Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leading Enterprise Transformation and Integration at Jefferson Health with Mark Whalen

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Leading Enterprise Transformation and Integration at Jefferson Health with Mark Whalen · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  This is Laura Dierdo with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:02
  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 0:04
  Mark Whalen, executive vice president and enterprise chief
• 0:07
  strategy and transformation officer at Jefferson Health. Mark,
• 0:09
  it's a pleasure to have you on the
• 0:11
  podcast today. Great to be here, and thanks
• 0:12
  for having me. Absolutely. Now I'm excited for
• 0:15
  our conversation. I know you all are doing
• 0:17
  a ton of Jefferson,
• 0:18
  to really be transformative, to bring the care
• 0:21
  delivery process into,
• 0:23
  the modern era of health care. And so
• 0:24
  I'm looking forward to our discussion today and,
• 0:27
  spotlighting some of those cool things that you're
• 0:29
  doing. But before we begin, can you tell
• 0:30
  me a little bit more about yourself and
• 0:32
  Jefferson Health? Yeah. Happy to. Thanks, Laura.
• 0:35
  So, as you said, a service chief strategy
• 0:38
  and transformation officer at Jefferson. Been with the
• 0:40
  organization over three years.
• 0:42
  And Jefferson is a large enterprise that spans
• 0:45
  33 hospitals,
• 0:47
  thousands of physicians, and hundreds of ambulatory sites.
• 0:50
  It also includes a university and a medical
• 0:52
  school. And then we have a, insurance plan
• 0:55
  that's principally government focused, so we serve in
• 0:58
  the exchange or ACA
• 1:00
  segment,
• 1:01
  Medicare Advantage, and, our statewide Medicaid provider in
• 1:04
  the insurance plan. And on the delivery side,
• 1:07
  our footprint extends from, you know, Southern Jersey
• 1:10
  to,
• 1:11
  through Philadelphia and up into the Lehigh Valley.
• 1:14
  Jefferson's mission is very simple. It's to improve
• 1:17
  lives.
• 1:18
  And the way that we do that is
• 1:20
  through our strategy as an, academic integrated delivery
• 1:23
  and financing system.
• 1:25
  So bringing together the academic,
• 1:27
  the research,
• 1:28
  clinical, and financing components of health care, and
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  this is really essential to,
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  our mission
• 1:35
  and,
• 1:35
  impacting the communities we serve. And
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  this focus on the community and and impacting
• 1:41
  positively is really a differentiator for Jefferson. So
• 1:44
  it starts with, you know, $1,800,000,000
• 1:47
  in community benefits annually.
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  We have programs,
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  that impact the community in a number of
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  ways. A good example is the Healthy Communities
• 1:56
  framework.
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  So we partner with,
• 1:59
  community benefit organizations and others throughout the region,
• 2:03
  to provide food security, housing access, and economic
• 2:07
  mobility.
• 2:08
  And at the same time, we invest in
• 2:09
  programs like the nationally accredited community health workers
• 2:12
  academy.
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  And this is where people from the communities,
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  that we serve get hired
• 2:19
  and paid training,
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  to serve as resource navigators to help residents
• 2:23
  across
• 2:24
  health care. So
• 2:26
  long history
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  and, a lot of focus,
• 2:29
  as you can see on the on positively
• 2:31
  impacting the community.
• 2:34
  That and I think it's so critical to
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  have those types of partnerships and resources,
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  for the community across the board because, as
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  you know, it's not just when somebody gets
• 2:42
  sick that, they need service, but throughout their
• 2:45
  lives and health care journeys. So, it's really
• 2:47
  cool to see that, you know, on the
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  community side as well as, for the health
• 2:51
  care workers too and and just continuing to
• 2:53
  strengthen the pipeline there. Now I wanted to
• 2:55
  zero in on the most important initiative that
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  you've led in the last year or so.
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  What did you do, and what were the
• 3:00
  results?
• 3:02
  So this this is work that actually took
• 3:05
  really started, you know, more than a year
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  ago.
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  We we got into discussions with Lehigh Valley,
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  health network
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  about, combining.
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  And so,
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  I served as the chief integration officer
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  for that combination, and that was really even
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  before the deal definitively
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  closed.
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  Was starting to, line out how we're gonna
• 3:25
  work together.
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  And I partnered closely with, at the time,
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  Lehigh Valley's,
• 3:30
  CFO
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  to build a really comprehensive integration plan. And
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  the way that we did this was,
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  identifying leaders from both organizations in the areas
• 3:40
  that we wanted to work on together and
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  challenging those leaders,
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  to really build the the path forward. So
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  we created, as an example of a kind
• 3:47
  of a unique way to drive the integration,
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  a physician integration committee,
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  that physician leaders got together and said, what
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  do we think are the biggest opportunities that
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  we wanna work on together? And they, you
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  know, really very quickly under the leadership of
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  the of our physicians
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  charted out a number of ways to improve
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  access,
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  improve our quality,
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  and,
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  really was was just sort of, you know,
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  charter and let them let them run.
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  And so it went very, very rapidly and
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  very quickly.
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  And one of the things that was really
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  important for all of our leadership was ensuring
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  that we understood the culture that we're integrating.
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  So we,
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  engage in a baselining activity to say, what
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  are the strengths and differences
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  in each organization,
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  and how do we cocreate a common one
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  that honors the legacy,
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  of both organizations,
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  but really focuses on creating a shared set
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  of values and behaviors
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  as a combined organization to serve,
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  all of the communities. And it's a very
• 4:47
  diverse set of communities that we serve. And
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  so that that has been,
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  really wonderful work. And, you know, we we
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  instigated it, but, all of our leadership is
• 4:56
  really charged with that, and it's gone very
• 4:58
  well.
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  And so,
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  that work over the past, you know, year
• 5:02
  and a half, two years has gone well
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  enough. I've actually transitioned,
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  out of the chief integration role,
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  and, much of that work is led by
• 5:11
  the the chief administrative officer now. And so
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  I've transitioned to take on the chief transformation
• 5:16
  officer role, in addition to my strategy duties.
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  That's amazing to hear. You know, really great
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  to understand that the integration,
• 5:24
  the planning and preparation that you put into
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  it then really paid dividends and actually coming
• 5:29
  to fruition and being able to come together
• 5:31
  as one organization.
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  Throughout that process, was there anything that you
• 5:35
  learned or or had to pivot just a
• 5:37
  bit,
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  in order to,
• 5:40
  kind of, meet the needs of the day?
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  I think there's so many organizations that are
• 5:43
  going through this that are trying to, manage
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  what does it look like when two,
• 5:48
  strong leadership teams come together. So I'm curious.
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  What did you learn throughout that process, and
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  and,
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  how did you make pivots in order to
• 5:55
  really make sure it was successful in the
• 5:57
  time period that you mentioned? Yeah. Great question,
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  Laura.
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  We we learned a lot. It was a
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  it was a constant iterative process, and I
• 6:04
  think the core of what we did was
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  stay in discussion with the leaders, that were
• 6:08
  charged in their functional areas,
• 6:10
  who know their area, their their their the
• 6:13
  the those that they serve, how they,
• 6:16
  the best practices in their respective areas, and
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  challenge folks not to, you know, pick one
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  way or another to do it, but really
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  focus on what needs to be done, what
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  is the opportunity, what are the strengths in
• 6:27
  each organization,
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  and how do we develop a new way
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  to do things,
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  that is, you know, gonna meet the needs
• 6:33
  of the combined organization
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  as opposed to holding on however things have
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  done in the past. And I think that
• 6:39
  iterative
• 6:40
  sort of collaborative approach
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  really positioned us well so that we didn't
• 6:44
  get out, you know, committed to something and
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  then,
• 6:47
  have to pivot. It was really,
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  led by those that are closest,
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  to the services that we were impacting and
• 6:54
  changing and so forth. And so,
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  I think deference to those leaders was critical
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  for us.
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  Got it. That's so helpful to know and
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  understand and, you know, really makes a ton
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  of sense, being able to have that type
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  of open door communication,
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  transparency,
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  and really that, information flowing both ways throughout
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  the process.
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  Now
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  looking ahead,
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  out of that, you know, integration role and
• 7:18
  now into chief transformation officer in building upon
• 7:21
  that success, what are those big priorities and
• 7:24
  headwinds for 2026?
• 7:26
  Yeah. Great question. I think the the sort
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  of the foundation of collaboration and trust is
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  critical, for what, you know, we look forward
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  to, which is
• 7:35
  to one degree or another, health care,
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  education, insurance are at,
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  sort of a crossroad moment in their respective
• 7:43
  areas. And so in the university,
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  we're facing the demographic cliff, in terms of
• 7:48
  the number of students that are, enrolling in
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  in undergraduate programs.
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  Insurers are facing, in many ways, unprecedented challenges,
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  in in that there are headwinds in every
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  segment virtually across the insurance,
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  services.
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  And then health care systems continue to face
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  persistent rising costs
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  without the matching reimbursement increases. And so you
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  have this deficit every year that you gotta
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  overcome.
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  And so those those headwinds,
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  we're facing
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  with what we're terming a dual transformation strategy.
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  So we we must, you know, firstly, continue
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  to strengthen our operations
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  to function as a unified enterprise,
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  and build longer term organizational resilience.
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  I think a prime example of initiative in
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  this, part of the transformation is,
• 8:35
  ensuring that Jefferson Health is the most accessible
• 8:37
  health system in the country.
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  And so there's a lot of wiring and
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  infrastructure that has to change to ensure that,
• 8:44
  we achieve that accessibility,
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  and behavior change, in the clinical organization. And
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  so that is continuously and ongoing, something that,
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  you know, we've been working on for a
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  long time, and we'll continue
• 8:55
  to stay ahead of, of that and and
• 8:57
  meet consumers and and those seeking access where
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  they are.
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  And then secondly,
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  is a longer term component of transformation,
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  which is really positioning Jefferson for the future.
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  And this includes developing new businesses,
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  pursuing,
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  different strategic partnerships,
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  and ultimately advancing initiatives
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  that may take years to fully materialize.
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  And so,
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  some examples in this realm that we're looking
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  at are
• 9:25
  assessing our delivery footprint. You know, the demographics
• 9:28
  of the region and the consumer expectations are
• 9:30
  evolving. And so we need to evolve to
• 9:32
  meet those needs and provide care where where
• 9:35
  folks are in the community and in their
• 9:36
  neighborhoods and where they expect to receive care,
• 9:40
  exploring ways to change the the model for
• 9:43
  how care is financed and delivered,
• 9:45
  and looking at how we directly or more
• 9:48
  directly relate
• 9:49
  to those that are purchasing health care,
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  as opposed to being have an intermediary in
• 9:53
  all cases.
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  I think ensuring the full promise of AI
• 9:57
  is really important. And so the approach we're
• 9:59
  taking
• 10:00
  is to really zero in on the areas
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  where we
• 10:04
  think there's the biggest opportunity, prospectively find solutions
• 10:06
  and ways, that AI can can help us.
• 10:09
  And oftentimes, that's much bigger than a technology
• 10:11
  deployment. It's a workflow
• 10:13
  and resource and org change, to achieve that.
• 10:16
  And then ultimately
• 10:18
  continuing to bring those capabilities we have as
• 10:20
  a unique organization with sort of three legs
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  to the stool
• 10:24
  to bear in each other area in a
• 10:26
  way that makes a difference. And so an
• 10:28
  example of this, integration across the organization is
• 10:32
  looking at the evolving workforce needs in delivery,
• 10:36
  but also in insurance and developing academic programs
• 10:39
  to meet those needs that are,
• 10:41
  not necessarily present in the workforce. And so
• 10:44
  we need to change, you know, the what's
• 10:47
  learned in school,
• 10:49
  in their educational components
• 10:50
  to meet the needs that are arising in
• 10:52
  delivery and and insurance. And we've stood up
• 10:54
  programs and evolved programs
• 10:56
  in both areas very successfully to to meet
• 10:59
  those needs.
• 11:00
  Absolutely. That's amazing to hear. And, you know,
• 11:03
  being an organization with both the academic side,
• 11:05
  health care delivery, and our health plan too,
• 11:08
  seeing all that from the inside and out
• 11:09
  in the dynamics of all of those areas
• 11:12
  and how you're meeting the challenges of today,
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  I think you brought up some really,
• 11:16
  real real things when you're talking about some
• 11:18
  of the costs associated with health care delivery,
• 11:21
  you know, reimbursement rates and, really the workforce
• 11:24
  challenges that so many organizations and systems are
• 11:27
  facing.
• 11:28
  So, you know, it's cool to see that
• 11:30
  you've done, a lot to address all of
• 11:32
  those things and then,
• 11:34
  kind of that full promise of AI too,
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  is
• 11:38
  is huge, and I think will make a
• 11:39
  big difference between, it seems like, the organizations
• 11:42
  that are most successful in the transformation and
• 11:44
  those that,
• 11:45
  may struggle a bit more, you know, and
• 11:47
  and could even, you know, need serious, serious
• 11:50
  help in the future. So, it seems like
• 11:53
  a very, very important thing to be thinking
• 11:54
  about. And, you know, when you look at
• 11:56
  the future too, what do you think the
• 11:57
  hardest thing you'll have to do in the
• 11:58
  coming year will be?
• 12:01
  I I think
• 12:02
  honoring a a 200 year old legacy,
• 12:05
  as as Jefferson has,
• 12:07
  and,
• 12:09
  ensuring that we're making the right decisions and
• 12:11
  the right priorities and resource commitments
• 12:14
  for the long term
• 12:16
  and where Jefferson needs to continue to be
• 12:18
  to improve the lives of those that we
• 12:20
  serve
• 12:20
  is the is the balance and the challenge
• 12:23
  that I think, you know, Jefferson has and
• 12:25
  and likely a lot of other organizations. And
• 12:27
  so as we've approached these crossroads moments in
• 12:30
  in our different units,
• 12:32
  it's, you know, paramount that we really stay
• 12:34
  focused on the long term and our mission
• 12:37
  embracing, you know, each of our roles and
• 12:39
  shaping
• 12:40
  what might be a different enterprise,
• 12:42
  you know, down the road to continue to
• 12:44
  advance our mission.
• 12:45
  And, you know, that doesn't mean that components
• 12:48
  of the of the enterprise,
• 12:50
  haven't had great contributions.
• 12:52
  It just means that, you know, how we
• 12:54
  have to serve needs to evolve, and that
• 12:56
  managing that change and understanding the progression that's
• 12:59
  happening in the areas that we serve and
• 13:01
  the needs of those that we serve and
• 13:03
  staying very close to that to meet and
• 13:04
  evolve our own,
• 13:06
  services and capabilities is really the critical component
• 13:08
  of it. And and managing that change and
• 13:10
  and moving it at the right time,
• 13:13
  and bringing the organization along, well, I think,
• 13:15
  will be the hardest hardest challenge in the
• 13:17
  coming years.
• 13:19
  That makes a lot of sense. And I
• 13:21
  appreciate you talking through, these different challenges because
• 13:24
  I know especially when you're talking about how,
• 13:27
  your role in health care health care delivery
• 13:29
  and what that looks like is transformational, that
• 13:32
  change isn't easy.
• 13:33
  Regardless of what tools you have or or
• 13:35
  technology or the leadership and the inspiration coming
• 13:38
  from above, it's still so, so hard to,
• 13:41
  actually make that happen, and and really transform
• 13:44
  care.
• 13:46
  So I'd like to ask before we wrap
• 13:47
  up, where are some of those areas where
• 13:49
  you see some potential for growth, some potential
• 13:52
  for,
• 13:53
  really being transformational? I know you talked a
• 13:55
  little bit about the ambulatory,
• 13:57
  growth overall and and finding ways to deliver
• 14:00
  care outside of the hospital,
• 14:03
  I can imagine virtual care as well. So
• 14:05
  where are some of those things, and and
• 14:06
  what are you doing today to set yourself
• 14:08
  up for success there?
• 14:09
  Yeah. There there's,
• 14:11
  we're very fortunate at Jefferson to have,
• 14:15
  really a significant amount of growth opportunities across
• 14:18
  our portfolio.
• 14:19
  Through the integration work,
• 14:21
  you start to see pockets of capability,
• 14:24
  that can be brought to bear to grow.
• 14:27
  And, really, the the growth opportunities,
• 14:29
  are across the enterprise, including expanding academic programs.
• 14:33
  As I mentioned, you know, the workforce needs
• 14:35
  are evolving, and and we are really a
• 14:38
  professions focused university, and so we wanna continue
• 14:40
  to grow
• 14:41
  those programs that are gonna be most needed,
• 14:44
  in the workforce as as the future evolves
• 14:46
  and the workforce changes.
• 14:48
  We have the opportunity to scale our clinical
• 14:50
  research organization.
• 14:51
  We serve
• 14:53
  a very wide
• 14:54
  and diverse set of,
• 14:56
  population,
• 14:58
  from urban
• 15:00
  to rural
• 15:01
  to suburban.
• 15:03
  And so that is a a really great
• 15:06
  laboratory
• 15:07
  learning laboratory,
• 15:08
  to partner with organizations that are doing research.
• 15:11
  And then, of course,
• 15:12
  growing our clinical services and our priority service
• 15:15
  lines. We've,
• 15:17
  been able
• 15:18
  to draw and integrate
• 15:20
  a a really unbelievable
• 15:23
  level of talented physicians across our enterprise over
• 15:26
  the years. And so,
• 15:28
  ensuring that we're continuing to move forward and
• 15:30
  grow those. And, you know, we have many
• 15:32
  contiguous geographies where
• 15:34
  there's populations that don't have access to the
• 15:37
  kind of care that we deliver as an
• 15:39
  academic, and we wanna continue to afford that
• 15:41
  and expand that access.
• 15:42
  And then,
• 15:44
  I think really strong capability to grow,
• 15:48
  in terms of, how we deliver value and
• 15:51
  leveraging our enterprise capability. So we obviously have
• 15:54
  the insurance
• 15:55
  plan, which has a number of, capabilities to
• 15:58
  help manage total cost of care. We also
• 16:00
  are fortunate to have a a high performing
• 16:03
  population health set of capabilities
• 16:05
  and a school of population health. And so
• 16:08
  to to compete in
• 16:10
  on value and outcomes
• 16:12
  as a means to grow,
• 16:14
  to reduce the friction between the insurer and
• 16:16
  the provider so that if somebody has a
• 16:18
  good experience,
• 16:19
  with a Jefferson physician
• 16:21
  and they wanna,
• 16:23
  use the Jefferson Health Plan for their ACA
• 16:26
  plan as an example,
• 16:28
  we wanna create a really great experience around
• 16:30
  that. And so we think we have the
• 16:31
  opportunity to grow where we serve in, you
• 16:33
  know, one area and can bring other services
• 16:36
  to bear for those same individuals who have
• 16:38
  had a great experience.
• 16:40
  And so we think, you know, in total,
• 16:41
  these,
• 16:43
  capabilities and unlocking them or bringing to bear
• 16:45
  in other areas,
• 16:47
  will will equip us to grow and better
• 16:49
  serve and,
• 16:50
  reach more of those in the communities that
• 16:52
  we that we do have footprint in.
• 16:55
  I love it. Mark, thank you so much
• 16:56
  for joining us on the podcast today. This
• 16:58
  has been such a great conversation. It's inspiring
• 17:00
  to think about all you have accomplished and
• 17:02
  then exciting to look ahead in the future.
• 17:03
  So,
• 17:04
  thank you for your time today, and I
• 17:05
  look forward to seeing you as well at
• 17:06
  our annual meeting. I know you'll be speaking
• 17:08
  on a panel there and really digging deeper
• 17:10
  into many of the themes that we talked
• 17:11
  about today. So looking forward to that, and
• 17:14
  we'll be seeing you soon.
• 17:16
  Thank you, Laura. I really enjoyed it, and
• 17:17
  I look forward to seeing you next month
• 17:19
  in, the conference.