Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Marlon F. Levy, MD, MBA, FACS, Chief Executive Officer of VCU Health System

Transcript

Marlon F. Levy, MD, MBA, FACS, Chief Executive Officer of VCU Health System · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
• 0:08
  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where do they go
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  - to pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  - doctor Marvin Levy, chief executive officer and David
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  - Hume chair in surgery at VCU Health. Doctor
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  - Levy, it's a pleasure to have you on
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  - the podcast today.
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  - Good morning, Laura.
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  - And I'm excited for our conversation. I know
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  - we're gonna talk a lot about some of
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  - the cool things you're doing at VCU Health
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  - as well as how you're thinking about the
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  - future. But before we dive in, can you
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  - tell us just a little bit more about
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  - yourself and your background?
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  - Yeah. For sure. I am,
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  - in the CEO chair now for four years.
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  - First couple years were as interim, and then,
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  - and then the last little over two,
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  - the interim title was removed.
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  - A little bit of a, a little bit
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  - of an odd, career turn for me. I'm
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  - a career transplant surgeon. And so for,
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  - the thirty
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  - plus years of first of my career, I
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  - was a multi organ transplant surgeon. And I'm
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  - not sure I could tell you exactly how
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  - I landed where I am,
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  - but I did. I'm thrilled to be here.
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  - It's an incredible privilege to be able to
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  - do the things that we're doing at VCU
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  - Health. It's an amazing place. And,
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  - every day for me is, wow. I can't
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  - believe I'm getting to do this.
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  - That's awesome to hear. And I know especially
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  - having that clinical background and then coming into
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  - health care administration makes a big difference as
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  - you're running the organization
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  - and really building for the future.
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  - Now can you give us a quick state
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  - of the union? What's going well this year,
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  - and what are you looking forward to in
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  - the rest of 2026?
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  - I I would say that at VCU Health,
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  - which, your your audience may know is based
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  - in Richmond, Virginia and and and, really has
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  - a a large part of, Central Virginia. About
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  - 300 square miles is our our,
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  - the the area that we cover.
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  - I would say that what's going really well
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  - is the,
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  - the the the mission that our teams are
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  - completely
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  - all in on,
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  - on fulfilling. So we're the largest,
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  - safety net provider, largest safety net system in
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  - the Commonwealth Of Virginia.
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  - We're also an academic health system. So it's
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  - a,
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  - some people wanna
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  - ask me if it's is this a split
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  - identity or, you know, which one are you?
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  - And I think they're looking for an either
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  - or answer. And, of course, I always give
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  - them a a both and answer. So what's
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  - going well here is that the the our
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  - culture, the the the strength of conviction of
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  - our people, the intentionality
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  - around
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  - delivering the best health care possible to sometimes
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  - the most vulnerable of populations,
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  - the the strength of our brand, if you
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  - will. So we,
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  - we know for many years now that
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  - that,
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  - in this area of Virginia,
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  - people want VCU Health to take care of
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  - them, particularly,
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  - the things that we that we do well,
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  - the really high acuity complex care. For example,
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  - what my world was, organ transplantation
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  - for for many years.
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  - I think that's very strong. We're in our
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  - fifth, almost sixth year now of, a year
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  - over year growth, both on the inpatient
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  - and outpatient side. And that's, of course, very
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  - affirming. It presents
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  - interesting challenges which we have to meet.
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  - But it reinforces
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  - the
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  - the the the concept that, we're here for
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  - the right reason, and and the people that
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  - seek our care recognize that.
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  - I love it, and and it makes a
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  - ton of sense. I think, you know, so
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  - much is happening within the health care space
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  - today, but to have that strong brand and,
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  - the entire
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  - team focused on the mission and vision of
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  - where health care is headed is truly exceptional.
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  - And I know, you know, as you're thinking
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  - about the future,
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  - what are some of the headwinds that you
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  - have your eye on? What do you keep
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  - watching, when you're thinking about the next couple
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  - years or so?
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  - Yeah. Absolutely. And, I'm sure everybody in my
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  - position,
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  - is is thinking exactly the same thing, which
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  - is how do we make it all work?
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  - The
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  - you know, having, having very strong demand is
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  - is incredible as I've mentioned.
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  - But we have to be able to supply
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  - that demand. And and like, like many places,
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  - like many academic health systems, we're very constrained
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  - in our, for example, our inpatient bed capacity,
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  - sometimes our clinic capacity in certain specialties,
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  - because of the because of the need and
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  - because sometimes the the, the difficulty in finding
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  - just the right specialist to take care
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  - of take care of the patients. So understanding
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  - how to meet the demand,
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  - you know, the supply side of things is
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  - really critical.
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  - And, of course, I have to mention the
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  - financial pressures,
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  - both the the rising cost of delivering our,
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  - the work that we do, you know, medicinals,
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  - labor, everything else. We, we have to make
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  - sure that we,
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  - that we treat our people as well as
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  - we possibly can, and that means paying attention
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  - to market,
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  - in terms of compensation and benefits,
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  - making it easy for for our team members
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  - to do the work that they do so
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  - well. That's critical.
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  - And understanding where, where reimbursement is coming from,
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  - both pressures,
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  - at the federal level, at the state level,
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  - then of course from, from the private sector,
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  - from the payers. So all of that is
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  - one big soup, if you will.
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  - And,
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  - on any given day, one problem is bigger
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  - than the others. But in the end, they're
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  - all, all issues that we really have to
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  - pay attention to.
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  - I love it. I think that makes a
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  - lot of sense. And and, definitely, are you
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  - trying to
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  - understand how to expand the capacity, what makes,
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  - is gonna be most beneficial for the community,
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  - and how you can do that in a
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  - thoughtful way knowing all the other pressures happening
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  - within the environment.
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  - And and when you think about those federal
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  - pressures, state pressures,
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  - economic pressures,
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  - How do you make sure your team stays
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  - focused and really,
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  - is prepared for a future where anything could
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  - happen? Because I know there's a lot of
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  - uncertainty as well.
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  - There is. And and, you know, that's something
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  - I actually give a lot of thought about
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  - in my in in my role. I think
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  - it's it's super important for me to continue
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  - to communicate. Probably, you know, they say to
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  - over communicate. I think that's never been truer.
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  - So to to stay very intentional about,
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  - what I talk about, the priorities that, that
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  - I list both for me personally and for,
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  - you know, what I see as, as, for
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  - the organization,
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  - that I accurately and and thoughtfully translate the
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  - wishes of our board because we have a
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  - a board that's, that's incredibly capable and very
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  - interested in the work that we do. And
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  - and, ultimately, of course, they're the fiduciaries
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  - for the the work that that that I
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  - and all of the team members do. So
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  - that, of course, in in my role as
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  - the the CEO is, is is really essential.
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  - How to prepare for the for the unexpected?
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  - I think we we have to understand what
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  - we do well. We have to,
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  - rehearse, plan,
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  - do, you know, do
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  - exercises, some tabletop, some in in,
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  - in real life, if you will, and,
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  - and and know that things come our way
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  - that we have to be able to to
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  - handle.
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  - I think that starts with, that starts again
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  - with intentionality around culture and understanding why we're
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  - here.
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  - I love that. It makes a lot of
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  - sense, and it's particularly poignant at this moment
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  - in health care when,
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  - there there's so many different changes happening and
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  - and changes happening so quickly.
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  - And and we think about all of these
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  - different things as well. What are some of
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  - the best opportunities that you're looking at for
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  - growth and development over the next two, three
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  - years or so?
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  - Well, again, like like a lot of the,
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  - a lot of,
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  - health systems,
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  - we are trying to understand what's the best
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  - place to provide the the work that we
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  - do.
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  - Continually assessing, you know, does a particular therapy
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  - need to be on the inpatient side? Can
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  - it be moved to the outpatient side? If
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  - the answer is yes, can it be done
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  - as safely on the outpatient side as the
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  - inpatient side?
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  - Can we deliver the the kind of complex
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  - care that we deliver in a a lower
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  - cost environment,
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  - so that we, we make,
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  - what we do as affordable as possible to
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  - to patients, to payers, to to
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  - governmental funders, to everybody.
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  - We're
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  - acutely aware of of the need to be
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  - just as as,
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  - thoughtful as we possibly can be in delivering
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  - the best product possible with, with the most
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  - I'm not gonna say the least expensive because
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  - that's not always the answer,
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  - but certainly the most thoughtful approach
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  - from a financial standpoint.
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  - Got it. And I I think that makes
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  - a lot of sense in,
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  - you know, having those different kinds of
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  - opportunities available for entry points into the system,
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  - whether it's the,
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  - need inpatient care, outpatient care, virtual care, all
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  - those kinds of things seem to work together.
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  - And I think especially I love the way
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  - you put it being able to deliver the
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  - best product possible, the best care possible.
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  - You know, it really truly gets to the
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  - heart of of what,
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  - a lot of health care systems are are
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  - aiming to do today. And so when you
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  - think about,
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  - what you're doing at VCU how how are
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  - you accomplishing that goal? What do you see
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  - as being the things that you'll be, we
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  - should be looking out for, I guess, or
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  - that you're focused on when you're expanding the
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  - patient care, looking at that experience, and everything
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  - else?
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  - Yeah. I think we always come back and
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  - stay really grounded in the the patient experience.
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  - We ask ourselves if it were me or
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  - if it might if it were my family
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  - member. And, by the way, we are we're
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  - also,
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  - if you will, customers inside our own health
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  - system. Right? My myself, my family.
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  - But all of our team members ask ourselves,
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  - if it were me, what would be the
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  - experience that I would want to have? And,
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  - you know, from from the simple seemingly the
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  - simplest things to to the most complex. Right?
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  - And how is the communication? How is,
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  - physical access to our facilities? Parking? How is
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  - the the cleanliness of the environment? How's the
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  - food that we serve?
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  - How how timely are we with, you know,
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  - making the appointments that need to be made?
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  - Giving the,
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  - making sure that people understand discharge instructions,
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  - access to meds when they when they need,
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  - prescription and and meds filled, things of that
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  - nature. So it really goes back to our
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  - trying to put ourselves,
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  - in the shoes of the patient or the
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  - patient's loved one and and making sure that
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  - the experience we deliver
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  - is the experience that we would expect if
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  - if we were the ones in those shoes.
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  - I love that. Thank you so much for
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  - digging a bit deeper there. Now before we
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  - wrap up, I wanted to ask you about
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  - leadership. Who is a leader that you admire
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  - really from any industry and why?
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  - Yeah. So I've thought about that. And,
• 11:18
  - I I thought about trying to come up
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  - with specific names because I I I thought
• 11:22
  - you might be asking that question. And, and
• 11:25
  - then I thought, wow, that's probably not smart
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  - because I'm for sure gonna, not mention somebody
• 11:30
  - I should have mentioned. So I'm gonna I'm
• 11:31
  - gonna hurt somebody's feelings along the way. So
• 11:33
  - if you'll let me, let me answer it
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  - in this way. I I'd I'd I'd rather
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  - answer in what are the qualities that I
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  - admire in leaders? And, how do you know,
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  - who do I who do I wanna emulate?
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  - Or what are the qualities that I'd like
• 11:45
  - to emulate? I would say without question, number
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  - one is humility.
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  - I think that leaders that,
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  - really think that it's about them have completely
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  - completely lost the conversation,
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  - lost their room, lost
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  - why they're there.
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  - So it's it's not about the leader. It's
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  - about the enterprise. It's about, in our case,
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  - the patients and the families that we serve.
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  - That is a 100%, I'm, you know, deep,
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  - deep conviction of mine.
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  - Another another value, core value, I would say
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  - for me is empathy. Again, back to,
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  - we should put ourselves
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  - in place of the patients that that we're
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  - treating or that we're serving and understanding are
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  - we,
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  - are we providing what we would expect in
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  - terms of, in terms of the experience.
• 12:30
  - Other other really important attributes, I think, of
• 12:32
  - effective leadership, especially in health care, is understanding
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  - that a lot of these things cost a
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  - lot of money. And and,
• 12:40
  - and we need to be we need to
• 12:42
  - be,
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  - frugal. We need to be thoughtful. We need
• 12:46
  - to spend the money where it needs to
• 12:47
  - be spent,
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  - but not, not be wasteful about it. So
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  - those are some of the things that I
• 12:52
  - I keep coming back to.
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  - I love that. I mean, truly so many
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  - aspects of what it takes, to,
• 13:01
  - have the leadership of an organization that's forward
• 13:03
  - thinking for looking in in building for the
• 13:05
  - future.
• 13:06
  - Thank you so much for joining us on
• 13:07
  - the podcast today. This has been such a
• 13:09
  - fun conversation, and I truly appreciate the time.
• 13:12
  - Look forward to seeing you in person as
• 13:13
  - well at our CEO CFO roundtable. I know
• 13:15
  - you'll be speaking on a panel, and we'll
• 13:17
  - dig deeper into a lot of the themes
• 13:19
  - you talked about today.
• 13:20
  - Yeah. It's always great to talk to Becker.
• 13:22
  - I think you have the you truly have
• 13:24
  - the ear of a very, very wide audience
• 13:26
  - and I think that it's really critical to
• 13:28
  - keep us all connected.