Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Matt Chance, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Scottish Rite for Children

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Matt Chance, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Scottish Rite for Children · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  This is where health care leadership comes together.
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  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
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  hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
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  speakers to Chicago, April 13 through the sixteenth.
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  visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
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  in Chicago.
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  Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Chris
• 0:34
  Sosa, your host, and I'm thrilled to be
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  joined today by Matt Chance, of course, the
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  senior vice president and chief operating officer of
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  Scottish Rite for Children in Dallas.
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  Matt, thank you for joining us today. Thank
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  you, Chris. I appreciate the interest in, the
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  hospital and getting us to tell the story.
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  Of course. Of course. So, Matt, for those
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  who are not in our audience who may
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  not be familiar with yourself
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  and or the organization that you work for,
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  can you please tell us a little bit
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  about both?
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  Sure. Yeah. So I'm the chief operating officer,
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  like you said. You know, I've been here
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  in the Dallas market,
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  for,
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  just about thirty years now,
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  and have been here with Scott Stride for
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  a decade.
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  I was actually a volunteer at Scott Stride
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  thirty years ago. I started in 1995 as
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  a little,
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  evening volunteer,
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  right after I got out of college trying
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  to get some sort of health care experience
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  or hospital experience.
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  Went to grad school, did my residency here
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  in Dallas, and really have been able to
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  stay here in the DFW market
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  And,
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  two thirds of that, so,
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  twenty years at pediatric facilities. So that that's
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  really been my passion and,
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  really makes me feel like I can give,
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  the most, to health care through our pediatric
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  providers.
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  So you knew fairly early on in your
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  career that you wanted to do this? So
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  it sounds like a lot was leading up
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  to this.
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  Well, you know, my story is probably similar
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  to a lot of, hospital we have frustrated
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  hospital administrators who wanted to be a doctor
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  and wanna be in medicine and,
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  unlike, you know, professionals and successful doctors. I
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  took organic chemistry in undergrad and,
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  not embarrassed to say it was not my
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  forte. And so, shifted and
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  actually took a statistics class and fell in
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  love with that. And then just, it it's
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  really been a great,
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  fit for,
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  staying in health care and supporting patient care,
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  but, for more of the business side of
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  things and, using some business acumen.
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  Well, that's tremendous, Matt. Yeah. It's certainly
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  it goes without saying, but I will say
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  it that, you know, administrative,
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  roles come from all sorts of walks of
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  life. So I'm glad there was that path
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  for you to to lead you. Scott is
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  right.
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  It's been a great career for me, and
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  and what a pleasure to work with
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  clinicians,
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  every day that, take great great care of
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  our patients too. Now let's get into some
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  of the specifics about, your organization.
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  Let's just start with this. So what would
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  you say is the most important initiative that
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  you led in the past year, and what
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  were the results of that?
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  So Scotch Wright is a pediatric orthopedic provider.
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  We've been here for over a hundred years,
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  and, really, it's it's unique from most
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  pediatric hospitals and that that orthopedics is our
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  niche.
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  So we really focus we have experts,
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  clinicians,
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  and,
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  evolved,
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  flavors who really are experts in providing pediatric
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  orthopedic care.
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  And so we do it at a very
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  high level. We really are are obsessed with,
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  you know, excellence here, and so that's a
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  daily challenge.
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  But, it's a fantastic organization to work at,
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  and and, we we have great outcomes. And
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  so it's always a a fun place to
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  work, especially this time of year during the
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  holidays.
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  Probably our most important and issue that really,
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  we've been focusing on for the last several
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  years now is just access.
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  Because we
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  provide pediatric orthopedic care at such a high
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  level,
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  we really kind of feel that, if patients
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  aren't receiving care from us, then they're probably
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  receiving inferior care somewhere else. And
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  and so we provide,
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  we're a resource to, other
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  providers out in the community. But when they
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  have complex cases or
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  or,
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  you know, patients who have unique conditions,
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  we we wanna really provide,
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  access to that care.
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  So it's it's been challenging.
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  Really, we we've been here for a hundred
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  years, like I said, and, really, we're
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  just one access point in in, middle of
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  Downtown Dallas,
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  for ninety six of those years.
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  We built a satellite facility
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  in Frisco, Texas, which is a northern suburb
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  of the Dallas area.
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  And,
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  we continue to stay busy. It's it's sorta
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  build it and patients came, and and so
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  we really try and
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  balance that that,
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  the the need for providing that expertise, but
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  also making sure that we,
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  still can allow enough patients to come in
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  and see us who need a variety of,
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  orthopedic,
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  conditions.
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  So,
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  this past year, we actually had we we
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  had many of our patients have, orthopedic surgery
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  with us, but then need
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  recovery and therapy care postoperatively.
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  And so we actually opened a new facility,
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  that is actually, again, also in Frisco, another
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  northern suburb.
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  And, it's actually in a sort of a,
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  you know, a medical office building,
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  but it's, it's actually on the same campus
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  as the Dallas Cowboys,
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  organization,
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  you know, campus. And so,
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  it's kind of a unique
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  location to have an an outpatient therapy clinic,
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  but we
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  really worked hard to
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  refine,
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  sort of an operational model to get that
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  off the ground.
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  We opened,
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  about a year and a half ago now,
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  and really didn't know fully what to expect.
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  And we're we're seeing about 600 patients a
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  month now with just a handful of,
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  therapy providers.
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  But we're probably most proud of, of relieving
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  some of that that,
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  capacity from our other campuses, but most proud
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  really of the patient satisfaction at that location.
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  Again, it's somewhat of an experiment
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  to see if we could have a therapy
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  only location,
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  and we've had great outcomes. We we have
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  a patient satisfaction survey that we send out
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  and,
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  literally got, you know, perfect, patient satisfaction scores
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  for the first year.
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  So that that's been a nice,
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  proving ground that, you know, this could be
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  a
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  a potential solution in in some of our
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  other access points.
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  It's hard to get better than perfect, hon.
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  I don't know where to go from there.
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  Yeah. You know, it's it's always a challenge,
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  but, the the families were really pleased with
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  the care, and that that really comes down
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  to the providers providing every single day. But
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  but it's really a a unique environment to
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  have,
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  you know, that level of focus on ensuring
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  that each of our patients have great
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  outcomes.
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  Makes sense.
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  Matt, let's look ahead a little bit here.
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  So just in 2026,
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  certainly, there are
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  headwinds a plenty,
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  and that's just part of being in health
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  care right now,
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  unfortunately. So how do you, at Skytree, looking
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  to tackle these, and what are your other
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  big priorities?
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  Yeah. You're right. There's a lot of headwinds.
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  There's a lot of funding,
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  challenges in in mystery, a lot of gray
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  clouds right now. But I would say probably
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  in our region,
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  where all all the health care systems are
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  really struggling just with the population boom.
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  For anybody that's not aware of the kind
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  of the North well,
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  the state of Texas is, you know, seeing
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  a mass, increase in
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  our trend in population increases, but the North
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  Texas area in particular
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  is probably one of the fastest growing areas
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  in the country.
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  And so,
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  you really our challenges are to keep up
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  with the those, young families that are coming
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  into town
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  and moving into the region looking for,
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  health care providers.
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  And, I mentioned earlier, we we really our
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  our challenge is that we wanna make sure
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  that we maintain the same very, very high
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  standard of care that we provide.
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  And so how do you expand but not
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  dilute your level of expertise?
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  So we it it requires a lot of
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  very specific recruiting,
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  and building a culture around,
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  you know, care that is focused on the
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  patients no matter where you are.
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  But, yeah, that that population,
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  growth and, really, it's it's not gonna slow
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  down. It's it's probably gonna continue to,
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  expand exponentially.
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  So that that's really looking strategically. So, you
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  know, a balance of,
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  providing excellent care for the patients walking in
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  the door every single day, but also thinking
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  strategically
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  about,
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  how can we serve a growing population in
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  the region.
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  And then when yeah. I was, considering this
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  question, you know, one of the other unique
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  things in 2026 that we're gonna be challenged
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  with, the World Cup. The World Cup's gonna
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  have,
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  locations,
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  across,
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  not just The US, but also Mexico and
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  Canada. In Dallas, or the the Dallas DFW
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  Metroplex is hosting nine,
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  games in particular, and and I think, five
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  or six different, teams countries will have their
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  teams
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  camped in different locations around the the metroplex.
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  So that's gonna be June, July,
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  '26. And so lots of, preparations already in
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  in place. We're actually,
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  the Dallas area is also, going to be
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  the international,
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  communications hub as well. So there's a lot
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  of coordination,
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  not just in health care, but transportation, security,
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  you know, language services. And and so it
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  it's gonna be a really interesting time in
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  coordination effort.
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  So we we've already,
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  had
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  our regional trauma group has really taken a
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  leadership role, but there's, other, you know, groups
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  of hospitals that are really focused in their
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  in micro region
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  and supporting the World Cup efforts. And all
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  the visitors are gonna be coming through, probably,
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  speaking other languages other than English.
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  And it's gonna be June, July in the
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  middle of the heat hottest, time of the
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  year in Texas.
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  Yeah. So a lot of health care needs,
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  there too and hydration and, you know, things
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  like that too. So we're really trying to
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  play an active part in in the region's
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  response to the woke ups coming in.
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  Man. Yeah. That's that's gonna be really tense
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  couple of months for you guys, and
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  I
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  would not necessarily have thought that a children's
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  orthopedic specialist group such as yourself would be
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  that involved, but I thank you for, illuminating
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  all of that for us.
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  Yeah. You know, one of our pediatric orthopedics
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  also includes sports medicine. And so Yeah. I
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  mean, it's probably our the the fastest growing
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  aspect of what we do is is,
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  you know,
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  elementary, middle school, and teenage,
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  you know, high schoolers that have injuries.
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  And we do we do a lot of
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  injury prevention, but also help athletes get back
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  on the field as well.
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  And, so that that's why we have that
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  we absolutely will be a, you know, player
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  and and a lot of support, during this
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  World Cup process.
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  Matt, I wanna back up just a little
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  bit here. You mentioned how
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  your strategy has to involve
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  when it involves expansion,
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  not diluting
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  your services.
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  So as
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  that relates to recruiting, what what do you
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  think, Skystride has found as as key to
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  that process and being able to maintain that
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  high level of care?
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  Yeah. That's a great, question. And and, you
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  know, when we we think about recruiting, so
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  we're a pediatric provider. That's already,
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  limits the the, you know, gene pool of
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  potential candidates that, when you're looking for specific
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  expertise.
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  But then we're a pediatric orthopedic provider and
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  really a a pediatric subspecialty
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  provider.
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  And, so recruiting physicians, not just orthopedic surgeons,
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  but
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  radiologists
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  and anesthesiologists
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  and neurologists,
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  and and pediatricians,
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  it's a real challenge.
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  And, really, we do that in a couple
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  different ways. Our our orthopedic surgeons in particular,
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  we have the largest,
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  pediatric fellowship
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  for pediatric orthopedic fellowship in the country.
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  And so we're an academic provider.
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  We our academic partner is UT Southwestern here
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  in in the Dallas area.
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  And so every year, we have five pediatric
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  orthopedic fellows who come in and train for
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  a full year with us.
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  And so,
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  then we have we've now that that program
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  is really starting in the seventies here. It's
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  got a schreid. And so we now have
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  over 200 pediatric orthopedic
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  former fellows, alumni, essentially, that are out that
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  have been shotgunned out really across the world
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  and and, provide their expertise in their own
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  regions.
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  And, you know, usually, we're when we have
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  a need here locally,
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  we sort of thumb through the alumni book
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  and, recruit some of our own alumni.
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  But, we don't have that opportunity with all
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  of our service lines. We we struggle just
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  like everybody else in health care with anesthesia
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  and radiology in particular.
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  We've had some really good success this past
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  year in really rebuilding our, pediatric radiology,
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  musculoskeletal
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  radiologist group. And I've had some, really nice,
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  recruits who've come in and and really, you
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  know, fit very well in the culture. And
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  and, yes, what the the secret sauce is
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  for us, it really is the culture,
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  of our organization. It's it's a remarkable organization.
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  It's not just pediatric, and I I think
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  everybody enjoys walking around at children's hospital. But
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  I always say that, Scott Schreit really attracts
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  fantastic people in every single role,
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  because and we look for individuals who are
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  compassionate,
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  who
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  really, would do everything they possibly can to
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  help every family and every patient that walks
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  in the door.
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  And, again, it's just just it's almost hard
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  to describe, the culture in the field when
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  you you get here. But I mentioned earlier,
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  I was a volunteer thirty years ago, and
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  that that's what you know, whatever it is,
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  I got struck with it very early in
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  my career and and, sort of made it
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  a a mission to get back here and,
• 14:14
  you know, try and be part of this
• 14:15
  remarkable organization.
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  No. It sounds like you're doing a lot
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  of things right, Matt, to say the least.
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  Shifting gears slightly here. So as we look
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  ahead toward next year,
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  what do you think is the hardest thing
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  you're going to have to do in 2026?
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  Well, again, another great question. It's kinda hard
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  to narrow it down too, but, you know,
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  it's it's probably wrong ticket. Right. You know,
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  it's probably the hardest and the simplest thing
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  all in the rolled up in the same,
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  issue. And that's
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  really just to make sure that we're,
• 14:47
  providing
• 14:48
  expert care and a fantastic experience
• 14:52
  to every single patient that walks in the
• 14:54
  door.
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  We we've had, the, you know,
• 14:57
  really nice year this year and gotten lots
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  of accolades for the care we provide.
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  This year, we actually,
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  we jointly submit for our pediatric orthopedic, submission
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  to US News and World Report,
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  with
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  another children's hospital down the the street here
• 15:14
  in Dallas. And and, this year, we're ranked
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  number one in The US News and World
• 15:18
  Report for pediatric orthopedics. We're proud of that.
• 15:22
  For the last eight years in a row
• 15:23
  now, we've received the highest pediatric hospital patient
• 15:27
  satisfaction awards.
• 15:28
  Same thing with employee satisfaction.
• 15:30
  And those are nice, but the reality is,
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  in its confirmation of the, you know, the
• 15:36
  focus and the great care we provide. But
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  the reality is it starts over again tomorrow.
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  And so you gotta be sort of like
• 15:44
  a a, you know, a world class athlete
• 15:46
  and and keep on
• 15:48
  being obsessed again with excellence and how do
• 15:51
  you do better again tomorrow.
• 15:53
  And, again, that's that's the hardest thing and
• 15:55
  the simplest thing, in trying to motivate your
• 15:57
  staff to to come back and do things
• 15:59
  even better tomorrow.
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  Matt, you mentioned that the organization has expanded
• 16:04
  a little bit here and there to to
• 16:06
  Frisco and know, some of the things you're
• 16:08
  doing in that,
• 16:09
  space.
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  So lastly here, could you give us a
• 16:13
  glimpse of where you see the best opportunities
• 16:15
  for growth for Scottish Rite?
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  Yeah. You know, I mentioned the population growth.
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  So,
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  really, the the opportunities are endless, you know,
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  at this point.
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  We we really do because we we, you
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  know, are experts in what we do. We
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  we do get, referrals really from all over
• 16:33
  the state, all over the country, and even
• 16:35
  international patients.
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  And so,
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  you know, really, what we try to do
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  here is continue to,
• 16:45
  again, focus on access. And so, in the
• 16:47
  you know, so I've been here at Scratch
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  right now for ten years. And during that
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  ten year period, we have tripled the number
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  of patients, we see.
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  A lot of that is because of the
• 16:56
  fact that our Frisco campus opening up, but
• 16:59
  but the reality is every year, we we
• 17:01
  see
• 17:02
  pretty significant growth. And so,
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  you know, we're we're absolutely to the point
• 17:08
  where we've gotta continue to look for ways,
• 17:11
  to provide care closer to the families who
• 17:14
  are coming to us.
• 17:15
  The challenge is because we're not a full
• 17:17
  service children's hospital, though, it doesn't make sense
• 17:21
  to have,
• 17:23
  an entire web of Scottish Rite hospitals,
• 17:26
  or even outpatient facilities,
• 17:29
  scattered across the state.
• 17:31
  Really, what we are are continuing to do
• 17:33
  is look for ways that we can provide
• 17:36
  very focused,
• 17:39
  locations with a a limited scope clinical scope,
• 17:42
  so that we can,
• 17:45
  patients and families in in other areas can
• 17:47
  can at least,
• 17:49
  see some of our providers and be screened.
• 17:51
  And then if they have a more complex,
• 17:53
  need, they can come to,
• 17:55
  the Dallas location or even Frisco for our
• 17:57
  sports medicine programs.
• 17:59
  Well, Matt, thank you so much for giving
• 18:01
  us a glimpse, a really detailed, but it's
• 18:04
  a wonderful glimpse into what Scottish Rite is
• 18:06
  all about and your efforts,
• 18:07
  not only with expansion, but just dealing with
• 18:10
  population growth and and all the other challenges
• 18:12
  that you're dealing with recruiting, etcetera.
• 18:14
  We really hope to see you again down
• 18:16
  the line, and, yeah, we really appreciate you
• 18:17
  being with us.
• 18:19
  Well, again, Chris, I appreciate all the interest
• 18:20
  in, you know, Scott is right, and we
• 18:22
  love telling the story and and, you know,
• 18:24
  helping out,
• 18:26
  you know, patients, families, and also other providers
• 18:28
  across, the country as well.