Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Davin Lundquist, MD and Family Physician at CommonSpirit Health & Chief Medical Officer at Augmedix

Transcript

Davin Lundquist, MD and Family Physician at CommonSpirit Health & Chief Medical Officer at Augmedix · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast series. I am Maria Mohammed,
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  she her pronouns with Becker's Healthcare,
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  and I am absolutely thrilled to have with me today Dr. Davin Lundquist,
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  family physician at Common Spirit Health. Dr. So nice to talk with you today.
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  How are you?
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  I'm doing great. It's nice to be here.
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  Yeah, of course. Well, to begin,
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  would you mind please introducing yourself and telling us a bit about your
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  background?
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  Well, my name is Davin Quist, and you know, maybe I'll just start with,
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  uh, you know, sort of the college level. Uh, I,
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  I ended up in Los Angeles going to OC Dental College, uh,
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  mostly because I wanted to continue my,
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  my small limited football career at a small school. Um,
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  and that was a good match, and they had a good pre-med program.
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  So I majored in kinesiology and minored in Spanish. Uh, then, you know,
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  moved on to uscs Keck School of Medicine, also in Los Angeles.
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  During that time at usc, the, you know, the sticker shock of a private, uh,
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  tuition, uh, got me interested in the Navy. So I joined the,
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  the Navy at that time, and they helped, uh, pay for my medical school.
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  And then I went on to a Navy residency up in Bremerton, Washington. This was,
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  uh, prior to sort of the EMRs really taking hold. Um,
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  and so at that time I kind of got my first foray into,
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  um, thinking of ways to solve problems in healthcare.
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  And I designed a, a little database to track high risk OB patients.
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  Um, and I guess, uh, even before, uh, you know,
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  informatics existed as a, as a field, I was,
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  I was sort of dabbling in that a little bit. Um, you know, years later,
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  um, after finishing my time with the Navy, which was awesome, um, you know,
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  I got into, uh, you know, the private sector and,
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  and was working for different health systems. And I, I, in 2012,
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  I became the first ambulatory C M I O for what was then Catholic Healthcare
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  West, um, their, you know, California division. And, uh,
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  about a year later they became Dignity Health.
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  And then seven or eight years after that, they became Common Spirit. And,
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  uh, I know when that was formed, that merger, they,
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  they were the largest nonprofit in the country. I don't know if that's the case.
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  Uh, could be. Um, but I think it's, you know, been in,
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  it's been a great interesting time to be part of healthcare to kind of see,
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  you know, the consolidation and, and the way that, um, you know,
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  healthcare has evolved to adapt to, uh, the,
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  the new challenges that we're facing. Um, so back in 2013,
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  um, as in that role as, uh, C M I O,
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  I began using a tech-enabled solution called Doc Medics.
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  I sort of became known as the Google Glass Doctor amongst my colleagues at
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  Dignity. And you know, that, that technology helps connect, uh,
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  you know, documentation specialists with,
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  with providers to help with their notes. And as we all know, with the emr,
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  that's a, a challenge. And then in the beginning of 2000, I, uh, I,
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  I left sort of my administrative roles with Common Spirit and, and, or 2020,
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  sorry, joined, uh, OG medics as their first cmo. Uh,
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  cause that was right before the pandemic, so it's been an interesting few years.
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  Um, so today I still see patients part-time, uh, in,
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  as in a clinic here in Camillo, California as part of Common Spirit.
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  And then the other part of my time is split, uh, as model vach medics.
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  Perfect.
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  Thank you so much for giving us that background and with all your experience.
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  The first question I wanted to ask you is,
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  what opportunities in headwinds do you have your eye on right now?
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  You know, I'll start with headwinds. Um, I think, you know,
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  there are some common themes in healthcare right now. Staffing shortages,
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  I think is the, is maybe top of mind for a lot of organizations. And,
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  and honestly that's from, you know,
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  the front lines all the way up to our physicians.
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  We've known that, you know,
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  physic there would be a physician shortage at some point, um, as the, you know,
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  the population was growing, et cetera. Um, but I think, uh,
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  the economic situation has really surprised, I think, uh,
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  a lot of industries including healthcare with, you know, the lack of, uh,
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  you know, available, uh, you know, people to staff our,
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  our offices and our hospitals and and whatnot. And so I think people are,
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  are adapting to that. Um, obviously, you know, everyone hears about the nurses,
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  um, you know, and the need for those, for them. And, uh,
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  what's interesting is, you know,
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  you think about our ability to kind of replace both physicians and nurses
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  and these licensed professionals and, um, you know,
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  you can't just tap into some, you know, temp marketplace. You know,
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  there's a, there's a, there's a runway, right? To get these people trained.
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  There's bottlenecks in terms of, you know, mentoring and like people, you know,
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  they need to have their clinical rotations. Those happen at hospitals that are,
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  you know, using existing people where there's already shortages. So it's a,
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  it's a unique challenge. I'm sure we'll figure it out. But right now,
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  I think that's one of the biggest headwinds along with just the, the,
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  the other sort of economic challenges that exist, um,
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  related to inflation and sort of the global, um, you know,
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  stagnation around, you know, infrastructure and, you know, supply chains and,
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  and whatnot. Um, and I think, uh,
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  all of that sort of feeds into this big problem of burnout,
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  clinician burnout, both, you know, physicians, nurses, you know, at all levels.
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  People are, are really being asked to do more with less. Um, and,
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  and I, I think that's our biggest challenge right now. Um,
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  so the opportunity is sort of related to that as well. I think that, uh,
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  you know, technology is,
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  is taking off in ways we haven't seen before with the advent of, you know,
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  artificial intelligence and, you know, we're seeing, you know, these things in,
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  in the news today. And the ability to handle large,
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  complex amounts of data very quickly and, and create an, you know,
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  repetitive type task, um, I think can help, you know, offset,
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  uh, some of this burnout, right? Um,
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  obviously in healthcare we have to be very strategic and smart about where we
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  introduce these things. Um, it's not, you know, like booking a reservation for,
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  for dinner, right? Like, like people's lives and health is,
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  is that is on the line.
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  So we have to be very thoughtful and careful about the way that we introduce
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  these technologies, but I think that they can really help, you know,
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  in areas to, you know, offset the, the shortage of,
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  and hopefully decrease the burnout and increase the quality of life of the
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  people that are out there, you know, saving lives.
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  Yeah, definitely. Thank you so much for that insight.
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  You definitely made some great points. And the next question I want to ask you,
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  doctor,
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  is how are you thinking about growth and adding value to your organization?
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  I think the pandemic has created a lot of demand for healthcare services.
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  You know, a lot of the elective stuff has, you know, backed up.
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  I also think that, um, you know,
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  our planet is evolving in a way where there's an increased interest in health
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  and wellness, and so you kind of have this interesting sort of dual,
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  you know, uh, dichotomy of demand for healthcare, which is, you know,
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  you have people that are almost getting sicker, um, because you know,
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  the stress, uh, that either covid or, you know,
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  all these new vaccines and, and just, you know,
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  upending life and changing in such a way, um, that, you know,
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  I think stress has created a really demand in some of the areas that I've seen
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  in my own practices, you know, neurological services,
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  gastroenterology and GI and, and cardiac where, you know,
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  and I think that's kind of makes sense to me because I feel like when people
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  are stressed either, you know, emotionally, psychologically, or just with,
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  you know, what they're consuming in terms of diet and,
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  and lack of good lifestyle choices,
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  I feel like those are the systems that sort of are, are hit by the stress that,
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  you know, maybe the quickest. Um,
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  it also feels like there's been an uptake of cancers. Again,
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  I don't have any numbers here, but this is just in my personal practice,
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  which has really been interesting to see where that stress is,
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  is manifesting in people's health.
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  And so I think if healthcare can step up and meet the demand for these
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  services,
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  I think they'll add a lot of value to their patient base and hopefully get
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  people kind of back on track. And then the other area, I think is, you know,
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  which is, um, maybe there's being a little more proactive, right?
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  And sort of partnering with companies that, um,
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  are focused on health and wellness. And I,
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  I think people really want to feel their best and have energy and vitality
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  so that they can accomplish the things that they wanna accomplish.
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  And so I think it's just a great time to be in healthcare.
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  Yeah, absolutely.
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  I've spoken to a lot of healthcare executives who feel the same way about
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  being in healthcare right now. And the next thing I wanted to ask you is,
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  what is one risk or investment worth making this year?
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  Well, again, I, I talked a little bit about this.
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  I think we're kind of seeing a little divergent economy forming.
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  There's a challenge at the infrastructure level, right? We're seeing inflation,
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  we're seeing empty real estate because of this new world that we live in, right?
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  And because of the, the stresses on the, on the planet,
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  people are coming up with, you know, amazing new science and technology and,
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  and biotech and artificial intelligence, et cetera, right?
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  And so there's gonna be tremendous growth, I think, in those areas,
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  but the infrastructure side, it's gonna be a challenge, right?
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  And healthcare has always struggled with, you know, very low narrow margins,
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  you know, single digits to some extent. And, uh,
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  and I think healthcare is particularly challenging because unlike
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  other industries where you can just adapt to supply and demand, uh,
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  it's harder to do that in healthcare. You know, you can't, um,
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  you don't know what's gonna walk through your emergency room doors, right?
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  Like you can't exactly, you know, predict, um, you know,
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  when you're gonna have a rush of people. And so you,
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  there's a minimal level of staffing that healthcare system you need to have in
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  order to sort of be available to do the right thing, right?
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  Which is to keep our population as healthy as possible and to save lives.
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  And so, um, I think it creates a, a challenging dynamic.
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  So hopefully healthcare systems that they sort of keep the trains running and
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  keep the lights on and make sure that we can take care of our population, um,
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  can also take advantage maybe partnering with some of these companies in biotech
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  and, and artificial intelligence and,
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  and other things so that they can benefit where the growth is happening,
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  you know,
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  from a economic standpoint while we sort of weather the other side of the storm,
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  you know, whether the storm on the other side of the economy,
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  which is more on the infrastructure and inflation side. Um,
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  and so I think hopefully people at those levels are,
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  are willing to take those risks.
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  Yeah, definitely. And Doctor, before I let you go,
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  the last thing that I wanted to ask you is,
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  where do you see the best opportunities for growth in the future?
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  Well, for many years now, people have been talking about value-based care,
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  moving to more of a population health model. You know, we're seeing, you know,
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  at the highest level with C M S and others making, you know,
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  incremental changes to move us in that direction. Uh,
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  there's even some medical groups that are like, that's all they focus on, right?
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  Is, you know, Medicare advantage or something along those lines.
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  And so we're seeing pockets of that, you know, pop up. But, you know,
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  by and large, I think, um, healthcare, uh, is such a big shift,
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  if you will, that needs to turn that it's gonna take time for us to get there.
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  But I think the underpinnings of that current are taking us in the direction of
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  value-based care.
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  And so I think to the extent that we can begin to put stuff in place now
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  to be ready for that, when we're really like all in that direction,
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  uh, will make sense. Um, but I also think that um, you know,
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  being smart by implementing, you know,
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  the right kinds of technologies to help us sort of navigate that and, and,
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  and help with the change management that will need to take place as people adapt
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  to this sort of new world in healthcare. But also I think,
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  um, you know, outcomes gets talked about a lot, right? And I think,
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  um, tying, you know, value to outcomes is important,
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  but I think we shouldn't put too much weight on that.
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  I think also, you know,
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  figuring out a way to reward our people, you know,
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  from physicians on down for the right kinds of behavior that we know is
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  impactful and that they have control over.
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  Cuz we don't always have control over the outcomes, you know, depending on,
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  you know, patient behavior, whether they follow, you know,
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  the recommendations or the guidelines. Um,
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  but I think organizations that have great culture and can sort of reward
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  people for the right kinds of behaviors and can really incentivize them to,
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  to behave in a way that we know aligns with the right values, uh,
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  would help, uh, you know,
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  really promote growth in healthcare in a way that would keep everybody getting
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  value out of the system.
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  Absolutely. Thank you so much for those final thoughts. Doctor,
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  this has been an amazing discussion.
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  So I wanna thank you so much for coming on Beck's Healthcare and I look forward
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  to connecting with you again soon.
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  Thanks. It was my pleasure. Appreciate you having me.
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