Latest / Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast / Expanding Pediatric Access and Innovation at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta with Dr. Patrick Frias

Transcript

Expanding Pediatric Access and Innovation at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta with Dr. Patrick Frias · Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast

• 0:02
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
• 0:04
  - leaders right now is not a short list.
• 0:07
  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
• 0:09
  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
• 0:12
  - favor,
• 0:12
  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
• 0:15
  - and discipline,
• 0:16
  - and a workforce story that is still being
• 0:19
  - written.
• 0:20
  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
• 0:23
  - more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
• 0:27
  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
• 0:30
  - are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
• 0:32
  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
• 0:35
  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
• 0:37
  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
• 0:39
  - It's the kind of event you leave with
• 0:40
  - a clear sense of where you stand and
• 0:42
  - what comes next.
• 0:44
  - So join us November second through the fifth
• 0:46
  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
• 0:48
  - and come ready to do the hard thinking.
• 0:50
  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:54
  - by clicking on the events tab in the
• 0:56
  - upper right.
• 0:58
  - This is Kristen Kuchno with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:00
  - podcast. And today, I'm thrilled to be joined
• 1:03
  - by doctor Patrick Frias, CEO of Children's Healthcare
• 1:06
  - of Atlanta. Patrick, thank you for being here.
• 1:09
  - Hi, Kristen. Thank you for having me here.
• 1:12
  - Could you introduce yourself and share a bit
• 1:14
  - about what led you back to Children's Healthcare
• 1:16
  - of Atlanta as CEO?
• 1:18
  - Yeah. I'm Patrick Frias. I'm, president and CEO
• 1:21
  - of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
• 1:23
  - And I actually spent the first
• 1:26
  - eighteen years of my career after my my
• 1:28
  - medical training as a pediatric cardiologist
• 1:31
  - at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
• 1:33
  - And along the way, I had some great
• 1:35
  - mentors and amazing opportunities
• 1:37
  - and was the inaugural chief physician executive. And
• 1:39
  - then after that, I was chief operating officer
• 1:41
  - at Children's Healthcare Atlanta. And at twenty eighteen,
• 1:44
  - I had an incredible opportunity come out of
• 1:46
  - nowhere
• 1:47
  - to be the CEO of Rady Children's in
• 1:49
  - San Diego, and it was a fantastic eight
• 1:52
  - years. We did so many things
• 1:54
  - in San Diego to improve the care of
• 1:56
  - the kids in Southern California
• 1:58
  - and had, real learning opportunities and growth opportunities.
• 2:01
  - In in January, I got a call from
• 2:04
  - my old boss, Donna Hyland, who told me
• 2:06
  - she was retiring, and they were gauging my
• 2:08
  - interest for
• 2:09
  - coming back.
• 2:11
  - And quite frankly, I was in a great
• 2:13
  - situation there in San Diego, but when I
• 2:16
  - got a call from the place where it
• 2:18
  - all started, and now twenty six plus years
• 2:21
  - ago,
• 2:22
  - it was hard not to listen. And when
• 2:24
  - thought more about it and
• 2:26
  - our family's out here,
• 2:28
  - Atlanta, to me, I love San Diego, but
• 2:30
  - Atlanta felt like home.
• 2:32
  - And coming back to where my career started
• 2:36
  - to hopefully be able to finish my career
• 2:38
  - here was an incredible opportunity.
• 2:40
  - And
• 2:41
  - Donna has left Children's Healthcare Atlanta in such
• 2:44
  - an amazing position.
• 2:45
  - We have incredible
• 2:46
  - care delivery, wonderful providers, a very strong and
• 2:49
  - vibrant workforce,
• 2:51
  - and the Atlanta community is so much behind
• 2:55
  - what we do that it was,
• 2:57
  - made it an easy decision to decide to
• 2:59
  - come home.
• 3:01
  - Definitely. Well, I'm excited to learn more about
• 3:03
  - what's next for Children's.
• 3:05
  - I know you've named your strategy more than
• 3:07
  - possible with a goal of putting children's pediatric
• 3:10
  - services within thirty minutes of every family in
• 3:13
  - Metro Atlanta. So I wanted to ask, what
• 3:15
  - does that commitment actually look like in practice
• 3:18
  - and how did you land on thirty minutes
• 3:20
  - as the benchmark?
• 3:22
  - Yeah. You know, the thirty minutes is if
• 3:24
  - you think about anybody trying
• 3:27
  - to juggle their busy life and maybe after
• 3:29
  - school, after sports, wherever they need to get
• 3:31
  - to be able to get to a provider,
• 3:32
  - it seemed like
• 3:34
  - one that might be at sometimes a little
• 3:36
  - bit long than when you deal with traffic
• 3:37
  - and all, and you and you deal with
• 3:39
  - the realities of of of a large,
• 3:42
  - area like Metro Atlanta. It seemed like a
• 3:44
  - reasonable place for folks to be able to
• 3:46
  - get to care. So it was really the
• 3:48
  - idea that in all parts of Metro Atlanta,
• 3:50
  - which is,
• 3:51
  - made up of a large area,
• 3:53
  - that children would have access to to our
• 3:56
  - care. Maybe not the quaternary care that's at
• 3:59
  - the larger hospitals,
• 4:01
  - but primary care, certain levels of specialty care,
• 4:03
  - urgent care that we'd be able to get
• 4:05
  - that out deeper into the community.
• 4:08
  - And we really wanted to make sure we
• 4:09
  - were addressing those care deserts and and make
• 4:12
  - sure those kids had access to care as
• 4:15
  - well.
• 4:16
  - Great. And beyond more than possible, what are
• 4:19
  - the top priorities you're most focused on before
• 4:21
  - the end of the year in your new
• 4:22
  - role?
• 4:23
  - Well, the more than possible strategy is a
• 4:25
  - huge priority because it's not just getting
• 4:28
  - the it's it's not just getting the care
• 4:30
  - out to the kids, but it's also evolving
• 4:32
  - that care, the the incredible centers and
• 4:36
  - specialty programs that we have, and making sure
• 4:38
  - we can invest and grow those, and and
• 4:40
  - optimize the outcomes and care delivery there. It's
• 4:43
  - also about getting care in more than possible
• 4:46
  - beyond Metro Atlanta and into rural Georgia. We
• 4:48
  - have a partnership
• 4:50
  - with Mercer University School of Medicine and the
• 4:52
  - Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center. We actually provide
• 4:56
  - scholarships
• 4:57
  - for,
• 4:58
  - medical students at Mercer University,
• 5:00
  - so that then they after they're at matriculation,
• 5:03
  - they go on and provide pediatric primary care
• 5:05
  - in the community. We have 34 students there
• 5:07
  - right now. We have internships for high school
• 5:10
  - students, so we can get them excited in
• 5:11
  - pediatrics. So part of the strategy is it's
• 5:14
  - the the outcomes, the programs,
• 5:16
  - the locations,
• 5:17
  - getting to rural Georgia, and then also it's
• 5:20
  - the people, and growing the workforce of the
• 5:21
  - future and optimizing the innovation research and technologies
• 5:24
  - to do it. So it's a it's a
• 5:26
  - robust strategy. But if if that wasn't enough,
• 5:29
  - in addition to driving that,
• 5:31
  - I'm, also taking my time to make sure
• 5:34
  - that I relearn the organization where I was
• 5:37
  - for a long time, but I haven't been
• 5:38
  - here for eight years. I've evolved. The system's
• 5:41
  - evolved. And I'm on a what we're calling
• 5:43
  - the people and, possibilities tour. So more than
• 5:47
  - possible
• 5:47
  - and leads with people. So I'm going out
• 5:50
  - and meeting with our people and our teams
• 5:53
  - over these next ninety days
• 5:55
  - to reintroduce myself and also understand where their
• 5:59
  - passions are and where they think opportunities are
• 6:01
  - for us as we evolve this strategy together.
• 6:05
  - Definitely very exciting. And I'm wondering if there
• 6:07
  - are any new things that you've learned just
• 6:10
  - talking to some of the new employees or,
• 6:13
  - you know,
• 6:14
  - employees that you hadn't met before,
• 6:16
  - since you're returning. Anything that's come out of
• 6:18
  - those conversations
• 6:20
  - that was most interesting to you?
• 6:22
  - You know, something I'm asking
• 6:24
  - every time I get a chance when I
• 6:26
  - go meet with the group says, what's one
• 6:27
  - thing we could do to, you know, make
• 6:29
  - your day go a little smoother, those pebbles
• 6:31
  - in the shoe?
• 6:32
  - And the thing that I'm probably most amazed
• 6:34
  - about is, I think I stop most people
• 6:36
  - with that question. I guess you're not thinking
• 6:38
  - that's what's what's gonna get asked, but,
• 6:40
  - that there's nothing
• 6:43
  - that is
• 6:44
  - earth shattering in a sense that
• 6:46
  - the workforce here really has been supported well
• 6:49
  - and has a lot of what they need
• 6:50
  - to deliver the care. And there's always opportunities
• 6:53
  - for, you know, new rolling laptops, things like
• 6:55
  - that, something to make care a little bit
• 6:57
  - better. But I I think the most surprising
• 7:00
  - is that there aren't any big surprises, and
• 7:02
  - that's a good thing. And a test in
• 7:04
  - began to the great condition that Donna has,
• 7:07
  - left Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and that she
• 7:09
  - transferred it to my leadership.
• 7:12
  - Definitely. I'm also wondering, as you look out
• 7:14
  - over the next few years of the more
• 7:16
  - than possible strategy,
• 7:18
  - what specifically will tell you that that strategy
• 7:20
  - is working?
• 7:22
  - I think one of the key things
• 7:25
  - for what we do, number one, it's about
• 7:27
  - the outcomes and the quality of care that
• 7:28
  - we deliver and ensuring there's access to that
• 7:31
  - care for the children in our communities.
• 7:33
  - So to me, it will be
• 7:35
  - driving and enhancing the outcomes
• 7:38
  - for the care, and then we're tracking very
• 7:40
  - closely
• 7:41
  - access to our providers for the community.
• 7:44
  - So success will be making sure that
• 7:47
  - we got into those care deserts. We enhance
• 7:50
  - access to care for children, not just in
• 7:52
  - Metro Atlanta, but across Georgia
• 7:54
  - through technology and and and partnerships and so
• 7:56
  - forth. And and that will show that we've
• 7:59
  - been successful in this. And another area that
• 8:02
  - I wanna highlight that I I I when
• 8:04
  - I answered something before, I didn't mention it,
• 8:06
  - but it'll also be important to me when
• 8:07
  - we get gauge success
• 8:09
  - is enhancing mental health for our community as
• 8:12
  - well. And the team has done a fantastic
• 8:14
  - job already over the last few years. We've
• 8:16
  - grown into having the largest
• 8:18
  - pediatric mental health workforce in the state of
• 8:20
  - Georgia with 300 providers, and there's still more
• 8:23
  - to be done. So to me, it's very
• 8:25
  - important that we also focus on mental health
• 8:27
  - in addition to physical health as we're enhancing
• 8:30
  - the care and, lives of the kids in
• 8:32
  - our community.
• 8:34
  - Definitely.
• 8:35
  - Pediatric mental health is such an important topic.
• 8:37
  - And I'm wondering, are there any other top
• 8:40
  - priorities that you're focused on looking ahead to
• 8:42
  - 2027,
• 8:43
  - whether that's improving access to care or more
• 8:46
  - work in the mental health space?
• 8:48
  - In addition to access to care and more
• 8:50
  - work in the mental health space, we're also
• 8:53
  - focused on
• 8:54
  - driving innovation. We have amazing work going on
• 8:57
  - with the research and our partnerships with Emory
• 8:59
  - University
• 9:00
  - and Georgia Tech, among others, and how do
• 9:02
  - we advance
• 9:04
  - that research and innovation to drive
• 9:07
  - opportunities and outcomes and access to care for
• 9:10
  - kids. So we're also looking at a,
• 9:14
  - pardon me, an innovation
• 9:16
  - strategy
• 9:17
  - that will help drive that in in in
• 9:19
  - the years ahead.
• 9:20
  - Great. Well, Patrick, thank you again for joining
• 9:23
  - us. We appreciate your time and look forward
• 9:25
  - to following the incredible work at Children's Healthcare
• 9:28
  - of Atlanta.
• 9:29
  - Well, thanks for your interest, Kirsten. It's great
• 9:31
  - to be here with you.