Latest / Becker’s Healthcare 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 Podcast

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  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
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  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
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  - This is Kristen Kuchno with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:00
  - podcast. And today, I'm thrilled to be joined
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  - by doctor Patrick Frias, CEO of Children's Healthcare
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  - 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
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  - about what led you back to Children's Healthcare
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  - of Atlanta as CEO?
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  - Yeah. I'm Patrick Frias. I'm, president and CEO
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  - of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
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  - And I actually spent the first
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  - eighteen years of my career after my my
• 1:29
  - medical training as a pediatric cardiologist
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  - at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
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  - And along the way, I had some great
• 1:35
  - mentors and amazing opportunities
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  - and was the inaugural chief physician executive. And
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  - then after that, I was chief operating officer
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  - at Children's Healthcare Atlanta. And at twenty eighteen,
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  - I had an incredible opportunity come out of
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  - nowhere
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  - to be the CEO of Rady Children's in
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  - San Diego, and it was a fantastic eight
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  - years. We did so many things
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  - in San Diego to improve the care of
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  - the kids in Southern California
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  - and had, real learning opportunities and growth opportunities.
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  - In in January, I got a call from
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  - my old boss, Donna Hyland, who told me
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  - she was retiring, and they were gauging my
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  - interest for
• 2:09
  - coming back.
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  - 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
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  - all started, and now twenty six plus years
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  - ago,
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  - it was hard not to listen. And when
• 2:24
  - thought more about it and
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  - our family's out here,
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  - Atlanta, to me, I love San Diego, but
• 2:30
  - Atlanta felt like home.
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  - And coming back to where my career started
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  - to hopefully be able to finish my career
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  - here was an incredible opportunity.
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  - And
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  - Donna has left Children's Healthcare Atlanta in such
• 2:44
  - an amazing position.
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  - We have incredible
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  - care delivery, wonderful providers, a very strong and
• 2:49
  - vibrant workforce,
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  - and the Atlanta community is so much behind
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  - what we do that it was,
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  - made it an easy decision to decide to
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  - come home.
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  - Definitely. Well, I'm excited to learn more about
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  - what's next for Children's.
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  - 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
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  - and how did you land on thirty minutes
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  - as the benchmark?
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  - Yeah. You know, the thirty minutes is if
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  - you think about anybody trying
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  - to juggle their busy life and maybe after
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  - school, after sports, wherever they need to get
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  - to be able to get to a provider,
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  - it seemed like
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  - one that might be at sometimes a little
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  - bit long than when you deal with traffic
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  - and all, and you and you deal with
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  - the realities of of of a large,
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  - area like Metro Atlanta. It seemed like a
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  - reasonable place for folks to be able to
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  - get to care. So it was really the
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  - idea that in all parts of Metro Atlanta,
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  - which is,
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  - made up of a large area,
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  - that children would have access to to our
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  - care. Maybe not the quaternary care that's at
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  - the larger hospitals,
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  - but primary care, certain levels of specialty care,
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  - urgent care that we'd be able to get
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  - that out deeper into the community.
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  - And we really wanted to make sure we
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  - were addressing those care deserts and and make
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  - sure those kids had access to care as
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  - well.
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  - Great. And beyond more than possible, what are
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  - the top priorities you're most focused on before
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  - the end of the year in your new
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  - role?
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  - Well, the more than possible strategy is a
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  - huge priority because it's not just getting
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  - the it's it's not just getting the care
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  - out to the kids, but it's also evolving
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  - that care, the the incredible centers and
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  - specialty programs that we have, and making sure
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  - we can invest and grow those, and and
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  - optimize the outcomes and care delivery there. It's
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  - also about getting care in more than possible
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  - beyond Metro Atlanta and into rural Georgia. We
• 4:48
  - have a partnership
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  - with Mercer University School of Medicine and the
• 4:52
  - Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center. We actually provide
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  - scholarships
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  - for,
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  - medical students at Mercer University,
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  - so that then they after they're at matriculation,
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  - they go on and provide pediatric primary care
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  - in the community. We have 34 students there
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  - right now. We have internships for high school
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  - students, so we can get them excited in
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  - pediatrics. So part of the strategy is it's
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  - the the outcomes, the programs,
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  - the locations,
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  - getting to rural Georgia, and then also it's
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  - the people, and growing the workforce of the
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  - future and optimizing the innovation research and technologies
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  - to do it. So it's a it's a
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  - robust strategy. But if if that wasn't enough,
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  - in addition to driving that,
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  - I'm, also taking my time to make sure
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  - that I relearn the organization where I was
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  - for a long time, but I haven't been
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  - here for eight years. I've evolved. The system's
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  - evolved. And I'm on a what we're calling
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  - the people and, possibilities tour. So more than
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  - possible
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  - and leads with people. So I'm going out
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  - and meeting with our people and our teams
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  - over these next ninety days
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  - to reintroduce myself and also understand where their
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  - passions are and where they think opportunities are
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  - for us as we evolve this strategy together.
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  - Definitely very exciting. And I'm wondering if there
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  - are any new things that you've learned just
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  - talking to some of the new employees or,
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  - you know,
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  - employees that you hadn't met before,
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  - since you're returning. Anything that's come out of
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  - those conversations
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  - that was most interesting to you?
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  - You know, something I'm asking
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  - every time I get a chance when I
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  - go meet with the group says, what's one
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  - thing we could do to, you know, make
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  - your day go a little smoother, those pebbles
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  - in the shoe?
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  - And the thing that I'm probably most amazed
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  - about is, I think I stop most people
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  - with that question. I guess you're not thinking
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  - that's what's what's gonna get asked, but,
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  - that there's nothing
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  - that is
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  - earth shattering in a sense that
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  - the workforce here really has been supported well
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  - and has a lot of what they need
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  - to deliver the care. And there's always opportunities
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  - for, you know, new rolling laptops, things like
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  - that, something to make care a little bit
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  - better. But I I think the most surprising
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  - is that there aren't any big surprises, and
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  - that's a good thing. And a test in
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  - 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.
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  - Definitely. I'm also wondering, as you look out
• 7:14
  - over the next few years of the more
• 7:16
  - than possible strategy,
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  - what specifically will tell you that that strategy
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  - is working?
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  - I think one of the key things
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  - for what we do, number one, it's about
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  - the outcomes and the quality of care that
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  - we deliver and ensuring there's access to that
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  - care for the children in our communities.
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  - So to me, it will be
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  - driving and enhancing the outcomes
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  - for the care, and then we're tracking very
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  - closely
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  - access to our providers for the community.
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  - So success will be making sure that
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  - we got into those care deserts. We enhance
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  - access to care for children, not just in
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  - Metro Atlanta, but across Georgia
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  - through technology and and and partnerships and so
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  - 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
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  - I answered something before, I didn't mention it,
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  - but it'll also be important to me when
• 8:07
  - we get gauge success
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  - 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
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  - grown into having the largest
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  - pediatric mental health workforce in the state of
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  - Georgia with 300 providers, and there's still more
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  - to be done. So to me, it's very
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  - important that we also focus on mental health
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  - in addition to physical health as we're enhancing
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  - the care and, lives of the kids in
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  - our community.
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  - Definitely.
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  - Pediatric mental health is such an important topic.
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  - And I'm wondering, are there any other top
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  - priorities that you're focused on looking ahead to
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  - 2027,
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  - whether that's improving access to care or more
• 8:46
  - work in the mental health space?
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  - In addition to access to care and more
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  - work in the mental health space, we're also
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  - focused on
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  - driving innovation. We have amazing work going on
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  - with the research and our partnerships with Emory
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  - University
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  - and Georgia Tech, among others, and how do
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  - we advance
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  - that research and innovation to drive
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  - opportunities and outcomes and access to care for
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  - kids. So we're also looking at a,
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  - pardon me, an innovation
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  - strategy
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  - that will help drive that in in in
• 9:19
  - the years ahead.
• 9:20
  - Great. Well, Patrick, thank you again for joining
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  - us. We appreciate your time and look forward
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  - 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.