Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leading Through Crisis and Continuous Improvement with Jeff Flaks

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Leading Through Crisis and Continuous Improvement with Jeff Flaks · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to this episode of Leadership Unscripted at
• 0:02
  Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm Chris Sosa, your host, and I'm thrilled
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  to be today to be joined by Jeff
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  Flax, who, of course, is president and CEO
• 0:09
  of Hartford HealthCare.
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  Jeff, thank you for joining us today. My
• 0:13
  pleasure. Thank you.
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  Wonderful, Jeff. Yeah. This is the podcast where
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  we take the audience on a little journey
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  to get to know you through the lens
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  of your health care career. Are you ready
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  for that?
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  Yeah. Excited. Thank you. Awesome. First, just let
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  us know a little bit more about yourself
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  and your organization.
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  So, Chris, I have been in Hartford HealthCare
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  now. It'll be twenty two years actually on
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  April 1. So Oh, right. I'm on the
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  the precipice of the anniversary.
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  And it's been the privilege of a lifetime.
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  Amazing organization, amazing community,
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  amazing people,
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  and a privilege to be here.
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  But I I started my career in many
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  ways at at, I went to, my graduate
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  work at GW,
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  and, George Washington University was tremendously instrumental in
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  my life.
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  I did my fellowship at in Detroit at
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  the Detroit Medical Center, and I stayed in
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  Detroit for about three and a half years
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  and then had the opportunity to work in
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  New York City,
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  for just over six years.
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  So, I've had, you know, a privilege to
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  work in great places with great people,
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  and very, very fortunate.
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  That's terrific, Jeff. Yeah. Like a lot of
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  leaders who've,
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  followed a similar arc, you've been all over
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  the place. I'm sure that's informed your career
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  as well.
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  First question I have for you, though, is
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  simply, what do you consider the most memorable
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  day or period from your career?
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  You know, I think my career, Chris, it's
• 1:33
  in some ways, it's it's bookmarked,
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  by two different really significant events.
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  One, I was working at Saint Vincent's in
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  Manhattan on 09/11.
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  We were the the responding hospital,
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  and it was an extraordinary experience. I mean,
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  to,
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  be there in that moment
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  and to be part and realize the centrality,
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  the importance
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  of the hospital,
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  in a moment of something of a tragedy
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  of that proportion,
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  that was an incredible experience. And I saw
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  the very best in humanity that day, and
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  I saw some of the very worst, you
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  know, tragedy,
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  terrorism events we've ever experienced.
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  So And more more recently,
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  you know, in 2019,
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  I was appointed CEO here at Hartford HealthCare.
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  In March 2020,
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  COVID arrived. So, you know, I also,
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  had the, you know, really privileged to serve
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  in that moment where,
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  again, that that importance, the central nature of
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  a hospital and health system
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  to responding to a community was so critical.
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  So, you know, those two events, those two
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  days, you know, March 14, March 20 for
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  May, 09/11/2001
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  were were were days that I'll never forget,
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  and in many ways, they've become such guiding
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  aspects of of how I wanna serve and
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  lead.
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  Jeff, let's take let's go back to 09:11.
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  It's hard to believe it was twenty five
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  years ago,
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  almost already. Wow.
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  So when you think of that day, let
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  let's focus on what you saw as the
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  best
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  of humanity and the people you were working
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  with. I mean, what are how would you,
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  set the scene, and and what inspired you
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  about the way, the staff at Saint Vincent's,
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  reacted and served, the community that day? First
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  of all, Chris, so I'm sitting there. It's
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  9AM.
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  We're in a meeting in the boardroom at
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  Saint Vincent's.
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  It was, a large leadership meeting of our
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  team,
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  and, we heard a a noise. And the
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  noise sounded like it could have been,
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  like a boiler or something like a mechanical
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  type noise.
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  And moments later, maybe, like, two, three minutes
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  later,
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  one of our facility directors kind of pushed
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  the door open, and he said a small
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  commuter plane hit the top of one of
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  the trade centers.
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  And that's what we thought. That's what we
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  heard. And we immediately were were going into
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  our emergency response.
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  And Saint Vincent's had history with this because
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  in 1993,
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  when when the trade center was bombed from
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  the garage, they were the the responding
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  organization to that. And even going back to
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  the Titanic,
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  they were they responded to, the survivors of
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  the Titanic. So it was a very historic
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  institution.
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  But in that day, we went outside, and
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  it wasn't but, you know, a few minutes
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  later that we saw the second plane at
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  the Trident Center. We knew that this was
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  something different, and these weren't commuter planes. And
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  I saw the institution spring into action. I
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  saw people who were just heroic. I saw
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  our our chief information officer. He was the
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  initial person leading with the clinical team doing
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  the triaging,
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  you know, of people who were survivors and
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  impacted and responders.
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  I saw people volunteer.
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  I saw people willing to help in any
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  way. I saw community members offering anything they
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  could,
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  to help.
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  So I I saw the people who ran
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  into the pit, you know, immediately and into
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  the plume,
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  and the ambulances and the fire and the
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  first responders. It was unbelievable
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  to just see the bravery, the courage, the
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  professionals, and the preparedness.
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  And I saw it go on for five
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  or more consecutive days, and it just kept
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  shifting
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  to where it became, you know, a a
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  a response, and then it became a behavioral
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  health related set of issues. And, you know,
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  I I saw,
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  the best in humanity. I truly did in
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  every way. And at the same time, I
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  I did go down. I I I was
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  part of a response team in the pit,
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  and I saw the just mass
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  carnage in many ways. And just to to
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  to see that, the the the smells
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  that existed, you know, in the in the
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  area, the industrial kind of aspects,
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  that the sheer earth that was impacted,
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  I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it,
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  but I I I really, most importantly, Chris,
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  saw what it means to work in health
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  care. You know, that that when when when
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  a tragedy strikes,
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  the hospitals, the health system, the clinicians,
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  they become the most central providers. And it's
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  a it's a something we should never lose
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  sight of, and we have to always be
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  prepared and ready.
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  That's well said, Jeff. Thank you so much
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  for sharing all that with us. I mean,
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  certainly,
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  you know, anyone who's live during that time,
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  including myself, has this vivid visceral memories
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  of that horrible day. But thank goodness there
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  are people, you know, first responders, including those
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  at Saint Vincent and everywhere else, who responded
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  to that tragedy and beyond that were able
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  to to take their training to the next
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  level in that moment.
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  Then you referred to
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  what happened during COVID nineteen. And, certainly, that
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  is still
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  reverberating today in a number of ways. So
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  either they're they're not the same in in
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  really any aspect in in
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  unless you're referring to the
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  the rarity of it,
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  and
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  the necessity of a health system in that
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  moment. So what sticks out to you as
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  far as dealing with that and
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  and where you were at the time at
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  at heart for that is? You know, Chris,
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  you just said it that where they are
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  the same
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  is that when tragedy strikes of this kind
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  of epic proportion in the community,
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  the hospital becomes the center of the response
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  in so many ways.
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  And during COVID, my gosh, the bravery that
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  I saw,
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  the courage of our staff. We're working with
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  such unknowns.
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  And when everyone else is being told to
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  stay home, shelter in place, what did people
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  in health care do? Right? They they they
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  came in. They ran in.
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  And the innovation,
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  the ingenuity,
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  the willingness, the discovery that occurred to to
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  be responding
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  to to an every evolving situation,
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  I was so proud, you know, to stand
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  shoulder to shoulder to be part of this
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  and to see
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  the the people in our organization and across
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  America and beyond, you know, figure out ways
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  to keep our community safe. And, you know,
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  it it it was, in many ways, a
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  a moment you know, I've said this, Chris,
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  so many times during that crisis that in
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  health care, we can't go back to normal.
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  We have to be better than normal. Because
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  it also showed so many opportunities to improve,
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  so many opportunities to make things better, so
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  many things that we knew weren't good enough
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  but now became more accentuated.
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  So, you know, co COVID made organizations across
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  America better. It's made health care better,
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  and it needs to. And those lessons need
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  to be indelible within our health care system.
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  And, you know, we need to continue to
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  challenge ourselves to constantly improving because there were
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  a lot of identified areas that we weren't
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  as well prepared as we should have been
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  or could have been, and there were areas
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  that we weren't as well prepared to respond
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  to. And today, we're much better, but we
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  need to keep getting better.
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  Jeff, I love that attitude that you bring
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  to that, to anything that it's a flash
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  point in June history or even just an
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  everyday,
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  you know, occurrence at the hospital. In this
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  case, you know, referring to COVID, just being
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  able to say, you know what?
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  We weren't good enough in so many ways.
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  Yeah. I love that. And just your attitude
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  toward,
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  improving, and I'm sure that, trickles down and,
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  filters down into the rest of Hartford HealthCare.
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  I'm sure it's the idea anyway. Right? Chris,
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  our our mantra is we're the best at
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  getting better. At Hartford HealthCare, that's what we
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  talk about. We wanna be the best at
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  getting better. Now that doesn't mean, Chris, we
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  wanna be the best. Right? To what end?
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  To what purpose? It's a moment in time.
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  It's not about being the best. It's about
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  being better tomorrow than you are today, being
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  better next year than you than you are
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  this year. And, ultimately, it's about being obsessed
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  with continuous improvement. Right? If each person, every
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  team
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  strives to get better. If we're getting better,
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  right, that's our job in health care, to
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  get better, to be better, to do better.
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  And, you know, that's why we talk every
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  day. Wanna be the best at getting better.
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  That's the ambition.
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  Definitely a perfect ambition to have for for
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  your line of work, Jeff. Turning your page
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  just a little bit. I wanna tell you
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  take you to the next question. And that
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  is, what is something you learned outside of
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  health care that you've applied to your career?
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  So I grew up. My parents were public
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  school teachers. Okay. My dad taught for forty
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  three years. My mom taught for thirty five
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  years. My dad was a high school basketball
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  coach for, you know, the majority of his
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  of his teaching career. So I grew up,
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  you know, in the gym with him, on
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  the bench, in the on the bus.
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  So I I got exposed, and I I
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  played myself. I have a son who's a
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  college basketball player today. I got exposed a
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  lot to coaches.
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  And to me, the CEO, in some ways,
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  needs to be the chief coach in many
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  ways,
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  because we're about developing talent. We're about building
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  teams.
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  We're about achieving kind of greatness through others,
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  and we're about understanding each person's motivation, their
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  their individual aspirations,
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  and helping finding the pathways to grow and
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  develop our people and create opportunity for all.
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  So for me,
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  a lot of my learnings,
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  you know, were were were either as just
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  being exposed to coaches. My dad is a
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  coach,
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  exposed as a player, or more modern day
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  exposed as a parent,
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  is is these the the notion of team.
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  And in health care, I say, you know,
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  this is the ultimate team sport. Nothing. Right?
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  We we operate
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  three helicopters. We operate a very large transplantation
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  program.
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  You know, we we we do amazing things
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  here, but none of them are done by
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  an individual or even a few individuals.
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  All of these amazing confluence are done by
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  large teams of people coming together with a
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  singular purpose,
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  and with, you know, with individual contributions where
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  the whole is greater than the individual parts.
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  So that learning for me carries forward every
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  day.
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  That's a great description. I mean, it's funny
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  that,
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  you know, you always hear the cliche. It's
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  like, yeah. This is not just about sports.
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  It's about life. It's like, well, here you
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  are having taken those lessons, apply them directly
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  to what you're doing in Hartford. That's so
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  cool.
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  Jeff, I also wanna ask you, we've we've
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  gone through some of the more memorable moments
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  of your career, and they're they're indelible to
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  be sure. But what'd you say is your
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  most the the accomplishment you're most proud of
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  and why?
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  The accomplishment I'm most proud of.
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  Look, I I was extraordinarily proud of our
• 11:44
  team during COVID. Extraordinarily proud. I mean, I
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  don't know if there's any that I could
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  ever be more proud of because
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  what I what I saw,
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  the selflessness
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  in in in, again, that that that confidence
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  and that that ingenuity was extraordinary. So just
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  to be part of a team that served
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  so admirably,
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  and without self interest, that was an amazing,
• 12:07
  amazing accomplishment.
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  I'm really proud. We just put together a
• 12:10
  great partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering, first one
• 12:13
  ever, where where we have now become the
• 12:16
  their their first,
• 12:17
  real effective clinical partner.
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  And
• 12:21
  I'm really excited about that because what it
• 12:22
  does is it brings
• 12:24
  can't the the world's greatest cancer care in
• 12:27
  so many ways, the greatest research.
• 12:29
  And it now allows it to be so
• 12:31
  much more accessible low locally
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  and the people who wouldn't otherwise have opportunity
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  to receive care, you know, in this case,
• 12:38
  at Memorial in New York. So I'm really
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  proud of that. I mean, this is gonna
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  change lives, save lives,
• 12:44
  improve lives.
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  So I'm extraordinarily proud of that.
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  I'm very proud. Our organization, Chris, just got
• 12:51
  recognized,
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  nationally,
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  by the National
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  Alliance for Workforce Development as the number one
• 12:58
  institution in America.
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  And what I'm so proud of about that
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  is
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  I describe all the time if, you know,
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  when we when we help our people grow,
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  when we identify new growth pathways, new opportunities
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  for people to train, develop, get new exposure,
• 13:13
  we're changing not only these people's lives, we're
• 13:15
  changing generational lives within their families. And I'm
• 13:18
  really proud
• 13:19
  that the culture of Hartford HealthCare now has
• 13:21
  been recognized
• 13:22
  as a national leader, in many ways, the
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  national leader around creating
• 13:27
  venues
• 13:28
  and approaches to grow our people. Because to
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  me, that's so important. This is about people.
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  And, you know, for me, we have 48,000
• 13:35
  colleagues in our organization,
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  and we wanna create opportunity for every person
• 13:39
  in our organization
• 13:41
  to to to grow and develop and and
• 13:43
  have the best
• 13:45
  professional experience they can have and, b, become
• 13:48
  everything they aspire to be and help them
• 13:50
  aspire for things they may not even be
• 13:51
  able to imagine. So I'm really, really proud
• 13:53
  of that distinction, and we're focused on taking
• 13:56
  it to new levels.
• 13:58
  Those are fantastic goals indeed, Jeff. And, you
• 14:00
  know, congratulations on those accomplishments.
• 14:03
  I sense and hear the coach in you
• 14:05
  coming out and all of that, which is
• 14:07
  certainly a a wonderful approach to have. I
• 14:09
  think that's a good segue, though, to my
• 14:10
  next question for you, and that simply is,
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  what do you think is an underrated
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  leadership trait, and who have you seen embody
• 14:18
  that? It can be a specific person, a
• 14:20
  group of person, or what do you whatever
• 14:22
  you think is appropriate in that way. I
• 14:24
  think from a leadership standpoint, something I feel
• 14:26
  doesn't get enough attention, and I think it's
• 14:29
  pivotal. It's the art of managing up.
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  Right? So focused. People work hard to manage
• 14:34
  kind of the people within their charge.
• 14:37
  Right. In fact, managing up is so crucial
• 14:40
  in terms of, you know, that that,
• 14:42
  you know, we we believe really strongly in
• 14:44
  servant leadership here. Right? And we work for
• 14:46
  the people who work with us.
• 14:48
  But at the same time, that that art
• 14:50
  of managing up you know, I had the
• 14:51
  privilege here for twelve years of being the
• 14:54
  chief operating officer
• 14:56
  to to an extraordinary CEO. Elliot Joseph had
• 14:59
  amazing accomplishments
• 15:01
  helping build Hartford HealthCare, establish Hartford Hartford HealthCare.
• 15:04
  And when I think back, you know, we
• 15:07
  we were great partners.
• 15:08
  But much of my success was helping manage
• 15:11
  up and making sure I could support Elliot
• 15:13
  and help Elliot grow and help Elliot have
• 15:15
  the right information, the right level of support
• 15:17
  to be successful. And I think for leaders,
• 15:21
  if they kinda think through their own perspective,
• 15:24
  are they doing everything they can
• 15:26
  to manage up in the organization, you know,
• 15:28
  to ensure that information is flowing in both
• 15:31
  directions,
• 15:32
  and ensuring that there is equally focused kind
• 15:35
  of on the people they work with,
• 15:37
  who may be senior to them as they
• 15:39
  are to work with the people who are
• 15:40
  directly within their direct report.
• 15:43
  They should be equally committed, you know, to
• 15:45
  managing in both directions.
• 15:47
  You know, Jeffrey, you're one of the first
• 15:48
  executives I've heard use that exact phrase, but
• 15:51
  I think it's certainly apropos. And as you
• 15:53
  said, it can be very easy as a
• 15:55
  leader
• 15:55
  in any position really to say, you know
• 15:57
  what? I gotta make sure that the people,
• 15:59
  you know, who my direct ports are getting
• 16:01
  better, which is certainly what you wanna do
• 16:03
  as a leader. But, yeah, to think about
• 16:04
  it going both ways. Yeah. That's a wonderful
• 16:06
  insight. Thank you for sharing.
• 16:08
  Jeff, last question I have for you. It's
• 16:12
  somewhat related to to what you were just
• 16:13
  talking about, but I think it's a a
• 16:15
  different enough that I think we can take
• 16:16
  it in a good direction. That simply wasn't
• 16:18
  an issue or aspect of health care that
• 16:20
  you think deserves a brighter spotlight. And who
• 16:23
  should be shining that spotlight?
• 16:25
  Yeah. It's a great it's a great question.
• 16:27
  You know, when I think about health care
• 16:29
  today, I think about the fact that we
• 16:31
  cannot protect the status quo.
• 16:33
  It must be disrupted.
• 16:35
  And at the same point, Chris, in so
• 16:37
  many ways, this is the best health care's
• 16:39
  ever been. If you think about serious safety
• 16:42
  events,
• 16:43
  right, they they're they're at a lower percentage
• 16:45
  than than really ever before.
• 16:48
  We we have seen
• 16:50
  tremendous improvements in terms of never events. Right?
• 16:53
  They're they're getting closer and closer to never.
• 16:55
  We're seeing great improvements.
• 16:58
  But I feel at the same time, when
• 17:00
  we think about access, we think about affordability,
• 17:03
  we think about health equity,
• 17:05
  and we think about quality and safety.
• 17:07
  In so many ways, we've made tremendous improvement,
• 17:10
  but we cannot protect that status quo. It
• 17:12
  needs to be disrupted. Like, this is the
• 17:14
  best time we've ever had in health care.
• 17:16
  We've never been able to get better faster
• 17:18
  than we can right now. What artificial intelligence
• 17:21
  can do for us, what machine based learning
• 17:23
  can do for us. This is an incredible
• 17:25
  moment
• 17:26
  to address things that have been historically intractable
• 17:29
  problems
• 17:30
  that today we have solutions for. So to
• 17:32
  me, the focus on access, affordability, health equity,
• 17:36
  safety, and quality,
• 17:38
  you know, this is the moment to really
• 17:39
  disrupt ourselves
• 17:41
  and to not be satisfied
• 17:43
  with where we are, to recognize the great
• 17:45
  improvements we've made, but to also recognize this
• 17:48
  mandate for change because health care must become
• 17:50
  more accessible. It must become more affordable.
• 17:53
  The issues around health equity, we have an
• 17:55
  absolute,
• 17:57
  mandate, right, to address.
• 17:59
  And and the quality and safety with the
• 18:01
  tremendous improvements we have, not nearly at the
• 18:04
  level they can and should be and will
• 18:05
  be, you know, as time goes forward. I
• 18:07
  mean, this is a great moment in health
• 18:08
  care.
• 18:09
  Yeah. Again, Jeff, I love your attitude being
• 18:11
  able to say, you know what?
• 18:14
  Look at all the cool things that we've
• 18:15
  actually done. Because it can be
• 18:18
  a bit easy to say as someone who's
• 18:20
  in health care, whether you're a leader or
• 18:22
  you're a nurse or, you know, a technician,
• 18:24
  whatever your job might be. It's like, yeah.
• 18:26
  We have a lot of issues we have
• 18:27
  to deal with. Well, yes. But at least
• 18:29
  we don't have to deal with a lot
• 18:30
  of these things as as acutely as we
• 18:33
  did before. I mean, yeah. Again, that's a
• 18:35
  terrific attitude that that you brought. I mean,
• 18:38
  so how let me follow-up with this, Jeff.
• 18:40
  So when you walk in the door every
• 18:42
  day, I mean, how are you
• 18:44
  looking to spread and that kind of attitude?
• 18:47
  So you know what? Let's be the best
• 18:49
  at getting better today.
• 18:51
  Yeah. First of all, nothing great, right, is
• 18:52
  ever achieved that without vision, without enthusiasm.
• 18:56
  So part of leadership,
• 18:58
  that's so important, right, is to be able
• 19:00
  to align a team around a vision, a
• 19:02
  common purpose,
• 19:04
  a core set of values.
• 19:06
  And to me, that has to be done
• 19:07
  with a belief, and it's gotta be legitimate
• 19:09
  belief, an authentic belief, and optimism. Right? I
• 19:11
  mean, if you want people to engage in
• 19:14
  in in to believe in the commitment and
• 19:17
  direction of an organization, they've gotta believe in
• 19:19
  it. And to help believe in it, you
• 19:20
  have to believe in it as the leader.
• 19:21
  It's gotta be real and authentic.
• 19:23
  So to to to me, I have a
• 19:25
  fundamental belief, right, that that that we are
• 19:28
  absolutely
• 19:29
  on the precipice of making extraordinary improvements
• 19:32
  in health care. And I recognize we've got
• 19:35
  tremendous headwinds in front of us today. And
• 19:37
  the headwinds are very, very real. I mean,
• 19:39
  the impact of tariffs,
• 19:41
  the issues on some of the federal reforms,
• 19:44
  issues around Medicaid, around research,
• 19:47
  all very real issues.
• 19:49
  Global issues outside of our control affect organizations
• 19:51
  like ours across America.
• 19:53
  But if you look just beyond that, if
• 19:55
  you look on the horizon,
• 19:56
  this is this is a great opportunity to
• 19:58
  take health care to levels that will change
• 20:00
  people's lives. It'll make people in our community
• 20:03
  healthier. It will act it will drive the
• 20:05
  cost down. It will improve the access. It's
• 20:07
  gonna make health care more reputable.
• 20:09
  So, I have a belief, and every day
• 20:11
  I come into the, you know, our organization,
• 20:13
  I truly see more proof points and more
• 20:16
  gratitude than the people who work in organizations.
• 20:18
  I see the work they do every day,
• 20:20
  and I just wanna help create an environment
• 20:22
  for them to have the most success they
• 20:24
  possibly can and to serve our communities to
• 20:26
  the absolute best of our ability. Because, you
• 20:28
  know, Chris, as a leader, I think we
• 20:30
  have an obligation when we're in the role
• 20:33
  to do the very best we can. Right?
• 20:34
  I mean, our ambition has to be to
• 20:36
  lead the organization much better than we found
• 20:37
  it, and we have to make sure we
• 20:39
  don't waste time. Right? We have to have
• 20:41
  an impatience about trying to make our communities
• 20:43
  better every day and do the most we
• 20:45
  can, have no regrets ultimately,
• 20:47
  to do the best we can and the
• 20:49
  time we have,
• 20:50
  to make things better for as many people
• 20:52
  as we possibly can, both from a health
• 20:54
  care standpoint and those who work within our
• 20:56
  organization. So,
• 20:57
  I I love what I do, and I
• 20:59
  feel so blessed to work in health care.
• 21:01
  I I really do.
• 21:02
  Jeff, that makes perfect sense. And here's hoping
• 21:05
  that all of us in health care, whether
• 21:06
  you're a CEO or whatever your role is,
• 21:09
  journalists like myself, we're able to make the
• 21:11
  most of this moment that, you know, that
• 21:12
  you're referring to. Jeff, this has been an
• 21:15
  absolutely delightful conversation. Thank you for taking us
• 21:17
  through your health care journey for the last
• 21:19
  several decades, really.
• 21:21
  I can't wait till we have a chance
• 21:23
  to share all your insights with our audience.
• 21:24
  And you know what? I can't wait till
• 21:26
  we cross your cross paths again,
• 21:29
  whether it's virtually or in person. It's gonna
• 21:31
  be wonderful. Grateful to you. Thank you so
• 21:33
  much.