Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building Stronger Rehab Care Through Culture and Innovation with Dr. John Wood II

Transcript

Building Stronger Rehab Care Through Culture and Innovation with Dr. John Wood II · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:01
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
• 0:04
  - leaders right now is not a shortlist.
• 0:07
  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
• 0:09
  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
• 0:12
  - favor,
• 0:12
  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
• 0:15
  - and discipline,
• 0:16
  - and a workforce story
• 0:18
  - that is still being written.
• 0:20
  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
• 0:23
  - more than 1,500
• 0:25
  - executive level attendees and nearly 400 speakers across
• 0:28
  - four days
• 0:29
  - that are designed to help c suite leaders
• 0:31
  - benchmark, pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
• 0:35
  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
• 0:37
  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
• 0:39
  - It's the kind of event you leave with
• 0:40
  - a clear sense of where you stand and
• 0:42
  - what comes next.
• 0:44
  - So join us November second through the fifth
• 0:46
  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, and come
• 0:48
  - ready to do the hard thinking.
• 0:50
  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:54
  - by clicking on the events tab in the
• 0:56
  - upper right.
• 0:57
  - This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:01
  - Podcast.
• 1:02
  - It's real today to be joined by a
• 1:04
  - brilliant leader. We're joined today by John Wood.
• 1:08
  - John's the chief executive officer of the PM
• 1:11
  - Health Rehabilitation
• 1:12
  - Hospital Sugar Land.
• 1:14
  - A a a fascinating career, has done a
• 1:16
  - lot of interesting things.
• 1:18
  - John, so looking forward to visiting with you
• 1:20
  - today.
• 1:21
  - I know you've also got your doctorate, so
• 1:25
  - maybe more appropriate to call you doctor Wood.
• 1:27
  - So thank you so much. Can you tell
• 1:29
  - us a bit about yourself
• 1:31
  - and about the PAM Rehabilitation
• 1:33
  - Hospital that you lead?
• 1:35
  - Yes. Absolutely. Good afternoon, and thank you for
• 1:37
  - the opportunity, Scott.
• 1:39
  - So like you said, my name is John
• 1:41
  - Wood. I am the chief executive officer at
• 1:44
  - PAM's Rehab Hospital here in Sugar Land, which
• 1:46
  - is a suburb in Southwest Houston.
• 1:49
  - PAM Health is based out of Enola, Pennsylvania
• 1:52
  - and operates inpatient rehab hospitals and long term
• 1:55
  - acute care hospitals across The US.
• 1:58
  - We have 41 beds at our Sugar Land
• 2:00
  - facility, and we also offer outpatient physical therapy,
• 2:04
  - occupational therapy, and speech therapy as part of
• 2:07
  - our continuum
• 2:09
  - of care.
• 2:10
  - You did mention,
• 2:12
  - the doctorate there. I also do serve as
• 2:14
  - an adjunct professor of business and health care
• 2:16
  - administration, where I teach bachelor's and master's level
• 2:19
  - courses in health care management,
• 2:21
  - quality practices,
• 2:22
  - ethics,
• 2:23
  - health care policy and regulation,
• 2:25
  - and emerging trends in health care.
• 2:27
  - I also precept health care administration
• 2:30
  - students through their residency where they spend a
• 2:32
  - semester shadowing
• 2:33
  - and working on a capstone project to help
• 2:35
  - improve
• 2:36
  - improve health care operations.
• 2:39
  - Couple of recent projects focused on patient satisfaction
• 2:42
  - and streamlining the discharge process across all disciplines
• 2:45
  - here in our hospital.
• 2:47
  - Thank you. And and and take a second.
• 2:50
  - So much of our time is spent on
• 2:52
  - sort of with traditional acute care hospitals and
• 2:55
  - health systems.
• 2:56
  - Sure. Talk about, if you don't mind, the
• 2:58
  - the main trends that you see and that
• 3:00
  - are watching
• 3:01
  - in the rehab hospital world. You know, what
• 3:04
  - are those main things that what let's assume
• 3:07
  - you're talking some of the people that are
• 3:08
  - in rehab hospitals, but some that are really
• 3:10
  - outside of that. What are some of the
• 3:12
  - things that people should be thinking about
• 3:14
  - in sort of the rehab hospital world?
• 3:17
  - What are the trends?
• 3:18
  - Yeah. Absolutely.
• 3:20
  - So
• 3:20
  - so let me start first start with just
• 3:23
  - a a trend in general. So, you know,
• 3:25
  - you talked about my doctorate, which I did
• 3:27
  - recently
• 3:28
  - complete, at AT Still University. I'd I'd wrote
• 3:31
  - my dissertation
• 3:33
  - on how organizational
• 3:34
  - culture and employee engagement affect employee intent to
• 3:38
  - stay or leave their organization. So this particular
• 3:41
  - topic helped me focus on an issue
• 3:44
  - we are seeing across the industry,
• 3:46
  - with high employee turnover. So this this was
• 3:49
  - a qualitative
• 3:51
  - phenomenology study that used focus groups to understand
• 3:54
  - lived experiences
• 3:55
  - related
• 3:56
  - to the three research
• 3:58
  - constructs of organizational culture, employee engagement,
• 4:02
  - and employee turnover
• 4:03
  - of interdisciplinary
• 4:04
  - employees at post acute care facilities across the
• 4:07
  - state of Texas.
• 4:09
  - So this resulted in
• 4:11
  - basically
• 4:12
  - a concept map that leaders can use to
• 4:15
  - understand,
• 4:16
  - you know, how they can work with their
• 4:18
  - staff,
• 4:20
  - health care employees,
• 4:21
  - and what's important to them from an organizational
• 4:23
  - culture standpoint, such as leadership,
• 4:26
  - communication,
• 4:27
  - teamwork, quality outcomes,
• 4:29
  - and alignment with the mission, vision, and values.
• 4:32
  - It also outlines areas that affect employee engagement,
• 4:35
  - such as burnout,
• 4:36
  - employee wellness,
• 4:38
  - compensation,
• 4:39
  - and growth opportunities.
• 4:41
  - In the end, employees to have a positive
• 4:43
  - experience with culture and engagement
• 4:46
  - are more likely to stay, whereas employees who
• 4:48
  - have negative experiences or are more likely to
• 4:51
  - leave. So from a culture standpoint, and I
• 4:54
  - actually have an opportunity, I'm talking about this
• 4:56
  - in November,
• 4:58
  - at the CEO CFO roundtable,
• 5:01
  - talking about culture moves every CEO
• 5:04
  - should be prioritizing. So I think, globally, that's
• 5:07
  - what we need to be looking at from
• 5:08
  - health care, but you did ask specifically
• 5:11
  - to to research. So at PAM
• 5:13
  - here as an inpatient rehab provider,
• 5:16
  - we're a community partner to larger health systems
• 5:19
  - such as Houston Methodist and Memorial Hermann.
• 5:22
  - So we're prioritizing
• 5:23
  - and monitoring key performance indicators, such as return
• 5:26
  - to acute, hospital acquired infections, falls,
• 5:29
  - and patient satisfaction that not only affect ourself,
• 5:32
  - but affect those partner hospitals and and the
• 5:35
  - community that we work closely with as part
• 5:37
  - of their continuum of care.
• 5:39
  - So specifically, we're focused on disease specific certifications
• 5:43
  - that help serve our patient population
• 5:45
  - while helping align with these health systems and
• 5:47
  - the population that we're serving in our Sugar
• 5:50
  - Land community.
• 5:52
  - So therefore, outside of our typical rehab population,
• 5:55
  - we have a focus on specialty programs for
• 5:58
  - CHF, COPD,
• 5:59
  - you know, those high return to acute risk
• 6:02
  - patients
• 6:03
  - along with stroke and and neuro programs, wound
• 6:05
  - care programs, amputee programs, and oncology.
• 6:08
  - So we actually operate one of the only
• 6:11
  - 15 national pulmonary rehab programs,
• 6:14
  - across the country here, and and that allows
• 6:16
  - our patients access to twenty four seven respiratory
• 6:19
  - therapy,
• 6:20
  - that you're not gonna find it at every
• 6:22
  - inpatient rehab hospital, but it it is a
• 6:24
  - necessity for this patient population. So that gives
• 6:27
  - you a little insight to specific rehab operations
• 6:30
  - and how we operate in the continuum and
• 6:32
  - how we operate with, you know, these larger
• 6:35
  - health systems that are operate operating ACOs.
• 6:38
  - It was a it's a, you know, fantastic
• 6:40
  - fantastic. And and and take a second. People
• 6:43
  - talk about, you know, this famous quote, culture
• 6:46
  - eats strategy for breakfast.
• 6:48
  - I'm a believer that it's culture and strategy,
• 6:51
  - not just culture, but you gotta have both.
• 6:53
  - What are your thoughts on that? Do you
• 6:55
  - you you you spend a lot of time
• 6:56
  - studying culture, and, obviously, so important to get
• 6:58
  - the right culture to keep the right team.
• 7:00
  - You can't do anything with the right team.
• 7:02
  - It really aligned and moving in the right
• 7:04
  - direction. But how do you view this quote
• 7:06
  - culture strategy for breakfast, and and how do
• 7:08
  - you think about that? Well, I mean I
• 7:11
  - mean, I think that this culture is really
• 7:13
  - it's it's like a personality. Right? So as
• 7:15
  - as a healthcare organization,
• 7:17
  - we have unique personalities
• 7:20
  - and and culture has to be a driving
• 7:22
  - force behind that personality. I mean, you can
• 7:25
  - there's so many different
• 7:27
  - competitors in health care and things like that.
• 7:29
  - We're all working towards the same goals. You
• 7:32
  - know, we all want what's best for the
• 7:33
  - patient. We all want great outcomes. We all
• 7:35
  - want, you know, these KPIs to be met.
• 7:38
  - But it's what gets patients to come into
• 7:41
  - the door here at our particular
• 7:43
  - facility and location? And that's where, you know,
• 7:46
  - working for an organization like PAM that's rooted
• 7:48
  - in these core values and, you know, having
• 7:50
  - a welcoming environment for patients and their families
• 7:53
  - to come to and and recover. You know?
• 7:55
  - Right? Most of these patients have gone through
• 7:57
  - some type of catastrophic injury illness or they're
• 8:00
  - having an exacerbation
• 8:02
  - of a chronic illness. So just really, welcoming,
• 8:05
  - you know, outcomes driven,
• 8:08
  - highly satisfied.
• 8:10
  - You know, we have a lot of family
• 8:11
  - members that are coming into the building to
• 8:13
  - visit and participating in care. So I think
• 8:16
  - that when you say, you know, culture and
• 8:18
  - strategy, they have to align. We have to
• 8:20
  - be able to.
• 8:22
  - We call this a boutique hospital here. It
• 8:25
  - looks nice, but also, you know, the people
• 8:26
  - that work here are highly invested in outcomes,
• 8:29
  - and that's the environment that we like to
• 8:31
  - provide.
• 8:32
  - Love that. And when you look at the
• 8:34
  - next six months, the next twelve months,
• 8:37
  - what are you most focused on the next
• 8:39
  - six to twelve months?
• 8:41
  - Sure. Yeah. So,
• 8:43
  - it's hard to not focus on any type
• 8:45
  - of AI. So we're seeing a lot of
• 8:47
  - AI technology trends,
• 8:49
  - and we have to be both open minded
• 8:51
  - and cautious when we look at those trends.
• 8:53
  - So I say cautious because there has to
• 8:56
  - be trust with AI. Patients
• 8:58
  - have to trust it. Staff
• 9:00
  - have to trust it.
• 9:02
  - They have to trust that we're maintaining confidentiality
• 9:05
  - when we use these types of systems, but
• 9:07
  - we're implementing or considering, you know, AI technologies
• 9:10
  - that support patient safety and and clinical efficiency.
• 9:14
  - So I do have the opportunity. I'm speaking
• 9:16
  - about this,
• 9:18
  - next month at the Becker's IT conference,
• 9:21
  - where I'm discussing how to build trust in
• 9:23
  - the age of AI. And we're at an
• 9:25
  - interesting time in health care as it relates
• 9:28
  - to AI with, you know, these automated
• 9:31
  - automated note takers that we're seeing and technologies
• 9:33
  - such as meta glasses.
• 9:35
  - So I think that we're gonna see some
• 9:36
  - policy changes to to focus more on patient
• 9:40
  - safety and confidentiality. So it's it's where it's
• 9:43
  - an interesting time where we can adopt these
• 9:45
  - things that are helping support patient safety. They're
• 9:48
  - helping support, you know, clinical efficiencies. But at
• 9:50
  - the same time, we have to have some
• 9:52
  - policy metrics put into place to make sure
• 9:54
  - that it's safe handling and things like that.
• 9:58
  - Thank you. And and and take a moment.
• 10:00
  - You're,
• 10:01
  - epitomized, at least what I can tell, sort
• 10:03
  - of a lifelong learner constantly trying to learn,
• 10:06
  - constantly trying to grow.
• 10:08
  - Any thoughts on the importance of that to
• 10:11
  - a leader into emerging leaders having that desire
• 10:15
  - to keep learning, keep growing, keep thriving?
• 10:17
  - Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I always advise
• 10:20
  - evolving leaders,
• 10:22
  - folks that are, you know, early middle careerists
• 10:25
  - to grow their network and broaden their experience.
• 10:27
  - You know, joining organizations such as ACHE and
• 10:30
  - attending events,
• 10:32
  - getting to know like minded health care leaders
• 10:34
  - in in the community, you know, attending Becker's
• 10:36
  - conference where I believe you can apply for
• 10:38
  - a complimentary
• 10:40
  - badge, just getting yourself out there, but certainly
• 10:43
  - grow your experience.
• 10:44
  - You know, perhaps this is taking the next
• 10:47
  - step in getting a master's degree. Perhaps this
• 10:49
  - is investing in continuing education or a certificate
• 10:53
  - relevant to your area of interest or expertise.
• 10:56
  - If your employer offers tuition reimbursement
• 10:59
  - or annual CEU allotments,
• 11:01
  - certainly be taking advantage of those resources.
• 11:04
  - I myself am considering the
• 11:07
  - CPHQ, the certified professional
• 11:08
  - in health care quality, so that I can
• 11:10
  - better lead my organization, I can better educate
• 11:13
  - and support my staff, and I can better
• 11:15
  - serve our patient population.
• 11:17
  - I I believe that quality is the backbone
• 11:19
  - of health care. Everything's rooted in quality.
• 11:22
  - But outside of personal growth, look at the
• 11:24
  - community and patient population you serve and look
• 11:27
  - to find ways to differentiate yourself. We talked
• 11:30
  - about competition. Health care is competitive,
• 11:33
  - but we are all working towards the same
• 11:35
  - goals, like I said. And, you know, ask
• 11:36
  - yourself what makes patients want to come to
• 11:38
  - our organization and keep coming back. You know,
• 11:40
  - some of these patients are,
• 11:42
  - going through a rehab experience or going to
• 11:45
  - an acute care hospital and they're having to
• 11:46
  - go back.
• 11:48
  - So what makes them keep wanting to come
• 11:50
  - back to your health system? And we work
• 11:52
  - in an industry where we have the wonderful
• 11:54
  - opportunity to help patients and their families daily
• 11:56
  - and which I find to be highly motivational
• 11:58
  - and inspirational, which allows me to bring my
• 12:00
  - best self to work every day for my
• 12:02
  - employees and and the patients that we're fortunate
• 12:04
  - enough to help on the road to recovery.
• 12:07
  - John, just a fantastic perspective.
• 12:10
  - Take a moment. I'm going back to get
• 12:11
  - your doctorate. How hard was that?
• 12:15
  - How much have you grown from that
• 12:18
  - in the exercise you're doing so? Just talk
• 12:20
  - about that for a moment because that's a
• 12:21
  - big endeavor while you're working full time,
• 12:24
  - running a system,
• 12:25
  - you know,
• 12:26
  - doing all the other things that you do.
• 12:28
  - Talk about that focus in in the in
• 12:30
  - the rewards
• 12:32
  - the rewards emotionally, mentally in doing so.
• 12:35
  - Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I
• 12:38
  - it was a five year journey for me.
• 12:40
  - I mean, I while I was working, I
• 12:42
  - I actually got my my MBA,
• 12:45
  - along the journey, and then I decided that
• 12:47
  - the research
• 12:48
  - side of things and how to make improvements
• 12:51
  - in health care administration
• 12:53
  - was something that I wanted to invest in
• 12:55
  - a little bit more. I happened to, you
• 12:57
  - know, get an adjunct teaching job, which was
• 13:00
  - great, so I wanted to grow and develop.
• 13:02
  - But, you know, the way that,
• 13:04
  - you know, higher education is working now, if
• 13:06
  - you're a working professional, there's so many executive
• 13:08
  - MBA. There's so many
• 13:10
  - MHA programs. I see more and more every
• 13:13
  - day going to online or hybrid formats that
• 13:16
  - are centered around the working professional. And, you
• 13:19
  - know, I mentor
• 13:21
  - ACHE careerists, and most of the students that
• 13:24
  - I'm or most of the
• 13:27
  - early careers that I mentor are also students.
• 13:29
  - They're going back to get their MHA or
• 13:31
  - their MBA or, you know, their nursing degree
• 13:33
  - or what have you because they want to
• 13:34
  - grow and develop. And I really think that
• 13:37
  - we're at a point in time, you know,
• 13:39
  - even more different than five years ago and
• 13:41
  - and ten years ago, it was hard to
• 13:43
  - go find an online program where you could
• 13:45
  - do things or a hybrid program.
• 13:48
  - And I think that it is important for
• 13:49
  - a lot of these folks to have that
• 13:51
  - cohort model where you can meet with people
• 13:53
  - on the weekends, but you can also
• 13:55
  - do things at your own pace or it's
• 13:57
  - after hours. But, you know, it is a
• 13:59
  - labor of love. For me, it is something
• 14:01
  - that I I want to give back to
• 14:03
  - the industry. I want to give back to
• 14:05
  - the future generations of health care. So that's
• 14:07
  - really why I did it. But, you know,
• 14:09
  - for anybody thinking about doing it, explore your
• 14:12
  - options. I mean, they're far different than they
• 14:14
  - were years ago, and they're much more accommodating
• 14:16
  - to people that are working, you know, nine
• 14:17
  - to five and even, you know, greater hours
• 14:19
  - than that each week.
• 14:21
  - Well, we we applaud it, John. I I
• 14:24
  - wanna thank you for taking the time today
• 14:25
  - with us on the Beckers Healthcare podcast.
• 14:28
  - Remarkable what you're doing with your career and
• 14:30
  - what PAM Rehabilitation Hospital is doing. Congratulations.
• 14:33
  - Just fantastic. You, Scott. Appreciate it very much.