Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Michael Weiner, Chief Medical Officer at MSU Health Care

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Michael Weiner, Chief Medical Officer at MSU Health Care · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  Thanks for listening. Now here's the episode.
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  Welcome everyone, to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series. I'm Mara Mohammed,
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  writer and moderator with Becker's Healthcare,
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  and I'm absolutely thrilled to have with me today Michael Weiner,
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  chief Medical Officer at M S U Healthcare. Michael,
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  it's very nice to have you on the podcast today. How are you?
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  Really, really well, thank you so much.
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  Yeah, of course. Well, to get us started,
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  would you mind please introducing yourself and then telling us a bit about your
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  background? Michael.
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  Weiner. I am, uh,
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  osteopathic physician out of the wonderful college of, uh,
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  osteopathic medicine in Philadelphia.
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  I have been an internal medicine physician for about three decades,
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  and for the majority of that I served in the United States Navy, where I, uh,
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  served a multitude of roles around the globe,
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  everything from being an internal medicine physician to being the head of
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  NATO's, clinical informatic, uh,
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  systems to being a space shuttle, um,
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  takeoff and landing physician. And I'm just,
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  I recently joined the incredible team over at, uh,
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  Michigan State University and started earlier this year and I'm excited to
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  help transform healthcare in the Midwest.
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  Yeah, absolutely. Well, first of all, thank you for your service. Um,
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  and second, I am a Ohioan, so you know, we have a bit of issues,
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  but that's okay. Alright, we just.
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  Met, we can't start off like this.
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  I know. I'm so sorry, . Um,
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  but with all your busy experience being in this field for a long time,
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  the first thing I wanted to ask you is,
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  can you tell me about your most successful project or initiative from the last
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  year? What issues were you trying to solve and also what drove the success?
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  Yeah,
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  so my last year has really been here at Michigan State
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  University in, uh, support of their healthcare and the community we serve.
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  So I will say thus far,
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  I think one of our biggest collective successes has been in driving,
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  um, primary care within mid-Michigan. So we,
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  when I first got here, we started a primary care task force, um,
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  understanding the needs of the local community of the state,
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  and really of the nation, um,
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  to help patients find primary care providers.
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  So we've been growing out our primary care teams,
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  we've been reaching out virtually across the state, um,
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  and we're addressing the needs of primary care physicians around
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  recruitment and retention in addition to the needs of our patients to
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  go with, to,
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  to not be homeless when it comes to having a primary care
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  provider. And,
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  and to dive a little deeper into some of their actual clinical needs of
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  blood, you know, blood pressure control, diabetes control, um,
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  lipid control in addition to helping solve some of the opioid crisis that,
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  you know,
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  we're facing in the state and the nation is facing from coast to coast.
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  Yeah, that is absolutely incredible. Thank you for sharing that insight.
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  As you know, the clinical workforce has changed a lot in the last few years.
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  Mm-hmm. ,
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  what challenges are you still facing and how do you see the clinical workforce
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  evolving? Well.
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  I, I have to tell you, you know, post covid, I, we,
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  we've seen a retirement, uh, an entire, you know,
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  generation begin to go into retirement. Um,
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  and we've seen a new group of providers coming up through the ranks that I,
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  you know,
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  that I think are potentially even more altruistic than the generations before
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  them. With that, though, they grew up, the, the generation of, uh,
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  providers that we're seeing now, they grew up, you know,
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  with technology buried in their lives. And as part of that,
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  the electronic health record is no longer the source subject of
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  the day for our next generation of providers. And, you know,
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  they're very comfortable in a more virtual world. So, you know,
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  when we meet with them, you know, in recruitment and retention, you know,
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  one of the requests is how, you know,
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  can I continue to see my patients virtually and how can I have
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  a, you know, a little bit of a hybrid lifestyle, uh, as a provider. You know,
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  we saw all of our patients virtually for a few years. So, you know,
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  I'd like to continue some of that practice, uh, at this particular time.
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  So I think the new generation of providers, certainly altruistic,
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  wanting to go out and, you know,
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  write the injustices that, um,
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  that we often find within healthcare around health equity and social
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  determinants of health, and, um,
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  much more aptt to enjoy and utilize the technology that's
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  given to them. And that also often will result into just a much more virtual
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  practice than I think any of us who came up through healthcare, you know,
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  a few decades ago.
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  Yes. Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving us that information. And Michael,
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  before I let you go, being the C m O, the last question I wanted to ask you is,
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  what is your best advice for aspiring physician and nurse leaders?
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  Yeah, I, I have to tell you,
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  things that have helped me over the years have been number one,
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  learning technology.
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  So along the way I picked up a master's in information system
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  technology as seeing how healthcare, I think ultimately,
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  uh, one of its saving graces was going to be technology. So, you know,
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  with this aging population and this inundation of this tsunami
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  of gray hair patients who are not aging gracefully
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  and you know, a shortage of providers, you know, I think that that gap,
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  that delta will be filled in through, um, technology advancements.
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  So, you know, number one, learn technology, learn data,
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  learn how to analyze the data,
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  learn how to utilize the data and learn how to act upon the data. And then,
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  you know, I think for aspiring physician and nurse leaders,
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  you know, leadership can be taught.
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  Now I did my undergraduate at the Naval Academy.
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  I spent years and years in the Navy as a, um,
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  medical officer leader. And you know,
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  throughout that I was taught leadership.
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  And along the way I went out and got a master's in management to also learn
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  how to manage teams of people, manage a business,
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  manage an organization. So, you know, I think more education, um,
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  for those that are aspiring to actually run and lead an organization,
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  I think, you know, leaders need to continue to see patients.
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  The provider community is a tough lot. And if you're not there,
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  elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder with them, you know,
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  I think it's very hard to evoke some of the changes that we are all hoping to
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  see within healthcare.
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  Yes, I 100% agree. Um, thank you so much for those final thoughts. Michael,
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  this has been an amazing discussion. So again,
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  I wanna thank you so much for coming on Beckers Healthcare,
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  and I look forward to connecting with you again consumed.
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  Thank you, Mariah.
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  It's so important for leaders at the top of organizations to keep learning,
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