Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Dr. Jay L. Robinson III on Culture, AI, and Redefining Care Delivery at Kaiser Permanente

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Dr. Jay L. Robinson III on Culture, AI, and Redefining Care Delivery at Kaiser Permanente · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:01
  This is where health care leadership comes together.
• 0:04
  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
• 0:07
  hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
• 0:10
  speakers to Chicago
• 0:12
  April.
• 0:14
  This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas
• 0:17
  Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former president George
• 0:20
  w Bush. For the agenda and event details,
• 0:22
  visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:25
  and click on the events tab in the
• 0:26
  upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
• 0:29
  in Chicago.
• 0:31
  This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by one
• 0:37
  of the great leaders in our nation.
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  I'm thrilled to be joined by doctor Jay
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  Robinson. Now I've known doctor Robinson for a
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  long time, so I have to excuse my
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  accolades, but I'm a huge fan. Doctor Robinson,
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  can you take a moment and tell us
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  about yourself and about the KP system and
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  and and sort of
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  then we'll talk about where you're most focused
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  to say, what trends you're watching, and a
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  lot more. Great. But before I do that,
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  Scott, it's it's really good to be back,
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  and I wanna congratulate you on the book.
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  And, and I'm I'm so happy that, you
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  were able to complete that and, just really,
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  really thrilled for you. Just wanna make sure
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  I said that up top.
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  Yeah. I'm Jay Robinson,
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  and I am the senior vice president and
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  area manager,
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  for
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  Kaiser Sacramento and Kaiser South Sacramento. So that's
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  two service areas in the KP system
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  of Northern Cal,
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  and, it's two hospitals. And just to give
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  you a sense of scale, it's, around 580,000,
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  members that I have responsibility
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  for. I'm really
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  proud of our system. I I I you've
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  heard me talk about, our system, our integrated
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  model.
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  It fits in line with my background as
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  a clinician, and it's how I think we
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  should treat people. And I think it's a
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  great model,
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  for health care, really focused on prevention
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  and wellness and and really meeting patients where
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  they are. So thrilled to be here with
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  you and,
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  happy to represent KP.
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  Well, thank you so much. And I've watched
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  your career in leadership, and I and I
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  loved watching your leadership.
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  Talk a little bit about when you look
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  at this year, 2026,
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  so many changes going on in health care
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  and in the world. But what are you
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  most focused on and excited about?
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  Yeah. I and, you know, I think it's
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  easy to
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  fall prey to, you know, what's going on
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  politically and some of the changes there. I'm
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  really focused on moving,
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  from strategy to execution and really focusing my
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  team
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  on execution in a couple of areas, about
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  two or three areas. The first is really
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  around workforce, and you've heard me talk about
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  this before.
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  How do we leverage our teams?
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  How do we get people working to the
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  top of their scope, both in clinical and
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  nonclinical roles?
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  And and making sure that our teams feel
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  supported
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  and connected to the mission.
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  I I still think that
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  people are,
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  still continue to suffer from,
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  remnants of of the pandemic,
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  and our teams more than ever need that
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  support and that that connection with with mission.
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  So that's that's one area, that workforce
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  support.
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  The second,
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  probably also not a surprise is our using
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  artificial intelligence or AI.
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  And in KP, we're using it,
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  already in,
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  in with our clinicians using,
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  ambient listening. It's been a real satisfier,
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  for clinicians given them more time. I was
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  speaking with a
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  physician yesterday who said it's giving him, you
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  know, twenty, thirty, forty minutes a day back,
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  to him. So really excited about the the
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  potential there.
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  Looking to pilot some of that with our
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  nursing teams, potentially using ambient listening in patient
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  rooms so that we can give our nurses
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  more time at the bedside to connect with
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  patients while some of the charting,
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  can be done,
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  through using AI.
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  We also use it with,
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  monitoring of high risk patients. So it's helping
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  us to,
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  pick up patients before they deteriorate.
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  So really looking at how we could even
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  spread that. I'm even trying to use it
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  with some,
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  employee sentiment analysis.
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  So just lot of potential with AI, being
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  out in California, kind of at the epicenter
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  of that. We're always looking for use cases
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  to to spread that. And the last piece,
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  I'd I'd say in terms of focus is
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  around patient experience,
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  really not as a a set of initiatives,
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  but really as an as an operating model
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  and making sure that,
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  experience is everybody's responsibility.
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  It's all hands on deck deck. It's not
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  nursing. It's not physicians, but it's everyone,
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  associated with experience, whether you how you answer
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  the phone, how how you greet someone in
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  the hallway, but just really making sure that,
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  for us, that's a differentiator.
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  So that that patient experience is one that's
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  top of mind for me.
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  Thank you. And talk about your area that
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  you oversee.
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  Are you overseeing three hospitals currently, or where
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  are you at currently? Yep. Two hospitals,
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  a total of a a little over 450
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  beds between the two.
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  Yeah. When you look at the hospitals and
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  the clinics that I have responsibility for,
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  little north of 10,000 people that kinda report
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  up to me, directly and indirectly.
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  So it's a it's a big operation,
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  but we have a big presence here in
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  the Sacramento area. If you you take Sacramento
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  and the
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  adjoining city that's Roseville,
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  we have nearly a million Kaiser members in
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  that area. We'll we'll soon hit a million
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  probably by 2030.
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  And so making sure we have our assets
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  aligned correctly, making sure we're creating the experience
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  for those members is is top of mind.
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  That is remarkable.
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  And when you think about when you get
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  get up in the morning,
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  what do you look at as the number
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  one thing you have to focus on each
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  day? Is is it a people thing? Is
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  it a user experience
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  situation?
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  It's it's a people thing. We're we're in
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  a people business, and, you know, I I've
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  I've really stayed focused on culture and how
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  we develop it.
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  And I I I know that I talk
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  about culture every day, and I'm sure my
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  team gets
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  tired of me talking about it. But it's
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  a I think there have been times when
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  talks and and discussions and management of culture
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  was a nice to have. It's clearly a
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  must have now. And so
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  really making sure that everyone, no matter what
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  their role is in the organization,
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  knows how their role ties into
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  our overall mission.
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  So whether it's answering the phone or it's
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  cleaning a room or a nurse or physician,
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  whether it's,
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  changing light bulbs,
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  Everyone needs to understand how they connect to
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  the mission. And a big part of my
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  my job is making sure we have a
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  culture that supports that, that people feel as
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  if their voices are heard and respected, and
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  that they have a say so in how
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  they do the work.
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  Thank you. And and you've got an operation,
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  includes million person catchment area, about 10,000 people
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  directing your operation.
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  In terms of scan of leadership, when you
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  think about scan of leadership,
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  how many people do you directly visit with
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  each day
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  that are sort of, like, direct
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  if not reports, direct colleagues?
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  And then how do you make sure that
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  what you're trying to accomplish gets cascaded throughout
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  the organization?
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  That that's a good question. And and you
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  put it very well because a lot of
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  people don't report to me. You know, we
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  we have matrix organizations, so they're people who
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  have dotted lines to me, dotted lines to
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  other people. But, you know, we we there's
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  a a singular focus on keeping our members
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  at the center.
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  But to give you a number, I have
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  two teams at in each of the hospitals
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  with a set of,
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  chief operating officers. I have quality leaders. I
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  have a a,
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  a finance officer.
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  We do direct report rounding every day, and
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  so I touch you know, a lot of,
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  you know, those that team every day. But
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  we huddle,
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  we use a system of of huddles to
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  to connect with each other to make sure
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  that we have what we need to be
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  successful that day to make sure that we
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  are,
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  that our team's full support and they have
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  awareness of any situational
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  impediments that might keep us from delivering the
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  best work care we can. So it's it
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  is,
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  it truly is
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  and you've known me for a while, Scott.
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  I treat it as a team sport.
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  I I really try to lift up every
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  leader that's with me and and help them
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  evolve,
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  but it's it's really you know, if I
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  had to say if I had to describe
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  my job, I'd say it's head coach. I'd
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  I'd I I view myself more as a
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  head coach than anything.
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  What advice do you give to emerging leaders?
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  You you've raised wonderful children who are emerging
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  leaders. What advice would you give to emerging
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  leaders? What advice would you give to your
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  your, you you know, at least some of
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  them, nearly adult children?
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  Right. Yeah.
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  Well, three things I I'd I'd focus on.
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  One, to emerging leaders
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  have rigor around work life harmony.
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  I've seen so many people come into professional
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  careers and particularly in the health care,
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  lose sight of balance
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  and,
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  they lose you see them lose their health.
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  Their health, degrade. And so making sure you
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  have rigor around managing
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  not just your professional life, but also your
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  personal life and taking care of yourself. So
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  that that's one.
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  Get close to the work. You can't leave
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  from a dashboard.
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  You have to walk around. I I jokingly
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  say you have to walk in the basement
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  of a hospital to get to understand what's
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  going on. And so really get close to
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  work. Again, manage by walking around.
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  Go to the front lines and see how
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  people are doing the work, making sure that
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  they have what they need, listen to their
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  problems.
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  A lot of times when you
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  you
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  rise in leadership,
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  there there could be filters under you that
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  keep you from hearing exactly what's happening. So
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  it's critical that you round and and stay
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  close to the work.
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  And then I think the last thing I
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  would say is stay curious.
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  The quality I'm looking for in leaders is
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  intellectual curiosity,
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  making sure that you're curious about problems.
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  And and not just about problems, but but
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  even about successes. You're always in a mode
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  of learning, trying to iterate and get better.
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  That's what our patients want, and I think
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  we should want that of ourselves. Making sure
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  you keep that that intellectual curiosity that you
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  have wonderment about the work that helps you
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  get better, that helps you improve in the
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  service you deliver.
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  Thank you so much. And I and I
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  I love all of that. I particularly love
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  to stay close to the work. I always
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  find that the further I get disconnected from
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  the actual work that teammates are doing that
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  people are doing, the less effective I am
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  as a leader. So I I I think
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  there's something so strong about that. You you
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  said it really well. You can't manage just
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  looking at KPIs. They're important, but you gotta
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  be that plus close to the work to
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  really understand where you can have an influence
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  or where your people could make a difference
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  and how they can thrive.
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  Doctor Robinson, I just love that.
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  Anything else you'd like to share with the
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  listeners today? Again, doctor Jay Robinson, brilliant leader
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  at Kaiser Permanente.
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  Anything else you'd like to share with me?
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  Thing I'd like to to share, and it's
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  something I'm really proud of. It's and there's
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  probably two things. The first is
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  I think we we broke ground on a
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  new hospital,
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  and it's gonna redefine
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  the look of Sacramento. And it's it's in
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  the rail yards area of Sacramento, and I'm
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  so excited about it. It'll be a new
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  hospital, 310
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  beds,
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  all electric.
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  But but beyond just being a new building,
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  it's gonna redefine health care in Sacramento for
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  for decades.
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  And and so really proud of of being
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  able to do that and watch that come
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  to life,
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  and what it represents to our members and
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  to this this entire community. Really thrilled to
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  be a part of that. And the last
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  thing I say that I'm really excited about
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  is
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  we're doing and just you know, I just
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  talked about building hospital. We're doing so many
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  things to try to help,
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  patients avoid hospitalizations,
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  whether it's acute care at home, whether it's
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  palliative, you know, directly admitting people to palliative
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  care or SNFs from an emergency room.
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  We have a a mode of care called
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  ambulatory treatment centers where it's what allows you
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  to get a treatment that otherwise would have
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  taken you to the hospital, but you get
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  it done as an outpatient.
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  So looking for ways to avoid that hospitalization
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  so that the hospital is safe for people
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  who really have to be there, I'm so
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  happy that we're leaning into that approach to
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  care. I think our patients are happier about
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  it, and I know that's the best model
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  of care.
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  Thank you so much. Remarkable what you're doing.
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  Remarkable watching your career, Jay. Thank you so
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  much for joining us on the Becker's Healthcare
• 12:41
  Podcast today. What a pleasure. Thank you so
• 12:43
  much. So much, Scott. Great to be here.