Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Dr. Hoda Asmar, System Chief Clinical Officer of Clinical Enterprise at Providence

Transcript

Dr. Hoda Asmar, System Chief Clinical Officer of Clinical Enterprise at Providence · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  - This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr.
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  Hoda Asmar system Chief Clinical Officer at Providence. Dr.
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  Asmar, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  - Good morning, Laura. It's, um, uh, great to talk to you
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  and be able to join you this morning.
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  - Now I'm looking forward to our conversation
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  and really learning more about how you're looking at growth
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  and development for Providence's clinical teams.
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  But before we dive into my broader discussion,
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  can you tell us a little bit more
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  about yourself and your background?
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  I know you've had a fascinating, uh, career,
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  and so I'm looking forward to making sure you're able
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  to share that with our audience too.
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  - Great. Uh, so, uh,
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  I'm currently the Chief Clinical Officer
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  for Providence Health.
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  I've been with Providence for a few years,
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  and I'd love to talk a little bit about Providence.
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  Um, is, um, it's a, um, a faith-based organization.
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  And, uh, we, um, our operation span seven states,
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  and we cover the entire spectrum
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  of the care delivery and beyond.
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  My personal background, um,
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  as a clinician is infectious disease,
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  and I'm someone who started, um,
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  originally in my training in the Middle East
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  and, um, did few years in Europe, in France
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  before coming to the US
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  and finishing, um, my, um, clinical training
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  and got into leadership roles a little bit by accident.
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  You know, people ask you to do things and you say yes,
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  and then you say yes, and things start moving.
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  But I have held several leadership roles in, um, uh,
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  different provider based organizations,
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  but also with private equity,
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  pharmacy management and public health.
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  Um, I would say my focus is always on
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  who benefits from our work, which is the patients
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  and our communities.
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  So patient outcomes, a clinical
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  and operational transformation,
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  and making sure that we are caring, uh, for the people
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  who deliver care, our physicians, our clinicians,
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  and our caregivers.
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  - That's amazing to hear,
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  and certainly a, a great way to, um, look at your role in
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  what you're doing, no matter what type
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  of organization you're working in.
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  Now, considering your role
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  as the system chief clinical officer at Providence,
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  what are some of the biggest issues
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  that you're following in healthcare for 2024?
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  - Um, you know, there is a lot happening
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  and, uh, you know, many of us have for post pandemic,
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  the pandemic and post pandemic world,
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  but I would, I would say there are two angles
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  or two ways of thinking of all the issues we are facing.
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  And I see some of the issues, you know,
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  how opportunities come in, challenges, some
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  of it we may see it as maybe has a negative angle,
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  but I see a lot of positive and opportunity for change.
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  So the two things are the future of care models.
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  Um, the thinking is we want to transform our future
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  and transform the care models
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  and move away from traditional thinking
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  with a focus on giving the patients and the clinicians
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  and caregivers choice, autonomy and control.
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  I think some of the dynamics related to workforce
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  that started during the pandemic is continuing to be present
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  labor challenges set in very specific shortages
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  and some clinical areas.
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  We are seeing a workforce that is more vocal in a good way,
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  wanting to partner, wanting things
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  that are different at the same time.
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  Also for the first time,
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  I think we are at this great juncture
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  where I am sensing technology
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  and generative AI may play a bigger role
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  in how we do things.
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  So in summary, the future of care models,
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  but with a very specific thinking of
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  how is it gonna improve patient outcomes,
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  how is it gonna benefit the patients and the communities
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  and our physicians, clinicians
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  and caregivers, which is very, very important to me.
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  The second big issue is the sustainability
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  of the current healthcare ecosystem.
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  So this is not just a financial sustainability.
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  We see a lot in the healthcare news about
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  the financial challenges many provider systems are facing,
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  but I see it as a bigger issue of
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  where we want this health system to be as an ecosystem,
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  not just providence as provider side
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  and how we gonna assure that financial,
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  but also outcome sustainability.
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  How we gonna address some of the things we identified
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  as priorities during the pandemic, such as health equity,
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  also societal impact.
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  So these are the two issues I'm always focused on,
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  and I think of my action plans
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  and how my team delivers the work is,
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  are we addressing these two issues?
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  - That's such a great point,
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  and certainly, you know, fascinating to think through
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  what all of this change means
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  and how care transformation is happening, especially
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  as you talked about through, uh, technology, generative ai,
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  and then some of the different, um,
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  shifts within the workforce.
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  So that, that's really interesting.
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  Um, how are you thinking about growth
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  and modernization of Providence's
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  clinical team specifically?
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  - Um, for me, growth, there is two angles of it.
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  Um, as a faith-based system that is
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  approaching two centuries of history, um,
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  the sister founders, um, started about 175 years ago.
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  Uh, the origins, um, the first sites of our system.
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  So I see growers as significantly connected to our mission.
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  So our mission is to serve all,
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  especially the poor and vulnerable.
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  So I see growth as a prerequisite to live our mission
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  because we wanna continue to serve, serve more patients,
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  serve more people in need, serve more communities,
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  and expand how we deliver care
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  for our current, uh, communities.
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  So that commitment is very important to see the growth
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  for us to that commitment and that mission lens.
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  Then there is, um, how I think of growth as a leader.
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  To me, growth helps to thrive not just
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  to survive, but to thrive.
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  It brings new ideas, new concept, new talent,
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  it challenges the status quo,
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  and it's like an engine that keeps running and self charges.
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  So to me, it's very important for us as an organization
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  to always think about that and have very specific plan
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  and work towards growth.
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  On the modernization, it's a little bit connected to
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  what I talked about earlier on the future
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  of care models modernization.
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  I put under it there is the transformation
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  of the clinical operations,
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  but also the role of automation, the role of ai, the role
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  of new discoveries, again, with the goal is
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  what is the impact?
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  It's not technology for the sake of technology.
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  It's for example, technology to reduce waste, to simplify,
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  to create better access, better experience, better outcome,
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  and to truly help our clinicians, physicians workforce
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  to be able to continue to deliver the care
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  and feel that we are taking care of them
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  and reducing the burden on them.
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  So it's connected in that way, that way.
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  And again, that filter off modernization to have a bigger,
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  more important impact on what matters most to our patients
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  and our clinicians and caregivers.
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  - Fantastic. Keeping, keeping those patients, clinicians,
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  caregivers front
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  and center, um, seems to make a lot of sense
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  and certainly I know it's not an easy task to, um, make some
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  of those transformational changes in the modernization
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  and really reconfiguring
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  how we're thinking about healthcare delivery,
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  but certainly rewarding.
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  What are you most excited about
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  for the next year and what makes you nervous? I
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  - Would say I'm always excited about our work
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  on quality and safety.
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  Um, we, we are always scanning the environment
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  for our opportunity to improve.
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  We're very focused on chasing zero harm,
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  on reducing mortality,
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  and we have done a great work in the space of reducing, uh,
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  mortality related to sepsis.
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  We are reducing hospital acquired infection,
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  hospital hospital acquired complications,
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  and we continue on that journey.
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  So, to me, every time I look our at our trajectory,
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  our results, what we have done and what we are planning
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  and where we are going, it's, it's a lot of excitement
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  and lots of gratitude to all the people
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  who focus on quality and safety.
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  Um, the other thing is, um, you know,
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  we talked a little bit about growth.
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  The second thing we are doing some interesting work
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  in the surgery space.
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  Peri-op space, again, focusing on that modernization
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  automation and empowering, um, our clinicians
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  and adding tools.
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  Uh, so we just with in the middle of implementing a,
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  an AI tool in the surgical space that gives, uh,
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  our surgeons and their teams
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  and our patients an easier way to access us
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  and choose us as a place where they wanna have,
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  um, their surgeries.
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  The third thing is, um, the core caring virtual care model.
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  So we, we've been hearing a lot about different systems,
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  different providers engaging in virtual care model.
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  Our model, we tested it last year with the great results.
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  So this is a combination of the care team on the unit,
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  but in addition supported by other members
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  of the care team 24 7 virtually.
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  And it's a model that was developed
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  by the care team in the frontline,
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  and we are now expanding it.
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  So by the end of this year, we'll have, uh, close
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  to 35 units, uh, with that model.
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  And, uh, we are monitoring the results
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  and we are very pleased with the progress As far
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  as being nervous, um, I'm someone who has to admit that
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  I don't get nervous much,
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  but I do have a little bit of an anxiety about the role
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  of technology and also in particular ai.
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  Um, so I'm someone who just stated, I want to progress,
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  I want transformation.
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  Uh, I definitely wouldn't suggest we need
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  to stifle pro progress,
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  but I worry about how we can address the governance
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  around ethics, um, around decision making,
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  about who's gonna drive the AI and who's gonna benefit,
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  and are we gonna have the scientific rigor,
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  and again, are we gonna focus on advancing technology
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  and AI in a way that has had the direct impact on patient
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  outcomes, which is the most important
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  element in the work I do.
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  So I feel, um, part of my commitment, part of my anxiety is
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  around how we can, uh, manage and govern
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  and address the progress in that space.
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  - Well, that's such a great point,
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  and certainly having that mindful implementation
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  of technology and artificial intelligence is so important.
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  You know, healthcare, um, can stand, um, to,
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  to have too many issues, you know, with that kind of thing.
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  And so I, I love the way you put that
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  and really stated it simply,
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  but also helpfully in terms of, you know, wanting
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  to move forward, making sure that we're continuing
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  to look at, uh, helpful advancements,
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  but also being mindful about that.
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  Um, before we wrap up here, we've talked about a lot
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  of changes in the healthcare space, whether it's related
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  to technology or,
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  or patient expectations in, in other issues.
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  What do you feel that most effective healthcare leaders will
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  need in order to be successful over the next two
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  to three years as the healthcare industry changes?
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  - I think there is two things I I think of,
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  and then maybe one more of a, of a caution.
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  The third element. So, um,
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  I call it being a challenger spirit.
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  Um, someone who also has a flexible mindset,
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  a challenger spirit in the sense, um,
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  challenging the status quo, asking difficult questions, uh,
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  being open to new ideas, new ways of doing things
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  that we wanna take, um, our healthcare system, uh,
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  as a nation somewhere better.
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  Um, somewhere where we potentially could face the next big
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  pandemic or the next big thing.
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  Um, the second thing is, um, focus on partnerships.
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  For us to be able, for all of us in any role we are, this is
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  beyond the provider role, to be able to move onto
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  that future and have really transformational,
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  um, a change.
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  It's very important to partner, uh, partner with others
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  and people who come from maybe different angles, partner
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  with our workforce, partner with our physicians,
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  with those two lenses of the patients and the impact
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  and the care team and the clinicians.
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  And last, I would say the caution,
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  which I touched base on earlier, is, um, I would say
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  do not underestimate the role of technology in AI
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  and make the commitment to understand, educate yourself
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  and engage in it a deeper level so we can understand
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  and we can guide, um, that progress
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  and make sure it's delivering on the set promises,
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  uh, of that progress.
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  - What a great reminder
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  and certainly I love all the things you mentioned, having
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  that flexible mindset, but then also challenging status quo
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  to really make healthcare better, having the partnerships,
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  um, and evolving those partnerships and being creative.
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  And then two, not underestimating technology
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  and AI for what the potential could be.
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  Dr. Asmar, thank you so much for joining us, um,
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  on the podcast today.
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  This has been such a fascinating and helpful conversation
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  and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
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  - Thank you very much. Thank you.
• 14:06
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• 14:09
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• 14:12
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• 14:14
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• 14:16
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• 14:19
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• 14:21
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• 14:24
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• 14:25
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• 14:28
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