Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Bill Gassen, President and CEO at Sanford Health

Transcript

Bill Gassen, President and CEO at Sanford Health · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  This is the Becker's Healthcare Podcast,
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  created by the team of Becker's Healthcare,
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  Thanks for listening. Now here's the episode.
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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 Bill Gassen,
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  president and c e o of Sanford Health. Bill,
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  it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
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  Now, I know we have a lot to talk about.
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  There's so many exciting things happening at Sanford and really is just such a
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  important time in healthcare right now, and especially rural healthcare.
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  But before we dive into my questions,
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  can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background?
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  Yeah, gladly. Uh, and again, thanks for the opportunity, uh,
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  really appreciate the,
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  the chance to spend a few minutes with you talking about matters of, uh,
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  significance and importance, uh, for Sanford Health. But, uh, as you referenced,
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  I think across the country right now, as we find ourselves at, uh,
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  significant inflection point within healthcare and, uh,
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  as the President of Sanford Health, the largest, uh,
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  rural health system in the country, uh, my promise,
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  my commitment to those who I have the privilege of serving in this organization
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  has the opportunity to serve, uh,
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  is that we are committed each and every day to ensure that one zip code does not
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  limit the level of care that they receive. Um, as you know,
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  well, uh,
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  based on our prior conversations and what you hear from our colleagues around
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  the country,
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  that those individuals who live in rural America face some really unique
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  challenges. Uh, we know that there's, uh, a need for, uh,
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  physicians in these communities. We know that they deal with limited resources,
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  uh, that oftentimes, uh, un unfortunately,
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  they experience a higher rate of poverty and food insecurity as well as chronic
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  disease. And so we really see it at Stanford Health, uh,
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  as our calling and our unique privilege to be able to serve, uh, those living,
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  uh, here in the upper Midwest, especially those living in rural America.
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  And this, uh, mission is, is really personal to me. Uh,
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  I had the privilege of growing up, uh, in a home where my mother spent, uh,
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  more than four decades, uh, serving as an inpatient rn. And so I, uh,
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  had the opportunity to see my mother,
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  like so many of the talented caregivers who we have, uh,
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  serving at Sanford Health and around the country that, you know,
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  they're the caregivers, uh, on the front lines,
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  taking care of our patients every day.
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  And they're also the caregivers on the front lines at home, uh, caring for, uh,
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  and helping to provide for their families.
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  And so I am always been grateful for that experience with, uh, in my home.
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  Uh, and then very similarly, uh, my father was very mission driven, uh,
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  following his 24 year, uh, career in the United States Air Force. Uh,
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  he then was integral in starting, uh, what is today South Dakota's, uh,
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  largest hunger relief organization feeding South Dakota. Uh, and so seeing him,
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  uh, standing in the gap with his team each and every day, uh,
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  helping to try and, uh, address those food insecurity issues that we have.
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  And many of those communities that suffered most significantly are some of our
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  most rural communities in this part of the country. And, uh, then of course, uh,
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  blessed, uh, my wife of now nearly 20 years, uh, when she's not, uh,
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  keeping me in line. And our five children, uh,
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  serves as a physician's assistant, uh, with the, uh, veterans, uh,
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  administration.
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  And so she's been working at the VA Medical Center now for getting close to
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  almost 20 years as well. And so, uh, I counted a real privilege, uh,
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  to have grown up in a home and to live in a home today where, uh, my family,
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  uh, you know, has, has sought the calling, uh, to be able to meet people, uh,
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  both from a healthcare perspective, uh, as well as those basic needs of, uh,
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  food insecurity and working to address those each and every day. Uh,
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  so I've seen firsthand what it means to address those barriers, uh,
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  to access, uh,
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  to help address some of those challenges from a health disparities perspective.
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  And, uh, you know, again, as I, as I referenced before,
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  and we will always say it is a, it is a privilege,
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  it's an honor to be able to serve at an organization that has that as its
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  mission. And so at Sanford Health, uh, we believe very strongly,
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  uh, in that mission.
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  We believe at this organization that we really stand in the gap, uh,
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  making sure that individuals in this part of the country across the
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  250,000 square miles that we have the privilege of serving in that we believe
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  that, but for Sanford Health, but for the talented caregivers,
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  the incredible dedicated teammates that we have, uh, but for them,
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  individuals in this part of the country wouldn't have access to care and not
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  just care, but world class care. And so, uh, I'm excited to be able to do that.
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  Uh,
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  I'm excited to be a part of a talented team that serves today 1.5 million
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  patients, over 200,000, uh, health plan members, uh, here in a,
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  in a special part of the country.
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  Well, that's amazing to hear,
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  and really such an inspirational story of all the different, uh,
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  family members you have around you focused on healthcare and healthcare
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  delivery. And I know that coming together of,
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  of services and being able to serve, um, the community, um,
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  with social determinants of health and all those kinds of things have really,
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  um, in the last several years,
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  more and more integrated into the mission of health systems and healthcare
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  organizations. And so it seems like, you know, you just have such a fascinating,
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  unique perspective, um, based on your family and your upbringing, and now,
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  you know, continue to,
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  to bring that into your role as the president and c e o of a major health
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  system.
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  Uh, absolutely. I mean, I, uh, as I stated, you know, just discount myself,
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  very, very fortunate to have been, uh,
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  exposed to and given the perspectives that I have, uh,
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  throughout my life growing up, uh, and then now having that continue, uh,
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  as my wife Jill and I have the opportunity and the privilege to raise our
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  children as well. And so, uh, to be a part of, uh,
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  a family that, uh, is sort of a mission verse oriented family,
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  and then have an opportunity to be able to serve and live that out, uh, in my,
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  uh, professional career, uh, I think is, is pretty special.
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  That's amazing. And, you know, from your vantage point, I,
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  I can imagine you get to, um,
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  really see a lot of the great things that are going on within the community as
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  well as within Sanford Health. What are some of your top priorities right now,
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  especially given, um, you know, where things are headed in healthcare,
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  some of the different challenges in, in macroeconomic trends,
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  what are your top priorities as you think about being able to continue to serve
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  the community and continue to provide great care?
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  Yeah, you know, Laura, that's, you bring up a good point. Uh, again,
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  one of the other special aspects of being able to serve at an organization like
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  Sanford Health, that is a, uh,
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  5 0 1 C three community-based not-for-profit.
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  We have not only the unique obligation to be able to provide and extend
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  world-class care to every one of our patients in these communities, uh,
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  but because of the nature of our organization's,
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  what we do and what our missions are, we do find ourselves, you know,
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  really at the forefront of all of the community opportunities and challenges.
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  And so, uh,
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  it provides us with a very unique opportunity across the 300 communities where
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  Sanford Health is present today to really partner, uh,
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  with government organizations, other not-for-profits,
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  other business leaders to see, you know,
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  there are certain things that we believe we can address, uh,
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  very uniquely from a healthcare perspective,
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  but there are so many of the other challenges and opportunities in these
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  communities that we need to partner with, whether it's, again,
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  addressing food insecurity,
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  whether it's working with schools to make sure that we're providing the best
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  possible environment to see that, uh,
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  our young ones are educated and provided opportunities that they need to be
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  successful. And so we can't do it all ourselves.
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  We need to have incredible partners to do that. And again,
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  I think that's one of the special parts of the calling, uh,
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  for those of us who have the opportunity to serve and not-for-profit healthcare.
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  Uh, and at the same time, uh, these are large,
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  complex organizations that, uh, are addressing large,
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  complex challenges.
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  And so when you think about our priorities right now from a healthcare delivery
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  perspective, it really is, uh,
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  like many across the country that one of those top priorities for us is
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  workforce. And, uh, as we know and has been widely publicized,
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  we've seen a lot of challenges from a workforce perspective. Uh,
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  and it really starts and ends with this,
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  that for anybody at any point in time in history to be able to serve in
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  healthcare, you have to really see it as a calling. Uh,
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  'cause it's difficult intellectually,
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  it's very difficult physically in many instances.
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  And it's absolutely taxing from an emotional perspective that's always been
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  there. Uh, and I believe it always will be, uh, as we continue to add,
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  uh, to the, to the work that we do,
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  the innovations that are out there as we continue to augment our workforce
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  through, uh, advancements in technology and digital, at the end of the day,
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  there's still always just gonna be a very personal, a very people intensive, uh,
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  quotient to what we do in healthcare. And again,
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  I think that makes it rewarding, but also makes it very challenging.
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  And so when we look across, uh, the workforce today, uh,
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  we know that there's, uh,
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  there's a deficit when it comes to the number of individuals who are there based
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  on the rising needs. We've seen the forecast. We know that in the years to come,
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  uh, they'll forecast, uh,
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  as much of a hundred and twenty four, a hundred twenty 5,000, uh,
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  physicians that will be a, a delta, uh,
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  that needs to be reached between where we're at, uh,
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  now and where we'll need to be in the future.
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  And some of the ways that we're looking to address that at Sanford Health, uh,
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  is a little bit of a grow our own. Uh,
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  we have been very fortunate through the incredible philanthropy, uh,
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  from our namesake and benefactor, Mr. Sanford, uh,
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  to be able to stand up and to fully fund, uh,
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  15 graduate medical education programs.
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  We know from our experience to date that where those individuals, uh, do, uh,
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  come to for the residencies where they train at for their fellowships,
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  oftentimes ends up being where they're staying.
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  And so the privilege of training these individuals,
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  we see close to 40% of them end up staying with us.
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  And we see that as a unique opportunity to not only build out,
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  to train the workforce in the future, uh,
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  but then also to be able to bring in exposed, uh, those talented physicians to,
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  uh, our organization and then uniquely the patients, uh,
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  who we have the opportunity to be able to serve.
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  And so that's one of the ways that we're addressing, uh,
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  some of that workforce gap we're doing very similar when it comes to, uh,
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  you know, nurse training programs, uh,
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  working to both with governmental and non-governmental organizations,
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  working with our colleges and universities to be able to train that workforce
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  for the future. But importantly,
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  we believe that it's not just how do we throw more bodies at these challenges
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  that we really have to think differently about the work that we do. Uh,
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  at Sanford Health will we say,
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  often what we do will never change standing in the gap,
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  providing world-class care for our patients, that will never change.
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  How we do that is changing, and it must change as we go forward.
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  And so we're doing a lot of work right now in trying to figure out different
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  ways that we can change the workflows, modify how we do the work that we do,
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  so that one, we can pull some of the redundancy,
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  we can pull some of the mundane tasks out of the work that we do,
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  which should in turn make it a more rewarding career for the individuals who
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  decide to serve in that capacity. And then at the same time,
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  we can drive up our efficiency and then help close the gap as it relates to some
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  of the delta that we have from a workforce perspective. Uh, and of course,
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  with all the advancements that we're seeing right now from a technological
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  perspective,
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  we believe that that will help us continue to close that gap going forward. Uh,
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  we won't be replacing our people.
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  We hope that what we're actually gonna be able to do is help make the work that
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  they do more rewarding, more efficient. And at the end of the day,
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  the most important thing is that we will help to increase access,
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  help to improve quality for each and every one of the patients who we have the
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  opportunity to serve and do that in a way that's more financially sustainable.
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  Got it. That's, you know, fascinating to hear. And,
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  and thank you so much for laying out, um, that plan for us, because essentially,
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  you know,
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  the issues you're talking about are certainly issues for health systems across
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  the country, whether it's looking at the workforce challenges or, um,
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  trying to make sure that, you know,
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  you're serving people who have not traditionally had access to care for a
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  variety of reasons. And so it's inspiring to see that, you know,
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  you've been able to create some of those partnerships and,
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  and programs that are really making a big difference.
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  How do you see Stanford Health growing and evolving over the next two to three
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  years or so?
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  Uh, it's a great question. You know,
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  one of the things that we're very resolute about here at the organization is
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  that as we continue to evolve and change, and as the, uh,
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  healthcare ecosystem continues to change and mature around us,
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  what will never change for our organization is that strategic aspiration that
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  we want to, uh, stand, uh,
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  in the gap continue to be that premier rural health system in the United States.
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  And from our standpoint, what that means, again, as we've talked about today,
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  it's really that focus and that commitment of making sure we do everything we
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  can to add the capabilities to, uh, augment the organization that we have today,
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  to ensure that we're extending that world-class life-saving care to every
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  individual regardless of where they live.
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  Whether it's some of your most densely populated urban communities,
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  or whether it's some of the most, uh, sparsely populated, uh,
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  rural communities that we have the opportunity to serve.
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  One of the ways that we believe that we're going to continue to evolve and
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  change as an organization and be able to achieve that necessary goal of
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  improving access, right, improving quality, and making sure that we, uh,
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  drive to that financial sustainability is really by the addition of virtual
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  care for our organization and extending that out beyond what it's been today.
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  Uh, we, again, have had a unique privilege, uh,
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  because of our benefactor and namesake, uh,
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  that we have a $350 million philanthropic investment that's been made all
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  focused on the advancement through digital and virtual, uh,
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  care for each one of our patients. And so right now, uh, and over the last year,
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  we've continued to build out more of that infrastructure.
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  We'll continue to do that in the future.
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  We have that we'll be opening up in late 24, a virtual care center.
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  There will be sort of a ni a central nervous system from which we'll extend out,
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  uh,
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  that virtual care that we'll provide that will allow us to extend specialty and
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  subspecialty care into some of our most rural communities. And that,
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  in addition to that, it's also gonna serve as an innovation center.
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  That's where we will train, that's where we'll work, uh, to make sure that the,
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  uh,
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  healthcare genera or that the healthcare providers of the next generation will
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  have had exposure to and had deep training and understanding how to extend that
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  virtual care into, uh, the homes, uh, into smaller,
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  uh, you know, clinics into smaller medical centers to make sure, again,
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  that we're extending out and spreading across, uh, the whole, uh,
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  breadth of the organization.
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  That type of deep specialty care that we believe is critically important. Uh,
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  we wanna make sure that all that we have to offer is something that we're able
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  to extend into each and every one of the communities that we serve.
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  That's fantastic to hear, and certainly, you know, inspiring that, um,
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  you're able to have that type of capability with the virtual care center,
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  uh, to really breed innovation within the organization, uh,
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  as well as reach and connect with patients, and especially on,
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  on the rural setting.
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  I can imagine having those virtual capabilities is helpful. Um,
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  from your perspective, obviously the care providers, you know, having them,
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  um, be able to transition to virtual is one thing,
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  but when you're working in extending into the community,
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  has there been a pretty good reception to, um,
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  the virtual technology side of it? Or, or you have, you had to, um, you know,
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  educate patients and really get buy-in, I guess, for lack of a better word, um,
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  for this type of transition to be able to do more virtual care?
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  Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, you know, it's, it's one of the, uh,
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  I'll call it silver linings, which I'm always careful to state, uh,
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  given all the challenges and the, uh,
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  horrible difficulties that this country and this world suffered having come
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  through the pandemic. Uh, but having had to go through that experience that, uh,
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  we've seen not only from a healthcare perspective, but you know,
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  really across almost all sectors of our economy, uh, and our society,
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  a greater openness to engaging and interacting, whether it be commerce,
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  whether it be healthcare, whether it be just those, uh, familial relationships,
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  uh, through virtual. And that is something that's helped us in that front. Uh,
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  also I think there's can be sometimes a misnomer a little bit too about those
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  living in rural America that perhaps there's not a, a,
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  a receptivity or an openness to, uh, you know,
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  digital transformation to virtual interaction,
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  but because of the nature of where they live, uh,
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  not just from a healthcare perspective, uh,
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  but we do find that a lot of these communities are,
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  are not only open to embracing it now,
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  but they've already been embracing it through a variety of different ways. Uh,
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  we've seen, especially here in America's heartland,
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  the way that technology has made significant changes in our agricultural
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  business, uh, the way in which we, uh, engage not only from,
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  I'll say sort of a, a domestic perspective, but also internationally as well.
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  And so as we look ahead to the future, um,
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  and as we go into these communities and extend that care,
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  we are seeing that openness and that receptivity when it comes to engaging with
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  their providers, uh, on that side, uh, from the patient's perspective,
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  but then also, uh, our providers, uh, we see a great, uh, sort of,
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  I'll say level of excitement and receptivity when we extend these services into
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  these communities where, you know,
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  we find individuals that love the idea of saying that I'm going to be the
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  community provider. I'm gonna be the advanced practice provider.
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  I'm gonna be the physician who is able to really satisfy my
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  desires to live in rural America and raise my family there,
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  but then also still be able to practice my craft and be able to serve, uh,
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  and practice medicine in those communities.
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  But if you're all on your own and you're on an island out there and you don't
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  have the backing of a health system, that can sometimes be a, a scary situation.
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  It can also be challenging for individuals to just, uh,
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  strike that right work-life balance.
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  But if you know that you've got the backup of an entire system that has, uh,
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  the very, very fortunate, uh, situation to have nearly 2,800,
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  uh, providers, uh,
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  physician and advanced practice providers who are there as your backup, uh,
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  and to be able to access, uh, at the click of a button,
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  that really creates a lot of confidence, that creates a lot of continuity.
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  And at the end of the day, for us,
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  we know that creates the best outcome for our patients. Uh,
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  and if we can balance that better outcomes for our patients,
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  better access for our patients,
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  and then provide the necessary support for our providers, uh,
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  we think that we're getting closer, uh,
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  to being able to hit all those goals that we need to as a health system.
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  That's amazing to hear, and certainly great that, uh, there's been so much, um,
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  I guess ability to, uh, receive the, the virtual care and, and, um,
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  you know, enjoy having that opportunity available. Now, from your perspective,
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  I'd just love to hear before we wrap up,
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  what is one change that you or your team has made in the last year or so that's
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  yielded great results? Yeah.
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  And I don't know if the right timeframe Laura would say the last year, um,
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  I'm sure all of us in healthcare feel like we've sort of been dog years right
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  now and, um,
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  difficult to sort of distinguish from covid then into the financial challenges
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  and crises that we saw through 2022 and the start of 23. But I'll say sometime,
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  uh,
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  in these last couple of years where I've had the opportunity and the privilege
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  to serve in this role, perhaps maybe one of the most, uh,
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  significant things that, uh,
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  my team and I and the board of trustees at Sanford Health have had the
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  opportunity and the ability to do was to really stop. Uh,
• 20:13
  we found ourselves not only in healthcare, but specifically at Sanford Health,
• 20:17
  going back to almost, uh, three years ago now, really at an inflection point,
• 20:21
  uh,
• 20:21
  as we went through a leadership transition and I and my team had the opportunity
• 20:25
  to, uh, step into the roles that we're in today,
• 20:29
  it was really that opportunity to,
• 20:30
  to stop and pause and look at our organization to say, who are we, uh,
• 20:34
  and who do we want to be as we move forward?
• 20:36
  And as we had the opportunity to do that and to reset the strategy for this
• 20:41
  organization, uh, we had the real privilege, uh,
• 20:46
  to be able to stop and say that as we have examined where we've been,
• 20:50
  where we've come, and what we do well to this organization, uh,
• 20:54
  that was that realization for us and that decision to come together to coalesce
• 20:59
  around, uh,
• 21:00
  a unified mission and strategy that we were gonna continue our pursuit to be
• 21:04
  that premier role health system in the United States. That has been a,
• 21:08
  uh, a calling, uh, for this organization.
• 21:11
  It's been something that has allowed our organization,
• 21:15
  all of our 45,000 incredible team members, caregivers,
• 21:19
  to come together as a rally cry to say, this is who we are, this is what we do.
• 21:24
  This is the special place that we have, uh, in the healthcare ecosystem.
• 21:29
  And, uh, with that sort of clear, uh, clarity for vision, uh,
• 21:33
  it's really allowed us to continue to examine the decisions that we make,
• 21:37
  the investments that we make to help move us forward.
• 21:40
  And so at the end of every decision for us at Sanford Health,
• 21:43
  we know that there's a patient, and with that sort of is the, uh,
• 21:48
  the table stakes for every conversation that we have now,
• 21:51
  we layer on top of that,
• 21:51
  that strategic aspiration that all the decisions that we make have to be, uh,
• 21:56
  leading us towards the, uh, achievement of that strategy,
• 22:01
  which is that we want to be that premier rural health system. Sure. That we're,
• 22:05
  again,
• 22:06
  continuing to extend world-class care to every single patient who we serve. Um,
• 22:11
  and I think that's probably been maybe one of the most significant changes for
• 22:14
  us. If you think about over these last couple of years, uh,
• 22:17
  that's really provided, I think the necessary clarity to help, uh,
• 22:21
  chart the future for this organization.
• 22:24
  Be Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
• 22:26
  This has been such a fun and interesting conversation,
• 22:28
  and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
• 22:31
  Yeah, thank you so much, Laura.
• 22:32
  Really appreciate the opportunity to be with you today.
• 22:39
  It's so important for leaders at the top of organizations to keep learning,
• 22:43
  stay sharp, grow their networks,
• 22:45
  help our audience better do this in a more simplified, personalized,
• 22:48
  and meaningful way. Becker's Healthcare has launched my B h c,
• 22:53
  it's your trusted Becker's healthcare experience and more with content,
• 22:56
  connections, events and learning opportunities.
• 22:59
  Join the community free of charge at
• 23:01
  www.my.beckerhospitalreview.com and we'll see you there.