Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building Smarter Workflows: Transforming Onboarding and Optimization in Healthcare

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Building Smarter Workflows: Transforming Onboarding and Optimization in Healthcare · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
• 0:02
  My name is Chanel Banger. Today, I have
• 0:04
  the pleasure of speaking with doctor Victor Navarro,
• 0:07
  the chief clinical officer of the central region
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  of Jefferson Health System, who joins the podcast
• 0:12
  today to share insights into his background, trends
• 0:15
  he's keeping an eye on, and a bit
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  more. Doctor Navarro, thank you so much for
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  joining me today. Oh, my pleasure, Chanel. Thanks
• 0:20
  for having me.
• 0:21
  Of course. Well, to get us started, could
• 0:23
  you please introduce yourself and tell us a
• 0:25
  bit about your background and Jefferson Health System?
• 0:28
  Sure. Sure will. I'd love to. Thanks very
• 0:30
  much. Yeah. My name is Vic Navarro.
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  As I as you said, I'm a chief
• 0:34
  clinical officer for
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  one of the four regions within Jefferson Health,
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  the Central Region, which is essentially the Metropolitan
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  Philadelphia area covering seven health care,
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  hospital facilities for of of our 33.
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  I'm a transplant physician by training. I still
• 0:52
  practice,
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  but I have become the chief clinical officer
• 0:56
  in the Central Region, and I took this
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  role in 2023.
• 1:00
  My my main responsibilities
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  are to oversee the quality,
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  safety, regulatory
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  programs,
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  for the Central Region. I also oversee the
• 1:09
  medical staff office, and I also help our
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  critical service lines
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  to grow from a strategic and even operational
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  perspective,
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  as part of a big team.
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  That includes our transplant programs, heart and vascular,
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  musculoskeletal
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  cancer,
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  women's programs.
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  So that's my role.
• 1:28
  Perfect. Thank you so much for the introduction.
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  And now moving into the meat of the
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  podcast a bit, I'm curious to know
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  what are the trends that you're currently watching
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  either in transplant
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  space, executive leadership, or just health care overall?
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  Yeah.
• 1:42
  Sure. Well, I'll tell you,
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  in talking with my colleagues, reading the literature,
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  keeping one's ear to the ground,
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  I think the most important thing we've got
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  to keep an eye on is artificial intelligence
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  and technology.
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  You know, this is a tool that it
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  seems to be most sort of carefully regulated
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  and scrutinized at the organizational level. And Jefferson
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  with this very large system of 33 hospitals
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  has a robust process for this. But, you
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  know, there's risk involved in artificial intelligence and
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  technology, but it's so useful in so many
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  ways.
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  It can help with administrative
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  tasks, predictive analytics, as you know,
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  very much in diagnostic
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  support.
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  And and I think as we move further
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  and further, AI is gonna become incredibly important.
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  Actually, it already is important,
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  for alleviating the doctors and other providers of
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  of administrative
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  tasks.
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  Everything from scribing
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  to, you know, other things that our that
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  our front office does.
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  Jefferson is very deep into and a and
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  a leader of the pack on,
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  ambient listening for among our providers in the
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  office,
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  now in the hospital, and now it's being
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  adopted by our nurses.
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  But I'd also like to see,
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  our own health system and,
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  in general,
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  more patient facing artificial intelligence
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  technology such as conversational agents
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  becoming tested and deployed.
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  Things that might help patients
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  prepare for procedures.
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  And that really allows us on the
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  the clinical end to become more efficient because
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  we can deploy these processes that will interact
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  with patients, help them prep, let's say, for,
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  you know, a a colonoscopy
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  or another surgical procedure.
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  And we don't have to take the time
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  of our of our, operating room staff to
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  do that. So I think that's one of
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  the big things. The other thing which I
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  think we've got to keep a close eye
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  on is virtual and care and home care.
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  You know, hospitals at home are very important,
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  and all health systems
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  are investing heavily in virtual and remote monitoring.
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  Certainly at Jefferson where we have a large
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  health plan,
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  This is very important for our members so
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  that we can, after discharge, give them an
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  opportunity for virtual care to have follow-up soon
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  after their discharge.
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  But virtual care is critically important to maintain
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  access.
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  I think we've got to keep a close
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  eye on precision medicine,
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  whether that's in the area of genomics
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  or biomarkers.
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  And it has such a potential great impact
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  in oncology
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  and other areas such as brain disease, brain
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  health, Alzheimer's disease.
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  And then I think, you know, workforce in
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  general,
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  labor shortages are something that we're living with
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  every day, and employee costs nonetheless continue to
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  rise. And this puts a lot of pressure
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  on healthcare organizations.
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  And so we've got to be increasingly
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  efficient on how we manage our, our workforce.
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  Obviously, we're asking our our providers to become
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  increasingly more productive.
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  So we've got to be really creative and
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  be mindful of shifts in workforce.
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  Absolutely.
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  A lot of innovative things happening in health
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  care right now. Thank you for walking us
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  through that. And now looking forward into the
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  rest of 2026,
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  what are you most focused on and excited
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  about? And then I kinda want you to
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  look back at the past six to eighteen
• 5:02
  months. So can you talk about an initiative,
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  a project, or something that you or Jefferson
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  Health has accomplished that you're proud of? Sure.
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  Sure. You know, Jefferson has become,
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  you know, as you know, Chanel, a very
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  large health system, and we have a few
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  strategic health,
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  medical centers that are are
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  tertiary or more quaternary care. You know, centers
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  that will provide transplant care, for example, or
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  take care of the most complex vascular procedures.
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  Certainly in the central region where I'm located,
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  our tertiary
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  slash quaternary facility, which is Thomas Jefferson University
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  Hospital,
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  is bound by city streets and, you know,
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  height restrictions. And it's an older facility,
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  yet still very, very productive and very packed.
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  And so one of the most important things
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  that we've done over the past six to
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  twelve months
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  is to look at our assets, our bed
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  capacity within Thomas Jefferson University Hospital as well
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  as other hospitals within our central region. And
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  start to guide our patients
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  from our emergency department, for example, to one
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  of our other hospitals for care that might
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  not be required
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  to be rendered in our university hospital. You
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  know, for example,
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  a patient who has an aortic dissection needs
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  to be within the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
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  walls. However, many other patients who might have
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  heart disease,
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  other infectious diseases,
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  vascular problems
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  could very easily and be taken care of
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  very well at another hospital, for example, Methodist.
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  And so we've we've developed,
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  we've developed great processes
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  to,
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  redistribute so to speak in a compassionate way
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  where patients understand what's going on and are
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  in agreement to some of our other facilities.
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  And I think this is gonna be key
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  for the future, particularly for
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  health systems that like ours where you've got
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  very, very many hospitals, you're just, you know,
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  distributed in in large areas, but you've got
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  to figure out ways to provide high acuity
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  services.
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  And you can't do that in every space.
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  You've got to figure out,
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  where these high acuity specialties can operate in
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  the most efficient
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  and highest quality way. And that may just
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  be one or a few hospitals within these
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  large health systems. So it's really incumbent upon
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  us managers to figure out ways to keep
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  those patients,
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  coming to these high acuity hospitals,
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  to keep the capacity there for them
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  yet to not prevent or create barriers for
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  patients who may have lower acuity disease but
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  still need hospitalizations
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  while they can be taken care of at
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  some of our other hospitals. So managing capacity
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  is something that I think we've done well.
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  And at Jefferson, there's certainly more to do
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  because we are undergoing tremendous renovations
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  of our emergency room and and building new
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  units and and our floors to create capacity.
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  But until that's all said and done, we
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  do have to you know, we we are
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  always on top of keeping patient capacity at
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  its absolutely optimum.
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  Absolutely. That's amazing to hear. And
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  I'm curious to hear from your perspective as
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  the practicing clinician and somebody that's worn different
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  hats throughout the Jefferson Health System. What advice
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  would you give to evolving leaders looking to
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  have that same impact and drive in the
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  careers as you have?
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  Oh, well, thank you. That's a very nice
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  question.
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  I have been with Jefferson for a long
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  time.
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  It's actually connected in some ways since 2001,
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  and I've seen the landscape of health care
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  change both locally, nationally, and I think Jefferson
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  is responding really well to it.
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  My advice is that any health care leader
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  has to be committed to being flexible.
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  Things change on a dime within, you know,
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  week by week, month by month.
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  New regulations appear, you know, new processes may
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  appear that improve efficiency. So one must really
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  be flexible and open to change.
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  And realizing that sometimes you don't know what
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  you don't know, and you've got to be
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  open to what other people have to say
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  and what other health systems might be doing,
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  particularly systems that are operating in a similar
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  demographic in our situation in urban environments.
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  So flexibility is important as is resilience because,
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  you know, change can be tough. But, you
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  know, change is important. It helps us grow,
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  and it also makes us stronger. So I
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  think one has to
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  commit to be resilient
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  and to be communicative and resourceful with one's
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  team because there is a lot of talent.
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  Sometimes that talent is hidden and we have
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  to coax it out of people, but really
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  a lot of good ideas,
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  and focus can come out of our our
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  various team members.
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  I think that's the most important advice I
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  can give, to be flexible, to be resilient,
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  and to look within for strength. There are
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  a lot of pressures out there. You know,
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  we mustn't worry about what other health systems
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  are doing, at least not too much. We
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  have to really worry to be sure that
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  we're continuing to provide high quality, you know,
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  mission driven care.
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  Yes. We must focus on volumes and we
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  do that through making the best use of
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  capacity.
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  But I think living the mission of your
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  organization is another important piece of advice I'd
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  give.
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  Excellent advice. Well, doctor Navarro, I wanna thank
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  you for your time today. But before I
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  let you go, is there anything else that
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  listener, Chanel?
• 10:17
  Well, no. I appreciate that, Chanel. You know,
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  I think,
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  Jefferson, as as I've said a few times,
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  is a very large health system with hospitals
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  in many different venues, and I think this
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  adds to the depth and dimension of what
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  we can offer from the from the extent
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  of the Lehigh Valley where the Lehigh Valley
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  Health Network has become part of Jefferson to
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  now New Jersey as well as metropolitan
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  Philadelphia.
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  The high acuity advanced specialty services that we
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  offer and system line efficiencies, I think, will
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  be a model for
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  similar
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  diverse health systems such as Jefferson.
• 10:54
  Got it. Got it. Well, that's a great
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  note. And on, Doctor. Navarro, I wanna thank
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  you once again for your time today and
• 10:59
  for sharing your insights on the Becker's Healthcare
• 11:01
  podcast. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye
• 11:03
  now.