Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Dr. Pooja Vyas, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at BJC HealthCare

Transcript

Dr. Pooja Vyas, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at BJC HealthCare · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  - Prepare to dive into the forefront
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  of healthcare innovation at our 14th annual meeting coming
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  up on April 8th
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  through 11th at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, with thousands
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  of industry leaders converging over four dynamic days
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  of discussions on crucial topics from health IT
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  to executive leadership.
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  It's where the future of healthcare takes shape.
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  We can't wait to connect with you in person
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  and engage in these important conversations.
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  - This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr.
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  Puja Villa, vice President
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  and Chief Medical Officer at BJC
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  Healthcare's Christian Hospital.
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  Dr. Villa is a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  - 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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  and certainly I'll be excited to learn more about
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  what you're doing and
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  how you're making an impact on the community that you serve.
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  But before we dive into my questions,
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  can you tell me a little bit more
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  about yourself and your background?
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  - Yeah, absolutely. I'm the Chief Medical Officer here
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  at Christian Hospital.
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  We're a part of the BJC health system, um, in St.
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  Louis, Missouri. I've been in my role
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  for almost two and a half years.
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  Um, prior to that, I, uh, was a medical director
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  for the hospitalist medicine department,
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  and I'm originally from the northeast.
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  I did my residency in internal medicine at Northwell.
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  Um, and, uh, I'm happy to be here
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  to have a conversation with you today.
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  - That's great to hear. Now I'm wondering, you know,
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  obviously there's been a lot happening in healthcare over
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  the past few years, but if you could zero in on one change
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  that you made in the last year
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  or so that had great results, I would love to hear about it.
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  - Um, you know, one thing that we're really proud of
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  that we did last year was, um, improve
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  our case management department.
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  Uh, we transitioned to a contemporary care model where
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  the role of our case managers
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  and social workers was aligned
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  to their education and expertise.
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  Um, this, in my opinion, directly impacted our length
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  of stay for our patients in the hospital.
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  Um, we went from a length of stay
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  of 6.5 in January down to 5.2
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  by the end of the year.
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  - Oh, wow. That's amazing.
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  And, you know, a huge, huge impact, I can imagine on
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  so many things, whether it's a patient throughput, um, in,
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  in, in efficiency, as well as the financial, uh,
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  at the organization.
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  So when you look at getting that great results
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  and being able to lower the length of stay, um, how,
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  you know, I guess what actions did the team take and
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  and what did you do to make sure that you are able to, um,
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  have such great results?
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  - Um, you know, it comes down to communication, uh,
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  making sure that our teams are all talking to each other.
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  Everybody has patient care as their top goal and priority,
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  but, you know, we end up missing a lot
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  of information when we're just not communicating, uh,
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  with our case managers
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  and social workers now being aligned with their activities
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  and work, we had our providers
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  and nursing as, um, a group communicating together
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  to make sure that, you know,
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  we have the right plan in place for our patients.
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  Um, and for us, it's really important to understand the
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  community that this hospital is in.
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  Our patients, not only do we care about taking care
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  of them within our four walls,
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  but it's very important to us what's going on
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  after they're discharged.
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  Um, whether they're getting the care that they need,
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  are they following up with their primary docs
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  or other specialists in the community?
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  Um, and do they have access to resources, um,
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  wanna make sure they have transportation
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  or access to healthy food options?
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  And they're able to understand their disease processes
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  and we're able to somehow give them some
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  education on what they should expect from their condition.
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  - That makes a lot of sense,
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  and I can imagine it is really helpful for patients as well,
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  um, just to have that kind of clarity and,
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  and, um, team around them.
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  So that's really cool to hear.
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  Now, what are some of the top trends
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  that you're following in healthcare right now?
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  What's really top of mind for you?
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  - I will say staff
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  and physician wellbeing is really important.
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  And, and that kind of goes with what, um,
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  what's going on in the workplace,
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  workplace violence and safety.
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  Um, after Covid, I think we started to notice
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  that workplace violence was going up.
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  Um, we were in such a state of constant, um,
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  reaction of the pandemic that we didn't stop
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  and think about ourselves.
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  So now we're sort of seeing our providers
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  and our staff, you know, coming out of that zone of burnout.
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  Um, my focus has been to just make sure
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  that the teams here have the resources that they need.
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  Um, it really comes down to just taking care of our people.
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  - That's such an excellent point,
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  and certainly, you know, I,
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  I know organizations across the country are, um, trying
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  to troubleshoot the same things and,
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  and making sure, like you said,
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  that caregivers are supported.
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  Um, and obviously especially on the heels of,
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  of a very stressful last few years in, in many cases, um,
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  continued, you know, uh, patient volume
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  and stressors within the healthcare space.
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  Is there anything, um, that you've noticed about, you know,
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  as you've turned more focus into workplace safety as well
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  as, um, caring for the wellness, um,
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  that you've found worked particularly well?
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  Or any, anything that caregivers have, um,
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  requested specifically that you've been able to do
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  to really make things easier, lighten the burden for them?
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  - You know, um, what I think really works
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  is building relationships.
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  Just getting people to talk to each other, talk
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  to somebody they trust, um, being able
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  to share what's going on, um, and,
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  and growing trust within the organization.
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  Um, I think that's really important, not just for leaders,
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  but also, um, when you're talking to your peers
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  for physicians, you know, I, I try to make sure
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  that I am getting to know them, um, really in, in,
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  in their professional world as well as their personal life.
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  Um, 'cause the more you understand somebody
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  and you get to know them, the more you'll be able
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  to pick up when something's not right, when somebody's, uh,
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  behaving differently than their norm.
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  And that's when you as a leader can identify that
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  this person might need some sort of help, some sort
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  of resource, or, um,
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  maybe they just need to talk to somebody.
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  Um, same thing with caregivers.
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  You know, building relationships that will lead
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  to some other form of networking for them to be able
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  to link into other resources
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  that are available in the community.
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  Um, it, to me, it always comes down to the backbone
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  of building relationships and,
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  and getting people to network.
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  - That makes a lot of sense.
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  And, um, you know, definitely is cool to see
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  that you've been able to move in that direction.
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  Before we wrap up here,
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  how are you thinking about growth over the next 12
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  to 24 months or so?
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  - I, I'm really hoping to focus a lot more, again,
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  on our staff and physicians.
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  What I'm really looking to do is
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  get more physician engagement and then help our staff
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  and physicians develop, um, develop for the next stage.
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  You know, um, maybe that means leadership development.
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  Maybe that just means understanding their workplace
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  and the constant changes that we deal with in healthcare.
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  - Got it. Absolutely.
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  I, I love that kind of focus
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  and ability to impart that knowledge
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  and in thinking about the next generation, what's gonna be
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  so vital for leaders as they're moving forward.
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  Dr. Valez, thank you so much
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  for joining us on the podcast today.
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  This is so, um, such an interesting conversation.
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  I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
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  - Thank you. I really appreciate, um,
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  being given this opportunity to chat with you.