Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Transforming Care Delivery at MSU Health Care with Mark Smith

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Transforming Care Delivery at MSU Health Care with Mark Smith · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:00
  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 1:02
  - doctors Mark Smith, chief medical officer at MSU
• 1:05
  - Health Care. Doctor Smith, it's a pleasure to
• 1:07
  - have you on the podcast today.
• 1:08
  - Thank you, Laura. I, appreciate the opportunity and,
• 1:12
  - looking forward to a conversation.
• 1:14
  - Absolutely. Now I know we've got a lot
• 1:16
  - to talk about. There's so much happening in
• 1:17
  - health care right now, and I'll be excited
• 1:19
  - to learn more about the cool things you
• 1:21
  - do at MSU. But before we dive in,
• 1:22
  - can you tell us a little bit more
• 1:23
  - about yourself and your background?
• 1:26
  - Sure.
• 1:27
  - So I've been a chief medical officer for,
• 1:30
  - MSU Health Care since February of this year,
• 1:32
  - twenty point six.
• 1:34
  - And I was previously,
• 1:36
  - chief medical officer,
• 1:39
  - for,
• 1:40
  - Henry Ford Jackson Hospital,
• 1:42
  - for about eight years before that.
• 1:44
  - I'm an emergency physician,
• 1:46
  - by training and, was
• 1:48
  - the chair of the emergency department at that
• 1:50
  - hospital and and worked in the emergency department
• 1:53
  - for nineteen or so years before I started
• 1:56
  - getting into the administrative side.
• 1:58
  - And so that's a little bit about me
• 2:00
  - in a nutshell. And,
• 2:01
  - live and work in the area that I...
• 2:03
  - I've worked in Jackson, and it was a
• 2:05
  - great opportunity to to help lead that hospital.
• 2:09
  - And, actually, in the last six months of
• 2:10
  - that career, I,
• 2:12
  - that that position, I,
• 2:14
  - was CEO... Interim CEO as we made a
• 2:17
  - transition
• 2:17
  - from our CEO. So I I did get
• 2:19
  - some experience with,
• 2:21
  - you know, sitting in a different role, different
• 2:23
  - lens, from
• 2:25
  - from my CML group.
• 2:27
  - Got it. Well, that sounds like great experience.
• 2:30
  - I know as an emergency department,
• 2:32
  - position and leader, it's, you know, that's a
• 2:36
  - a a huge training ground in terms of
• 2:39
  - being able to deal with a lot going
• 2:41
  - on at once and and certainly,
• 2:43
  - having to be ready for the unexpected. So
• 2:45
  - I can imagine a lot of that translates
• 2:47
  - into the role you have today and especially
• 2:48
  - looking at the health care environment we're in
• 2:50
  - right now.
• 2:52
  - Yeah. I mean, as an emergency physician, you
• 2:54
  - you interact with all disciplines and specialties,
• 2:57
  - you know, over time. And so we really
• 2:59
  - do understand the inner workings of each of
• 3:02
  - those departments and
• 3:04
  - what you can and can't, you know, offer,
• 3:06
  - who needs to be transferred, who needs to
• 3:08
  - be seen immediately. I mean, that's that's part
• 3:11
  - of being in an emergency position, but it's
• 3:13
  - translated well
• 3:14
  - into leadership because
• 3:16
  - when there's change, when there's difficult conversations,
• 3:19
  - you need to understand
• 3:21
  - the the audience and read the room, so
• 3:23
  - to speak, but also, you know, the change
• 3:25
  - management part of it is is hugely important.
• 3:27
  - And I think,
• 3:29
  - that's that's the role of the chief medical
• 3:31
  - officer is to to bring teams together and
• 3:33
  - get them over the finish line. And there's
• 3:35
  - there's always,
• 3:37
  - you know, there's there's never a straight line
• 3:39
  - there,
• 3:40
  - if you will. And so,
• 3:42
  - I... I've learned
• 3:43
  - quite a bit from just the clinical experience
• 3:45
  - and applied it on the administrative side.
• 3:48
  - Got it. Well, that's, you know, really cool
• 3:50
  - to hear. And,
• 3:52
  - now can you give us a quick state
• 3:53
  - of the union of where you're at at
• 3:55
  - MSU Health Care?
• 3:56
  - What has gone well this year? Obviously, just
• 3:59
  - starting in February, but what's gone well, and
• 4:02
  - then what are you focused on for the
• 4:03
  - rest of the year?
• 4:05
  - Sure. Yeah. So, I mean, 2026
• 4:07
  - has been,
• 4:09
  - I would say, a year of transformation,
• 4:11
  - operational maturation, trying to get,
• 4:14
  - you know, running the business, of what MSU
• 4:17
  - Health Care is,
• 4:18
  - optimized. You know, we we
• 4:21
  - signed a
• 4:22
  - a relationship with Henry Ford Health, and,
• 4:25
  - you know, they bring us operational
• 4:27
  - experience on the clinical side.
• 4:30
  - We've implemented Epic, and we're centralizing patient access
• 4:34
  - and then,
• 4:35
  - trying to reduce, you know, call abandonment and
• 4:37
  - improving responsiveness and creating that front door,
• 4:41
  - that's more consistent
• 4:42
  - from a patient experience standpoint.
• 4:45
  - At the same time,
• 4:46
  - you know, we're refining workflows and just doing
• 4:49
  - our business,
• 4:50
  - within the new epic,
• 4:52
  - you know, world that that we transferred,
• 4:54
  - from a different EMR. And Epic brings different
• 4:57
  - workflows, different processes. And, you know, we're not
• 5:00
  - part of,
• 5:01
  - Henry Ford proper. We are, we are... Our
• 5:04
  - engine is running with Henry Ford Health, if
• 5:06
  - you will. So we still have to integrate
• 5:08
  - and work with, you know, different health systems
• 5:11
  - in Slanting
• 5:12
  - that aren't part of Henry Ford. And so
• 5:15
  - Epic has allowed us to do that in
• 5:16
  - a way that,
• 5:18
  - you know, we didn't have before. So
• 5:20
  - it's been...
• 5:21
  - I don't wanna say challenging, but it's been,
• 5:23
  - a journey related to helping people understand how
• 5:26
  - to use Epic and and also integrating within
• 5:28
  - the Henry Ford system without being part of
• 5:31
  - the Henry Ford system, anywhere.
• 5:33
  - So it's,
• 5:34
  - it's strengthening that partnership with them and, you
• 5:37
  - know,
• 5:39
  - recruiting,
• 5:39
  - jointly recruiting,
• 5:41
  - getting some some...
• 5:43
  - An academic medical practice,
• 5:45
  - that that now has a clinical engine that
• 5:47
  - it didn't have before. So it's it's been
• 5:49
  - a a great focus point for us since
• 5:51
  - 2026.
• 5:53
  - Got it. That's, you know, great to hear.
• 5:55
  - And a lot of change happening, especially,
• 5:58
  - to your point in thinking through the transformation
• 6:00
  - of care delivery, what that looks like, and
• 6:02
  - and the, technology component of bringing Epic into
• 6:05
  - that. And,
• 6:07
  - you know, I know technology
• 6:09
  - has,
• 6:10
  - you know, can can really be helpful in
• 6:12
  - many ways, but it takes a while to
• 6:15
  - have the people side of it and get
• 6:16
  - the culture in place and the people adopting
• 6:18
  - it the way they should. So how are
• 6:20
  - you going about that at MSU, and, what
• 6:23
  - have you really found successful or anything you
• 6:25
  - pivoted away from?
• 6:27
  - Yeah. I mean,
• 6:28
  - the culture you mentioned is is obviously a
• 6:30
  - big thing for us and,
• 6:33
  - you know, making sure that that we manage
• 6:35
  - our expectations and manage what we can do
• 6:37
  - and,
• 6:39
  - you know, try not to do things that
• 6:41
  - that we shouldn't be doing and and and
• 6:43
  - focusing on things that we can do well.
• 6:45
  - And I think that's that's been the,
• 6:47
  - the work that we've had ahead of us
• 6:49
  - and, you know, strengthening physician engagement and, you
• 6:52
  - know, moving some leaders around in positions that
• 6:54
  - make sense with the the new operating model.
• 6:57
  - You know, those are things that have been
• 6:58
  - huge successes for us and
• 7:01
  - keeping the eye on the ball delivering the
• 7:03
  - health care all the while. So it's it's
• 7:05
  - been a a fun experience over the last
• 7:07
  - few years.
• 7:08
  - That's great to hear. Now,
• 7:10
  - I I know there's a lot happening in
• 7:12
  - health care today. So what are some of
• 7:14
  - the headwinds that you're looking on and preparing
• 7:16
  - for in the years ahead?
• 7:19
  - Yeah. So, I mean, that's that's a that's
• 7:20
  - a good one because there are are are
• 7:22
  - always headwinds,
• 7:24
  - whether they be financial or people or, you
• 7:28
  - know, lack of resources, constrained resources.
• 7:32
  - Folks want things faster and wanna be digitally
• 7:35
  - connected and seamless care coordination, and those are
• 7:37
  - all things that we strive to do and
• 7:40
  - don't always do them the way that the
• 7:42
  - the patients or the systems
• 7:44
  - that designed them,
• 7:46
  - expect. And so for us, it's managing those
• 7:49
  - expectations,
• 7:50
  - what time frames can we do what, and
• 7:52
  - how quickly can we, you know, move through
• 7:54
  - the process of of changing our workflows and
• 7:56
  - the things that we've been dealing with.
• 7:59
  - But, you know, ensuring that technology
• 8:01
  - and the operational design is actually improving care.
• 8:04
  - That's it. We don't wanna do things just
• 8:06
  - to do that. We wanna make sure that
• 8:07
  - it actually brings value
• 8:09
  - and doesn't create additional burden or work for
• 8:12
  - our people that have to use these tools.
• 8:14
  - And so I do think that,
• 8:16
  - you know, all the while, getting that shiny
• 8:18
  - new toy is wonderful, but, we wanna make
• 8:21
  - sure that it doesn't make the,
• 8:23
  - the operations and the the wellness of our
• 8:25
  - our
• 8:26
  - caregivers.
• 8:28
  - On the other side of that coin, I
• 8:29
  - wanna make sure that those are still appreciated
• 8:31
  - and and
• 8:32
  - focused upon.
• 8:34
  - But it is, again,
• 8:35
  - it's difficult to deliver health care these days
• 8:38
  - and as as, caregivers,
• 8:40
  - they feel that right front and center. So
• 8:42
  - keeping them in front and center, making sure
• 8:44
  - that the patients are front and center
• 8:46
  - as well,
• 8:47
  - trying to preserve that culture and mission
• 8:50
  - for our academic medical center.
• 8:52
  - It's it's it's, all the things that we're
• 8:54
  - focusing on right now, but they're all headwinds.
• 8:57
  - Right? And, we don't always need to see
• 8:59
  - them as quickly or as efficiently as we
• 9:02
  - need.
• 9:02
  - We need discipline and strong physician leadership, and,
• 9:05
  - you know, we're we're relentless on focusing on
• 9:07
  - our patient outcomes. So it's it's a big
• 9:10
  - part of that.
• 9:11
  - Absolutely.
• 9:12
  - I love that. And I think, you know,
• 9:14
  - definitely keeping that focus and energy in the
• 9:16
  - right spots is critical these days.
• 9:19
  - Trying to, you know, continue to move forward
• 9:21
  - despite any challenges that come your way. So,
• 9:24
  - I really appreciate the,
• 9:27
  - the culture that you've built in in work
• 9:29
  - work on there. And and, certainly, it seems
• 9:32
  - like a great opportunity to to your point.
• 9:34
  - They focus on the patient and the wellness
• 9:36
  - of the caregivers and and everything else,
• 9:39
  - seems to be able to fall into place.
• 9:42
  - When you look ahead to... What are some
• 9:43
  - of the best opportunities to... For growth you're
• 9:45
  - thinking about for the next two to three
• 9:47
  - years or so?
• 9:48
  - Yeah. And so
• 9:50
  - linking a a very large clinical enterprise with
• 9:52
  - now a university
• 9:53
  - enterprise
• 9:55
  - and and focusing on, you know, the scope
• 9:57
  - of of what that means clinically,
• 9:59
  - specifically in East Lansing,
• 10:01
  - you know, traditionally, we've had relationships with our
• 10:04
  - hospital partners.
• 10:05
  - MSU doesn't have a hospital per se. Right?
• 10:08
  - So that was one thing that we've had
• 10:10
  - to partner with other hospital systems to to
• 10:12
  - do that work, and we had physicians
• 10:15
  - doing surgeries in in
• 10:17
  - in hospitals. Those are always not part of
• 10:19
  - MSU. They are just partnerships.
• 10:21
  - And so
• 10:23
  - focusing on things that that we do well
• 10:24
  - and that we can do,
• 10:27
  - And, those those are areas that,
• 10:29
  - that we're we're looking at. But growth really
• 10:32
  - in primary care,
• 10:34
  - strengthening those referral relationships, and,
• 10:37
  - you know, we're part of a a clinically
• 10:39
  - integrated network now called Mosaic, which is part
• 10:41
  - of the memory forward system and making sure
• 10:43
  - that we deliver value for the, you know,
• 10:46
  - the value based care contracts that we have
• 10:47
  - and also for the patients
• 10:50
  - and right care, right time, right place. And
• 10:52
  - so making sure that that that that's aligned,
• 10:55
  - that they're not added cost for our patients
• 10:57
  - while we deliver,
• 10:58
  - you know, world class care. But also,
• 11:01
  - you know, growing in areas that we we
• 11:03
  - might not have and and that we can
• 11:05
  - now,
• 11:07
  - grow, with
• 11:08
  - Henry Ford Health and our partners, here in
• 11:10
  - town. So,
• 11:12
  - you know, doing that while focusing on continuing
• 11:16
  - the academic missions and and making sure that
• 11:18
  - our med students have places to rotate,
• 11:21
  - with good high quality education,
• 11:23
  - developing clinical arms so that we can
• 11:26
  - fund that whole operation is really the key.
• 11:28
  - And, so growing in areas, specifically primary care,
• 11:31
  - would would be our focus.
• 11:34
  - Got it. Absolutely. And I think, you know,
• 11:36
  - that,
• 11:37
  - idea of value and driven value based care
• 11:40
  - and in primary care, I know is very
• 11:42
  - central to that too. And that's a transition
• 11:44
  - that I hear a lot from executives and
• 11:47
  - leaders of hospitals and health systems and, you
• 11:49
  - know, something that is not necessarily a new
• 11:51
  - concept, but it seems like there's a lot
• 11:53
  - of energy around it right now and really,
• 11:55
  - having the tools and and ability to make
• 11:57
  - that possible.
• 11:59
  - So what is that, you know, do you
• 12:00
  - anticipate that'll really look like for you and
• 12:03
  - your teams? How do you see, that value
• 12:05
  - based care models kind of manifesting and and
• 12:07
  - taking hold?
• 12:09
  - Yeah. I mean, it's it's not about,
• 12:11
  - you know, doing the work. It's about bringing
• 12:14
  - value to the entire equation, and that value
• 12:17
  - is for the patient
• 12:18
  - or the health systems.
• 12:20
  - You know, value can be many, many different
• 12:22
  - things as we know.
• 12:24
  - But,
• 12:25
  - ultimately, you know, high quality care at lower
• 12:27
  - cost,
• 12:29
  - and not traditionally,
• 12:31
  - focused on
• 12:33
  - doing it in a hospital necessarily. You wanna
• 12:35
  - do it at the the lowest cost setting
• 12:37
  - that gives you the highest quality and the
• 12:39
  - speed and efficiency that you can deliver that
• 12:41
  - care. Those are all valuable. And and so,
• 12:44
  - also,
• 12:45
  - developing,
• 12:47
  - sort of flow sheets and work... Workflows that
• 12:50
  - that help people navigate through care.
• 12:53
  - You know, as an emergency physician,
• 12:55
  - you see people in the emergency department that
• 12:56
  - that don't necessarily need to be in an
• 12:58
  - emergency department. They could have had that care
• 13:00
  - delivered in a different way, lower cost setting.
• 13:04
  - And so part of the the
• 13:06
  - the health care delivery design, it will be
• 13:08
  - through a value based model is to try
• 13:10
  - to figure out what those are and then
• 13:12
  - navigate patients to that using care coordination, using
• 13:16
  - care coordinators,
• 13:18
  - as well as making sure patients understand
• 13:21
  - why we're doing certain things.
• 13:23
  - It's not that we don't wanna take care
• 13:25
  - of them. It's we wanna make sure that
• 13:26
  - we get them through the system efficiently,
• 13:29
  - and and use top of license,
• 13:31
  - caregivers as well as as workflows that that
• 13:34
  - can do that.
• 13:36
  - And and I would also say technology. I
• 13:37
  - mean, telemedicine visits,
• 13:39
  - you know, how can we we capitalize on
• 13:42
  - that?
• 13:43
  - We can't always have physicians of certain subspecialties
• 13:46
  - in certain areas, and there's not enough of
• 13:49
  - them. And so how could we use technology
• 13:51
  - to to bring that care,
• 13:53
  - virtually
• 13:54
  - to to,
• 13:55
  - the communities that we serve. And so that's
• 13:58
  - another piece that... And then research that. Right?
• 14:00
  - Like, you could do research about... Around that.
• 14:03
  - That's the beauty of having them, the academic
• 14:05
  - medical center
• 14:06
  - and population health and public health, work that
• 14:08
  - we can focus on as well, making sure
• 14:10
  - that what we do is, research wise, that's
• 14:13
  - gonna pan out from the hypothesis that we've
• 14:15
  - done.
• 14:16
  - That's really helpful to understand. And, you know,
• 14:18
  - I'm really cool to hear about all the
• 14:21
  - different ways that you're thinking about value and
• 14:23
  - what that looks like on the research side,
• 14:25
  - on the... Your delivery side, and how it
• 14:28
  - impacts the communities and patients that you serve.
• 14:31
  - Now before I wrap up here, I wanna
• 14:32
  - ask you about leadership too.
• 14:34
  - What... Who is a leader that you admire
• 14:36
  - really from any industry and why?
• 14:39
  - Well, that's a great question. I,
• 14:42
  - I wanna say Batman, but I'm not going
• 14:44
  - to. I would say that, it's Satya Nadella
• 14:47
  - from from Microsoft.
• 14:50
  - You know, the the thing about what he's
• 14:52
  - done is focused on culture and sort of
• 14:55
  - that willingness to learn first.
• 14:57
  - And I think,
• 14:58
  - for me,
• 14:59
  - that's similar to the to the work that
• 15:01
  - I've done since I've been here at MSU
• 15:03
  - Health.
• 15:04
  - You know, trying to understand the culture, trying
• 15:05
  - to understand what we want it to be,
• 15:08
  - learning, not necessarily,
• 15:11
  - directing or top down type of of management.
• 15:13
  - Culture's always gonna come before strategy because if
• 15:17
  - you don't have that,
• 15:18
  - you need alignment and you need to have
• 15:21
  - folks understand
• 15:22
  - why we're headed in a certain direction. And
• 15:24
  - if you don't get that alignment,
• 15:26
  - people will go in their directions,
• 15:28
  - and it might not all be aligned. And
• 15:30
  - so focusing on that first,
• 15:32
  - I think was was valuable specifically for for
• 15:35
  - him and really get in a... At the
• 15:37
  - Microsoft.
• 15:50
  - Really what we wanna focus on here is
• 15:52
  - how can we deliver better health care,
• 15:55
  - challenge yourself,
• 15:58
  - challenge
• 15:59
  - what you are doing and why, and bring
• 16:02
  - empathy to that
• 16:04
  - change management when you do make a change.
• 16:07
  - Be clear and
• 16:09
  - communicate well. I think he's he's done that
• 16:11
  - really well, and I and I do aspire
• 16:13
  - to to handle that.
• 16:15
  - I love it. Doctor Smith, thank you so
• 16:17
  - much for joining us on the podcast today.
• 16:19
  - This has been a a really fun and
• 16:20
  - informative conversation,
• 16:22
  - and
• 16:23
  - I, really appreciate you doing this and, connecting
• 16:26
  - with us today. I I look forward to
• 16:28
  - hopefully connecting with you again soon, and,
• 16:30
  - it... It's been great to speak with you.
• 16:32
  - Yeah. My pleasure, Laura. And thank you so
• 16:34
  - much. Have a great, wonderful day.