Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leadership Unscripted: Leading with Purpose, Culture, and Access with Ketul J. Patel

Transcript

Leadership Unscripted: Leading with Purpose, Culture, and Access with Ketul J. Patel · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:04
  Host. And I'm thrilled today to be joined
• 0:06
  by Khatul Patel, who, of course, is president
• 0:09
  and CEO of Wellstar Health System down in
• 0:11
  Georgia.
• 0:12
  You joined the organization in October. Khatul, thank
• 0:14
  you for joining us today. Chris, it's good
• 0:16
  to see you.
• 0:17
  Wonderful. Yeah. It's so great to have you
• 0:20
  on the show. And this conversation
• 0:22
  is just a little bit different from some
• 0:24
  other health care podcasts in that we just
• 0:26
  wanna dive into your journey as a health
• 0:28
  care leader. So before we do that though,
• 0:30
  could you please give us a little bit
• 0:32
  of background on yourself and your organization?
• 0:34
  Chris, I, as as you know, I I
• 0:36
  started here, at Wellstar just, late in October.
• 0:40
  I just really been a a privilege a
• 0:42
  privilege for me to to lead this organization
• 0:44
  and not only get to know
• 0:46
  What I knew of when I was coming
• 0:47
  across the country in terms of the the
• 0:49
  brand and the reputation, but also what I'm
• 0:51
  seeing now On the ground is I have
• 0:53
  met with so many of our 34,000 team
• 0:55
  members and growing
• 0:56
  in this greater Southeast area. So thanks for,
• 0:59
  again, for the opportunity to spend time with
• 1:00
  you to to showcase what we're doing here.
• 1:03
  Yeah. Of course. So, yeah, you're six months
• 1:04
  in which
• 1:05
  how long does that does it feel like
• 1:07
  it's been six months,
• 1:08
  or does it feel like some other amount
• 1:10
  of time? You know, some days, it feels
• 1:12
  like it's your first day because you're always
• 1:14
  learning, and that's part of, you know, obviously,
• 1:16
  some of the leadership,
• 1:18
  skills that I admire is you're always finding
• 1:19
  ways to learn.
• 1:21
  Others, it feels like I've been here for
• 1:23
  for many years and part of that is
• 1:24
  because the unique culture that we have here
• 1:27
  You know everywhere I've been people have not
• 1:29
  only embraced, me as a person as a
• 1:31
  leader
• 1:32
  but the culture is just so strong that
• 1:34
  we we find ways to make sure that
• 1:36
  that people feel very connected to our not
• 1:38
  only our mission, but our focus around patient
• 1:40
  care.
• 1:41
  Yeah. You mentioned culture. That's certainly a very
• 1:43
  important part of any organization. Just getting buy
• 1:46
  in from yourself, first of all, and then
• 1:49
  employees, it just makes everything work that much
• 1:51
  better.
• 1:52
  I love how you said that you're you're
• 1:53
  still learning. I mean, that's what we all
• 1:55
  wanna do in any job. So my first
• 1:57
  question for you is, what is something you've
• 1:59
  learned outside of health care that you've applied
• 2:01
  to your career?
• 2:03
  You know, I've I've evolved in my career
• 2:05
  in many different geographies. I I lived, you
• 2:07
  know outside Chicago outside Pittsburgh outside new york
• 2:10
  and then You know before I came to
• 2:12
  to the Atlanta Metro Area. I was outside
• 2:14
  Seattle as well
• 2:15
  And one one unique lesson that I've learned
• 2:18
  is that that you know, even though we
• 2:19
  have a very strong focus,
• 2:21
  throughout my career in health care
• 2:23
  That the solutions to a particular issue
• 2:27
  or a particular
• 2:28
  capacity if you will in health care is
• 2:29
  always done better when you have unique partnerships
• 2:32
  And focus partnerships in the business community,
• 2:35
  in government
• 2:36
  and finding ways to make sure as an
• 2:38
  example, you know, one of the biggest issues
• 2:40
  that we have is access to care. And
• 2:42
  when you're working in in collaboration,
• 2:44
  you know, with people that are like minded
• 2:45
  and in industry, they're like minded to try
• 2:48
  and solve issues.
• 2:49
  The solution is always better when you're doing
• 2:51
  it together across industry and it's a it's
• 2:54
  a valuable lesson that I've learned, historically and
• 2:56
  certainly as I You know now in the
• 2:58
  first few months have been in the Atlanta
• 2:59
  Metro era
• 3:01
  there's there's so many organizations that want to
• 3:03
  lean in to addressing some of the the
• 3:05
  health care issues, that we have and health
• 3:07
  status that we have in this region and
• 3:09
  the state.
• 3:10
  Yeah. Because, well, it has to be encouraging
• 3:12
  when you understand
• 3:13
  that no matter where you've gone, that okay.
• 3:15
  Yes. There are people who want to help.
• 3:17
  And, also,
• 3:18
  when you're trying to
• 3:20
  improve the health of your greater community,
• 3:23
  that, yes, there are a lot of things
• 3:24
  you can do as well, Star, but you
• 3:26
  don't have to do it by yourself. Right?
• 3:28
  And then there's no way you can, not
• 3:30
  not in the in the scope that you
• 3:31
  would like to accomplish that. Right? And, Chris,
• 3:34
  we we have we have great people in
• 3:35
  this state that, again, as you said, wanna
• 3:37
  do the right thing. And when you just
• 3:38
  look at the health status in Georgia compared
• 3:41
  compared to other parts of the country, you
• 3:43
  know, there's a lot of work to do.
• 3:44
  And we know, as as I've now entered
• 3:47
  into to this region and I've spent a
• 3:49
  lot of time both inside and outside
• 3:51
  the organization building relationships and cultivating those partnerships
• 3:55
  that it is going to take all of
• 3:56
  us to be able to, to address the
• 3:58
  health status issues that we have not only
• 4:00
  in in the Atlanta Metro Area, but more
• 4:02
  importantly in the rural communities that that exist
• 4:04
  in the state.
• 4:05
  And and very, very deeply committed to making
• 4:07
  sure that we leverage those partnerships to be
• 4:09
  able to do that.
• 4:10
  Certainly, worthwhile goal, and I'm glad that,
• 4:13
  Wellstar has you and others in your leadership
• 4:15
  team to help pull you in that direction.
• 4:18
  So shifting gears here a little bit, Khatuel,
• 4:21
  what do you consider your most memorable day
• 4:23
  or period from your career? And that that
• 4:25
  can take on on many forms, but, you
• 4:27
  know, whatever is most appropriate.
• 4:30
  I I will tell you the the most
• 4:31
  most valuable part of my day, alright, is
• 4:34
  when I am spending time with with our
• 4:36
  34,000
• 4:37
  team members. And and I have,
• 4:39
  you know, a pretty significant interest in making
• 4:41
  sure that we spend a lot of time
• 4:43
  to be able to do that. You know,
• 4:44
  we have 34,000
• 4:46
  team members that are focusing on what is
• 4:48
  really important, which is taking care of patients,
• 4:51
  that present themselves to us in a variety
• 4:53
  of different ways, whether it's our ambulatory campuses
• 4:56
  or imaging centers or urgent care or obviously
• 4:59
  in our hospitals.
• 5:01
  You know to me I I love doing
• 5:03
  that because I learn a lot from them
• 5:04
  and you know, the reality is
• 5:06
  When you're in the position, that I'm in
• 5:08
  and as a leader You want to find
• 5:10
  ways for your 34,000
• 5:12
  team members in our situation
• 5:14
  to really be able to, to to do
• 5:16
  what's right and and find ways for us
• 5:18
  to be better. And that is what makes
• 5:20
  us so unique. In fact, you know, for
• 5:22
  just to share a little plug, you know,
• 5:24
  for for for eight years, you know, we
• 5:26
  have been one of the top 100
• 5:29
  organizations, health organizations in in the country, is
• 5:32
  recognized by Fortune magazine. And and that's a
• 5:34
  pride point for us because it it now
• 5:36
  recognizes,
• 5:38
  again, the culture as we talked about a
• 5:39
  little bit earlier, Chris,
• 5:41
  and the fact that people want to really
• 5:43
  work here and at the same time They're
• 5:45
  able to work at the top of their
• 5:46
  license and they feel the value behind it
• 5:49
  and they see their work, you know, bringing
• 5:52
  pretty unique,
• 5:53
  you know, commitment to to what they're doing
• 5:55
  every single day. So I just love to
• 5:57
  see that every time I'm I'm out and
• 5:58
  around.
• 5:59
  So I'm I'm so glad that you feel
• 6:01
  like pretty much every day is your your
• 6:03
  most memorable day. So
• 6:05
  could you,
• 6:06
  outline that for us? I mean, about what
• 6:08
  percentage of time are you spending out, you
• 6:11
  know, with these 34,000?
• 6:13
  Yeah. I mean, obviously, you're not spending it
• 6:14
  all at once, but no. I I exaggerated
• 6:17
  it for for humor
• 6:19
  here. But yeah. No. Tell me. So about
• 6:21
  well, how much time are you spending, you
• 6:23
  know, with your team members? There's not a
• 6:25
  week that goes by that I'm not at
• 6:26
  one of our hospitals or our care sites.
• 6:28
  I mean, the the reality is our geography
• 6:30
  is certainly very broad. You know, we're the
• 6:32
  one of the largest health systems in the
• 6:33
  entire Southeast. And And again, I I'm as
• 6:36
  I mentioned earlier. I'm a I'm a I'm
• 6:38
  a learner and part of my learning abilities
• 6:40
  is I'm a visual learner and and so
• 6:43
  It just gives me the opportunity to to
• 6:45
  connect with our staff more importantly learn about
• 6:47
  what we can and and and Can and
• 6:49
  should do better? You know, I I share
• 6:51
  this with our team members, you know, I
• 6:53
  take our job and my job very seriously.
• 6:55
  I don't take myself. Seriously. However
• 6:57
  Our primary job is to get you know,
• 6:59
  our 34,000
• 7:00
  team members the resources they need To do
• 7:03
  what they're here for which is take care
• 7:04
  of our patients and people that present themselves
• 7:06
  to us
• 7:07
  And you know entrust their lives in terms
• 7:09
  of the care that we're providing
• 7:11
  And I always want to make sure that
• 7:12
  they they have the resources and tools and
• 7:14
  the best way for me to do that
• 7:16
  to your point, Chris, is to get out
• 7:17
  there and and spend some time learning and
• 7:20
  going from there.
• 7:21
  Makes a lot of sense. So, Kattul, could
• 7:23
  you give us an idea of just how
• 7:24
  much time you're spending out in the field?
• 7:26
  You know, I know you're not doing
• 7:28
  every single
• 7:30
  Team member every day.
• 7:32
  Just just give us an outline of of
• 7:33
  what that looks like Chris I'm I'm very
• 7:35
  committed to to spending time with our team
• 7:38
  members at least once a week and part
• 7:39
  of that is we have a very large
• 7:41
  geography
• 7:42
  With many different sites and very different locations
• 7:44
  all throughout the entire Southeast. So being part
• 7:46
  of that journey allows me to be a
• 7:48
  better leader for all of us when I'm
• 7:49
  connecting with our staff, and I don't let
• 7:51
  a week go by without that without that
• 7:53
  happening.
• 7:54
  Makes perfect sense. So, Khatuel, you've been with
• 7:57
  wellstar since October as you mentioned. Correct. And
• 8:00
  I'm not in any way suggesting
• 8:02
  your career is going to end soon.
• 8:05
  But I am curious. So what would you
• 8:07
  tell your successor now that you've been a
• 8:08
  CEO at at several stops,
• 8:10
  including this one? Yeah. You know, you've gotta
• 8:13
  keep the patients always at the at the
• 8:15
  focal point of of, of what we do
• 8:17
  and
• 8:19
  you know, there's so many things that have
• 8:20
  that require the ceo's attention and the leader's
• 8:23
  attention
• 8:24
  I find a way to keep it very
• 8:26
  simple that we're here to make sure we're
• 8:28
  taking care of the patients that present themselves
• 8:30
  either ambulatory sites, through our digital platform
• 8:34
  Or or in our acute care settings and
• 8:36
  I would tell anybody that comes in a
• 8:38
  leadership role and also My successors. We've got
• 8:40
  a very special place here and we've deeply
• 8:43
  committed to quality
• 8:44
  you know, we have outcomes that are, the
• 8:46
  best in the region
• 8:47
  And I would tell her my successor, you
• 8:49
  know, not only focus on the patient but
• 8:52
  find your own way to be able to
• 8:53
  connect with
• 8:55
  staff and leaders to be able to to
• 8:56
  make sure that we're focusing on the patient
• 8:58
  every single day.
• 9:00
  I'm glad you said find your own way.
• 9:02
  And speaking with other CEOs, they've
• 9:04
  many of them have expressed how important it
• 9:06
  is to be your authentic self. So Yeah.
• 9:08
  Yeah. You you can follow
• 9:10
  certain formulas that might get you so far,
• 9:12
  but not as far as you might want.
• 9:14
  Yeah. You know, Chris, I I have throughout
• 9:15
  my career, you know, particularly when I've, gone
• 9:17
  into this seat, I've always followed a very
• 9:20
  long tenured CEO.
• 9:21
  Uh-huh. And with that, you know, comes, you
• 9:24
  know, in many ways with any long tenure
• 9:26
  ceo people understand that person's style
• 9:28
  they're connecting to that person for a very
• 9:30
  long time and I've the most valuable piece
• 9:33
  of advice I got when I've entered into
• 9:35
  an organization is just be yourself because as
• 9:36
  you said you have to be authentic and
• 9:39
  and and many people see through it when
• 9:41
  you aren't.
• 9:42
  And I've always found that if with authentic,
• 9:45
  you know, positioning and authentic behavior, if you
• 9:47
  are just being true to yourself,
• 9:49
  that will resonate with our team members and
• 9:51
  staff, and I've always lived by that.
• 9:53
  Absolutely. And I would say that also a
• 9:55
  nice trait to have, maybe even
• 9:58
  a essential trait to have is a large
• 10:00
  degree of humility when you're meeting a health
• 10:02
  care organization. True. But even with that in
• 10:05
  mind, I am curious simply what accomplishment are
• 10:08
  you most proud of and why? So divergent
• 10:10
  from that humility just for a second.
• 10:13
  Yeah, you know, there's there's so many it's
• 10:15
  hard to always pin it down to one,
• 10:16
  you know, but my pride points are always
• 10:18
  around
• 10:19
  Patient care and watching our team members evolve
• 10:21
  and grow. And I will say this is
• 10:23
  when you look at our
• 10:25
  Outcomes and performance at wellstar and and you
• 10:27
  and you see that there's so many people
• 10:29
  coming
• 10:30
  Through our doors for care, you know That's
• 10:33
  a huge pride point for me. And when
• 10:34
  you look at if you want to point
• 10:35
  to one single accomplishment, you know Do you
• 10:38
  realize that the number of patients that are
• 10:40
  coming into the well star doors?
• 10:42
  Is a true testament to our of our
• 10:44
  team members at 34,000 team members that we
• 10:46
  have here. And so that to me Is
• 10:47
  what I would call a pretty significant pride
• 10:49
  point for us is people entrusting their lives
• 10:52
  to us, because of the fact that our
• 10:54
  quality is so strong and is recognized throughout
• 10:57
  the Southeast. And for us, that's really important.
• 11:00
  That's a wonderful answer, caturle. Thank you for
• 11:02
  sharing that with us. Alright. So
• 11:05
  getting a little bit more serious here, perhaps.
• 11:08
  I'm curious. What issue or aspects of health
• 11:10
  care do you think deserves a brighter spotlight?
• 11:13
  I mean, there's so many that can be
• 11:15
  fall into this category. But if you can
• 11:17
  pick one, maybe two that you say, you
• 11:19
  know what? We need to be thinking more
• 11:21
  about this and why You know chris this
• 11:23
  is it's not only an issue about health
• 11:25
  care, but it's personal to me. You know,
• 11:26
  I I lived in I was born in
• 11:28
  Kenya and
• 11:29
  And I saw, where there was such a
• 11:31
  huge need for access to care
• 11:34
  you see that throughout the many regions in
• 11:36
  this country and I'll give you some very
• 11:37
  very specific examples for us in georgia
• 11:40
  We launched the digital care network a few
• 11:42
  years ago and before the time that we
• 11:44
  did that
• 11:46
  we were seeing a lot of rural hospitals
• 11:48
  where only 30% of the patients were staying
• 11:51
  in their region at their local hospital
• 11:53
  and now, you know, we have the number
• 11:56
  Of rural hospitals, that are part of our
• 11:58
  digital care network and now you're seeing over
• 12:01
  70% of the patients in their region
• 12:03
  staying closer to home at their hospitals
• 12:06
  and they're thriving and then to me that
• 12:08
  is really important because not only you know,
• 12:10
  do we have the ability to Allow access
• 12:13
  to specialty care because of the resources that
• 12:15
  we have here We're We're doing it, in
• 12:17
  a way that makes a lot more economical
• 12:19
  sense to rural communities And people are staying
• 12:21
  closer to their families at home and that's
• 12:23
  a huge pride point for us. But as
• 12:25
  you said You know, we we don't we
• 12:27
  need to focus a lot more access to
• 12:29
  care because there's many communities not only in
• 12:31
  our region But throughout the country that need
• 12:33
  access to care and the kind of care
• 12:35
  that you and I are used to We
• 12:36
  wanna make sure that gets closer to their
• 12:38
  home and, allows them to be a lot
• 12:40
  more vibrant in the communities that they live
• 12:42
  in. Would you allow me to say that
• 12:44
  that is certainly a worthwhile accomplishment
• 12:46
  or put a guy in your resume. You
• 12:47
  know? I know it's it's not just you.
• 12:49
  It's your entire team, your entire,
• 12:51
  team of 34,000
• 12:53
  Wellstar
• 12:54
  employees. Right? So it's something you should all
• 12:56
  take pride in. And clearly, you do.
• 12:59
  And, certainly, as far as access to care
• 13:00
  is concerned, that that's something that you and
• 13:03
  your your colleagues, your peers in in
• 13:06
  c suites in health care are always talking
• 13:08
  about. So it's glad I'm glad to see
• 13:10
  that you're all thinking about it and thinking
• 13:12
  about ways to to improve that. Right? That
• 13:14
  that's certainly
• 13:16
  one of the best goals you can have
• 13:17
  as a health care leader. And and chris
• 13:19
  when you just pinpoint, you know, georgia in
• 13:20
  particular, right, and I and I mentioned the
• 13:22
  health status that we have in this region
• 13:24
  and the challenges that we have in the
• 13:25
  state and we've had hospitals in rural communities
• 13:28
  that have an average daily census of two
• 13:30
  to three
• 13:30
  very close to closing and
• 13:32
  when they when they entered into our digital
• 13:35
  care network and now you start to see
• 13:37
  their average daily census increase and they're vibrant
• 13:40
  they're thriving,
• 13:41
  you know, obviously as a means for,
• 13:44
  new jobs in the community,
• 13:45
  access to care has become more and more
• 13:47
  local
• 13:48
  And it's because of the fact that well
• 13:49
  stars quality and our well stars clinical programs
• 13:52
  are so strong We have luminaries that are
• 13:55
  leading our of leading from our physician perspective
• 13:57
  that are really connecting now to To rural
• 14:00
  communities and that is a pride point for
• 14:02
  us because as you know As I mentioned
• 14:03
  earlier, I want to over state it, but
• 14:05
  I do want to reinforce it that you
• 14:06
  know, we now have a very unique place
• 14:08
  in this region
• 14:10
  to take, to bring care closer to home
• 14:12
  because of the fact
• 14:13
  That we're a destination health system that people
• 14:15
  wanna come towards and our quality is exceptional
• 14:18
  Well, and today cantle
• 14:20
  is a little bit different. So
• 14:23
  what would you say is an underrated leadership
• 14:26
  trait,
• 14:27
  and whom have you seen embodied? It can
• 14:29
  be a group of people, one person,
• 14:31
  you know, who has inspired you, whatever you
• 14:34
  think is appropriate in that way. You know,
• 14:36
  I I'm I'm in a very unique place
• 14:38
  I came, and my mom and my dad
• 14:40
  were both the clinicians. My older brother is,
• 14:42
  The chief of cardiac surgery at university of
• 14:44
  michigan. So I've had health care in my
• 14:46
  blood for my entire life
• 14:47
  you know, one of the things and lessons
• 14:49
  I learned early on, and a pride point
• 14:51
  for me
• 14:52
  Is you know, we touched on this is
• 14:53
  to be authentic but more importantly always be
• 14:55
  a learner
• 14:56
  I got a got a piece of advice
• 14:58
  from one of my board chairs when I
• 14:59
  was an administrative fellow early in my career
• 15:02
  and he said to me live your life
• 15:03
  on an elevator and I didn't quite understand
• 15:05
  what that meant and What he meant by
• 15:07
  that was you have to find ways to
• 15:08
  connect at every level of the organization
• 15:11
  You know staff level all the way to
• 15:13
  the boardroom to people out of the community
• 15:15
  And what he meant and something I've lived
• 15:17
  by through my entire career is if you
• 15:19
  live
• 15:20
  Your leadership lifestyle and culture in the way
• 15:22
  that you're always learning no matter who you're
• 15:25
  interacting with it's going to make you a
• 15:26
  much more effective and better leader
• 15:28
  So I'm I'm very proud of that from
• 15:30
  my, my own personal journey because of the
• 15:33
  fact that, it's something I've learned from people
• 15:36
  and I've been able to, to actually lead
• 15:38
  an organization because I've connected out, with different
• 15:41
  levels of the organization, frankly.
• 15:44
  Which will I can honestly say I've never
• 15:45
  heard that metaphor, but I'm glad you've passed
• 15:47
  it along to me. So now when I
• 15:48
  get into an elevator, I'll be thinking about
• 15:50
  how I need to be a a lifelong
• 15:52
  learner in in that
• 15:54
  way. That's such a positive message to to
• 15:56
  leave us with. Kattul, thank you so much
• 15:58
  for being on the podcast today. I mean,
• 16:00
  you're
• 16:01
  Yeah. Until next time, Kattul.
• 16:04
  I'll just say it this way. I cannot
• 16:05
  wait till next time our pass cross. Chris
• 16:07
  Sabin, and thanks for the opportunity for for
• 16:09
  me to share, our well story and also
• 16:11
  share some little background about me.