Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Tim Pierce, PharmD on Building Sustainable Healthcare Teams and Leading with Purpose

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Tim Pierce, PharmD on Building Sustainable Healthcare Teams and Leading with Purpose · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
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  - This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:02
  - podcast.
• 1:03
  - I'm thrilled today to be joined by your
• 1:04
  - brilliant professional,
• 1:06
  - but we're joined today by Tim Pierce.
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  - Tim is with IU Health, one of the
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  - great systems in the country,
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  - currently
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  - administrative director, hospital based practice service lines.
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  - Tim, take a moment and tell us about
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  - yourself and about your career so far to
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  - date.
• 1:24
  - Appreciate it, Scott. Thanks for having me on.
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  - And, yeah. I'm I'm Tim Pierce. As, Scott,
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  - as you alluded to, I'm the administrative director
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  - for the hospital based practices,
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  - for the Legacy West Region at IU Health
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  - or Indiana University Health System.
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  - I'm a pharmacist by training. That's what I
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  - went to school four years ago and transitioned
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  - over to a hospital administrator,
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  - a few years back. And I've had the
• 1:47
  - opportunity and been afforded the opportunity to work
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  - for a variety of different health systems and
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  - landing here with IU Health
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  - in in the current time. I tell you,
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  - Scott, I, I oversee a variety of different
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  - inpatient service lines in my role. I currently
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  - oversee our anesthesia,
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  - department,
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  - our adult and pediatric hospitalist,
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  - neonatology,
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  - palliative care,
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  - radiology, and emergency medicine service lines. And, my
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  - portfolio falls within IUHMG,
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  - which also stands for as the Indiana University
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  - Health Medical Group. So I am now on
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  - the medical group side, of the practice, within
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  - my region.
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  - Yes. Again, talk about the excitement that brought
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  - you out just to Indiana University from the
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  - West Coast. Talk a bit about that and
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  - the opportunity and the chance to to serve
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  - in in the Midwest.
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  - Absolutely, Scott. Great question. I I can tell
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  - you I,
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  - enjoyed my my time at Stanford,
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  - health care. That was my first role,
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  - outside of pharmacy leadership,
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  - as a hospital administrator.
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  - And, my wife and I, we made the
• 2:50
  - transition,
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  - to the Midwest with IU Health.
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  - And it was an opportunity,
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  - that presented itself where I would had the
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  - opportunity to really expand,
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  - my portfolio.
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  - You know, I have a pharmacy background. And
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  - when I was at Stanford, I was in
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  - ambulatory operations as a director for ambulatory care
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  - overseeing the medical specialties divisions.
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  - And now,
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  - being, in a position where I've had the
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  - opportunity to oversee inpatient provider service lines just
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  - really makes me a little bit more versatile
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  - within my leadership.
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  - And it was an opportunity as well that,
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  - we thought it was gonna be great to
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  - be able to lay and land some roots
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  - here, and get a little bit closer back
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  - to home as well. I'm from Virginia,
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  - and, the Midwest is a little bit closer
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  - to the East Coast.
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  - But then just an opportunity for us to
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  - be able to get involved and live in
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  - a different part of the country that we
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  - haven't been exposed to before. My wife,
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  - she's doing phenomenal as well here. She also
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  - has an opportunity where she serves in a
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  - hospital administrator capacity position as well in my
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  - region. So it was really an opportunity that
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  - landed, for us that worked out for both
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  - of us from a career perspective professionally,
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  - but then also an opportunity for us to
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  - be able to,
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  - explore another part of the country,
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  - and to be able to see how health
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  - care is practiced, here in the Midwest. So
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  - we're we're glad to be here in Indiana.
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  - Oh, well, well, just fantastic. And and talk
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  - a bit about
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  - you trained as a pharmacist,
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  - decided to
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  - transition from there and and grow into hospital
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  - leadership.
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  - A little bit of discussion on on that
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  - and the opportunities that drove that decision.
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  - Yeah. I I get that,
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  - accent me often, Scott. And I I can
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  - tell you, I've I've,
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  - been blessed to have some really great mentors.
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  - And I I have some mentors who are
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  - pharmacists,
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  - who made that transition,
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  - from pharmacy leadership to hospital administration.
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  - Some are leading, big health systems,
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  - today.
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  - And, and I can tell you, for me,
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  - you know, I've always wanted to to challenge
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  - myself and stretch myself and just absorb as
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  - much knowledge as possible.
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  - And,
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  - pharmacy is is an area that's very complex,
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  - and it touches a variety of different aspects
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  - within hospital systems.
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  - And and when you look at it, pharmacy
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  - is one slice of the pie. Right? And
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  - I wanted to challenge myself to to grow
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  - and to develop,
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  - to be the best leader possible,
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  - and to be able to understand all of
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  - the intricacies
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  - that impact the patient experience. Experience. And for
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  - me, it was to go back, to school,
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  - and to get a master's of health administration
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  - after my PharmD,
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  - to be able to, one, sharpen up my
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  - business acumen,
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  - and two, to be able to broaden,
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  - my portfolio,
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  - to make me more marketable, as a leader
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  - and to make me more well versed as
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  - as a health care leader as well. And
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  - that was really the the the few driving
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  - factors
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  - that led me to wanna make that transition
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  - from pharmacy to hospital administration.
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  - I do still keep in touch,
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  - with some of my pharmacy colleagues,
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  - from
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  - previous organizations, one being University of Virginia Health
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  - System.
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  - And, and I still do try to attend
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  - pharmacy conferences as well just to stay up
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  - to to to speed and up to date
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  - on what's happening in the pharmacy world. But
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  - I'll tell you, having a clinical background
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  - has, benefited me tremendously.
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  - Just understanding the the clinical language,
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  - and the nomenclature and jargon that's used,
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  - and being able to couple the clinical background
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  - with the business acumen as well,
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  - I think suits me me well in these
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  - type of positions.
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  - And, I'm just grateful,
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  - that I was able to to make that
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  - transition through taking a leap of faith, and
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  - I'm very grateful to, have had mentors,
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  - to, to help pave, that that pathway for
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  - me as well, Scott.
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  - Talk a bit about when you look at
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  - the rest of this year, what are you
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  - most focused on and excited about as we
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  - turn towards the second half of two thousand
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  - twenty six?
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  - Yeah. It's a great question, Scott. And I
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  - tell you, you know, when I think about
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  - where my focus is today and what excites
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  - me most,
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  - a significant portion of my attention is centered
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  - around recruitment across several service lines,
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  - with a particular emphasis on anesthesia within my
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  - scope of practice.
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  - Scott, you may you may or may not
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  - be aware, but anesthesia recruitment challenges
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  - are being experienced nationwide
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  - and are driven by a variety of factors.
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  - I can tell you for us in my
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  - region, the most significant barriers have been geographic
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  - considerations and the ongoing pressure to compete
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  - with escalating locum tendon cost.
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  - With the demand for anesthesia providers continuing to
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  - outpace the supply, you know, I'll tell you,
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  - Scott, we we've had to take a more
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  - creative and strategic approach to both recruitment and
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  - retention.
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  - But I'll tell you that that challenge has
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  - also created opportunity,
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  - which is what I'm excited most about looking
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  - ahead.
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  - I'll tell you, Scott, over the past twelve
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  - to eighteen months, we've had meaningful progress in
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  - strengthening our anesthesia compensation framework
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  - for both anesthesiologists
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  - and CRNAs,
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  - and we did this by thoughtfully enhancing our
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  - compensation model. And in doing so, we have
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  - positioned ourselves to be more competitive within the
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  - market, not only to retain our current providers,
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  - but also to attract new talent to our
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  - pipeline.
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  - We've seen,
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  - encouraging momentum with several local providers on our
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  - teams who are choosing to transition into more
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  - stable arrangements within our system.
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  - Specifically, some are actually converting right now, Scott,
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  - from your traditional locum assignment to w two
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  - or to actually a ten ninety nine. And
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  - those ten ninety nine relationships
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  - allows us to contract directly with their LLC.
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  - And this approach has been mutually beneficial,
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  - especially as it pertains to reducing the reliance
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  - on costly local agencies
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  - while also helping to lower our overall expenses,
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  - and it still offers a competitive rate that
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  - appeals to providers.
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  - And, I I tell you, Scott, this is
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  - something that we're excited about.
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  - We have
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  - been building, and we have been,
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  - meticulous and strategic also about how we are
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  - building our diversified and sustainable staffing model that
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  - aligns with both clinical needs and financial stewardship.
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  - And I can tell you, I'm I'm also
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  - particularly proud, Scott, of the the culture that
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  - we have cultivated within our teams. I'll tell
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  - you, within anesthesia, we have actively engaged our
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  - physicians, our CRNAs
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  - in the recruitment process, which has enhanced both
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  - engagement and ownership.
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  - And our team members genuinely enjoy the work
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  - they do, and that enthusiasm has become a
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  - powerful tool in attracting new providers.
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  - I'll tell you one one other thing, Scott,
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  - is that as a result of these efforts,
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  - you know, we have a strong pipeline in
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  - place with several w two physicians, CRNAs, and
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  - ten ninety nine providers who are expecting to
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  - join our workforce over the next twelve months,
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  - many within the next six to eight months.
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  - And this progress reflects the collective work of
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  - our team and positions as well for continued
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  - stability and growth.
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  - So that's a little bit what I'm,
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  - excited about,
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  - what we've done over the past twelve to
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  - eighteen months, but then also what we're gonna
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  - be looking forward to, in the near future.
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  - Literally fantastic.
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  - And, Tim, one more question. When you visit
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  - with emerging leaders,
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  - what advice do you give to emerging leaders?
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  - Yeah. That's that's that's a really good question,
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  - Scott. You know, my my advice to evolving
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  - and emerging leaders is simple, but it's foundational.
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  - I always say lead with kindness, respect, and
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  - generosity.
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  - You never truly know what someone may be
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  - experiencing behind the scenes, and a small act
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  - of kindness can have a meaningful impact on
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  - someone's day and at times their longer term
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  - outlook.
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  - I like to thank, Scott, that many leaders
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  - are naturally ambitious and driven with clear goals
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  - for growth and advancement.
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  - While that ambition, as we know, is important,
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  - I've always carried a piece of advice from
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  - my dad with me who once shared with
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  - me when I was in pharmacy school. He
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  - said, Tim, you don't follow success. Success follows
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  - you. And what that means to me, Scott,
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  - is if you focus on doing the right
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  - things, delivering results, and consistently treating people with
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  - kindness and respect, you don't need to chase
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  - success.
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  - It will come as a byproduct of how
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  - you lead.
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  - Leadership is is not just about outcomes. It's
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  - about how you show up for others every
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  - day. And when you stay rooted in your
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  - values and invest in people, success becomes a
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  - natural outcome. And that's my advice that I
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  - would have to, emerging and evolving leaders out
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  - there.
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  - No. I think that's a fantastic message. If
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  - you do what has to be known, if
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  - you do the job, success will follow it.
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  - If you're chasing success versus doing the job,
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  - sometimes it's harder to find success, actually, success.
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  - Tim, I love that.
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  - Tim Pierce from IU Health. I wanna thank
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  - you so much for joining us today on
• 11:27
  - the Becker Self Care podcast.
• 11:29
  - It's great to visit you with it. Great
• 11:30
  - to meet with you in Chicago, and and
• 11:32
  - looking forward to having you back on not
• 11:33
  - too long. Thank you so much for joining
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  - us, Tim. Appreciate you having me, Scott. Thank
• 11:37
  - you.