Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Mary McKenzie on Leading Clinical Transformation Through Technology and Change Management

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Mary McKenzie on Leading Clinical Transformation Through Technology and Change Management · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
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  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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  - pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Laura Dierdahl with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  - Mary Mackenzie, chief administrative officer at UVA Physicians
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  - Group. Mary, it's a pleasure to have you
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  - on the podcast today.
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  - It's a it's a pleasure to be here.
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  - Thank you, Laura.
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  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our discussion because
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  - we're gonna talk a lot about change management
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  - during times of care transformation, which I know
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  - is something that so many health systems and
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  - medical groups are looking at today and trying
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  - to figure out what that looks like both
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  - from the clinician side as well as the
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  - patient journey. So,
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  - with that in mind, we'll dig in in
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  - just a minute. But before we do, can
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  - you tell us a little bit more about
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  - yourself and UVA Physicians Group?
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  - I'd be happy to. Thanks, Laura. So as
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  - you said, I'm Mary McKenzie. I'm chief administrative
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  - officer for the University of Virginia Physicians Group,
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  - also known as UPG, and and we're the
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  - faculty practice plan affiliated with UVA Health.
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  - We support more than 1,200
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  - UVA clinical faculty physicians, a number of community
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  - physicians, and several 100 advanced practice providers who
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  - provide care across the state of Virginia.
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  - And so my role is centered on helping
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  - UPG work better across traditional boundaries.
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  - And I oversee enterprise shared services, including communications,
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  - our digital strategy and IT functions,
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  - governance administration,
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  - and organizational
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  - transformation.
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  - So a big part of my job is
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  - ensuring that our strategy integrates with the rest
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  - of the health system and doesn't just stay
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  - on paper, that it becomes something our physicians,
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  - leaders, and staff actually experience in their daily
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  - work. And I'll add that what I love
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  - most about academic medicine is that we're constantly
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  - balancing multiple missions, delivering exceptional patient care,
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  - educating the next generation of clinicians, advancing research,
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  - and embracing innovation.
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  - And that complexity, I think, makes leadership challenging,
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  - but it's also what makes it incredibly rewarding
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  - because, every improvement we make has the potential
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  - to impact thousands of patients and hundreds of
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  - care teams, and and so I find this
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  - work incredibly meaningful.
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  - I love that. That's so, amazing to hear,
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  - and especially when you're looking at, you know,
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  - a a huge time of transformation being able
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  - to work with the next generation of leaders
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  - and and physicians and really truly keeping the
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  - patient front and center,
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  - is is crucial.
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  - So from your perspective, can you tell us
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  - a little bit about the clinical transformation at
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  - UVA Physicianship?
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  - What are you learning on this journey, and
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  - what are your goals?
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  - Absolutely. So our clinical transformation is really about
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  - redesigning how we support clinicians so they can
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  - spend more of their time doing what only
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  - they can do, and that's caring for patients.
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  - One great example of this is our implementation
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  - of DAC's ambient listening technology across the physician
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  - enterprise here at UVA.
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  - We've seen meaningful reductions in documentation burden and
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  - what many physicians call pajama time, and that's
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  - those hours spent finishing charts after they've gone
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  - home.
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  - This is important because reducing administrative work is
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  - not just about efficiency. It's about improve improving
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  - physician well-being and allowing our clinicians to be
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  - more present with their patients.
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  - Another exciting initiative is the launch of our
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  - virtual primary care on demand clinic this past
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  - spring.
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  - We've recently expanded that service to include pediatric
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  - patients ages five and older, and this helps
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  - us to extend access to primary care for
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  - patients across Virginia.
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  - This is a great example of using technology,
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  - not simply for convenience, but to remove barriers
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  - to care and to meet patients where they
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  - are.
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  - And one of the biggest lessons I'd say
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  - that we've learned is is that transformation is
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  - much more about people than it is about
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  - technology.
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  - Technology enables change, sure, but it doesn't create
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  - change. And success depends on whether physicians believe
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  - these solutions genuinely improve patient care and make
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  - their daily work better.
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  - So, ultimately, our goal is to build a
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  - physician enterprise that's more connected, more efficient, and
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  - more adaptable, and one that's positioned ultimately to
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  - continuously improve as health care continues to evolve.
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  - I love that. And I think being able
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  - to have that vision of what you want
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  - the,
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  - vision enterprise to look like and and how
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  - it serves patients, it really,
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  - is clarifying, and especially as you're adding new
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  - technologies, I know AI is part of that
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  - as well as virtual care.
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  - You know, it can help,
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  - ground things in a way that is meaningful
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  - and continue to move forward that care transformation.
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  - So,
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  - I think along those lines, how have you
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  - been able to design,
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  - the change management throughout the transformation? That's something
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  - that for many organizations is a challenge to
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  - make sure there's understanding and adoption whenever change
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  - occurs. And then what went well, and what
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  - would you advise doing differently?
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  - That is a great question, and,
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  - and I love it. And as you said,
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  - this definitely
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  - is a source of challenge for many, if
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  - not every organization that I've encountered. And so
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  - we've been very intentional about treating change management
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  - as it as its as its own discipline
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  - rather than as an afterthought.
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  - And so for us, that starts with engaging
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  - stakeholders early, especially our physicians.
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  - Rather than designing solutions and asking people to
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  - adopt them later, we've worked to involve our
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  - clinicians in shaping the work from the beginning.
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  - So this not only builds trust, but almost
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  - always leads to better solutions.
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  - Our DAX implementation is a great example. We
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  - didn't just simply deploy new technology and expect
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  - adoption. We
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  - instead partnered closely with physician champions, gathered feedback
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  - throughout the implementation,
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  - measured outcomes, and
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  - shared those results broadly.
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  - We found that when physicians hear from their
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  - colleagues that they're getting home earlier or spending
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  - less time documenting after clinic, That's far more
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  - powerful than any presentation that leadership could give.
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  - We've also prioritized
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  - communication.
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  - People don't resist change because they dislike change.
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  - They resist uncertainty is what we've found.
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  - One lesson that I've learned is that leaders
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  - almost always underestimate the amount of communication that's
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  - required.
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  - People
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  - rarely, rarely complain that they've heard the vision
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  - too many times. They need to understand what's
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  - changing, why it matters, and how it's gonna
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  - improve their daily work. And in answer to
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  - your question about if I would do anything
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  - differently, I think
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  - I spend even more time helping leaders understand
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  - the emotional side of change.
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  - We naturally focus on project plans and timelines
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  - and milestones, but people experience change emotionally before
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  - they experience it
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  - operationally.
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  - So
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  - the organizations
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  - that succeed
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  - recognize that change management isn't about convincing people.
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  - It's about helping them to feel prepared,
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  - supported, and confident enough to succeed in a
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  - new environment.
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  - Absolutely. I think that makes a ton of
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  - sense and is great advice, especially when you're
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  - looking at,
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  - needing to do things and changes occurring so
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  - quickly today. And so setting up those teams
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  - to be emotionally ready and nimble,
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  - as things come down the pipe,
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  - I can imagine makes that transition a lot
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  - easier.
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  - Yes.
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  - Yes. Absolutely.
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  - So I think, you know, when you're looking
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  - at,
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  - the next couple of years, where do you
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  - see some of the biggest opportunities for growth
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  - and development?
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  - So I think there are some tremendous opportunities
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  - ahead, and and I'll just talk about three
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  - that
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  - jump to mind.
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  - The first is continuing to leverage AI to
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  - reduce administrative burden while strengthening but not replacing
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  - the physician patient relationship.
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  - Tools like ambient documentation are already demonstrating what's
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  - possible when AI is applied thoughtfully.
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  - The second opportunity I wanna talk about is
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  - expanding access through innovative care models.
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  - Our, UVA Health virtual primary care on demand
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  - clinic has shown how virtual care can help
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  - us reach patients across the state who might
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  - otherwise struggle to access timely primary care. And
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  - so I think we'll continue to see the
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  - virtual and in person care complement one another
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  - in ways that improve convenience, access, and outcomes.
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  - And thirdly, I think health care organizations have
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  - an incredible opportunity to become much more data
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  - driven. We have enormous amounts of information, but
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  - the real opportunity is turning that data into
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  - actionable insights that help frontline leaders and clinicians
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  - make better decisions every day.
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  - And so underlying
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  - all of those opportunities,
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  - I think, is one principle that I find
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  - incredibly important,
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  - and that's that technology should never become the
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  - story.
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  - Better care and a better clinician experience should
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  - be the story. So we're not implementing technology
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  - for technology's sake. Instead, we're implementing it because
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  - it helps us better fulfill our mission.
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  - That makes a ton of sense. And, you
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  - know, it's a great rallying cry to think
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  - about the changes that you mentioned and what
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  - is gonna be critical moving forward.
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  - I'm curious, you know, for a variety of
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  - leaders, clinical and administrative who are looking at,
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  - you know, making some big changes over the
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  - next couple of years, what are some of
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  - the leadership qualities that are absolutely necessary for
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  - change management, especially in the modern health care
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  - organization?
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  - Thanks, Laura. And, forgive me to be a
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  - little for being a little squishy with my
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  - answers here because I think a a critical
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  - quality is curiosity.
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  - Health care is evolving so quickly that leaders
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  - have to be willing to continually
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  - learn, ask questions, and challenge their own
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  - assumptions.
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  - And also for me, I think empathy is
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  - a critical quality. Every organizational
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  - change affects real people,
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  - and leaders who genuinely understand what physicians, nurses,
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  - and staff are experiencing
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  - make better decisions and generally build stronger trust.
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  - And,
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  - finally, I think I'd add courage.
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  - Change often requires making important decisions without perfect
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  - information.
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  - So effective leaders communicate clearly, stay grounded in
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  - the organization's mission, and aren't afraid to adjust
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  - when new information emerges.
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  - So if I had to leave your listeners
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  - with one thought, it would be this, which
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  - is that change management isn't really about managing
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  - change. It's about leading people through uncertainty.
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  - Technology will continue to evolve. Health care will
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  - continue to change and new challenges will emerge.
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  - And the organizations that'll thrive over the next
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  - decade, I think, won't necessarily be the ones
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  - with the newest technology. They'll be the ones
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  - that create cultures where physicians and staff and
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  - leaders are willing to continually learn and adapt
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  - and grow together.
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  - Because at the end of the day, like
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  - we've said, transformation
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  - isn't about technology. It's about creating a better
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  - experience
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  - for the people who deliver care and for
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  - the patients who depend on us.
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  - I love that, Mary. Thank you so much
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  - for joining us on the podcast today. This
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  - has been such an inspirational discussion. Really, a
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  - lot of nuggets in there, that are so
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  - important and critical for leadership and change management
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  - today. I appreciate your time and look forward
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  - to connecting with you again soon. Likewise. Thanks
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  - so much, Laura. It's been my pleasure.