300 care sites across Washington state, and will "focus on expanding patient access points and developing innovative models of care delivery that enhance quality and the patient experience," according to the statement.
Virginia Mason Franciscan Health will operate with two CEOs—Ketul J. Patel, president of the Pacific Northwest Division of CommonSpirit Health, and Gary S. Kaplan, MD, chairman and CEO of Virginia Mason.
The two healthcare executives will serve to bring "together the most effective elements from each entity to build a transformative health system for the communities it serves throughout the Pacific Northwest region and beyond," according to the statement.
The new integrated health system will serve as a “prototype of care innovation nationally" and will operate as part of CommonSpirit Health.
In early 2019, CommonSpirit formed after Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives merged, creating a health system with over 700 care sites and 142 hospitals across 21 states. The health system also had a dual-CEO model, with CHI CEO Kevin E. Lofton serving alongside Dignity Health president and CEO Lloyd H. Dean until Lofton's retirement in June 2020.
"Virginia Mason Franciscan Health has an incredibly strong foundation to build upon as our two storied organizations come together with an exciting vision, particularly as we expand services for the most vulnerable in our communities,” Patel said in a statement. "We are committed to building a consumer-focused health care system while expanding our presence as a national leader in the transformation of health care delivery."
"Today is a great day for our organization and our community," Kaplan said in a statement. "For years we have worked with CHI Franciscan, but now, together, our potential is limitless. We will be able to apply learnings across our entire system that not only improve the patient experience, but also change health care delivery for the better."
The announcement comes four months after the health system signed an agreement to acquire the 99-bed hospital.
Covenant Health has acquired Lea Regional Medical Center, the health system announced late last week. Lea Regional Medical Center will now change its name to Covenant Health Hobbs Hospital.
The news comes four months after the Lubbock, Texas–based health system announced it signed an agreement to acquire the Hobbs, New Mexico–based hospital. Dan Springer, the hospital’s current CEO, will maintain his role of leading the 99-bed medical center.
"Covenant Health's acquisition of Lea Regional Medical Center gives them an immediate, local presence providing inpatient hospital services as part of their commitment to this area. Our caregivers will become part of their organization and Hobbs residents will benefit from continuous access to local healthcare," Springer said in a statement.
"Our commitment to eastern New Mexico has never been stronger. We look forward to extending our comprehensive health network to the Hobbs community and are honored to serve alongside our neighbors and friends," Richard Parks, regional chief executive for Covenant Health, said in a statement.
This week, Covenant Health will also break ground on a hospital in Hobbs. In 2019, the health system announced plans to invest $75 million dollars in building a 32-bed "smart-sized hospital."
The expansion and acquisition will allow "for a more immediate impact within the community and an opportunity to provide even more quality health care to patients in eastern New Mexico," the press release said.
Related: Forward-looking Financial Processes for a Post-pandemic Landscape
Virtua Health CEO Dennis Pullin, FACHE shares how the health system is driving its mission through community food access programs.
New Jersey–based Virtua Health is living up to its "be well, get well, stay well" mission through the creation and implementation of food access programs for their communities.
In November, the five-hospital health system finalized the certifications, permits, and license plates needed to make the converted bus road-ready and shopper-ready. The Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store is scheduled to hit the streets this winter to give the health organization's communities access to healthy foods.
"The Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store is a part of our overall food access program, which is called ‘Eat Well.’ The reason behind that Eat Well name is Virtua has a simple mission to help you be well, get well, and stay well," Dennis W. Pullin, FACHE, president and CEO of Virtua, said in a recent interview with HealthLeaders. "In order to achieve this, you must eat well."
Pullin detailed where the idea for the Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store came from, how the health system was able to bring the idea to life, and how other health systems can implement their own food access programs.
"For Virtua, our brand promise is about being here for good. And I think that us being able to provide this, is perhaps the greatest expression of our commitment to being here for good in this community," Pullin said. "When you can play a part in helping to feed a community, what greater mission can you have?"
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
HealthLeaders:Why is it important for hospitals and health systems to focus on food access for the communities they serve?
Dennis Pullin: As a health system and as health professionals, we know that poor eating habits can result in many health complications, things such as hypertension and diabetes. And so, I believe the role of a healthcare organization is not only to care for the sick, but it's also to proactively prevent people from becoming sick in the first place. We have an obligation to create communities of wellness, and one of the surest ways to achieve that is to help people eat well, and improve their overall access to healthy foods.
In many of our neighborhoods, the residents face food insecurities. Anywhere between 12% to 15% of the residents don't know where their next meal is coming from. We know that a lack of affordable healthy foods is a barrier, as well as transportation.
The pandemic has heightened food insecurities as well as health disparity, so the Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store is a way that will help us to bring nutritious, affordable foods in the neighborhoods that experience these hardships.
HL: Virtua Health officially unveiled the Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store in October. Can you explain how the mobile grocery store will work?
Pullin: We had a rollout celebration at our new food district distribution center in October, and obviously the pandemic required us to keep it short and simple, but it was still a great day. Tammy Murphy, who is New Jersey's First Lady joined us, as well as many other elected officials, and community stakeholders.
When it's officially up and running, the Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store will offer a lot of things that you would find in a traditional supermarket including fruits, vegetables, refrigerated and frozen items, and pantry staples such as rice, beans, and grains.
We're trying to emphasize healthy foods, as well as those that are culturally prevalent foods. People tend to embrace things that they're familiar with, so it's important that we have familiar foods for the people that will take advantage of it.
HL: Where did the idea for the Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store come from?
Pullin: At Virtua, we strive to have a meaningful presence in the communities we serve. And to do that, we conduct a community health assessment every three years which allows us to hear firsthand from the people about their areas of greatest needs.
Food insecurity emerged as a persistent and deeply rooted problem, which helped us to create our Food Farmacy as well as our Mobile Farmers Market.
The more involved we became in addressing hunger, the more we realized just how pervasive and complex this challenge is. We encountered people that struggle every day with providing for their family. I also felt compelled to expand our efforts, and that's how the Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store came about. It was just a natural step in our evolution.
HL: What steps were needed to launch this program?
Pullin: We are a not-for-profit organization, so we rely upon the support of various stakeholders. And to get this program off the ground, we had three groups that I think deserve recognition.
We received a tremendous amount of philanthropic support from several sources, ranging from major corporations, to individuals that share our passion for addressing hunger.
We had two of our elected officials who became excited about this program for what it could do for their constituents. United States Congressman Donald Norcross, and New Jersey State Senator Troy Singleton, both of which provided a tremendous amount of support in helping this to get off the ground.
HL: What communities do you plan to bring this service to?
Pullin: We support several counties in South Jersey, and two of those counties, Camden County and Burlington County, [have] a tremendous number of individuals that identify as having food insecurities, or openly admit that they have concerns about where their next meal would come from.
We're going to focus on those two communities initially. It's my hope to expand by taking a look at what we feel are some of our most vulnerable counties and addressing them first.
HL: What is your advice for hospitals and health system executives who want to roll out a program like this?
Pullin: The first thing would be to listen to the communities in which they serve.
It's important to be authentic, and in being authentic, you have to allow the people that you want to impact to contribute to the ideas and what you're trying to do. It'll create a more informed end product, and there will be a sense of "I" in that it's just not a Virtua program, it belongs to everyone.
I would also recommend that they try and create an enjoyable, inviting shopping experience. We take great pride in this program, and in turn, I want the shoppers to feel pride when they see our Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store on the streets. It's not just about the service we offer, it's about how the experience makes people feel.
It is not a pantry. It's an opportunity to bring healthy options, high quality food, at a subsidized price, but also in a manner in which people can feel good about what they're doing.
Editor's note: This story was updated on January 4, 2021.
Don't miss these interviews with notable executives on how they led their healthcare organizations through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic challenged hospitals and health systems with unprecedented patient surges, a critically limited national PPE supply, national workforce shortages, and safety concerns for staff and patients.
The pandemic also brought forth the opportunity to innovate, introduced new creative strategies, and built upon reliable operational approaches already in place.
HealthLeaders spoke with numerous healthcare executives about the strategies they implemented to lead their hospitals and health systems through the pandemic.
CommonSpirit Health CEO Lloyd Dean spoke with HealthLeaders and detailed how he effectively managed the health system through the pandemic. CommonSpirit Health is one of the nation's largest healthcare systems, with over 700 care centers and hospitals across 21 states including California and Washington state, and as far east as Pennsylvania.
Dean's plan included utilizing a "toolbox" of strategies to focus on patient care, ensuring staff safety, and adapting to the changing situation.
"We have widespread communication platforms that allow us to keep our organization informed in real time of changes to our pandemic policies and procedures," Dean said. "As other health systems have experienced shortages of PPE, we have asked our people to conserve equipment as we strive to keep our care sites supplied. Our operations centers are monitoring and directing our operations day-to-day and hour-to-hour, as we rapidly integrate the latest knowledge of this virus along with evolving CDC recommendations."
Prior to serving in his role as president and CEO at St. Luke's Health System, Chris Roth served as COO for six years and rose through various positions within the Idaho-based health system over the past 13 years. When Roth became CEO, he set goals for the organization and helped create a strategic plan for 2020. Then the coronavirus pandemic happened.
Roth spoke with HealthLeaders about how the health system's focus had to be tweaked due to the outbreak, but not by much.
"One of the things we're [asking ourselves], "Are we responding consistent to our mission and our vision?" and the answer is "Yes." Are we responding relative to our strategy of quality, safety, accessibility, and affordability?" and the answer is "Yes,"" Roth said. "I would say that the focus I laid out prior to the pandemic, relative to our priority areas, has really not changed."
President and CEO of RWJBarnabas Health, Barry Ostrowsky spoke with HealthLeaders about what the COVID-19 pandemic surge looked like for the New Jersey health system. The health system has 11 hospitals and numerous care facilities located throughout the state, and has an ongoing partnership with Rutgers University, making it the state's largest academic health system.
Ostrowsky shared the strategies that were implemented to not only make it through the first wave, but to get ready for a potential second wave.
"I had asked our people to keep a diary [when this started] in their subject matter as to what they found was happening as we went through it," Ostrowsky said. "We're just about to take the data that was compiled in those diaries and look at a comprehensive after-action report that says these are the things we found out, these are the challenges, these are the solutions."
To meet the challenge or patient surges, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital John Couris shared with HealthLeaders the ways that the hospital and its partner health system, USF Health, have collaborated with competing health systems to help their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We all agreed that when it came to a public health crisis, we were going to collaborate and innovate together and support our communities together. Prior to that, we were competitors. We still are," Couris said. "But when it comes to safeguarding the health and wellness of the community, you kind of have to transcend competition and collaborate. That's essentially what we're doing."
WellSpan Health serves a diverse group of communities across 5 counties in southeast Pennsylvania and one county in northern Maryland. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March, WellSpan has actively invested in taking care of its communities.
Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN, president and CEO of WellSpan, spoke with HealthLeaders about the importance of caring for their communities during the pandemic, including underserved and rural populations.
"Our main message is just that we are a trusted partner for our community, that we're leading the way during the pandemic," Gapstur said. "We're just committed to our communities and being a catalyst in building both health equity and ensuring that our communities have the very best care."
In the face of natural disasters and COVID-19, health systems and hospitals need to be prepared to protect their patients and facilities. HealthLeaders spoke with HCA Healthcare President of Clinical Services and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jonathan Perlin about the health system's strategy for disaster preparedness.
When it comes to implementing its disaster preparedness plan, the health system focused on what it already knew, specifically rigid protocols, emergency operations, and utilizing data analytics and technology.
"We start with what we call a 'universal hazards approach,' so that we don't have to reinvent what we haven't practiced," Perlin said. This keeps the health organization well-equipped to face disasters. "Operational plans are something that we think about 52 weeks a year."
For the November/December 2020 edition of HealthLeaders magazine, I spoke with four healthcare executives about four areas that were impacted at their hospitals and health systems due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the strategies used to handle them. The strategies they implemented to successfully guide their organizations through this watershed year offer an inspiring blueprint for leadership during a crisis.
Howard Kern, president and CEO of Sentara Healthcare; Rachelle Schultz, president and CEO of Winona Health; Tim Howell, senior vice president of patient care services at University Medical Center Health System; and Kelly Jo Golson, chief marketing officer of Advocate Aurora, all detailed how their organizations rose to the occasion during the complexities brought on by the pandemic.
"We can't sit back as hospitals and wait for it to show up on our front doorstep," Schultz said during her interview. "We need to get outside of our walls, [see] where it's moving around, and work with our employers, our cities, our counties, other partners out in the community, to understand what's happening and to help manage that effectively."
Atlantic Health System, a nonprofit health system based in the Garden State, faced coronavirus patient surges through a combination of predictive modeling, in-hospital and at-home care models, and playbooks created from their learnings so far.
CEO Brian Gragnolati spoke with HealthLeaders about how they grappled with challenges that arose from the pandemic, and what other health systems can learn from their efforts.
"What we've been able to do in our playbooks, whereas during the spring we had to on-the-fly create more ICU capacity, is have a plan on how to do that," Gragnolati said. "We have trigger points on when we open certain areas for care, and how we went through that."
Dr. David Klein, CEO of Northern California–based MarinHealth joined the health system in September, the same month a new hospital pavilion called The Oak Pavilion opened on the North Bay Medical Center campus. The pavilion has 114 private patient rooms, a larger emergency department and trauma center, a new maternity area, and surgical and procedural areas.
Klein spoke with HealthLeaders about how his background as a practicing surgeon has shaped his leadership style, his experience leading through the pandemic, and what upcoming strategies he has in mind for MarinHealth post-pandemic.
"As a surgeon, my first focus has always been quality and safety. I have a clinical mind so when I address problems, I do a couple things. Number one is to make sure that we're ensuring the highest quality and safety," Klein said. "Number two is to make sure that we always put the patient at the center of everything we do and every decision that we make."
In HealthLeaders October Finance Podcast, Kent Lehr, chief of business development at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, spoke about how the rural health system was preparing for COVID-19 amid flu season.
Lehr, who joined the organization in August, said the system was learning from the first wave of COVID-19 and aimed to utilize its resources to protect patients during the upcoming flu season.
"I think that there's a misconception that if you're in a large-scale healthcare organization that you somehow sacrifice local healthcare delivery, and I think that's wrong frankly," Lehr said. "This pandemic is a great example of where scale helped enhance our ability to provide excellent local healthcare, and our organization is going to continue to do that."
Check out these profiles of notable women healthcare executives serving in the C-suite.
According to a recent analysis from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org, women only make up 30% of the healthcare C-suite, while accounting for two-thirds of entry-level healthcare roles.
In September, HealthLeaders hosted a roundtable discussion sponsored by Bank of America, where a panel of women healthcare executives discussed the opportunities and challenges of their gender in the C-suite.
In addition to the virtual event this fall, HealthLeaders highlighted notable women serving in the C-suite and interviewed them throughout 2020 to learn about their backgrounds and leadership strategies, as well as delving into their accomplishments.
Below are five interviews with prominent women healthcare executives from 2020.
In the first HealthLeaders’ Women in Healthcare spotlight feature, Annette Walker, president of City of Hope Orange County, shared her professional journey and how she has spent her career creating opportunities for the people and communities she serves. Walker has over 40 years' experience in the healthcare sector.
"When you take on a responsibility, you are accepting stewardship, or responsibility, for the mission of that organization, for the people of that organization, and for the community that is to benefit from what that organization does. … A great leader stewards the organization and leaves it better than when they received it when they leave it," Walker said.
In the second Women in Healthcare spotlight feature, Allina Health CEO Dr. Penny Wheeler shared how she strives to "change healthcare for the better" through her combined love of science and human understanding. Wheeler has served in healthcare for more than 40 years, first as a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist and then rising to the C-suite.
"One of the things that I always say about leadership is that you just can never, ever forget who you serve and why," Wheeler said. "I might write a book in the future, and it will be about the power of having thin skin, because if you're deeply impacted and affected by things that are going around in the lives of those you're trying to serve, and you're trying to understand them as deeply as possible, then you make the best choices as possible as a leader."
Jennifer Montgomery spoke with HealthLeaders about her career journey, starting as a nurse then rising to the C-suite. In her newest role as President and CEO of McLaren St. Luke's, previously St. Luke's Hospital before being acquired by McLaren Health Care, Montgomery says the acquisition will "strengthen healthcare" in that community.
"Every job, I say, is my favorite job. So, right now I say, being a CEO is the best job in the world. And it is the best job. I could not imagine doing anything else," Montgomery said. "And I think my clinical background from earlier in my career helped me to make better decisions. It also helps me to relate with the physicians and the clinicians that I'm working with every day."
WellSpan Health President and CEO Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN, spoke with HealthLeaders a few months ago about the organization's strategic initiatives for communicating with and caring for its culturally diverse communities amid COVID-19 to help slow the spread.
The health system has actively invested in taking care of its communities, which include the Amish and Plain Community, Latinx, migrants, and homeless populations, and have taken steps to serve each population during the pandemic.
"It is a big job to think through how you serve different groups and populations … our counties are very diverse," Gapstur said. "Our community health team, and our medical group, and hospitals have done a tremendous job."
Henry Ford Health System CSO Dr. Carladenise Edwards spoke with HealthLeaders right before she joined the health system in July, about her passion to provide equitable, accessible care to the diverse community the health system serves.
She detailed what she hopes to accomplish and how her education and career background helped prepare her for this role.
"Personally, [I want] to make sure that, nationally, this country is on a trajectory to live with the current infectious diseases and to be able to better manage and cope with the threat of future infectious diseases, because this is not the end," Edwards said. "It's the beginning of a series of events that will become a normal for the planet, which is how do viruses and humans cohabitate in a planet where resources are becoming more and more scarce."
Read interviews with notable hospital and health system executives on their strategies to address their communities' needs in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the importance of addressing social determinants of health (SDoH), healthcare access, and the value of hospitals and health systems focusing on the needs of their communities.
HealthLeaders spoke with healthcare executives across the country who are implementing initiatives to support the communities they serve by addressing health inequities, investing in community programs, and combatting racial health disparities.
Below are five healthcare executive interviews worth checking out from 2020.
Robert "Bob" Honeycutt joined Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Russellville, Arkansas in April as CEO.
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he spoke with HealthLeaders about his goals and his interest in caring for and showing support for the local community and his workforce.
"Throughout my career," Honeycutt said, "I have enjoyed working in mid-size rural communities where the local hospital is both a leading employer and community partner."
CommonSpirit Health COO Marvin O'Quinn spoke with HealthLeaders about how the health system is living up to its mission during the COVID-19 pandemic by working to end social and health inequalities.
"The core of our mission, and who we are, is to care for the poor, the underserved, the vulnerable, and the voiceless," O'Quinn said. "We're a large healthcare system, but we are based on a sound, spiritual mission orienting our resources towards helping everyone."
Earlier this year, RWJBarnabas Health CEO Barry Ostrowsky spoke with HealthLeaders about the New Jersey–based health system's communities initiatives.
Ostrowsky shared how the health system designed its 2020 initiatives to focus on how it can help and invest in its communities, despite the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The state is wrestling with its own fiscal crisis of incredible proportions, and so its ability to create meaningful, durable, long-lasting safety net programs is limited," Ostrowsky said. "So, we need to step into that breach and address that."
During the summer, Dr. Harold Paz, executive vice president and chancellor for health affairs at the Ohio State University, and CEO of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, spoke with HealthLeaders about the medical center and university's anti-racism action plan, and the organization's strategy to address SDoH.
(just a sentence about the George Floyd protests and reckoning on racial issues)
"I would say that racism is a social determinant of health, because of the challenges that it puts in front of individuals who are affected by it, and how it affects their health overall," Paz said. "And we know there's ample evidence from a number of studies that show, on the basis of race, there are real differences in health status and longevity."
Marcel Loh, the president and CEO of CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, recently spoke with HealthLeaders where he detailed how the pandemic is affecting the organization, the hospitals' expansion including the construction of a new patient tower, and the strategies he's looking forward to implementing in 2021.
"I've got a broad base of experience, which I think serves to bring some value to my current role here at Hollywood Presbyterian. This is an opportunity for me to bring all that skill to a large urban center, inner city hospital that serves unique needs of various constituents across Los Angeles," Loh said. "I'm happy to be a part of that process, because it's given me a new look on life for what it really is to meet the challenges of an inner city hospital, and the unique needs of the community here."