Latest / Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast / David Biggerstaff, President and CEO of Riley Children's Health

Transcript

David Biggerstaff, President and CEO of Riley Children's Health · Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast

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  Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm Chris
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  Sosa, the copy chief here at Becker's, and
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  I'm thrilled to be joined by David Bickerstaff,
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  president of Riley Children's Health in Indianapolis.
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  David, thank you for joining us today.
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  Thank you, Chris. Thank you for having me,
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  and I'm excited to be here with you.
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  A pleasure, certainly. David, would you please introduce
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  yourself and let our audience who might not
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  be familiar with your work, let them know
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  a little bit more about your background, please?
• 0:23
  Yeah. Happy to. So I'm David Biggerstaff. As
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  you mentioned, I serve as the president of
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  Riley Children's Health here as
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  part of IU Health. I'm based in Indianapolis.
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  I have been, now with Riley Children's. This
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  is week seven. And so I'm very much
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  in the orientation,
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  stages of this role and, couldn't be more
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  excited to be here. It's been, just such
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  a a great interview and onboarding process. And,
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  I'm really excited to have joined this organization
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  and just, you know, to learn more about
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  the, the foundation, what makes this such a
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  great organization.
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  Just by way of background,
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  I have a little bit of a unique
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  background in that, I actually studied accounting,
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  as of my undergraduate degree
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  and quickly realized that I didn't want to
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  go into accounting, and I actually went into
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  IT. And so, this was back in the
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  mid nineties when electronic medical records were just
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  being developed.
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  And so I got interested in information technology,
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  spent a number of years in the, EMR
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  field,
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  developing electronic medical records and decision support systems
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  and evidence based medicine systems.
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  And,
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  ultimately though ended up taking a little bit
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  of a detour and ended up in operations
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  and had a chance to,
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  run a set of ORs, to open a
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  new children's hospital,
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  and over the course of the last, fifteen
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  or so years have been in a couple
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  of children's hospitals across the country. And, through
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  all of that, have just been really privileged
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  to be able to work with just some
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  outstanding, clinicians, researchers, teams that just do outstanding
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  work in pediatric health care. And so, being
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  here at Riley, feels very at home, being
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  in a children's hospital and in an academic
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  center,
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  that does such great work.
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  And importantly, our children's hospitals across the country,
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  are the voice of children's health and the
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  advocates for children's health. And so it's great
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  to be,
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  in one of those organizations
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  that, that is the the voice of children's
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  health across the country.
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  David, just looking into your background a little
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  bit there. Certainly, accounting is, as you mentioned,
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  is not really a traditional path to where
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  you are now. Was there a moment or
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  or series of moments kind of that led
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  you to,
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  want to lead a children's health care organization?
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  Yeah. I think, you know, if I if
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  I went back through my career and and
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  certainly when I started out in, you know,
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  studying accounting and then,
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  I actually got interested in health care as
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  a result of the presidential
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  elections of nineteen ninety two. And and for
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  our listeners who remember those elections,
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  that was or that election, that was, health
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  care reform was the major topic. And so
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  how we were gonna solve the affordability
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  issue in health care was the primary topic.
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  And so I got interested in health care
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  really as a result of the public policy
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  debate. And that's what led me to,
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  a hospital in Oklahoma City where I I
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  started out in the IT department and and
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  really just a way to to get a
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  sense of,
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  you know, what health care was about and
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  whether or not this was an industry that
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  I would want to go into.
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  Quickly fell in love with the industry.
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  It would be a number of years before
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  I got exposure to a children's hospital
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  and had the opportunity to step exclusively into
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  pediatrics.
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  But once I took that step,
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  really pediatrics was,
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  just a a true love, the work that
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  our children's hospitals do across the country.
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  And again, the breadth and depth of research,
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  the innovations that come out of our academic
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  centers,
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  really drew me into that environment and has
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  been a love ever since. And so I
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  would say it wasn't necessarily by design, but
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  it was something that, once I got here,
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  I knew I wanted to stay in, not
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  only in health care, but,
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  more specifically in pediatrics.
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  Well, it sounds serendipitous to be sure. No
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  doubt, Raleigh Children's is happy to have you.
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  You mentioned you're only in week seven. So
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  clearly, they're you're settling in, but, obviously, you
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  know, easier to move forward.
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  Looking at our my second question for you,
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  David, is what are your top priorities today?
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  I know there's a lot out there, but
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  could you, narrow it down just a little
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  bit?
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  Yeah. Thanks. And I I think there's there's
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  two or three things that I would highlight.
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  And one, first and foremost, is,
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  building on the successes of Riley. And and
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  I say that from the standpoint of having
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  had the opportunity to go through the interview
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  and kind of that preboarding process,
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  has really been impressive to me and impressive
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  from the standpoint of there is so much
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  more to Riley than meets the eye.
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  As I've had the opportunity to dig into
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  the strength of our programs,
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  we have several programs,
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  here that are in the top 10 in
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  terms of clinical outcomes,
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  across the country.
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  We have a fourth that is number 11.
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  We have a research program that the breadth
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  and depth is incredibly impressive. But when you
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  look at the NIH funding,
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  our partnership with the IU School of Medicine
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  Department of Pediatrics,
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  that department is sixth in the country in
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  terms of NIH funding.
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  And so there are a number of things,
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  here that really made Riley an attractive
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  organization for me, but importantly then provide some
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  guidance for me in terms of what are
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  the priorities. And one of those priorities,
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  is to really understand our strengths
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  and develop strategies to build on those strengths.
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  And certainly, first and foremost of those will
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  be to continue,
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  to invest in the academic mission,
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  in terms of our research and teaching and
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  make sure that we can continue to build
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  on that incredible foundation that we have in
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  place.
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  The other couple of things that I would
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  offer is, one is building the leadership practices
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  that enable,
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  our organization to navigate change. And so as
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  we look forward,
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  we have a number of major initiatives on
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  the horizon,
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  ranging from,
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  implementing a new electronic medical record,
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  to developing a statewide network to make sure
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  that we can serve all children across the
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  state of Indiana.
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  And so, that's gonna require our leadership team
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  to think differently in terms of,
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  how we partner across the state,
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  how we integrate with the broader IU Health
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  system,
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  and importantly, how we enable our leaders,
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  to navigate that pace of change, more adeptly
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  as we go forward.
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  And then the final thing that I would
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  say is is kind of a priority for
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  me is really how we develop a shared
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  vision across all stakeholders. And,
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  I've I've been asked the question many times
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  as to what is my vision for Riley
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  Children's Health.
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  And while I certainly have goals and aspirations
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  for what our organization
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  should and could do,
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  I think the the establishment of a vision
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  for an organization
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  as essential as Riley is in the state,
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  really has to come from numerous stakeholders. And
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  so,
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  how we develop good listening sessions,
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  with our physician colleagues,
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  with the broader community to define
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  that vision,
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  is really among my top priorities. And I
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  think that's such an important part of an
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  organization like Riley Children's Health,
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  in terms of our role in child health
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  across the state. And so, so those would
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  be two or three things that are certainly
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  on my radar as I've, you know, started
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  through this onboarding process.
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  David, looking at the next eighteen months or
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  so, I mean, I'm certain that a lot
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  of what you just spoke about is going
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  to to come up pretty much every day.
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  There's no doubt about that. But as you
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  look forward
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  in your little crystal ball as far as
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  the health care industry concerned and your job
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  in particular,
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  how do you see your role evolving in
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  that of the role of your teams?
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  Yeah. I I think there's really two things.
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  And, you know, one of these won't be
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  new, and that is, but it is probably
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  more urgent,
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  or important today.
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  And that that is how we equip our
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  leaders to manage change. And if if you
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  look at where we are as an industry
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  right now,
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  you kinda have these two competing,
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  narratives, if you will. On the one hand,
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  we as an industry have been, harmed by
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  a pandemic. And when you look
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  at workforce
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  shortages
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  that were forecast
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  for
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  many years before the pandemic,
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  but were certainly compounded as a result of
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  the pandemic.
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  You look at the number of roles that
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  have transitioned to remote work, we continue to
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  struggle with supply and medication shortages.
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  And so on the one hand, there's this
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  desire to just have stability in the industry
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  and how do we return to,
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  some level of of consistency in the industry.
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  And yet, on the other hand,
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  we're at a point with, for example, artificial
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  intelligence where,
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  there's this enthusiasm to go do new things
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  and to go advance that agenda and and
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  figure out what the next iteration of health
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  care is gonna look like. And so I
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  think for me, one of the key things
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  for our leadership team here at Riley Children's
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  Health is equipping our leaders to really build
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  processes and practices,
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  to manage change, to engage our frontline team
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  members in that process and really make sure
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  everybody stays well informed and in sync as
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  to the initiatives that we pursue. And so
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  we're at a very interesting time in health
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  care,
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  again, in balancing this desire for stability and
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  and a little bit of just normalcy,
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  and yet this desire to also advance change
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  and and make improvements in the system. And
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  so we have to balance those two things
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  carefully.
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  The other thing that I would offer that
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  is unique about Riley is we are part
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  of IU Health, and and we have this
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  very large,
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  health care ecosystem across the state of Indiana.
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  And for our Riley Health leaders,
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  really it becomes the question of how do
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  we develop more systems thinking and how do
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  we make sure that we are
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  part of this broader system in terms of
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  how we can deliver pediatric care across the
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  state,
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  with our adult counterparts and and what that
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  might look like in terms of continuity of
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  care,
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  how we can leverage,
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  different provider types across the state, to really
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  make sure that Riley is serving all of
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  the children of Indiana.
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  You'll hear us say, we
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  believe every child deserves Riley,
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  and we have to deliver on that promise
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  in terms of access points across the state,
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  and that will require us to think differently
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  about what it means to be, part of
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  a system,
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  that has just such an incredibly strong, footprint
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  and presence here in the state. But we
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  can think differently about what that integration looks
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  like.
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  David, given the important role that you just
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  mentioned that Riley has throughout the entire state,
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  not just your immediate area, but throughout Indiana.
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  I have a two part question for you.
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  So what makes you nervous right now? And
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  on the other end of that spectrum, what
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  are you excited about?
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  Yeah. So I I think the thing that
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  I'm most excited about is the culture
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  of Riley Children's Health. We have just such
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  an incredibly,
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  dedicated and passionate,
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  set of team members. And and I say
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  that across all roles, whether it's our,
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  physician colleagues,
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  our nursing team.
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  You can go through just every role in
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  the organization and there is truly a dedication
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  to taking care of children, taking care of
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  the families that we serve.
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  And so we have this incredible culture. We
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  have this incredible dedication to serving the children
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  of Indiana,
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  and we have that strong foundation of excellence.
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  And so it's hard not to be excited
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  about that.
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  And so really the opportunity is exciting to
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  be able to say, how can we impact
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  the health status of the children we serve
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  and,
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  how do we improve that health as we
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  go forward? And so that's obviously an incredibly
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  exciting,
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  mission that we have here at Riley Children's
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  Health.
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  And given our our footprint in the state,
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  we we truly have an opportunity to impact
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  that health status. And so, that that's an
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  incredibly exciting proposition for us as we begin
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  our second hundred years of serving the children
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  in Indiana.
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  The thing that I would, say I'm probably
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  most nervous about is this desire to move
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  quickly,
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  and the desire to go solve all of
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  those problems,
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  and balancing that with the needs to be
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  inclusive and thoughtful in terms of what we
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  pursue and how we pursue that agenda. And
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  so,
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  there's this desire to to move quickly and
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  and yet that can all can be fraught
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  with problems if you're not thoughtful about how
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  you move and and when what steps you
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  take. And so, so very, very excited to
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  be at Riley Children's Health, very excited about
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  the opportunities in front of us. And yet
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  at the time, nervous that, we have to
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  be inclusive in terms of listening to our
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  communities,
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  listening to our stakeholders to make sure that
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  we are truly serving the needs of the
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  state. And so, it's that,
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  nervousness that is, or that excitement that needs
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  to be tempered with, balance in terms
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  of, the pace at which we go.
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  I would imagine balance is going to get
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  you an awfully long way in your position,
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  and hopefully that will translate to better health
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  for every child who's touched by Riley Children's.
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  David,
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  thank you so much for being here with
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  us today. We cannot wait to share all
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  your insights with our audience, and, hopefully, we
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  get to talk to you again soon.
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  Thank you, Chris. I appreciate the time and
• 13:09
  would be happy to join you again.