Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Matthew McCambridge, Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer at Lehigh Valley Health Network

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Matthew McCambridge, Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer at Lehigh Valley Health Network · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  - This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Matt McCambridge,
• 0:06
  chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer
• 0:07
  at Lehigh Valley Health Network.
• 0:09
  Matt, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
• 0:12
  - Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:13
  It's really an honor to be here.
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  - Now, I know we've got a lot to talk about.
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  There's so much happening in healthcare right now,
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  and certainly, you know, from Lehigh Valley,
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  just such a great, uh, program you have there.
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  So I'm excited to learn more about what you're doing
• 0:27
  and and where things are headed.
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  But before we dive into my questions,
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  can you tell me a little bit more
• 0:31
  about yourself and your background?
• 0:34
  - Sure. Thank you. Um, I'd be happy to.
• 0:36
  So I'm a pulmonary and critical care physician.
• 0:39
  I still practice medicine about one day a week.
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  As a matter of fact, I just finished seeing patients, uh,
• 0:45
  about a half hour ago, uh, mostly, uh, uh,
• 0:48
  office practice now rather than ICU Medicine anymore.
• 0:52
  I started my career.
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  I'm a little different than most people.
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  I started my career off in the United States Army.
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  I went to college
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  and medical school in the Washington DC area,
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  and then I went to Walter Reeve for all of my training,
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  internal medicine, pulmonary and critical care.
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  And then after that, uh, the Army, uh, sent me down
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  to Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
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  Um, and I served at Womack Army Medical Center.
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  I ran the ICUs there,
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  and I was also a battalion aid surgeon in
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  the 82nd Airborne Division.
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  So at that point, after about five years, I was, uh,
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  I had fulfilled my army commitment.
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  And at that point it was 2003,
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  and I came home, I came back home to civilian life, uh,
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  back here to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where I'm,
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  I'm sitting right now in Delia Valley Health Network.
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  And I started off as a staff position.
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  I had a number of leadership positions, um, president
• 1:45
  of the medical staff, chairman of Critical Care.
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  And then about seven years ago, um,
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  after two years of graduate school, I went back
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  to grad school and got a master's in healthcare quality
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  and patient safety at Northwestern.
• 1:57
  And then, um, about seven years ago, I got, I got this job
• 2:00
  that I'm in now, um, chief Quality Patient Safety Officer.
• 2:03
  And then about a year ago,
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  I got something added to my title.
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  I have a very long title. I have, um, chief Quality,
• 2:08
  patient Safety and Acute Care Continuum Officer.
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  And that has a lot to do with, um, our,
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  our interest in value-based care.
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  Uh, so, and right now my areas of responsibility
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  are quality, patient safety.
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  I have infection control and infection prevention.
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  I have regulatory and accreditation.
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  Interestingly, I have radiation
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  safety that comes up through me.
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  Um, and then inpatient and transitional value-based care,
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  and then all other duties as assigned.
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  There's so many cheap quality officers have out there.
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  That's, uh, that's a big
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  category for me, that last category.
• 2:42
  - Absolutely. That's fascinating to hear.
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  And certainly, you know, great, um, career
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  and experiences that you had growing up the ladder
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  and from a, a physician
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  and then having so many leadership roles as well.
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  And now I'm just continuing to expand your role
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  as healthcare evolves and changes, which is great.
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  What are some of the biggest issues
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  that you're following in healthcare right now?
• 3:02
  - Well, there is so much going on in healthcare right now.
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  I have to say, one of the things that has my attention
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  very much, um, particularly with respect to quality
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  and safety, is the healthcare workforce challenges we're
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  having right now with nurses and physicians
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  and all the other staff, uh, PTOT x-ray Techs, uh,
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  surgical technicians everywhere.
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  Still, the challenges we're having
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  with the HE healthcare workforce
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  and how that impacts hospital finances
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  and then how all of that impacts quality
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  and safety, you know, and investment
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  into quality and safety.
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  And I think for me, over the last couple years,
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  that's probably the top thing, um, is the interaction
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  between all those factors, the workforce, the finances,
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  and then how that impacts, uh, quality and safety.
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  So that would be, I would say probably the, one
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  of the top things on my mind.
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  Another thing on my mind is, um, probably
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  what everybody else has been experiencing is the,
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  the mental health crisis in America, in our communities
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  and how that's impacting our hospitals, um,
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  and the, our mental health resources that we have
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  to help our communities.
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  And I think the last one that, uh, I've been impressed on
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  with this over this past year
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  or so is healthcare affordability, uh,
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  and people putting off care with potentially poor outcomes.
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  I think that's a, a big issue.
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  Those, those three things that the workforce
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  and how that impacts quality and safety, finances
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  and quality and safety, the mental health crisis,
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  which is an everyday thing, at least where we are here.
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  And then healthcare, affordability, the, the larger concept
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  of healthcare affordability
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  and, um, how that's impacting outcomes.
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  - That's really fascinating to hear,
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  and I appreciate you touching on all those factors
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  because I can imagine so many healthcare executives across
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  the country are, are really seeing similar things
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  and, um, trying to work through those challenges.
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  As you mentioned, thinking about finances
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  and how, you know, um, the workforce
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  redesigning certain aspects of the workforce, clinical
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  as well as an administrative,
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  and then, you know, how
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  that can impact the organization financially, mental health
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  as well as huge for so many different communities.
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  I know, particularly for you as well in Pennsylvania.
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  And then finally the affordability of healthcare, um,
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  really makes a big difference when you look at all
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  of those things together.
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  Um, is there anything
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  that you've been doing at Lehigh Valley Health Network, um,
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  to really address any of these issues
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  that's had some great results?
• 5:34
  - Well, uh, will do so many things in all
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  of those different areas that, um,
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  that I think is probably not all that unique to us.
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  I think the one thing that was particularly excited about
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  is, um, virtual nursing
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  and how virtual nursing can support the bedside nurses.
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  Um, we opened up, uh, the ninth
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  tele ICU in the country way back in 2004,
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  and we've been very heavily interested
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  and heavily invested in telemedicine.
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  I saw nine patients today,
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  and three of them were video visits.
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  And that video platform has been transformative to us
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  through COID and we're really starting to leverage
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  that in our virtual nursing space.
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  Uh, there's, uh,
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  some health systems out there like Houston Methodist that
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  are, are really setting, uh,
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  setting the tone for the rest of us.
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  And we're trying to, uh, we're trying to do that same thing
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  and, and, um, take some of these more seasoned nurses
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  that may be closer to retirement
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  or other nurses that are,
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  are interested in getting away from the bedside, um, and,
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  and having them work in virtual nursing.
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  And another thing that we're doing here
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  is at our health system, we have 21,000 employees,
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  and we have, um, many nurses
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  that work in administrative roles.
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  And those nurses are also working part-time in virtual
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  nursing, so maybe spending 5%
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  of their week as virtual nurses.
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  And, and that's something that, um,
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  that we're doing here as well.
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  So really excited ab about that
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  and how that's gonna potentially help this larger problem.
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  - It's so fascinating to hear about
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  and definitely great that, you know,
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  it seems like you were early in terms of some
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  of your virtual care, um, you know, pursuing
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  that in in virtual nursing too.
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  Is there anything else that you're looking at
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  that you're excited about or what also makes you nervous?
• 7:23
  - Yeah, so I'm, uh,
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  I'm really excited about some of the things.
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  I, I just saw a bunch of patients today,
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  and I, I was thinking as I was seeing one of my patients
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  that, um, over the last 25 years as a pulmonary doctor,
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  there's been such dramatic changes.
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  It used to be that the patients would come to me with
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  x-rays, uh, in a middle, you know, in a, in a, in a folder,
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  and it would hardly be tracked on everything.
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  And I had really complicated patients today,
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  and you can just, it's all right there in front
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  of me in the electronic medical record.
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  And it's just really amazing.
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  And some of the advancements that I'm really excited about
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  are in medical technology, uh, what we're doing
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  and what the rest of the country is
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  doing in robotic surgery.
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  I already mentioned telemedicine, wearable health devices,
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  personalized medicine,
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  and how all of that ultimately,
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  hopefully we'll have positive outcomes, uh, for patients.
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  So that's one area I'm really excited about.
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  I would say another area that has really got my intention
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  and we're really excited about here is, um,
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  the innovative treatments and therapies, um, particularly,
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  and I'm sure you've been following this
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  with the, the weight loss drugs.
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  Um, medications for congestive heart failure seem
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  to be coming a, have really come a long way.
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  The gene and cell therapies
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  for certain diseases like spinal muscle atrophy, um,
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  leukemia, uh, the CAR T cell therapies for leukemia
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  and lymphomas, gene editing, the and,
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  and CRISPR Cas nine therapies.
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  There's just so much happening now that's really exciting,
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  uh, immunotherapies, regenerative medicine.
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  There's just so much to be positive about
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  and be excited about, and that's what I'm excited about.
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  I have to say, the thing that makes me nervous about all
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  that is, uh, the rising cost of healthcare.
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  Um, many of those things I just mentioned are
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  so unbelievably expensive
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  and, um, you know, um, we're already spending,
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  we're already spending $1.7 trillion a year, uh,
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  at least on Medicare and Medicaid, um, 4.3
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  or so trillion dollars in healthcare
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  and these new therapies while they're, you know,
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  potentially wonderful and lifesaving.
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  The thing that concerns me is, um, the rise in costs
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  of, of, of healthcare.
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  And the other thing that concerns me is, uh,
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  healthcare access and disparities, um, leading
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  to unequal health comes that's very important.
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  And I would say, um, you know, um,
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  provider shortages and burnout is of course, on,
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  on our list here and on my list, health system complexity.
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  And then of course, data security, um, something
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  that we have to, all healthcare administrators,
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  I think right now are, are very keenly aware of.
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  And so there you go.
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  I think another thing that's,
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  that's interesting is we've made a lot
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  of progress in patient safety.
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  Um, but I, I think there's a lot of progress that needs
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  to be made yet with regard to patient safety.
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  And I think we've, we've,
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  we've made a good start in patient safety,
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  but there's a lot more, a lot
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  more progress that needs to be made.
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  - Absolutely. I think that's such a great point.
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  You know, definitely look back
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  and see how much, uh, you've grown and,
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  and like you said, progress has been made, been able
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  to do more to keep patients safe,
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  but then still, you know, there, there's so much, um, left
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  to be done and, and certainly, um, a lot
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  of room for innovation.
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  Where do you see as, um, being important for leaders
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  to become the most effective healthcare leaders possible
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  over the next two to three years or so?
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  What will help leaders be successful, especially
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  as healthcare changes, as we see some
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  of the different dynamics in the field change
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  as technology improves and all those kinds of things?
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  What should leaders be thinking about?
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  - Yeah, so I read this wonderful book a few years ago, um,
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  by Elizabeth Rosenthal.
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  She's a Harvard trained ed doctor
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  who writes in the New York Times from time to time.
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  And she also wrote a book called An American Sickness,
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  uh, excellent book.
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  And there's one thing she said in that book
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  that really resonates with me.
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  And I think, um, healthcare right now, healthcare leaders,
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  uh, people like me are trying to find that balance
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  between the Mother Theresa side of healthcare
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  and the Goldman Sachs side of healthcare
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  and trying to find that perfect balance.
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  And I think that effective leaders moving forward,
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  um, I just would submit this to you that, uh,
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  potentially should be thinking about doubling down on the
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  quote unquote the softer stuff.
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  Things like, um, awareness
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  and empathy, um, humility, you know, um,
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  uh, authenticity, those types of things.
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  And I think, I think, um, you know,
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  it's gonna be a little funny to say,
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  but I think just kind of getting back to the basics
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  with respect to our patients
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  and, um, making sure that on the Mother Teresa side
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  of healthcare that we're, we're, um, making sure
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  that we surround our patients with love
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  and protecting our patients when they need to be protected,
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  um, from the patient safety standpoint, advocating
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  and fighting for our patients when they need to be advocated
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  and fought for, particularly patients
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  that don't look like me, you know, um, patients that, um,
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  that need us to, to be fought for.
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  And then comfort patients when they need
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  to be comfort comforted.
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  And I think healthcare leaders doubling down on things like
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  love and respect, respect for our workers,
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  respect for our patients.
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  I think that will, will be really, really important.
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  And I think one other thing is, so that's all good, um,
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  talking about that software stuff,
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  but I think the healthcare leaders also have to get results.
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  Um, and I think the results that healthcare leaders need
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  to be getting in the next few years
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  with the way healthcare finances are right now is in areas
• 12:56
  of, um, efficiency and waste is one area.
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  And another area is, is is patient safety.
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  So efficiency and waste.
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  Um, I think there's an awful lot of opportunity, uh,
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  within our health systems to become more efficient
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  for our patients so that the patients, uh, are moving
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  through the system better, there's less waste.
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  Um, and I think that's a really important concept.
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  And then for patient safety, I think it's important
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  for healthcare leaders to be, I think leapfrog a
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  and CMS star ratings, all of those are wonderful things.
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  They've gotten us a good start,
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  but I do believe there's another level
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  of patient safety we can get to.
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  Um, making sure like your hospital has a, a, a, a good
• 13:40
  and well-functioning things like an anticoagulation clinic.
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  How do you do preoperative, um, surgical assessment?
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  How does your blood bank function?
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  Does it function safely and is it efficient?
• 13:51
  And then in areas like surgery,
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  doubling down on things like wrong side surgeries,
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  retained foreign bodies, lost specimens, um, you know,
• 14:01
  injuries that can happen with surgeries.
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  And then so many other categories.
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  And, and thinking about patient safety a little bit
• 14:07
  differently, um, when it comes
• 14:09
  to like maybe GI adenoma detection rates, nursing
• 14:13
  with telemetry and falls and pressure injuries.
• 14:16
  I think all of these areas, there's a kind
• 14:18
  of an entry level patient safety,
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  but then there's another level we can get to when it comes
• 14:24
  to, to patient safety.
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  So I think as far as leadership goes, um, focusing on,
• 14:31
  um, some of the softer stuff
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  and then at the same time, um, really,
• 14:35
  really focusing on getting results and I think challenging,
• 14:38
  but I think that's gonna be,
• 14:40
  I think that's gonna be the future.
• 14:43
  - Absolutely. I, I think that's such a fine line to walk,
• 14:45
  but certainly being able to have that dual focus and,
• 14:48
  and doing it well, um, it really seems like it would be,
• 14:50
  be a quality of successful leaders.
• 14:52
  I know, easier said than done in many cases,
• 14:54
  but, um, certainly so, so important to, uh,
• 14:57
  drive healthcare in the future.
• 14:59
  Matt, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
• 15:02
  This has been such a fun and interesting discussion.
• 15:04
  I, I have like a couple of pages of notes here,
• 15:06
  just looking through everything you talked about, um, seems
• 15:09
  so relevant and so important to, um,
• 15:12
  the healthcare space today.
• 15:13
  So we appreciate your time
• 15:15
  and definitely look forward
• 15:16
  to connecting with you again soon.
• 15:18
  - Well, thanks so much, Laura.
• 15:19
  It's really been an honor to to be here
• 15:21
  and I appreciate the conversation.
• 15:25
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• 15:27
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• 15:30
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