Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Growing Rural Healthcare Through Access, Behavioral Health and Patient-First Leadership with Holly McCormack, DNP, RN

Transcript

Growing Rural Healthcare Through Access, Behavioral Health and Patient-First Leadership with Holly McCormack, DNP, RN · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
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  - leaders right now is not a short list.
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  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
• 0:09
  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
• 0:12
  - favor,
• 0:12
  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
• 0:15
  - and discipline,
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  - and a workforce story that is still being
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  - written.
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  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
• 0:23
  - more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
• 0:27
  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
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  - are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
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  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
• 0:35
  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
• 0:37
  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
• 0:39
  - It's the kind of event you leave with
• 0:41
  - a clear sense of where you stand and
• 0:42
  - what comes next.
• 0:44
  - So join us November second through the fifth
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, and come
• 0:49
  - ready to do the hard thinking.
• 0:50
  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:54
  - by clicking on the events tab in the
• 0:56
  - upper right.
• 0:58
  - This is Rosie Talaga with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:00
  - podcast.
• 1:01
  - I'm thrilled today to be joined by Holly
• 1:03
  - McCormick, president and CEO of Cottage Hospital. Holly,
• 1:07
  - it's a pleasure to have you on the
• 1:08
  - podcast today.
• 1:09
  - Pleasure to be here, Rosie. Thank you for
• 1:11
  - having me.
• 1:12
  - We have a great discussion in store diving
• 1:14
  - into what's gone well this year, where the
• 1:16
  - biggest opportunities
• 1:17
  - for growth, and even some leader
• 1:20
  - leadership inspiration.
• 1:21
  - So now let's get into it.
• 1:24
  - I'd like to start with a quick state
• 1:26
  - of the union, Holly. So what has gone
• 1:28
  - well this year, and what are you focused
• 1:30
  - on for the rest of 2026?
• 1:33
  - So Cottage is,
• 1:35
  - in a year where I feel like we
• 1:36
  - are in a very forward moving spot, which
• 1:38
  - is a great feeling to be to be
• 1:40
  - in this place.
• 1:42
  - We have had some success with recruitment of
• 1:44
  - new providers, particularly in the outpatient space.
• 1:47
  - We're able to grow our behavioral health,
• 1:51
  - service line in our rural health clinic. We've
• 1:54
  - been able to recruit,
• 1:55
  - specialty providers such as podiatry,
• 1:58
  - which is very important.
• 2:00
  - And so, you know, keeping our eye on
• 2:02
  - that future growth of the in the outpatient
• 2:04
  - space of our rural health clinic is strategically
• 2:06
  - very important to us and very important for
• 2:08
  - our community.
• 2:10
  - And then we've also,
• 2:12
  - had some great success
• 2:14
  - with securing some grant funding this year,
• 2:17
  - in terms of traditional grant funding, CDS projects.
• 2:20
  - And we have a few major projects underway.
• 2:23
  - We are going to be upgrading and replacing
• 2:25
  - our CAT scan, which is, a very big
• 2:28
  - project for,
• 2:29
  - independent critical access hospital. It's quite the undertaking,
• 2:32
  - and it's a very expensive project. And to
• 2:35
  - be able to secure funding for that,
• 2:37
  - has been an amazing opportunity for us. And
• 2:39
  - there's a couple of other projects that we've,
• 2:42
  - been able to secure grant funding for as
• 2:44
  - well. One of those will be an upgrade
• 2:46
  - to our,
• 2:47
  - operating rooms. So over the next three years,
• 2:49
  - we'll be doing a major,
• 2:51
  - renovation in that area of the hospital,
• 2:54
  - as well as some grant funding to do
• 2:56
  - some projects that have to do with,
• 2:58
  - some of the the core pieces of the
• 3:00
  - hospital such as oil tank replacement
• 3:03
  - projects.
• 3:04
  - And then, finally, we were chosen by, HRSA
• 3:08
  - for a program called the TTAP program, so
• 3:10
  - the targeted test technical assistance program.
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  - And that program is aimed at providing resources
• 3:17
  - to help stabilize rural hospitals. And so we're
• 3:20
  - gonna be working on several projects with, the
• 3:23
  - teams,
• 3:24
  - that are helping us through TTAP, and that
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  - is also all grant funded.
• 3:28
  - And so we will be looking at things,
• 3:31
  - such as recruitment and retention
• 3:33
  - projects
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  - as well as marketing strategies
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  - as,
• 3:37
  - an independent critical access hospital.
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  - We have a very small,
• 3:42
  - modest, marketing budget, and we actually don't have
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  - a marketing department. And so it's really important
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  - when we're adding on these service lines
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  - and we're implementing
• 3:51
  - these great programs
• 3:53
  - and this new equipment that we're able to
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  - communicate that to our community so that they
• 3:56
  - know that we're here and they know what
• 3:58
  - we offer.
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  - Absolutely. That sounds like you're in a great
• 4:01
  - spot right now.
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  - Recruitment wins, recruitment and retention,
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  - and really emphasizing that growth of the behavioral
• 4:08
  - health and rural health growth, specifically
• 4:11
  - the outpatient area.
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  - And I think that that's a great point
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  - we should make about the marketing. It's one
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  - thing to add, but it's another to make
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  - sure your community is aware.
• 4:21
  - Exactly.
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  - That's great. So now kind of flipping the
• 4:24
  - script a little bit, what are some of
• 4:25
  - the biggest headwinds that you're keeping an eye
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  - on and preparing for?
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  - So the headwinds,
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  - always, always, always are are looking for any
• 4:35
  - financial challenges that are coming on our way
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  - coming our way. And some things that we're
• 4:39
  - starting to see and that we're keeping our
• 4:42
  - eyes on are changes in our payer mix.
• 4:44
  - We've noticed an increase in self pay patients,
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  - and so that is something we're keeping a
• 4:50
  - close eye on. We know that from our
• 4:52
  - community health needs assessment, affordability of health care
• 4:55
  - is very important in our community.
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  - And noticing that we have about a two
• 5:00
  - percent increase
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  - in our patients that are self pay. It's
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  - something that we know we have to keep
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  - a very close eye on.
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  - Other things, other challenges coming our way. We
• 5:10
  - faced a lot of different auditing processes this
• 5:13
  - year, and I think that,
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  - it's something that we have navigated successfully, but
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  - something that's been different for us,
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  - to have to participate in those types of
• 5:21
  - audits such as a three forty b audit.
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  - And so it gives us a chance to
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  - shine and show that we're, implementing all of
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  - these,
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  - projects appropriately. But, also, it takes a lot
• 5:31
  - of resources to complete something like that.
• 5:34
  - Absolutely. I think the changes in payor makes
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  - it on is very, very prevalent for many
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  - different hospitals and organizations
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  - right now,
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  - and just always going back to that affordability
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  - of how important that is, especially in a
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  - rural community.
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  - Absolutely.
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  - What do you think so we talked about
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  - what's going well, what are some headwinds.
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  - What do you think gives you best opportunity
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  - to grow in the next two to three
• 5:58
  - years?
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  - The area that we're gonna continue to focus
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  - on is that outpatient space. And what we
• 6:03
  - know in our community is that access to
• 6:06
  - specialty care
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  - is something that, either our patients have to
• 6:10
  - travel a distance for or they have long
• 6:13
  - waits to get into specialists. And so we're
• 6:16
  - committed to recruiting
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  - for the specialists that we need in our
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  - community to help our patients
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  - get the care close to home. And so
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  - that's something we're really gonna focus on As
• 6:27
  - well as continuing
• 6:28
  - to develop our behavioral health service line, we
• 6:31
  - know we have a 10 bed inpatient geriatric
• 6:35
  - psychiatric unit, and we know we need to
• 6:37
  - be able to offer
• 6:38
  - services for our patients once they've been discharged
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  - for that unit and for patients in our
• 6:42
  - community. So we will continue to focus on
• 6:44
  - behavioral health
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  - and more importantly,
• 6:48
  - looking at that next level of care for
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  - our patients that,
• 6:52
  - are being discharged out of our ray of
• 6:54
  - hope geriatric
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  - psychiatric unit. And then also we are concentrating
• 6:58
  - on our age friendly designation at our hospital.
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  - And so we've achieved our level one, and
• 7:03
  - we're gonna continue down that path because we
• 7:05
  - know that's very important
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  - for the community that we serve. In the
• 7:09
  - month of June alone, we saw our 61
• 7:11
  - of our patients were Medicare age, and so
• 7:14
  - that tells us a lot about what we
• 7:16
  - need to focus on here at Cottage Hospital.
• 7:19
  - Those are great points. I think
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  - it's really inspiring to hear you talk about
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  - everything relating back to what the patients need
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  - and what your community needs, whether that be
• 7:29
  - care after they're released or age friendly care.
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  - I think that that's a great great mindset
• 7:34
  - for growth and opportunities ahead.
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  - I think it's always very important. I mean,
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  - the the reason that we exist is for
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  - the patients, and so that is the message
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  - that I try to get across
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  - every day to our teams is that the
• 7:46
  - number one reason we are here is for
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  - our patients. And so if people wonder, am
• 7:51
  - I doing the right thing? Is this the
• 7:52
  - right thing? Should we be doing this?
• 7:54
  - If it's what's right for the patient,
• 7:56
  - then that is what we focus on. And
• 7:58
  - so it needs to be right for the
• 7:59
  - patient and then, secondly, right for Cottage Hospital.
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  - And so that is what the culture is
• 8:04
  - here at Cottage Hospital.
• 8:06
  - Absolutely. That's great to have that as some
• 8:08
  - more compass and kind of the rallying cry
• 8:10
  - of the organization.
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  - Yeah.
• 8:13
  - For our last question today, what do you
• 8:16
  - admire about a leader from any industry and
• 8:19
  - why?
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  - Some of the properties that I admire most
• 8:22
  - or
• 8:24
  - characteristics
• 8:25
  - or traits of leaders,
• 8:27
  - the usual things that we will all say,
• 8:29
  - you know, a leader with integrity, a leader
• 8:30
  - that,
• 8:32
  - is a servant leader.
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  - But one of the characteristics that I admire
• 8:37
  - most in a leader is somebody who can
• 8:39
  - ask really good, really smart questions.
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  - You know, we hear we have conversations. We're
• 8:45
  - at these education sessions. We're in meetings.
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  - And what I admire is the person that
• 8:50
  - can ask that question,
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  - that can suss out the information that the
• 8:53
  - rest of us were saying, yes. That's what
• 8:55
  - I really wanna know. And so I think
• 8:57
  - that's probably an atypical
• 8:59
  - answer to this question, but that is the
• 9:01
  - thing that I admire most is people that
• 9:04
  - have that state of mind and eloquence to
• 9:07
  - be able to put into words what everybody
• 9:09
  - else in the room is thinking in order
• 9:11
  - to ask those, poignant questions.
• 9:14
  - Absolutely. And I think
• 9:16
  - that that really
• 9:18
  - relates back to what you were saying about
• 9:20
  - knowing what the patients want. That kind of
• 9:22
  - relates to knowing what your employees want. It's
• 9:24
  - it's staying curious, what do they think that
• 9:27
  - they are asking in the room, what are
• 9:29
  - they thinking in the room, and really translating
• 9:31
  - that into an eloquent to ask the correct
• 9:34
  - question. That's great.
• 9:35
  - Absolutely. I think you're summing it up by
• 9:37
  - saying staying curious. That is 1000%
• 9:40
  - exactly the point.
• 9:42
  - That's great. I think that's also a great
• 9:44
  - example of a leader to not present that
• 9:46
  - they know everything, staying curious and asking what
• 9:49
  - they think that their employees around them are
• 9:51
  - also wondering.
• 9:52
  - Exactly right.
• 9:54
  - That's great. So,
• 9:56
  - staying curious and asking great spark questions is
• 9:59
  - something to really admire about a leader. I
• 10:01
  - love that.
• 10:02
  - That brings us to the end of our
• 10:04
  - discussion. Holly, is there anything that you wanted
• 10:07
  - to add today or maybe that we didn't
• 10:08
  - get to that you'd like to discuss?
• 10:10
  - No. I just thank you for the opportunity
• 10:12
  - to for share allowing me to share a
• 10:13
  - little bit about Cottage Hospital once again and
• 10:15
  - the important work that we're doing here in
• 10:16
  - Woodsville, New Hampshire.
• 10:18
  - Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining us
• 10:20
  - and sharing such wonderful insights from your leadership
• 10:23
  - at Cottage. It's been great speaking with you,
• 10:25
  - and we look forward to collaborating again soon.
• 10:28
  - Thank you, Rosie. Have a nice day. You
• 10:30
  - too.