Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Donnie Rosario, System Vice President of Laboratory Services at CommonSpirit Health

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Donnie Rosario, System Vice President of Laboratory Services at CommonSpirit Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  upper right.
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  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  My name is Chanel Banger. Today, I have
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  the pleasure of speaking with Donnie Rosario,
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  system vice president of laboratory services at CommonSpirit
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  Health, who joins the podcast today to share
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  insights into his background, health care trends he's
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  keeping an eye on, and a bit more.
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  Donnie, thank you so much for joining me.
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  Thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.
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  Perfect. Well, to get this started out, could
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  you please introduce yourself and tell us a
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  bit about CommonSpirit Health?
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  Sure.
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  Well, I'm Donnie Rosario, and and, I I
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  lead laboratory services for CommonSpirit.
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  And CommonSpirit is one of the largest not
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  for profit health systems in the country.
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  We operate a 138 hospitals with a significant
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  ambulatory presence across 24 states. And so what
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  that means really from a lab perspective is
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  we we support over 4,300
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  laboratory professionals
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  and perform,
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  just about a 100,000,000
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  billable tests per year, supporting anywhere from academic
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  medical centers all the way to, you know,
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  critical access hospitals. A little bit about me,
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  my path in health care, I would say,
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  is is pretty diverse.
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  Spends over twenty five years.
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  I started my career actually in the Navy,
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  which really kinda shaped how I think about
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  leadership and accountability and, and how I approach
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  operations.
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  And then from there, I went into leading
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  hospital laboratories at the facility level,
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  then moved into divisional,
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  performance improvement roles.
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  And and that work really did extend well
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  beyond the lab, focused more on hospital quality
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  and on throughput utilization and capacity management.
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  And then later, I transitioned more into strategy
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  and business development as well as advanced analytics.
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  And, that really kinda deepened my appreciation for
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  a lot of different areas within within health
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  care and health care business.
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  And, and really that's, you know, all that
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  comes together now and how I show up
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  in my role today and, you know, working
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  alongside
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  teams and
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  driving operational consistency,
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  across laboratory services for CommonSpirit.
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  Got it. Thank you so much for that
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  introduction. And now moving forward into the meat
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  of the podcast a bit, can you talk
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  about the trends that you're watching either in
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  laboratory services or just health care overall?
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  Great question. I you know, when when I
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  step back and really look at laboratory services
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  and even the the broader support services space,
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  I think there there are a few trends
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  that that rise to the top for me.
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  I would say one area is human capital.
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  What we're seeing is that the the conversation
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  is moving away from just hiring and filling
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  vacancies,
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  and,
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  it it's really become more about how the
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  work itself is designed
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  and challenging how we've historically looked at things
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  like skill mix and workflow
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  and ensuring that our people are really spending
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  time
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  on the work that truly requires their level
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  of training.
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  And, you know, I think how we responded
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  to that is with a lot of input
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  from our team leaders
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  by developing more sophisticated staffing models.
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  You know, those models incorporate
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  skill mix expectations
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  and productivity
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  benchmarking,
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  and they they're scalable based on volume and
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  complexity.
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  So the goal there is really about giving
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  leaders a clear
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  data grounded understanding of what good looks like
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  So that staffing conversations are much more consistent,
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  much more objective, and they're easier to act
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  on
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  across very different settings.
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  I'd say the the the second trend that
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  that I think about is financial pressure and
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  capital positioning.
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  It's no secret that reimbursement and inflation pressures
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  continue to shape how we operate.
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  What's been critical for us is is having
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  strong partnerships.
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  And particularly when it comes to
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  the lab and lab capital,
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  our partnership with the finance teams and and
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  with supply chain and IT and with real
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  estate and and facilities,
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  it it's really
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  bridging the gap with these teams to be
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  able to function
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  in a much more consistent way and have
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  capital or evaluate capital
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  in a much more intentional way. So by
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  aligning those kind of common ROI logic and
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  looking at life cycle planning the same way,
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  we've been able to make capital decisions in
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  a much more predictable way
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  and and are able to better align with
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  capacity needs as well as our long term
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  strategies.
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  Then I would say the the third area
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  is
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  is around data automation and digital enablement. And,
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  you know, at our scale,
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  variation
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  is is inevitable, but
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  what really matters
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  is how well we understand that variation.
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  We've been very fortunate to work with strong
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  analytics and operational teams,
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  to develop,
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  strong and and informative data,
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  and and that's really given our leaders the
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  opportunity to to have,
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  data and information to use and to hold
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  themselves accountable to. So, you know, internal benchmarking
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  has been especially helpful and not not just
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  as competition,
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  but,
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  as a way for,
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  for us to learn about one another and
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  and really be able to identify some of
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  those best practices that are working and be
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  able to scale that. And when we've leaned
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  into automation or digital tools,
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  it's been very targeted.
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  It's been focused on on reducing manual work
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  and really optimizing those workflows.
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  That makes a lot of sense. And I'm
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  curious to hear, when you think about your
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  work as a health care leader, what achievements
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  make you the proudest of your team, and
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  what are you most focused on and excited
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  about right now?
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  That's a great question. And I I think
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  our biggest focus right now is, building a
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  laboratory operating model that not only can sustain
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  itself, but one that evolves quickly, especially when
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  when you think about the, you know, AI
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  adoption, etcetera,
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  but keeping
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  quality and access and cost and workforce resilience
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  at the center. You know, I think that
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  strategy is is really not the hard part.
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  That's that's easy.
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  Execution is really where it gets challenging, especially
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  at at our scale.
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  So what I'm what I'm most proud of
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  is is really the the progress that we've
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  made together in in closing that gap. And
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  I wanna kinda dive into a a few
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  specific areas. One
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  would be,
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  our decision
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  infrastructure
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  and the way we approach change.
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  At the size of CommonSpirit,
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  the the risk is not, you know, whether
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  or not we have ideas. That's we have
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  plenty of those. It's it's really about
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  the potential
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  of of having slow decision making or
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  inconsistent adoption
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  and and or strategies that don't really translate
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  into into practice. And so working closely with
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  our regional and market leaders,
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  we really have focused on building
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  work groups across each of our laboratory specialties
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  that are made up of operators throughout the
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  system.
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  And their role is is is not just
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  about
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  reacting to direction. They're the ones that really
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  help us shape the strategy.
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  They help validate it, and and also
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  they translate in into operational reality. So
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  that that workforce structure, that work group structure
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  really has strengthened
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  their trust and improved adoption
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  and has really helped us accelerate our decision
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  making process while while still
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  protecting that local,
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  that local need and local expertise.
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  And then I'd also say, you know, when
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  we when we think about
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  strategy into action,
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  with with input from our leaders across the
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  system, we've been very deliberate
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  about documenting
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  the pathways to success,
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  and each strategy that we've devised is really
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  broken down into specific tactics.
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  And then those tactics drill down into service
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  level KPIs,
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  which then cascade into role specific goals.
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  That level of clarity has really helped us
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  provide leaders leaders across the organization with, you
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  know, being able to have clear conversations that
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  are grounded in data
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  and, that are that are not based on
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  just opinion. It's it's more about
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  having that shared accountability and and them feeling
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  supported
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  to be able to to execute.
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  And then I I would say
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  test stewardship is another area where we've, really
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  excelled and and that we're proud of as
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  well. We've, you know, framed
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  that that initiative really around clinical appropriateness and
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  unwarranted
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  variation.
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  It's it's led to a lot of cost
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  savings and efficiencies
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  across the organization and, you know, physician partners
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  and lab leaders were were really part of
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  building that approach and building that solution.
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  And and that that's made the adoption,
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  really,
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  really great. So collaboration has been key there.
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  And then I would say the last piece
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  would be, our capital positioning. I I mentioned
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  capital earlier,
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  but, you know, historically,
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  capital decisions were low more locally driven.
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  And in partnership with finance teams, we really
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  elevated that to more of a system level
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  approach.
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  And that's really kinda brought more operational consistency
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  and, and helped us look at how we
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  evaluate and deploy capital,
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  and with with a much more strategic lens.
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  And and a big part of that has
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  been developing,
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  equipment formularies. We've we've gone into very specific,
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  equipment categories to understand
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  which vendors are we gonna, partner with,
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  what technology do we need, and then what
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  kind of capacity do we need to support
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  the facility and and their complexity. So that's
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  been a very thoughtful process, and I think
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  that's, really important.
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  Absolutely. And I'd love to hear from your
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  perspective.
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  Drawing from your time from the Navy and
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  your health care leadership journey, what advice would
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  you give to the next generation of leaders
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  stepping into the field today?
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  Well, that that's a great question, and, I
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  always appreciate being able to share my perspective
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  on that. And, you know, I I think
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  a few things kinda jump out to me.
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  One would be leading with clarity.
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  I think people are far more
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  resilient
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  and capable than we sometimes give them credit
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  for, and they can handle the hard work.
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  They can handle complexity, and they can handle
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  the change.
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  But where we get into trouble, I feel,
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  is if things are unclear or ambiguous,
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  that can slow teams down. And so
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  being clear about priorities and expectations
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  and and what success actually looks like is
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  what creates momentum.
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  I would say that trust is is another
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  area or building trust
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  and then supporting that with with precision and
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  with confidence.
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  As as you move higher in an organization
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  or or within your profession,
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  having direct control
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  really kinda just diminishes.
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  So trust becomes
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  really your your operating system.
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  And, and and, you know, really, trust alone
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  is not enough. Right? I mean, it it
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  has to be reinforced with with with confidence
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  and with clear data
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  and with goal setting, etcetera.
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  But
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  but, really, you know, trust and and confidence
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  go together and and really, you know, building
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  a a bridge and being able to be
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  successful,
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  in any organization.
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  And then third, I I would emphasize that
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  change leadership is is probably
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  something that, that has really evolved over time.
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  And change leadership over change management, I think,
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  is key as well.
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  Change management is more about individual tasks and
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  timelines,
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  whereas change leadership, we really focus more on
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  helping people understand the why
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  and the how and the what, and and
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  really bring them to the table, when it
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  comes to the how and the what.
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  And and I've been fortunate enough to work
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  with leaders and and partners who are willing
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  to engage in that dialogue
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  and challenge assumptions and and help shape the
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  solutions, and that's really been a big a
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  big difference for me. And and then finally,
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  I'd say that staying curious and inviting feedback.
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  The process of getting better is, never ending.
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  Some of the most, meaningful growth that that
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  we, I think, experience,
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  and then that I've experienced in my career
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  has come from mentors and peers,
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  and teams who were willing to be
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  transparent with me and give me constructive feedback
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  and challenge my ideas. So I think creating
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  a space for that kind of dialogue definitely
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  builds
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  strong leaders,
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  and better outcomes over time.
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  Excellent advice. Well, Donnie, I wanna thank you
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  for your time today. But before I let
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  you go, is there anything else that listeners
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  should know?
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  Well, I would say health care is complex,
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  and it's certainly moving fast. I I think
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  what's helped me and what's helped us, you
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  know, is really staying grounded in in the
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  fundamentals is
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  investing in people and being disciplined with data
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  and with capital and and translating strategy,
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  into clear actionable work that that we can
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  all understand and and then be able to
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  to tell the story about. So
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  all in where
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  where I, where I started or where I
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  mentioned earlier, I I really do think that
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  trust and precision are accelerators.
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  And when when teams trust the process and
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  trust the data
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  and you understand what's expected of you
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  and and and, of course, the teams, understand
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  what to expect, I think complex work,
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  is really moves quickly and, really nothing becomes
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  impossible.
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  Love it. Well, Donnie, that's a great note
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  to end on, and I wanna thank you
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  once again for your time today and for
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  sharing your insights on the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  Thank you so much. Thank you very much.