Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Hillery Smith Shay on Total Experience and Digital Transformation at Children's Minnesota

Transcript

Hillery Smith Shay on Total Experience and Digital Transformation at Children's Minnesota · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Chris
• 0:02
  Sosa, your host. And I'm very happy today
• 0:04
  to be joined by Hillary Smith Shea. She's
• 0:06
  chief marketing experience officer and senior vice president
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  of communications for Children's Minnesota.
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  Hillary, thank you for joining us today. Thank
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  you so much for having me. Yeah. So
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  glad you can make time. Before we get
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  rolling into the meat of the podcast, Shirley,
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  could you just please introduce yourself and tell
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  us a bit about your organization?
• 0:24
  Sure. You did a great job, but I
• 0:26
  am Hillary Smith Shea.
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  I am the senior vice president of communications
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  and the chief marketing and experience officer
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  here at Children's Minnesota, one of the largest
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  independent pediatric health systems in The United States.
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  We care exclusively for children from routine care
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  to the most medically complex conditions.
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  Our work is grounded in a simple belief,
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  and that is kids deserve care designed specifically
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  for them. And that's why we call it,
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  we're the care experts.
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  Perfect, Hillary. So we're a little bit into
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  2026, and I do wanna look ahead at
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  what Children's Minnesota has coming
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  a little bit later. But for now, I
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  do wanna look back at 2025 a little
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  bit. And, specifically, what would you say is
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  the most important initiative that you led in
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  the last year? Just take us a bit
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  through it and how it evolved and what
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  the results were.
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  So, you know, the most important initiative I
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  led was was really
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  developing,
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  our experience strategy from an enterprise perspective. And
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  so I will
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  let you know that that we're calling it
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  total experience.
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  But it really
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  did look at the actual domains
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  that we can control
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  of someone's experience here within the hospital. And
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  so that includes,
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  the digital domain,
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  the human domain, the clinical domain,
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  the environmental domain, and then delivering on our
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  brand promise,
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  which really,
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  experience is, you know.
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  We are firm believers, or at least I
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  should say, I'm a firm believer in that
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  my role and the creation of my role
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  really supports the strategy of making sure people
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  feel what we promise.
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  That's certainly
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  a worthwhile goal, and I'm sure it manifests
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  itself in any number of ways. So let
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  me ask you this then. So when you
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  walk into
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  Children's Minnesota, which is pretty much every day,
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  How does that manifest
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  itself in in just making your way through
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  the halls of your your organization?
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  So
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  a couple a couple things. And and I
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  guess this is why this is the initiative
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  that I started.
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  It wasn't.
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  I wasn't feeling everything
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  that we could do. We do amazing work,
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  but we weren't really
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  talking about it. And we weren't really making
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  sure that we were following through on it.
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  And part of that is because we we
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  didn't really have leader standard work and weren't
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  really using continuous improvement.
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  And we put together a strong strategic plan
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  that actually
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  blends continuous improvement and equity and inclusion work,
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  and embeds it into
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  who we are as a culture. And so
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  I realized, you know what? We're not gonna
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  be able to differentiate on experience
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  if we don't embed that into the culture.
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  And so we need to be able to
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  function
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  as if creating a good experience is what
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  we are actually here for because at the
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  end of the day, these children are coming
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  to us, and they're still kids.
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  Right. You know, their their lives are literally
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  not stopping, but all of a sudden, they
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  have to actually spend time in a place
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  where
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  it we can make our own bit of
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  magic magic here. And I think that sometimes
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  people think, well, isn't that,
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  you know, aspirational and no kid wants to
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  go to the hospital. And I said, but
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  what if you're a kid who has a
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  chronic condition and you have to continuously come
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  back and forth to the hospital? Wouldn't you
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  want it to be some place where you
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  still felt like your child was growing and
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  thriving? Wouldn't you want to be
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  excited to go where you are? And so
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  being here for those who need us and
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  creating an experience that allows them to continue
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  to be children and to continue thriving
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  should be everybody's aspiration. And so putting parameters
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  around that and building that strategy and then
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  helping to operationalize
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  it over time is is exactly why,
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  I was promoted into this position. Because before
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  I was the VP of marketing communications,
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  I worked on an experience strategy,
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  was able to develop it, and develop a
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  a core road map for how we build
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  that capability in the organization.
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  And fortunately, at the end of doing that,
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  for my organization, they asked me if I
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  would lead it.
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  And so I am grateful.
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  Oh, well, brilliant. Congratulations
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  on on your promotion, Hillary. Certainly, it's well
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  deserved. And you make a great point about
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  wanting to create an experience that people want
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  to come back to even though
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  no kid, no patient really wants to go
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  back to the hospital.
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  You can look at any organization and say,
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  you know what? I remember I like my
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  experience, so that's where I'm gonna continue to
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  go. And I'm sure it's, no different with
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  Children's Minnesota or any other,
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  health care provider organization.
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  So thank you again for that, Hillary.
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  I love looking back at what organizations have
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  accomplished over the past year.
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  Next, let's look ahead to 2026 as we
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  teased earlier. So what would you say are
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  the biggest priorities and headwinds you're focused on,
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  for 2026
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  and any tailwinds you might have, pushing you
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  ahead?
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  Absolutely. That's such a great question. So
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  we have the momentum of of thinking through
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  our strategy. We created a ten year strategic
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  an aspiration, a ten year aspiration, and we
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  are moving the strategic plan forward in that.
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  So this is year two
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  of the first
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  three year strategic plan,
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  in service of our ten year future state.
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  And so what we're doing is implementing a
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  new EHR. We are moving to Epic,
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  because we understand that that is where we
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  need to be to be what our customers
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  need and to be easier to,
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  work with.
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  When you look at, the people who would
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  be referring to us, when you look at
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  the patients who would be coming to us,
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  and the ability to affect those experiences
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  and make working with us extremely,
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  much easier.
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  We knew that that was the foundation we
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  needed to build. And so as we implement
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  Epic, our, implementation team is called Eclipse.
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  And that is,
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  a a fun way of, you know, getting
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  to make spaceships and starships and talking about,
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  the future and all the places we'll go,
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  with the right technology. And so, EPIC is
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  going in,
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  and we should launch in October. And so
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  that's really kind of our main focus.
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  But we have some other experience things following
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  along. You know, I'm not,
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  the IT person, but I definitely wanna make
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  sure people understand
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  that having the right EHR system is core
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  to our belief of being able to be
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  every family's essential
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  partner in raising healthy children.
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  There's no way to say, hey. We can
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  make it seamless when you're in my chart
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  for yourself
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  and your care with our partners, our adult
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  partners in the in the region,
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  and you can't then manage your kids' care
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  in in Epic and in MyChart. And so
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  that is an experience. It's just how do
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  we simplify and make sure people's lives are
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  going to align. And so I love that
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  we're doing this transformation,
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  but we also work on we're working on
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  the building that culture of experience alongside that.
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  So we've
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  established the experience council,
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  which I love because we've basically taken our
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  experts who align with all of the five
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  domains I told you about. So our clinical
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  experts, our human experts,
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  our digital experts, and our environmental
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  experts,
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  and even our brand experts. And we we
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  literally brought together members of those team into
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  what I like to call a cohort.
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  And it is a twenty four,
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  month cohort
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  of learning and becoming experience experts,
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  but also taking the time to learn
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  what it means to be an expert in
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  environmental experience
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  or human experience or clinical experience and what
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  all of those things need. So really building
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  a core group that understands
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  and that's spending time in each of those
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  domains over the next twenty four months,
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  and or should I say, we're we're halfway
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  through. So it's only got they've only got
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  12 more.
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  But to to really understand and help the
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  ambassadors
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  and, ultimately, the the system governance,
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  for what it means to have the kid
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  expert experience.
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  Thank you, Hillary. I do wanna follow-up on
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  this.
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  When you speak about the EHR
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  experience, and I I don't want you to
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  do necessarily PR for Epicure, but I am
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  curious as as to how you and the
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  organization
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  came to the conclusions. Like, okay. And you
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  mentioned the synchronicity,
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  aspect with other, adult partners. So but how
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  did you know it's like, okay. This is
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  the one we need to go with, and
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  this is what's going to make our customers
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  experience better?
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  Really, we looked at who's innovating.
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  We looked at who's innovating in this space,
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  but we also looked at what our customers
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  need. Because at the end of the day,
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  we are the only stop for tertiary, quaternary
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  care
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  that's continuous,
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  here in the in the
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  Twin Cities, but also in the the regional
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  area. We have over 60 specialties.
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  We really are a comprehensive pediatric health system.
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  And so
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  we serve many,
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  many audiences. And one of our audiences was
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  consistently telling us, I really wish you were
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  easier to work with, and those are, our
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  physician partners and our care providers.
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  And so we took a strong look at
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  that. And then we looked at all of
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  the evidence based data that shows that Epic
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  has improved the the experience of patients and
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  families across
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  the organization. And so the fact that we
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  would now be able to not only define
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  our experience domains, but then actually be able
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  to improve upon them, create our own data,
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  and then be able to analyze and measure
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  how we're doing,
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  really forced us to take this this total
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  experience approach. And so I'm excited because, a,
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  I get to lead it, but but Epic
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  is clearly the right tool, and it's the
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  right foundation. Because if you don't build something
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  on a good foundation, it will fall apart.
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  We've all seen that.
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  You are absolutely right. As you look ahead,
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  Hillary, at not only the epic
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  implementation, but any other project that you have
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  coming up here in the next year, what
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  do you think is the hardest thing you'll
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  have to do? And I don't mean to
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  ask that to say
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  it's something you're not not looking forward to.
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  You can very much be looking forward to
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  it and excited about it, but it might
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  just require an extra,
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  ounce of focus.
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  Right? You know? So so what would you
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  say is the hardest thing you have to
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  do?
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  I think the hardest thing is is predictability
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  in our organization. Right now,
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  health care is is in a very transitional
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  period.
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  There are lots of factors playing into the
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  the state of,
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  how health care is being,
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  administrated,
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  how health care is being paid for. A
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  lot of people don't actually understand how much
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  Medicaid,
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  affects children,
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  and that we are a a Medicaid service
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  provider,
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  who who really still only receive 70¢ on
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  the dollar
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  for everything that we provide. And right now,
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  that 70¢
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  per dollar is already being threatened,
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  with with cuts, etcetera. And so it really
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  makes us have to think about how do
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  we continue
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  to provide
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  excellent care
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  differently.
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  And then if we want to differentiate on
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  experience, what are the investments that we need
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  to make so that we can actually make
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  working with Children's Minnesota
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  the easy button,
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  if that makes sense. And so I say
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  that we look at what's going to happen
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  with health care, what's happening with reimbursement,
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  how we'll be able to,
• 12:24
  invest in our organization,
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  because we are really here for the kids,
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  and we want to be what the kids
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  need. And so I think the most difficult
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  thing is not knowing what's around the corner,
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  that's also going to affect health care. And,
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  I would be remiss to not say that
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  we we notice changes in our community and
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  how they affect
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  even the way we provide care. And so
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  as we have dealt with this metro surge
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  here in Minnesota,
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  we have noticed that we had a significant
• 12:55
  drop,
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  in our ED visits,
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  but we had a significant increase in our
• 13:01
  percentage of admits,
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  which meant and indicated that people were not
• 13:07
  seeking the care when they needed it, but
• 13:10
  when it was absolutely emergent.
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  And that created a higher likelihood of those
• 13:16
  patients visiting the ED and then going home
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  to those patients finally getting to the ED
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  and then needing to be admitted.
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  So our we do monitor our percentage of
• 13:27
  admits based on our ED volume. And so
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  while the volume was going down,
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  the people who were coming to us were
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  much sicker. The children were much sicker and,
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  and needing more care. And so we don't
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  like that. We don't like anything that affects
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  the health of children,
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  that gets in their way of thriving,
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  and getting them the care that they need
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  because what could have been simple turned into
• 13:50
  far more complex and dangerous, and,
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  and nobody wants to see that when it
• 13:54
  comes to children.
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  No. Not at all. And here's hoping that,
• 13:58
  Children's Minnesota and and everywhere else is
• 14:01
  at the worst of that, and it's only
• 14:02
  going to improve from here. And I'm sure
• 14:05
  your organization will do the best it can
• 14:06
  to to make that happen.
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  Lastly, Hillary, my question for you is looking
• 14:11
  even, further ahead here. So and this timeline
• 14:15
  can be a year, eighteen months, two years,
• 14:17
  whatever you see as appropriate. But where do
• 14:20
  you see the best opportunities for organizational
• 14:23
  growth
• 14:24
  investment, however you wanna quantify that as far
• 14:26
  as Children's Minnesota is concerned?
• 14:28
  So I'm glad you asked that because three
• 14:30
  areas stand out for me. First, I think
• 14:32
  that our digital integration, if we execute Epic
• 14:34
  and our digital front door strategy well,
• 14:37
  we can dramatically reduce friction for families and
• 14:39
  clinicians.
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  Second, thought leadership.
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  There's a national hunger for credible pediatric voices.
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  We have the expertise to shape conversations about
• 14:48
  child health,
• 14:49
  policy safety in ways that are principled and
• 14:51
  evidence.
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  And then third, experience as a strategic differentiator.
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  Many organizations talk about experience.
• 14:59
  Few operationalize it at scale.
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  If we continue building the government's measurement, discipline,
• 15:05
  and and leadership accountability,
• 15:07
  experience becomes a competitive moat,
• 15:10
  not a marketing slogan. And that's important to
• 15:12
  me because,
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  a lot of people might wonder, why would
• 15:15
  you put experience in marketing? And I would
• 15:17
  say, why wouldn't you? Because to differentiate on
• 15:20
  experience, that only happens
• 15:22
  when what we promise and what we say
• 15:24
  and what people live are intentionally aligned. You
• 15:28
  can't it doesn't happen by accident.
• 15:30
  So,
• 15:31
  frankly, pediatric health care needs organizations willing to
• 15:34
  lead with both confidence and courage right now.
• 15:37
  I think that's a perfect place to end,
• 15:38
  Hillary. Thank you so much for dropping behind
• 15:41
  and giving us all your insight as far
• 15:43
  as how Children's Minnesota is handling challenging
• 15:47
  situations and really looking forward to, how it
• 15:50
  improves in the years to come. And we'll
• 15:52
  see you very shortly here in Chicago. Can't
• 15:55
  wait for that too. Yes. But so I'm
• 15:56
  looking forward to it. I'm hoping it'll be
• 15:58
  springtime by
• 16:00
  then. We still have snow on the ground.
• 16:02
  But we all hope the same for sure.
• 16:04
  And regardless, we look forward to, the next
• 16:07
  time our paths cross, Hillary, whenever that may
• 16:09
  be. Oh, love lovely. Good to talk to
• 16:12
  you. Thank you.