Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / William A. Wertheim, Executive Vice President at Stony Brook Medicine

Transcript

William A. Wertheim, Executive Vice President at Stony Brook Medicine · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  The most important health care decisions don't happen
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  in isolation.
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  They happen when leaders come together.
• 0:08
  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings together more than
• 0:11
  3,500
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  hospital and health system executives this April in
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  Chicago.
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  With 800 speakers from Ascension,
• 0:18
  Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit and more, the conversations get
• 0:22
  real. Leaders will share how their scenario planning
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  for policy shifts, breaking through value based care
• 0:27
  barriers, and building clinical teams that translate
• 0:46
  Hello everyone, and welcome to Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm Scott King. Thrilled today to be joined
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  by a very special guest, William Wertheim, executive
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  vice president over at Stony Brook Medicine. William,
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  how are you doing today? Thanks so much
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  for joining us on the podcast.
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  Thank you so much for having me, Scott.
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  You know, we have a lot of big,
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  topics to get to in health care. But
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  before I do that, I was wondering if
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  if you could just please kinda introduce yourself
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  and tell us a little about your background
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  in in your system.
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  Sure. Of course.
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  I am a general internist by training.
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  I do still see patients, actually.
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  And I oversee Stony Brook Medicine, which is
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  a four hospital system.
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  It also has over 200 ambulatory sites around
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  Suffolk County predominantly,
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  which is the eastern most county in Long
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  Island.
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  And, we have five health science schools that
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  also
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  I oversee.
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  We, are a $3,000,000,000
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  enterprise and we employ about 14,000
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  people.
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  Suffolk County, which has a population of 1,500,000
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  people is Suffolk County, is the county's only,
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  we are the county's only academic medical center.
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  We have a level one trauma center. We
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  have a very advanced heart center, neurosciences
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  center,
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  cancer center.
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  We do an enormous amount of
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  specialized care as well as primary care and
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  everything in between.
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  And we really try to
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  blend education and research into everything that we
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  do so that our patients can get best
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  possible care.
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  Yeah. I appreciate you appreciate you sharing all
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  that that information. It's great to hear about
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  all the resources that Stony Brook has to
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  offer. You know, the first the first topic
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  I wanted to ask you about, William, is,
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  you know, obviously, there's always so much going
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  on in healthcare, but, you know, kind of
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  still towards the beginning of a new year,
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  things with emerging technology and and government regulations,
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  it feels like there's a lot going on
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  still right now. So what trends are you
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  watching currently?
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  Well, there is so much
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  financial pressure on on health systems and hospitals
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  and practices.
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  A lot of it is related to what
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  you alluded to about the,
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  changes going on in Washington as well as
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  things that are occurring on a state level.
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  And at the same time,
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  you know, we have a lot of work
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  workforce shortages
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  in the industry.
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  There's a lot of competition for,
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  health care workers,
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  of all stripes. And so that puts a
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  lot of pressure on hospitals. So I think
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  some of what I'm watching is I'm watching
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  how people respond to that, whether they are,
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  trying to be more unified, more consolidated,
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  more integrated
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  in their business strategies and their clinical operations,
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  more aligned from one branch to another.
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  And that's certainly the approach that we are
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  taking.
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  And at the same time, the degree to
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  which,
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  they are trying to
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  utilize technology
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  to perhaps offset,
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  you you know, offset some of their costs.
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  And that could be everything from,
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  you know, using,
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  AI powered listening
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  apps to,
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  you know, to help people write notes, be
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  they nurses or physicians,
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  and so that they can be more efficient
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  and see a couple more patients in a
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  in a session or a shift,
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  to financial
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  software that really helps improve their revenue cycle.
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  Those are really the kinds of things that
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  I'm particularly paying close attention to.
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  What do you think you're most focused on
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  and excited about with your work with Storybook
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  right now?
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  Well, there's a few things I'm very excited
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  about. You know, we,
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  we view ourselves as the provider for all
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  the communities in our county.
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  And to me, that's extremely important,
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  trying to make sure that we are meeting
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  the county's needs when it comes to,
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  kinds of care that's needed,
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  whether it is primary care, health education,
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  specialty care,
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  and really embedding embedding that care in the
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  communities.
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  A great example of that is,
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  last May, we opened up a freestanding emergency
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  department
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  in East Hampton, which is on the South
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  Fork Of Long Island. The Hamptons are sort
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  of a skinny little peninsula that,
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  you know, that jut out on the East
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  End Of Long Island like
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  the the tail of the fish.
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  And,
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  it was really, really very important to have
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  another emergency facility there because particularly in the
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  summer months because it's a narrow strip, it
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  can take two to three hours
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  to get to,
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  the nearest
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  pre existing emergency facility in Stony Brook Southampton
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  Hospital.
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  So that's just sort of an example of
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  meeting a community's need
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  and really changing the changing the dynamic in
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  the community.
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  I've worked hard also to really try to
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  align
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  our organization.
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  We've
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  undertaken a fair amount of structural transformation,
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  shared governance,
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  a shared approach to business decision making and,
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  a way to align both the clinical
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  and the academic needs of our organization.
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  And, you know, I think that's actually very
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  important because
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  when you are looking at managing a big
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  organization,
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  you really do need to make sure that
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  division aligns with the reality.
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  And, you know, we can't just say
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  we want to be doing what's important for
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  our communities and we want to be providing
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  the best possible care unless you are
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  ensuring that the structure and the way the
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  the organization
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  is is organized, really,
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  mirrors that and supports that in everything that
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  we do. So I'm really very proud of
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  that.
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  How do you make sure that that vision
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  I think it's a one of the thing
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  you said, maybe it's that vision aligns. How
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  do you how do you do that? Is
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  it just through regular communication with team members?
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  Yeah. I mean, that's part of it. You
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  you you can never communicate too much.
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  And so we have sort of regular governance
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  meetings, of course, with a lot of
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  my leadership team and,
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  you know, I try to bring that information
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  out to people about some of the things
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  that are going on as well as some
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  of the pressures we're facing.
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  You know, there are, you know, the same
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  financial headwinds or government regulation headwinds that that
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  all of us face in this industry.
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  And I think it's important to be upfront
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  about that and how we are managing me
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  managing that with, you know, all of the
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  people who work here. And it also means
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  going out and talking to them and meeting
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  them where they are,
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  whether it's a lunch meeting or a town
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  hall or just a site visit or walking
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  around.
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  You know, for example, we do this thing
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  called red sneaker rounds in the hospital where,
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  we go and we talk to staff members.
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  We are wearing red sneakers. That's the Stony
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  Brook color. That's why it's called red sneaker
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  rounds.
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  And, we talk to them about some of
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  the problems that they're facing and,
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  are they able to get the work done?
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  And they see us helping them and answering
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  any questions that they have and fixing any,
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  you know, any problems or removing any barriers
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  that they have.
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  And making sure they know what their resources
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  are. And so when people see you doing
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  that,
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  you know, being out there in the organization,
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  you know, you,
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  I think that really,
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  underscores
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  the fact that you're living the values that
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  you are talking about. So it's a combination
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  of communication
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  and actually being there.
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  You know, I think if you imagine
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  our organization as a big, you know, a
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  big dance floor,
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  sometimes you have to be dancing and you
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  have to be,
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  showing people that you know what you know,
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  how to dance. And sometimes you have to
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  stand on the balcony and look at the
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  pattern of what people are doing and make
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  sure that you know what to what changes
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  to make to make sure that, the party
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  can continue.
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  Yeah. I think it's another great point you
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  made there in regards to leadership, William. It's
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  just that, yeah, obviously, communication and in-depth communication
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  and consistent communication can go a long way,
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  but sometimes a leader just being visible, you
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  know, just being being seen. It can mean
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  a lot
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  to to team members.
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  And kind of staying on on leadership here,
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  I was just curious,
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  what advice would you give to evolving leaders
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  in healthcare right now?
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  Well,
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  a couple of things. One, I would say,
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  you know, keeping that mission at the the
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  center. You know, it's not only about making
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  sure that your organization thrives. It's about making
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  sure that you yourself
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  as a leader thrive. If you can keep
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  focused in
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  on what your core values are, what your
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  mission is, why you're doing this,
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  then it's a lot,
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  it's a lot easier to withstand some of
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  the the pressures and vicissitudes of the job.
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  And I think that's really important. You know,
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  what gives us at the end of the
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  day satisfaction
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  in the work that we do
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  is knowing that we have been true to
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  our values
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  and we've worked to make the world a
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  a little bit of a better place, at
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  least our corner of it. So that's one
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  thing. And then the second thing is,
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  you know, you really I think it's really
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  important to balance that,
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  you know, that ability to
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  look critically at what we're doing, what any
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  organization is doing, and think about ways, you
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  know, gathering your leadership team and and discussing
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  ways to make it better,
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  as well as talking to people
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  who are doing the work every day.
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  You know, it that I think is is
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  really important.
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  You know, the last thing I'll say, and
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  I say this a lot because
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  he was a very influential person in in
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  my life, but I had a
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  a mentor and professor who,
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  told me that,
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  with a whole class, you know, said this
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  in in class, that the fundamental pathology of
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  a bureaucracy is that the customer becomes the
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  enemy.
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  And anytime
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  in health care or any business,
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  you know, that you are thinking to yourself
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  that the people that you're trying to serve
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  are somehow in the opposite
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  court as you and not on the same
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  side, then you have to rethink what you're
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  doing.
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  And it's really actually helped me kind of
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  overcome a lot of barriers, I think, in,
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  in in managing a big organization.
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  Yeah. I I think that's a a wonderful
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  lesson on, you know, accountability there to to
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  close on, William. Thank you so much for
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  a great conversation and for joining the podcast.
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  Look forward to working with you again
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  soon. I look forward to it too. And
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  again, thank you so much for having me
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  on.
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  Thank you.