Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Sam McCrimmon, J.D., Vice President of Development at Regional One Health

Transcript

Sam McCrimmon, J.D., Vice President of Development at Regional One Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:01
  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings health care
• 0:04
  leaders together to unpack the most pressing issues
• 0:06
  facing the industry.
• 0:08
  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
• 0:11
  and unexpected ways.
• 0:12
  This April, more than 3,500
• 0:15
  healthcare executives will return to Chicago
• 0:17
  for Becker's sixteenth annual meeting.
• 0:19
  Seven ninety five elite speakers will offer new
• 0:22
  lessons, new case studies, and predictions about what
• 0:25
  comes next.
• 0:26
  Join us April 13 through the sixteenth.
• 0:29
  For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:33
  and click on the events tab in the
• 0:35
  upper right.
• 0:38
  This is Scott Becker with the Beckers HealthCare
• 0:41
  podcast.
• 0:42
  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Sam
• 0:44
  McCrimmon.
• 0:45
  Sam has built this incredible career. He he's
• 0:48
  a Duke graduate. He's also a lawyer. He
• 0:51
  serves currently and and has just done a
• 0:53
  great job as vice president of development,
• 0:56
  for Regional One Health, in Tennessee.
• 0:59
  Sam, welcome to the podcast. Can you take
• 1:02
  a moment and introduce yourself and tell us
• 1:04
  a little bit about your career and and
• 1:05
  what you do?
• 1:07
  Sure, Scott. Thanks for having me. Really happy
• 1:09
  to be here. Big fan of Becker's and
• 1:11
  all that you do for the health care
• 1:12
  industry. I'm the vice president for development at
• 1:15
  Regional One Hospital.
• 1:17
  We are the oldest hospital in Tennessee. We
• 1:20
  were actually founded in 1829,
• 1:22
  so we're coming up shortly on our two
• 1:24
  hundredth anniversary. We're also the oldest business in
• 1:26
  Shelby County, Tennessee.
• 1:28
  We have about 300 beds. We have about
• 1:30
  15,000
• 1:31
  inpatient discharges a year, a 168,000
• 1:35
  outpatient visits.
• 1:36
  We have about $670,000,000
• 1:38
  in operating revenue. We are the only level
• 1:41
  one trauma center in a 150 mile radius,
• 1:44
  and our trauma center is actually named after
• 1:46
  Elvis Presley.
• 1:48
  Though I will tell you that Elvis never
• 1:49
  set foot in the trauma center.
• 1:51
  We're the only verified burn center in a
• 1:53
  200 mile radius, and we see about twelve
• 1:55
  thousand trauma cases per year. We also have
• 1:58
  the high risk OBGYN center for the region
• 2:00
  and the oldest NICU in the region.
• 2:03
  We train more residents than any other hospital
• 2:05
  in Tennessee. We have about 210 of them
• 2:08
  at any time, and we are the safety
• 2:09
  net hospital for the region. We provide about
• 2:12
  $200,000,000
• 2:13
  in charity care annually.
• 2:16
  Amazing. And talk about in your area,
• 2:18
  what are the big trends that you're watching
• 2:20
  currently? What what's top of mind when you
• 2:23
  think about the the key things you're thinking
• 2:24
  about?
• 2:25
  You know, we're I think like a a
• 2:27
  a lot of providers, particularly safety net providers,
• 2:30
  we're we're watching the the change in affordable
• 2:33
  care act subsidies very closely. That impacts
• 2:36
  a a number of the people that we
• 2:37
  see. You know, we've we've over the years
• 2:40
  changed our our payer mix,
• 2:43
  from,
• 2:44
  predominantly Medicaid to to more privately insured and
• 2:47
  certainly the Affordable Care Act has helped with
• 2:49
  that. So we're we're gonna see what that
• 2:51
  does over the the next year or so
• 2:52
  to our our revenue mix and presumably that's
• 2:55
  gonna increase our our charitable care amount that
• 2:57
  we're gonna provide as well. We're also very
• 3:00
  closely watching,
• 3:01
  all the potential changes to the three forty
• 3:03
  b, pharmaceutical,
• 3:05
  regulations that are going on in in the
• 3:08
  courts these days.
• 3:09
  We have a very large three forty b
• 3:11
  pharmaceutical program that we're very proud of. It
• 3:14
  it an important revenue source for us, and
• 3:16
  it's also a very important access source for
• 3:18
  for many of our patients. And so
• 3:21
  we're, you know, we're constantly keeping an eye
• 3:23
  on that.
• 3:24
  And and like
• 3:26
  most hospitals that, have have any sort of
• 3:29
  research, we're watching
• 3:31
  closely to the the federal funding, the changes
• 3:33
  in federal funding that have happened over the
• 3:35
  past year. There's certainly been a a change
• 3:37
  in in, both the amount of federal funding
• 3:40
  and and the the the scope and the
• 3:42
  direction of of federal funding. And we think
• 3:44
  that will continue to have an impact on
• 3:46
  the sort of programs that,
• 3:48
  are are able to be pursued. Everything from
• 3:51
  medical research to,
• 3:53
  what we think of as community health,
• 3:55
  programs that,
• 3:57
  that provide, you know, both both health and
• 3:59
  wrap around health services for
• 4:02
  many of the patients that we see in
• 4:03
  our our our,
• 4:05
  service area. And then lastly, I I think
• 4:08
  we think a lot about the economy, and
• 4:11
  we think a lot about AI these days.
• 4:13
  I think you you have to think about
• 4:15
  AI in in many different ways.
• 4:18
  We certainly think about it on the the
• 4:19
  health care side. You know, how can we
• 4:20
  use it to be more efficient? How can
• 4:22
  we use it to enhance the patient experience?
• 4:26
  But from a fundraising standpoint, we also think
• 4:28
  about it from an economic
• 4:30
  side. Right? How does that impact consumer sentiment?
• 4:33
  Are the people that we're we're talking to
• 4:35
  about making gifts?
• 4:36
  Are they nervous about losing their jobs to
• 4:38
  AI? You know, what does what does that
• 4:40
  have an impact on?
• 4:42
  Thank you. Talk about AI three forty b,
• 4:45
  the the the budget bill,
• 4:47
  the different stresses and and and challenges out
• 4:49
  there. Talk a little bit about the importance
• 4:52
  that that then has on
• 4:54
  charitable development,
• 4:56
  philanthropy,
• 4:57
  and trying to make things work at great
• 4:59
  health systems. Talk a little bit about the
• 5:01
  importance and the growing importance of philanthropy and
• 5:04
  development.
• 5:06
  When you think about philanthropy and development for
• 5:08
  for most nonprofit health systems, you you think
• 5:11
  about it as as really the margin for
• 5:13
  excellence. It's the margin for new projects. It's
• 5:15
  the margin for new research.
• 5:18
  It's the funds that provide opportunities
• 5:21
  that most health care systems don't have because
• 5:24
  the margins are so thin. As you know,
• 5:26
  you know, many private health care systems are
• 5:28
  are fortunate
• 5:29
  to think of an operating margin of one
• 5:31
  to one and a half percent as being
• 5:33
  a a really exceptional margin on any given
• 5:36
  year. And so anything philanthropically that can be
• 5:39
  done particularly at a three to one or
• 5:41
  five to one return on investment is a
• 5:43
  pretty spectacular margin and really does provide that
• 5:45
  extra opportunity for those growth initiatives.
• 5:48
  And so it's becoming increasingly important in an
• 5:51
  era where health care costs are not going
• 5:53
  down, and operating costs are certainly not going
• 5:56
  down to leverage philanthropy to have those growth
• 5:59
  opportunities.
• 6:01
  And when you look at philanthropy,
• 6:03
  talk a little bit about
• 6:05
  small gifts, large gifts, and and and the
• 6:07
  focus of a philanthropy department and development
• 6:10
  department today and how they fit into the
• 6:13
  equation and what you all do.
• 6:15
  Sure. Well, they all add up. Right? So
• 6:17
  small gifts are vital. They're what we think
• 6:18
  of is is is helpful for operating revenue.
• 6:21
  They provide everything from,
• 6:23
  what we think of as transportation funds. Right?
• 6:25
  So helping helping patients that might have issues
• 6:28
  with transportation
• 6:29
  get to the hospital or get to
• 6:30
  hospital so that they can receive the care
• 6:32
  that they need to,
• 6:33
  you know, providing small upgrades and things like
• 6:36
  waiting rooms, very, very vital things that are
• 6:38
  incredibly helpful for patient experience and make a,
• 6:41
  like, you know, a really important difference in
• 6:42
  care. The larger gifts we we use more
• 6:45
  for capital needs.
• 6:47
  We would also use them for things like
• 6:49
  nursing scholarships. Right? How can we help retain
• 6:52
  our nurses by helping them continue their education
• 6:55
  by providing the cost of continuing their education.
• 6:58
  So that's a a vitally important thing. And
• 7:00
  then we also think a lot about what
• 7:03
  we think of as planned giving. So estate
• 7:05
  gifts, how can we provide
• 7:08
  for a future line of of philanthropic revenue
• 7:11
  by talking to those people that have been
• 7:13
  most impacted by
• 7:15
  Regional One. And and in our case, we've
• 7:17
  been very fortunate that we've had a a
• 7:19
  very successful trauma center for a number of
• 7:21
  years. And so we've had a number of
• 7:23
  people that have been very positively
• 7:25
  impacted over the years by our trauma center
• 7:27
  and want to give back and want to
• 7:28
  help
• 7:29
  continue the legacy of of what's been done
• 7:31
  there. We're also looking at that, in the
• 7:33
  NICU area as well. We have a a
• 7:36
  large number of what we think of as
• 7:37
  NICU alumni. Right? So people that were born
• 7:40
  in the NICU that have gone on to
• 7:41
  lead very healthy and very happy and very
• 7:43
  successful lives and,
• 7:45
  you know, want to give back in in
• 7:47
  that way as well.
• 7:49
  And how did the trauma center end up
• 7:51
  getting named after Elvis Presley?
• 7:54
  You know, it's a funny story. So in
• 7:56
  in 1983,
• 7:57
  mayor Crump, who was the mayor of Memphis
• 7:59
  at the time,
• 8:01
  in memory of Elvis's passing in 1977,
• 8:04
  decreed that the trauma center would be the
• 8:06
  Elvis Presley trauma center. And so Regional One
• 8:09
  is actually the Shelby County Healthcare Corporation,
• 8:13
  and Shelby County has two mayors. They have
• 8:15
  a, there's a City Of Memphis mayor, and
• 8:17
  then there is a mayor of Shelby County.
• 8:19
  And so mayor Crump was the mayor of
• 8:21
  Shelby County.
• 8:22
  So politically, he had the authority to do
• 8:25
  exactly that. And so what's neat about this,
• 8:28
  Scott, is that we're the only other institution
• 8:31
  outside of Graceland
• 8:32
  that is actually able to use Elvis' name,
• 8:35
  image, and likeness,
• 8:37
  it for our benefit. And so we actually
• 8:39
  received donations
• 8:41
  from Elvis fan clubs around the world. We
• 8:43
  have a a donor wall in our trauma
• 8:44
  center that actually has plaques from places like
• 8:47
  the Elvis Club of Indonesia or the Elvis
• 8:49
  Club of Japan.
• 8:51
  That's amazing. That's amazing. And and let me
• 8:53
  ask you a question about this year coming
• 8:55
  up.
• 8:56
  Where are you most focused and excited? And
• 8:58
  and then I'm gonna ask you a duplency
• 9:00
  question in a few moments. But but first,
• 9:02
  I wanna know,
• 9:03
  2026,
• 9:05
  were you most focused and excited this year?
• 9:07
  Sure. I will tell you our biggest priority
• 9:09
  right now is is the funding and construction
• 9:11
  of a new hospital.
• 9:13
  So our our current hospital is, I I
• 9:16
  will say, aging, and it's past the point
• 9:18
  of gracefully aging. The the the newest part
• 9:21
  of it is 30 years old, and and
• 9:23
  our power plant frankly is so old that
• 9:24
  we can't buy parts for it anymore. We
• 9:26
  have to manufacture them or hopefully find them
• 9:28
  on eBay. So,
• 9:30
  we've done an awful lot of good in
• 9:32
  in a building that has has given us
• 9:34
  many, many good years, but it's it's time
• 9:36
  to move on from. And and the best
• 9:38
  example there I can give you is that
• 9:39
  we see about twelve thousand trauma cases a
• 9:41
  year in a building that's supposed to see
• 9:44
  about four thousand trauma cases per year. So
• 9:46
  the fact that we're able to do that
• 9:47
  with a ninety seven percent survival rate is
• 9:49
  pretty remarkable.
• 9:51
  So that's our biggest focus. We're looking at
• 9:52
  about a nine hundred million dollar facility,
• 9:55
  and we've got about $500,000,000
• 9:57
  of that committed already, and we're looking to
• 9:59
  commit another $250,000,000
• 10:01
  of that over the next few years.
• 10:04
  The second priority is really the the formation
• 10:07
  and generation of an academic medical center. Memphis
• 10:10
  is is one of the rare large cities
• 10:11
  in The United States that doesn't have a
• 10:14
  genuine academic medical center. So a research based
• 10:17
  hospital
• 10:18
  combined with the medical school integrally where, you
• 10:21
  know, research based academic medicine comes and informs
• 10:24
  the patient care.
• 10:26
  And I say that only on the adult
• 10:27
  side. We obviously have St. Jude's on the,
• 10:30
  pediatric side, and so there's virtually no better
• 10:33
  example of what academic medicine can do for
• 10:35
  a place. And so we're eager to continue
• 10:38
  that. And then the third thing that we
• 10:40
  have is we have a a a center
• 10:41
  for innovation, and we're very, very proud of
• 10:43
  this. We're we're essentially a safety net hospital
• 10:46
  that has the equivalent of a an r
• 10:49
  one university innovation center. And so we've been
• 10:52
  working with innovators to spin out products,
• 10:55
  you know, on all sorts of different clinical
• 10:57
  applications. And we've actually been talking with the
• 11:00
  the venture capital community on ways that we
• 11:02
  can continue to be a a place where
• 11:04
  we can prove,
• 11:06
  clinical applications
• 11:07
  for
• 11:08
  new things that,
• 11:10
  that benefit patient care and and hopefully benefit,
• 11:13
  you know, health across the the country and
• 11:15
  the world.
• 11:16
  That that that's remarkable. And and talk about
• 11:18
  your career a little bit because I know
• 11:20
  you you went to Duke. And I'll ask
• 11:21
  you quickly.
• 11:23
  Duke or UNC, do do you are are
• 11:26
  you have thoughts on Duke versus UNC?
• 11:28
  And then more importantly, I'll ask you about
• 11:31
  your a nearby background as well. How did
• 11:33
  you end up in the fit philanthropy
• 11:35
  development space? It seems like it was a
• 11:37
  calling for you, but talk to us a
• 11:38
  little bit about those two questions, Duke versus
• 11:40
  UNC
• 11:41
  and how lawyer becomes philanthropic
• 11:44
  and in charge of development.
• 11:45
  I'm happy to do it. So, with Duke
• 11:47
  and UNC, there's there's really no question, especially
• 11:50
  this time of year. It's all Duke all
• 11:52
  the way.
• 11:53
  And and, frankly, the fact that that Duke
• 11:55
  is better than UNC in football these days
• 11:57
  makes it, even more rich.
• 12:00
  And so but I will say that both
• 12:02
  schools are wonderful academic institutions
• 12:04
  even if one is
• 12:05
  slightly more misguided than the other.
• 12:08
  Coach k versus Dean Smith. Coach k versus
• 12:11
  Dean Smith, who's the better coach?
• 12:14
  Well, that's a tough one because if you're
• 12:16
  talking about integrity and and quality of coaching,
• 12:18
  it's really hard to to, make a direct
• 12:22
  comparison between the two of them. I would
• 12:23
  say they're both men of great integrity and
• 12:26
  and both men of great coaching quality and
• 12:28
  certainly
• 12:29
  had, you know, many, many professional athletes come
• 12:32
  out and many, many men of great character
• 12:34
  that came out. And so, you know, I
• 12:35
  I would have to say in many ways
• 12:37
  it's a tie, but if if you're gonna
• 12:38
  force me to pick, I'm gonna go with
• 12:40
  coach k all the way.
• 12:41
  Yeah. But but I love your answer. It
• 12:43
  acknowledges both the greatness of both and and
• 12:45
  fantastic. I I just love that. And and
• 12:47
  talk about your career.
• 12:49
  You you went back and did a law
• 12:50
  degree at at some point and ended up
• 12:52
  in philanthropy.
• 12:54
  You've got this great degree,
• 12:57
  from Duke.
• 12:58
  Fantastic.
• 12:59
  How did this was this a calling for
• 13:01
  you to be in philanthropy in in in
• 13:03
  development?
• 13:04
  You know, it it it's funny, Scott. It's
• 13:06
  it's now something like year '22 or '23
• 13:08
  in philanthropy. And if you told me back
• 13:10
  when I was graduating from Duke that this
• 13:12
  is what I would be doing, I would
• 13:14
  have thought you were a little bit crazy.
• 13:16
  But,
• 13:17
  I went to Duke, to get a master
• 13:19
  in theological studies, and I was gonna become
• 13:21
  a professor of theological
• 13:23
  ethics.
• 13:25
  And the advice I'd received from many of
• 13:27
  my professors, it's that you should only go
• 13:29
  get a PhD if you can think of
• 13:31
  nothing better to do with your life.
• 13:33
  And the reason for that is that the
• 13:34
  job market in the humanities was and still
• 13:37
  is pretty terrible.
• 13:38
  And so I got a year into my
• 13:40
  master's degree at Duke, and I absolutely loved
• 13:42
  it. Spent a lot of time focusing on
• 13:44
  biomedical ethics, still an area of interest for
• 13:46
  me. But I also realized there were some
• 13:49
  other things that I wanted to do. And
• 13:51
  it so happened that the that there was
• 13:52
  a friend of the family that was a
• 13:54
  Catholic priest, and I went and talked to
• 13:56
  him and said, you know, I'm not sure
• 13:57
  what I wanna do,
• 13:59
  right away. I know I don't wanna go
• 14:00
  get my PhD, but I'd like to be
• 14:02
  somewhere adjacent to higher education while I think
• 14:05
  about what I wanna do. And he looked
• 14:06
  at me and he said, I think you
• 14:08
  should go into fundraising. With your personality and
• 14:10
  your skill set, it might be a good
• 14:12
  fit.
• 14:14
  And so I went, and and here I
• 14:16
  am. And I went then later on and,
• 14:18
  got my law degree, very proud graduate of
• 14:20
  the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
• 14:24
  And in the course of getting my law
• 14:26
  degree, I worked full time for the university
• 14:28
  as a fundraiser.
• 14:30
  And so,
• 14:31
  never really left fundraising. And when I graduated,
• 14:34
  I graduated in July 2008,
• 14:37
  and had the opportunity to keep working for
• 14:39
  the university. And in between the time that
• 14:40
  I took the bar and passed the bar,
• 14:42
  the great recession hit. And so I looked
• 14:45
  at the job I had with the university
• 14:46
  as a fundraiser. I enjoyed it immensely and
• 14:49
  enjoyed the work I was doing, and I
• 14:51
  never looked back.
• 14:53
  That's an amazing career. And let me use
• 14:55
  that as a as a kicking off point
• 14:57
  to the next question. Yep. What advice to
• 15:00
  evolving leaders, one dip, and impactful careers that
• 15:03
  they love? Any advice you'd give?
• 15:06
  You know, the first first two words of
• 15:08
  of advice I would give is is have
• 15:10
  humility and have a sense of humor. Right?
• 15:12
  Things aren't gonna go the way you think
• 15:13
  they're gonna go. If I look back to,
• 15:15
  roughly 2000 or 2001,
• 15:18
  you know, my career trajectory looked very different.
• 15:21
  I think it's it's the willingness to be
• 15:23
  a little flexible and and understand that, you
• 15:25
  know, things aren't always gonna go the way
• 15:27
  you you want them to go and and
• 15:28
  the ability to to make light of that
• 15:30
  at times and and really laugh a little
• 15:32
  bit about about life and and be open
• 15:34
  to what happens.
• 15:36
  I would say then too, you know, don't
• 15:38
  be afraid to fail. Right? You're going to
• 15:40
  fail in your career. You're going to fail
• 15:41
  in life. It's people that that that that
• 15:44
  try things, that are are open to opportunities
• 15:46
  and willing to give it a go. Those
• 15:48
  are the ones that jump out and have
• 15:49
  success even if it means over time they're
• 15:51
  going to fail. And it's it's always worth
• 15:53
  trying something and fail failing as opposed to
• 15:56
  not trying it at all.
• 15:57
  The last thing I would say, Scott, and
• 15:59
  this has become increasingly important to me, over
• 16:02
  the years is pass the mentoring forward. Be
• 16:05
  really intentional about it. I'm,
• 16:07
  only where I am because of mentors that
• 16:09
  I had who very intentionally took a chance
• 16:12
  on me and said, we think you have
• 16:14
  something,
• 16:15
  that that maybe you don't even see in
• 16:17
  you. And so I've really tried as I've
• 16:19
  grown in my career to do that for
• 16:22
  other people, who maybe weren't aware that they
• 16:25
  had skills or talents or confidences that they
• 16:27
  thought they had. And it's been probably the
• 16:30
  greatest pleasure of my career to watch people
• 16:32
  grow,
• 16:33
  into things,
• 16:34
  and opportunities and jobs that they didn't know
• 16:37
  that they were capable of growing into.
• 16:40
  No. I think I think that's fantastic. Sam,
• 16:42
  it's a real pleasure to visit with you.
• 16:43
  You've got just a a a great principled
• 16:46
  grounded way about you that just really admirable.
• 16:50
  Fantastic to visit today with Samuel McCrimmon.
• 16:53
  Sam serves as vice president development for Regional
• 16:56
  One Health. Sam, just fantastic to visit with
• 16:59
  you. Thank you so much for joining us
• 17:00
  today on the Becker's HealthCare podcast.
• 17:02
  Scott, thank you for having me.