Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leading Through Integration, Growth, and Workforce Flexibility with Trey Crabb

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Leading Through Integration, Growth, and Workforce Flexibility with Trey Crabb · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - At Insight Global Health, we are dedicated to
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  - helping you and improving health care for everyone.
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  - delivering them. Visit us at insightglobal.com.
• 0:26
  - Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Kelly
• 0:28
  - Guich, managing editor at Becker's, and I'm thrilled
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  - to be joined today by Trey Krab, CEO
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  - of Deaconess Associations Incorporated.
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  - Trey, thank you for joining me today. Thanks
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  - for having me, Kelly.
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  - Of course. And to start off with, I
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  - was wondering if you could briefly introduce yourself,
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  - your role, the scope of your organization, and
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  - and really what's currently commanding most of your
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  - attention as a leader right right now? I'd
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  - love to do that, and and thanks for
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  - having me again. It's Trey Crabb. I'm CEO
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  - of Deaconess Associations Inc. We're based in Cincinnati.
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  - We are a Christian focus not for profit
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  - molding company of four businesses,
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  - and the business
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  - businesses that we're in are, focused on home
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  - health, hospice,
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  - personal care, which is Medicaid focused, as well
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  - as a, physical occupational
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  - and speech therapy
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  - business that's focused on senior living, and we
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  - operate in 23 states.
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  - As far as what's keeping me busy right
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  - now, I would say 80% focused on management
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  - of the existing businesses that we have as
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  - well as 20% looking outside
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  - for opportunities to partner with other organizations,
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  - acquisitions, and things that might help us increase
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  - our density and make connections with our businesses.
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  - And in a year marked by this rapid
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  - change we're seeing, what recent decision or pivot
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  - would you say required the most leadership conviction
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  - from you, particularly
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  - when it came to aligning people, resources, or
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  - or capabilities?
• 1:52
  - Wow. It's a good question.
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  - We had a situation with,
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  - maybe the last time we did this, I
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  - had five businesses, but we made the decision
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  - within the last year or so to merge
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  - two of those companies together due to their
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  - overlapping geography and
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  - operations that they had. They were home health
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  - and hospice businesses that were previously separate.
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  - So we had a lot of people that
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  - were in those organizations, and we tried to
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  - arrange the best people from each one of
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  - them to occupy just one seat,
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  - that was left after the the merger without
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  - losing the culture
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  - or the historical organization's work that
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  - that was in place already. And it wasn't
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  - without turmoil.
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  - It took, the better part of a year
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  - to get it done. There was some turnover
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  - with it, but it's quieted down since then.
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  - From that's the people side. From a system
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  - side, we've merged,
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  - financial systems,
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  - human resources systems,
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  - clinical systems altogether,
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  - to,
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  - kind of close that that merger out.
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  - Yeah. Definitely a big big endeavor.
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  - Absolutely. And
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  - so I'm curious how that moment then really
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  - maybe challenged some of your assumptions,
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  - and what did it change about how you
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  - approach decision making talent or organizational readiness right
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  - now? I think
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  - the the the key message that I learned
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  - and took away from that is not to
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  - delay these decisions.
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  - You wanna
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  - be sure that you, make the decision and
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  - move forward boldly.
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  - There was some concern about operating in markets
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  - with a long standing presence with certain of
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  - our brand names. For example,
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  - in this particular business, we have maybe 20
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  - different trade names that we operate in in
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  - different parts of our markets there, and we
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  - left all of those in place
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  - so that the community felt like we had
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  - continuity there even if we had moved some
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  - of the folks around both in leadership and
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  - clinical operating positions.
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  - And
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  - when you do think about so many of
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  - the forces really reshaping health care right now,
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  - where do you believe leaders need to maybe
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  - be more decisive,
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  - especially when balancing speed risk and having the
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  - right teams in place?
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  - That's a good question.
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  - With our business, we're about 95%
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  - Medicare,
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  - Part a and Part b, so we're a
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  - price taker
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  - with our business.
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  - But we still need to grow organically
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  - and with, business line expansions to help counteract
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  - what, in some cases, are
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  - reductions in our rates, in Medicare that, get
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  - pushed down to us. And so another,
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  - another thing that we do there is
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  - look to joint ventures to help fill in
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  - some of our density, and that's with hospital
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  - systems. So we're looking to do all of
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  - those things.
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  - And
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  - as a sort certainty has really become
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  - normal in today's environment, what leadership habit or
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  - mindset has been most critical in keeping your
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  - organization and your people,
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  - moving forward?
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  - So as I mentioned at the beginning, we,
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  - have these four businesses,
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  - and, we we own them all a 100%.
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  - I bring the teams together to,
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  - foster open communication amongst leadership,
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  - and we share best practices at that level
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  - as well. So we've got really good fortune
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  - of being able to pull these teams together
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  - and talk about the good, the bad, and
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  - the ugly.
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  - There's not very much of that, but sometimes
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  - things come up and you have to deal
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  - with them. And the good news is,
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  - one or more of our leaders have been
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  - in that situation before, and they can share
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  - their experiences with others so that they can
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  - help to navigate through that. It's a little
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  - bit easier,
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  - and more supportive to do that with, our
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  - group of companies than it would be if
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  - we just had one stand alone business, I
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  - think.
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  - And
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  - I know we've been talking a little bit
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  - about the workforce already, and and I'm curious
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  - too as as labor markets, of course, remained
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  - high and demands continue to grow, how are
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  - you really rethinking traditional workforce models, including greater
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  - use of international or contingent talent
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  - to build resilience rather than just fill those
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  - staffing gaps that are done? This is a
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  - good question for our, physical, occupational, and speech
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  - therapy business.
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  - We employ,
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  - kind of therapy staff,
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  - you know, in every segment of that business
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  - and also assistance to those, professionals that do
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  - this work. And then, within each of those
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  - groups, we have full time, part time, and
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  - PRN staff in in each one of them.
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  - So we've built a, flexible staffing model to
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  - help
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  - cover our senior living partners,
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  - in assisted living and memory care. And that's
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  - a way that it works for both the
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  - people that we employ, and we hope that
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  - it reduces turnover,
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  - but also, gives our clients good coverage so
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  - that they know that their residents are getting
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  - the best care possible. So that's how it
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  - works for us. Right.
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  - Well, thank you so much, Trey, for a
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  - fun and interesting conversation today, and we we
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  - hope to keep, working with you again soon.
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  - Thanks so much for having me. See you
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  - next time.