Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Strengthening Safety Net Care Through Innovation and Workforce Development with Tesa Anewishki

Transcript

Strengthening Safety Net Care Through Innovation and Workforce Development with Tesa Anewishki · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - At Insight Global Health, we are dedicated to
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  - helping you and improving health care for everyone.
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  - the problems that we face in health care.
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  - We're not just promising you results, we are
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  - delivering them. Visit us at insightglobal.com.
• 0:26
  - Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Kelly
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  - Guich, managing editor at Becker's, and I'm thrilled
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  - to be joined today by Taysha Anowisky,
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  - president and CEO of Loretto Hospital in Chicago.
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  - Taysha, thank you so much for joining us
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  - today. Thank you so much for having me,
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  - Kelly. I'm excited for our conversation.
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  - Absolutely. And to to start off with, could
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  - you briefly introduce yourself, your role, and the
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  - scope of your organization?
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  - I am Taysa Andiewiske, president and CEO of
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  - Loretto Hospital, which is a community safety net
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  - hospital located on the West Side Of Chicago.
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  - In that capacity, I oversee the entire hospital,
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  - hospital operations, our clinical teams,
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  - our medical teams,
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  - all of our supportive services staff, and just
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  - working day to day to make sure that
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  - we keep our doors open so that the
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  - community has access to the care they need
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  - when they need it most. So and what
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  - would what would you say is most commanding
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  - your time right now
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  - as a leader?
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  - I think right now,
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  - the greatest amount of our time is really
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  - going to one of our safety net partner,
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  - hospitals,
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  - recently closed.
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  - And so, really, how we're reorganizing
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  - as a as a organization to make sure
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  - that we can provide the care for those
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  - individuals who, went to sleep one morning one
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  - evening with a community hospital and woke up
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  - without one. So just making sure that the
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  - community,
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  - that we're eliminating their fear, that they realize
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  - that, they're they still have access to care
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  - and that Loretto Hospital is here to serve
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  - their needs.
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  - And in a year marked with rapid change,
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  - what recent decision or pivot would you say
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  - required the most leadership conviction from you, particularly
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  - when it came to aligning people, resources, or
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  - capabilities?
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  - For us, it would have been our,
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  - electronic medical record system upgrade.
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  - We were on a forty year old Meditech,
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  - platform.
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  - We recently went to Meditech Explains,
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  - which requires a lot of resources for, health
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  - care organizations, especially hospitals to upgrade their EHR.
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  - It takes a lot of resources and support
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  - to do that. So
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  - what typically takes, or they plan for one
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  - year to do, we had to really carry
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  - out over two years
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  - based on our resources.
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  - You know, safety net hospitals, we get paid
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  - on average 32¢ on a dollar, so we
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  - don't have the funding to, you know, some
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  - of the larger larger organizations
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  - to hire
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  - a lot of, patient or I'm sorry, a
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  - lot of team members to come in and
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  - and help with that implementation and rollout. So
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  - we had to be very strategic in terms
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  - of how we aligned our resources
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  - so that we were able to get that
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  - system up and going.
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  - Yeah. It sounds like just that realignment maybe
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  - was
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  - was,
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  - just
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  - how the moment may be challenged
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  - you in some ways, or are there other
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  - ways also that it maybe challenged different assumptions
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  - as you went through the process? And, also,
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  - what did it change about how you approach
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  - decision making?
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  - I think it it was
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  - for us to not fit in a box.
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  - So, again,
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  - when we're working as a safety net institution,
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  - we don't have the resources of some of
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  - the larger organizations. So, unfortunately, when we have
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  - a challenge or a problem, we can't just
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  - throw money at it money at it or
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  - and we have to really rethink our team,
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  - who you know, balancing out what the need
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  - is based on the current resources and really
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  - utilize the strengths and we the strengths of
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  - each of our team members,
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  - to make sure that we can get something
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  - done. So I think for us, it's it's
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  - that was a huge lift. We were tremendously
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  - successful. We're on the tail end of that
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  - rollout and implementation.
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  - So it's it's it's a good thing for
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  - the organization because it will help with our
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  - revenue cycle process. So we'll be able to
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  - get some, a more steadier cash flow than
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  - we were able to achieve on the on
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  - that forty year old platform.
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  - Yeah. It definitely seems like a a positive
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  - step in that way. It is definitely a
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  - positive step. And plus the data analytics and
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  - the reporting, right, so that we can make
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  - informed decisions about,
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  - how we look at our service,
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  - provision.
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  - Do where do we need to, you know,
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  - enhance our services? Perhaps we're transferring out a
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  - lot of individuals, and so being able to
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  - track that data in real time and identify
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  - the opportunities for the hospitals to continue to
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  - grow.
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  - And when you think about all of the
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  - forces
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  - reshaping health care right now, where do you
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  - believe leaders will need to be more decisive,
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  - especially when balancing speed, risk, and having those
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  - right teams in place?
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  - I think it it has to a lot
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  - to do with, with the resources,
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  - really evaluating your resources.
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  - For us, we're a safety net hospital, so,
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  - we never want to put margin over mission
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  - or profit over people
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  - that we wanna stay focused on the work.
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  - And so when when
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  - funding is is very tight, which it has
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  - been and and is continues to be,
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  - over the it will continue to be over
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  - the next one to two years, how do
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  - we reimagine our staff? How do we upscale
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  - our staff? And so I I think one
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  - of the things that leadership really do is
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  - look at your current resources. Your team members
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  - are your greatest asset.
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  - And so what what opportunities do we did
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  - that that do you have or do they
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  - have, to upskill their team members so that
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  - they can fill help fill in that gap?
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  - So rather than putting, an additional whole person
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  - in in in a new position,
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  - perhaps it's just an incremental increase because you've,
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  - upskilled, you know, one of your team members
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  - has been upskilled and can fill in that
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  - gap. Mhmm. And as uncertainty has become more
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  - of the the normal in the environment today,
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  - what leadership habit or mindset has been most
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  - critical in keeping your own organization and people
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  - moving forward?
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  - Communication.
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  - Communication is definitely the key to make sure
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  - that you have buy in from your team
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  - members, that they feel vested in all of
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  - the changes. It's a scary time in health
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  - care right now.
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  - You hear about the the big beautiful bill
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  - and the changes that are supposed to happen,
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  - with respect to that and the Medicaid redeterminations.
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  - For us, we're looking at, will that decrease
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  - access to care? We are already housed in
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  - a, and serve a very at risk and
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  - vulnerable community.
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  - So it would be, you know,
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  - communicating,
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  - having transparency,
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  - with your team members, with your your key
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  - stakeholders,
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  - and making sure that we're holding one another
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  - accountable, that the changes that we're making are
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  - not intended to be punitive,
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  - but it is intended to make sure that
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  - we can be in the community, serving the
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  - community for another one hundred years.
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  - And
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  - as also as labor markets do remain tight
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  - and care demands continue to grow, how are
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  - you rethinking traditional workforce models, including greater use
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  - of international or contingent talent, to build that
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  - resilience rather than just maybe fill those staffing
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  - gaps? Right. So, again, workforce development. Mhmm. Right?
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  - So looking at our existing team members and
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  - figuring out how can we reorganize
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  - to,
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  - deliver so that our patient care is not
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  - impacted. So looking at new nursing models,
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  - perhaps reintroducing the LPN
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  - nursing model into the health care
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  - organization. So we're looking at several ways to
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  - do that
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  - and,
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  - really excited about the opportunities
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  - that, you know, present with
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  - the,
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  - team members that we have now in terms
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  - of what what we can do to support
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  - them.
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  - Oh, thank you so much, Tessa, for a
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  - fun and interesting conversation, and we'll look forward
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  - to working with you again soon. Oh, thank
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  - thank you, Vali. I appreciate it.