Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Expanding Access and Thoughtful Innovation at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center

Transcript

Expanding Access and Thoughtful Innovation at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:01
  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders
• 0:04
  together to unpack the most pressing issues facing
• 0:07
  the industry.
• 0:08
  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
• 0:11
  and unexpected ways.
• 0:13
  This April, more than 3,500
• 0:15
  health care executives will return to Chicago for
• 0:17
  Becker's sixteenth Annual Meeting.
• 0:20
  Seven ninety five elite speakers will offer new
• 0:23
  lessons, new case studies, and predictions about what
• 0:26
  comes next.
• 0:27
  Join us April 13 through the sixteenth.
• 0:29
  For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:34
  and click on the events tab in the
• 0:36
  upper right.
• 0:38
  This is Madeline Ashley with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:40
  podcast, and I'm excited to be joined today
• 0:42
  by doctor Susan Moffitt Bruce, president of Lakey
• 0:45
  Hospital and Medical Center and divisional president of
• 0:47
  Beth Israel Lakey Health. Susan, thanks for joining
• 0:50
  me. Thanks for having me. I'm very excited
• 0:52
  about being here today. And I'm thrilled to,
• 0:55
  dive into this discussion. But before we kick
• 0:56
  things off, do you mind sharing with our
• 0:58
  listeners just a little bit more about yourself,
• 1:00
  and your background?
• 1:02
  No. Absolutely. And thank you again for the
• 1:04
  opportunity to be here today.
• 1:06
  I am,
• 1:07
  the president currently of Lahey Hospital Medical Center.
• 1:10
  My background,
• 1:12
  goes back almost thirty years now in health
• 1:14
  care. I am a cardiothoracic
• 1:16
  surgeon,
• 1:17
  and my area of expertise is end stage
• 1:19
  lung disease.
• 1:20
  I'm also an academic administrator,
• 1:23
  and have been in,
• 1:25
  management of hospitals and health care systems
• 1:28
  as well as national organizations for the last
• 1:30
  twenty years.
• 1:32
  And I am very proud to be a
• 1:33
  professor of surgery at UMass Chan Leahy
• 1:37
  as, we now have a regional medical school
• 1:39
  here at Leahy Hospital and Medical Center. Wonderful.
• 1:43
  What an incredible background. I appreciate you sharing
• 1:45
  that with us. So
• 1:47
  let's dive right in. First of all, happy
• 1:49
  2026.
• 1:50
  Excited to just kinda chat with you today
• 1:53
  just about all the things happening at your
• 1:54
  organization.
• 1:56
  But wanna backtrack it just a tiny bit
• 1:58
  to 2025.
• 1:59
  So could you share maybe the most important
• 2:01
  initiative that you personally let, in 2025?
• 2:05
  What you did and and maybe what the
• 2:06
  results were there, something that you're really proud
• 2:08
  of from last year?
• 2:10
  Yeah. I think, that's a really important question
• 2:12
  as we come into the new year in
• 2:14
  2026.
• 2:16
  You know, 2025
• 2:17
  for Lahey Hospital and Medical Center and Beth
• 2:20
  Israel Lahey Health as a whole was one
• 2:22
  of growth.
• 2:24
  We were very, very fortunate to have been
• 2:26
  able to take care of more patients,
• 2:29
  even more patients than we had anticipated.
• 2:31
  And I think that's a really important,
• 2:33
  metric and outcome for us here in health
• 2:36
  care as the complexities
• 2:38
  and the access to care become even more
• 2:41
  challenging
• 2:42
  for patients.
• 2:43
  So we're really proud that Lahey Hospital Medical
• 2:46
  Center were was able to take care of
• 2:48
  patients,
• 2:49
  more often
• 2:51
  to address more acute issues.
• 2:53
  And
• 2:54
  really importantly,
• 2:55
  Lahey Hospital Medical Center and Lahey Clinic as
• 2:59
  a whole is now moving into New Hampshire.
• 3:01
  So beyond our traditional,
• 3:05
  boundaries within Massachusetts,
• 3:08
  we are now we were able to stand
• 3:10
  up and initiate
• 3:12
  clinics within Southern New Hampshire so that we
• 3:14
  can care for more patients,
• 3:16
  be in more communities,
• 3:18
  and increase the access,
• 3:20
  which we are very, very excited about doing,
• 3:22
  and we'll continue to accelerate that going forward.
• 3:26
  I think the second most important initiative that
• 3:29
  we
• 3:30
  really leaned into in 2025
• 3:32
  is really adding innovation
• 3:34
  and artificial intelligence to the work that we
• 3:37
  do here every day caring for patients.
• 3:40
  One example
• 3:42
  would be the use of,
• 3:44
  and the adapt adaptation and adoption
• 3:48
  of ambient AI
• 3:50
  so that when doctors,
• 3:52
  providers,
• 3:53
  clinicians walk into a room,
• 3:56
  we the patient's,
• 3:58
  encounter is actually captured,
• 4:00
  within the electronic medical record, but the clinician
• 4:03
  can contain can continue to be engaged with
• 4:06
  the patient.
• 4:07
  So I think adoption of these really innovative
• 4:10
  strategies to really provide,
• 4:13
  really thoughtful care is a really proud moment
• 4:16
  for us here at Lahey and across Beth
• 4:18
  Israel Lahey Health.
• 4:20
  And now kind of looking, you know, forward
• 4:22
  and maybe ahead this year for 2026,
• 4:24
  could you share some of the biggest priorities
• 4:27
  and maybe dive a little deeper into some
• 4:28
  headwinds you're keeping an eye on with all
• 4:30
  the uncertainties that we're seeing right now in
• 4:32
  the industry?
• 4:33
  You know, absolutely. I think as we look
• 4:35
  into 2026 and we're always trying to look
• 4:37
  ahead in health care so so that we
• 4:39
  could be predictive and and thoughtful about the
• 4:41
  headwinds ahead.
• 4:43
  You're trying to keep up with the innovation
• 4:45
  that we are being,
• 4:47
  we have access to in health care is
• 4:49
  one of our challenges,
• 4:51
  making sure that we make thoughtful decisions as
• 4:54
  to which innovative
• 4:55
  strategies we adopt in health care so that
• 4:58
  they're really patient centric
• 5:00
  and keep our providers and our clinicians well.
• 5:03
  That's gonna be one of the challenges because
• 5:05
  there's so many great opportunities for us to,
• 5:09
  adopt,
• 5:09
  innovation. We wanna make sure we do it
• 5:11
  thoughtfully and safely.
• 5:14
  To that end, the other headwind that we
• 5:16
  will be focusing on is really how do
• 5:19
  we keep our our staff, our clinicians, our
• 5:22
  colleagues
• 5:23
  really well
• 5:24
  during a time when there is so much,
• 5:26
  change in health care. What are the strategies
• 5:30
  so that we not only can we attract
• 5:32
  and recruit
• 5:34
  colleagues
• 5:35
  to healthcare, but how do we retain
• 5:38
  colleagues within healthcare? And so the workforce
• 5:41
  and the communities that we,
• 5:44
  serve really need to be part of our,
• 5:47
  strategic initiatives
• 5:48
  so that they stay well and are able
• 5:50
  to care for the patients
• 5:52
  when they actually need that care within our
• 5:54
  healthcare system. So those are kind of the
• 5:56
  two balancing acts, I think, that we need
• 5:59
  to to really play off as we go
• 6:01
  forward and be really mindful and intentional about
• 6:03
  how we address that.
• 6:05
  Yeah. And I was actually going to follow-up
• 6:07
  with you, there and just maybe ask if
• 6:09
  you could share some of the strategies that
• 6:11
  you've been leaning on just from a leadership
• 6:12
  perspective, working with your teams, things that you
• 6:15
  found successful during these times of uncertainty?
• 6:19
  So these are times of uncertainty. And I
• 6:21
  think when we have times of uncertainty, we
• 6:24
  need to make space
• 6:25
  for colleagues to share challenges, but also opportunities,
• 6:30
  a lot of listening, and a lot of
• 6:32
  engagement from the leadership perspective.
• 6:34
  There is never enough time to spend with
• 6:37
  our colleagues, and we so we need to
• 6:39
  make that time in those spaces
• 6:42
  so that we can collectively
• 6:44
  and collaboratively
• 6:46
  create programs that allow people
• 6:49
  to show up as their very best selves
• 6:51
  and but also spaces that they can bring
• 6:54
  forward challenges and opportunities.
• 6:56
  That really has been part of my leadership
• 6:59
  strategy
• 7:00
  and and those of my colleagues that I
• 7:02
  have the good fortune of working with every
• 7:04
  day. Yeah. And communication is such a a
• 7:06
  huge part of this whole puzzle.
• 7:09
  Absolutely.
• 7:09
  Couldn't agree with you more. Exactly. And this
• 7:13
  might be a kind of a big question
• 7:14
  here, but what do you think the hardest
• 7:16
  thing is if you had to just think
• 7:18
  about the entire year that you'll have to
• 7:20
  do this year and and and why?
• 7:22
  So there are many headwinds ahead.
• 7:25
  Really, the hardest thing is balancing it all
• 7:27
  and prioritizing.
• 7:29
  You know, how you know, caring for the
• 7:30
  patients that, and the communities that are continuing
• 7:34
  to be,
• 7:36
  more complex.
• 7:37
  We have rising health care costs and red
• 7:40
  reducing our reimbursement
• 7:42
  and ability to care for. And then fourthly,
• 7:45
  how do we balance that with access to
• 7:47
  care across the care continuum?
• 7:49
  It's real the greatest challenge
• 7:51
  is the balancing
• 7:53
  of it all
• 7:54
  and trying to be proactive so that we
• 7:56
  can continuously provide the highest access of care.
• 7:59
  Yeah. And and just based off of this
• 8:01
  type of balance that you're working on right
• 8:03
  here, could you share where you see some
• 8:05
  of the best opportunities for growth at your
• 8:07
  organization?
• 8:09
  So I think some of the very best
• 8:11
  opportunities for, Lahey Hospital Medical Center, as well
• 8:14
  as BILH as a whole, is really being
• 8:17
  able to extend into the community and beyond
• 8:20
  our
• 8:21
  traditional areas of care.
• 8:23
  I think that we have an opportunity to
• 8:25
  not only care for more patients
• 8:28
  in their communities and in their homes even,
• 8:31
  and in their place of living and work,
• 8:34
  so that they don't have to come into
• 8:35
  the bricks and mortar. And that will take
• 8:37
  adoption of innovation.
• 8:39
  And I'm so excited about that so that
• 8:41
  patients can get the care they need at
• 8:43
  the time that they need it and in
• 8:45
  the way that they want that care. Yeah.
• 8:48
  Well, truly so much on the horizon, and
• 8:50
  you touched on technology and just growth at
• 8:53
  your organization. So I really appreciate you sharing
• 8:55
  all of this with me, Susan. And, again,
• 8:58
  it's been such a pleasure chatting with you,
• 8:59
  wishing you a happy and healthy new year,
• 9:01
  and I look forward to being in touch.
• 9:03
  Wonderful. Thank you very much for the opportunity.
• 9:05
  We very much appreciate it.