Latest / Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast / Daniel Fields, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Transcript

Daniel Fields, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia · Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast

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  This is Chris Sosa with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined by Dan
• 1:18
  Fields, senior vice president and chief strategy officer
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  at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dan, thank you
• 1:23
  for joining us today. Thanks, Chris, for having
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  me. I really appreciate it.
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  Dan, for our listeners who are not familiar
• 1:30
  with you and your work, could you please
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  introduce yourself and give us a bit about
• 1:33
  your background?
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  Sure. I'm happy to. So as you said,
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  Dan Fields. I'm chief strategy officer at Children's
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  Hospital of Philadelphia,
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  which we often refer to as CHOP.
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  My responsibilities and my team's responsibilities,
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  focus on a couple of broad areas.
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  The first is we focus on our enterprise
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  strategy, which includes
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  clinical strategy, operational strategies.
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  We also partner with our colleagues to think
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  about our research and innovation strategy.
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  I joined CHOP about 7 years ago,
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  having spent my career prior to this in
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  health care consulting where I was at McKinsey.
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  I'm actually a lawyer by training, though never
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  by practice. So if you ask me if
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  I ever thought
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  I'd, have gone from law school to consulting
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  to children's hospital, I probably wouldn't have said
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  I would have, but, I'm really glad I'm
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  here.
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  Briefly about
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  CHOP. So CHOP is the 1st hospital in
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  the US dedicated exclusively to pediatrics. We're one
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  of the largest and most well regarded hospitals
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  in the country,
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  got more than 6 80 beds, 50 outpatient
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  sites, 1,500,000
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  outpatient visits per year, we train 100 of
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  residents and fellows every year.
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  It's a pretty amazing institution with a long
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  standing commitment to innovation, which is what drew
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  me to join SHOP.
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  You mentioned that you're a lawyer by training,
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  Dan. So could you let me know it
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  does sound very interesting that you've gone from
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  that
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  training to health care. What led you in
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  that direction?
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  Yeah. I actually,
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  I think for the early part of my
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  career, I may have tried to tried to
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  avoid
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  working in health care. I'm from a family
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  that focuses on health care. My dad's a
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  doctor. My mom's a nurse. I'm married to
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  a doctor. My sister's a doctor.
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  Now I wanted to do other things.
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  But in law school, I got really fascinated
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  with
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  the innovation that was happening
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  in healthcare, and I decided I wanted to
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  focus on that for my career.
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  And so
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  I rejoined McKinsey after law school and really
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  made that a focus of my
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  work and really enjoyed doing that. And so
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  when I was leaving McKinsey and looking,
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  for other opportunities,
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  I wanted to find an institution that was
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  really committed to innovation in health care, and
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  CHOP is a good illustration and embodiment of
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  that.
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  And no doubt CHOP is very happy to
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  have you, I'm sure. So you mentioned the
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  innovation.
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  On those along those lines, could you tell
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  us what your top priorities are today, whether
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  it's innovation
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  or any other aspects of your job?
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  Yeah. Absolutely.
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  An interesting question, you know, because there's really
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  so much going on in health care
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  right now and certainly in pediatrics. And so,
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  when I think about my
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  broad priorities, they kinda fall into 2 general
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  themes.
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  So the first is about
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  impact and how we maximize the impact we
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  can have,
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  and the second is around sustainability.
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  And I'll tell you a little bit more
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  about
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  each. So from an impact perspective,
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  for us, impact is often and frequently grounded
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  in innovation. We're an organization with
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  so much potential,
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  a legacy of improving child health through innovation
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  for a very long time.
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  Now we're the 1st formal medical training in
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  pediatrics. We were part of developing multiple of
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  the first vaccines
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  for cell therapy for cancer, for gene therapy
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  for blindness. You know, we have expanded care
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  across the whole care continuum,
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  so we can provide extraordinary care
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  in our community, around the country, around the
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  world.
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  We focus a lot on investing in our
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  community,
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  and, we have an extensive global health program.
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  We've got
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  1,000
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  principal investigators
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  that
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  are supported by nearly $400,000,000
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  in external funding to advance new ideas.
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  And I tell you all that that's partially
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  it's because it's interesting, but mostly because when
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  you've got a foundation like that, you have
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  just a tremendous
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  ability
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  to make a difference in improving child health.
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  And
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  pediatrics, as you know, is different. Right? We
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  only represent 10% of health care expenditures,
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  far fewer organizations that are focused
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  on improving the state of health care for
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  pediatrics for children.
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  There are a lot of children who are
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  depending on it. And so
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  this big theme for me is
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  really asking the question, you know, how can
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  we maximize the impact we can have
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  through innovation? How do we create an environment
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  where new ideas and discoveries can flourish, can
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  advance quickly and can do so at scale?
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  This theme of quickly is something that really
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  matters to me. I think there's just a
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  lot
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  of urgency for us to bring new ideas
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  forward as quickly and safely as we
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  can,
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  because as much advancement that there's been in
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  pediatrics and there has been a lot,
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  If your child has a condition where
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  we haven't made as much progress as an
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  industry, and it doesn't matter how much other
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  progress has been made. It only matters whether
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  we have the idea that will make a
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  difference for your child. And so this idea
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  of advancing ideas in an environment that can
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  advance ideas
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  and bring them to scale quickly is really
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  important.
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  I'll maybe give you an example of
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  how we think about this because one of
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  the things we're really good at here is
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  turning innovation into tangible results.
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  And one of the ways we do that
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  is through
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  what we call some of our accelerator programs.
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  So one of our marquee programs is called
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  the Frontier programs. It's actually
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  what brought me to CHOP in the first
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  place. So Frontier
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  takes
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  programs that have extraordinary clinical programs
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  and breakthrough research potential together,
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  and we really invest and support these programs
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  to
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  develop their ideas as quickly as possible in
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  both the clinical domain and the research domain
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  and really foster that bench to bedside,
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  translation that has so much promise in health
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  care.
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  When I got here, it was
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  it was just a couple of programs that
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  were making great progress. And now we've got
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  27 of these programs.
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  And then somewhere around a third of them
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  are actually working on curative therapies.
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  So when I think about impact,
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  that's the type of impact I hope we
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  can have. You know, we can bring ideas
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  forward faster, we can bring ideas forward
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  in a way that translates into care that
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  makes a meaningful difference for kids.
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  So that's a big
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  area of focus, is impact through innovation and
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  doing it quickly and at scale.
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  But the other side of the coin here
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  is the sustainability one and it's a really
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  important question. You know, even as I said,
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  even though pediatrics is different in many regards,
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  and one regard that we're not is,
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  being affected by the trends that are affecting
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  the healthcare sector generally.
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  Financial pressure, operational pressure, workforce pressure, disruption,
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  these are all affecting pediatrics generally and,
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  something we're really
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  focused on as we think about sustainability.
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  You know, at CHOP, we're kind of turning
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  the page, we're coming up on 170 years
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  into our
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  journey and we're fortunate to be able to
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  take the long view. But if you're taking
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  the long view and you're on that kind
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  of a journey and you face this kind
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  of pressure and disruption,
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  inability is really essential.
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  And there's really exciting things that are happening
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  from a sustainability perspective,
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  innovation and care delivery,
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  digital innovation, so there's a lot of really
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  good
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  work, and I think in order to have
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  the impact we wanna have, we have to
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  make sure we've got the sustainable foundation to
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  do it. So
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  those are 2 of the big themes that
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  are occupying a lot of my time right
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  now.
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  Dan, clearly, health care is anything but stagnant,
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  and you touched on a great deal of
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  the pressures and challenges that are facing health
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  care right now. You also mentioned Longview. But
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  for a second here, let's look at a
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  bit of a short term view. So over
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  the next 18 months,
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  what sort of things do you think will
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  evolve in the health care industry as far
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  as CHOP is concerned?
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  Yeah. And the the short view is really
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  important, but like you said like you said,
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  you know, such a dynamic time in health
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  care.
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  I think that some of the changes have
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  have already been happening, but I do think
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  there's a few that will continue and perhaps
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  accelerate. So,
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  one of them relates to the
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  the care continuum, you know. Children's hospitals have
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  this extraordinary responsibility,
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  especially children's hospitals like CHOP where we're involved
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  so deeply in our community and and across
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  the care continuum. So we focus on prevention,
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  education,
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  work with schools in our community,
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  primary care, all the way through the most
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  complex subspecialty,
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  outpatient and inpatient and diagnostic
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  care.
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  And when you're covering that much ground and
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  caring for kids that have needs across care
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  continuum, it's really important
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  to make sure that each part of the
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  care continuum
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  is robust and the children who need it
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  have access to the care that they need
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  across it. And so this has been part
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  of our focus for a long time, but
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  I think as
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  the world gets more complex and
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  clinical advances continue to move forward at an
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  astounding pace,
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  making sure that all parts of the care
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  continuum
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  are robust and well developed is something that
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  I think we're going to be spending a
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  much time thinking of or thinking about, excuse
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  me.
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  That's 1. The second, I touched on a
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  little bit,
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  but it's,
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  it's really the scheme about scale.
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  So, you know, health care, as you know
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  well, Chris,
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  loves to pilot an experiment and that has
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  a really important role in advancing new ideas
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  across the health care sector.
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  For us, I think one of the things
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  that we think a lot about is how
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  we bring these good ideas to scale at
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  a at a greater pace as I mentioned
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  earlier. And so I think thinking about scale
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  more deliberately, more systematically is going to be
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  really important.
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  And the last the last area is about
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  collaboration.
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  So we're we partner with many organizations today
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  in our region
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  in many different aspects of,
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  things like shared care, education, and others.
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  I expect partnership and collaboration to continue to
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  probably expand and diversify
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  the nature and types of partners and areas
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  that we
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  essentially collaborate with them.
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  So I think that's exciting to think about
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  it, there's a lot of promise there because
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  as much as we've done as an organization
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  individually,
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  opportunities that are available to us and
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  present
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  are presented to us with the innovation that
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  is coming require us as an industry to
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  be way more than the sum of our
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  parts, so collaboration is going to be pretty
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  essential.
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  There's so many exciting things happening right now
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  in health care. Dan, you just mentioned a
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  lot of them. But to switch gears a
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  little bit here, I do wanna get back
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  to what's exciting for you. But what's sort
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  of making you nervous on the horizon, whether
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  it be over the next year, 2 years,
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  even 5 years?
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  Yeah.
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  I appreciate the question, Chris. You know, I
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  think that,
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  you know, one of the things that gives
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  me pause that I think a lot about
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  is
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  the extent
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  of the sort of unmet need in pediatrics.
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  Now as much progress has been made, there's
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  still a lot more that needs to be
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  made and many of the indicators of child
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  health aren't moving in the right direction.
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  Perfect example of this is the child and
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  adolescent mental health crisis that
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  has been an area of focus for the
• 12:50
  industry now, in particular for the last couple
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  of years.
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  It's definitely an example of an area where
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  the state of health for children is far
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  from where
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  it should be.
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  I'm proud as an organization that,
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  CHOP has invested quite significantly in this area
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  in building out our own capabilities and advocacy.
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  But when I think about that as a
• 13:12
  microcosm of multiple areas where the indicators of
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  child health are far from where we'd want
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  them to be,
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  you know, that gives me pause. There's there's
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  a lot of work to do.
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  On the other side of that coin, Dan,
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  clearly, CHOP is doing a great many things
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  that I'm sure you find exciting. Can you
• 13:30
  share some of those with us right now?
• 13:33
  Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think that,
• 13:36
  this is an amazing time, because we've got
• 13:38
  this confluence of
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  scientific innovation,
• 13:41
  clinical innovation,
• 13:43
  digital innovation
• 13:45
  with AI
• 13:46
  and other modalities,
• 13:48
  innovation and care delivery models, and so seeing
• 13:50
  them come together
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  is really, really exciting.
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  One of the areas I'm particularly excited about
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  is the work that we have ongoing in
• 13:57
  cell and gene therapy.
• 13:59
  You know, when I got here in 2017,
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  it was late 2017 when I arrived at
• 14:03
  CHOP and it was right around the time
• 14:05
  that we had back to back approval of
• 14:07
  that first gene therapy I talked to you
• 14:09
  about and the first cell therapy, close succession,
• 14:12
  it was remarkable.
• 14:13
  I you know, I'm not even
• 14:15
  remotely part of the history of it, but
• 14:17
  I think when you talk to folks they
• 14:18
  tell you that was years years years of
• 14:21
  work coming to fruition
• 14:23
  in that
• 14:24
  couple of month period
• 14:26
  there.
• 14:27
  And so here we are now, six and
• 14:29
  a half years later from that,
• 14:32
  there are 38 FDA approved cell engine therapies
• 14:36
  on the market.
• 14:39
  A third of those are for pediatric indications
• 14:42
  And the best I understand, there's something like
• 14:44
  18
• 14:46
  approvals that are anticipated to the end of
• 14:48
  calendar year 2025,
• 14:50
  the majority of which would be approved for
• 14:52
  pediatric indications.
• 14:54
  And so
• 14:56
  what's exciting for me and what's exciting to
• 14:58
  to watch unfold at CHOP is,
• 15:00
  the progress for these disciplines, these fields to
• 15:04
  really
• 15:05
  breakthrough and flourish and thrive,
• 15:08
  after years of investment that our faculty and
• 15:11
  researchers have made in trying to advance this
• 15:14
  technology. And so
• 15:15
  watching that that sort of parallel of what's
• 15:17
  happening in the industry unfold at CHOP, now
• 15:20
  we have something like 80 principal investigators working
• 15:21
  in cell and gene therapy, just at CHOP.
• 15:22
  Type
• 15:24
  of impact that can unfold in the years
• 15:26
  ahead with that kind of momentum. Certainly, there's
• 15:36
  work to do, and there's gonna be probably
• 15:38
  a lot of evolution in the technology, but
• 15:40
  it's just an illustration of the type of
• 15:42
  thing that I find really exciting here.
• 15:45
  No doubt. It's very gratifying to see all
• 15:47
  that investment paying off. Lastly, Dan, I just
• 15:50
  wanna ask you, you mentioned a little bit
• 15:51
  about the mental health aspect and how it's
• 15:54
  maybe not moving forward as quite as
• 15:57
  quickly
• 15:58
  as some would hope,
• 15:59
  but is there any other
• 16:01
  aspect of health care, especially pediatrics, you think
• 16:04
  deserves a brighter spotlight?
• 16:07
  Well, Chris, I appreciate the question.
• 16:11
  I think there are a number, but one
• 16:12
  theme that I'll highlight relates to the theme
• 16:15
  of equitable access to care. And this is
• 16:17
  a theme that's really important across the entire
• 16:20
  care continuum, really, from prevention all the way
• 16:23
  to access to the most
• 16:25
  innovative
• 16:26
  treatments and therapies.
• 16:29
  Addressing
• 16:30
  this theme really requires us to bring together
• 16:34
  research innovation, clinical innovation, partnership with organizations across
• 16:38
  the community, advocacy,
• 16:40
  new capability development,
• 16:42
  and more. You know, at CHOP, we've taken
• 16:44
  a number of steps
• 16:47
  to work on,
• 16:48
  addressing and improving in this area, including establishing
• 16:52
  new centers so we can really try to
• 16:54
  make some progress here.
• 16:55
  And maybe let me give you an example
• 16:57
  of, what I mean in a little more
• 16:59
  depth. So earlier in our discussion, we talked
• 17:03
  about a lot of the exciting work related
• 17:04
  to cell and gene therapy.
• 17:06
  One area where there's been a lot of
• 17:08
  progress and there's potentially curative therapies
• 17:11
  coming to the market is in the area
• 17:13
  of sickle cell disease.
• 17:15
  And and
• 17:16
  as the therapies progress, this theme of equitable
• 17:19
  access to care is really important.
• 17:22
  These therapies have the potential to benefit large
• 17:24
  number of patients in a very transformative way.
• 17:28
  But to really if we're gonna really meet
• 17:30
  the needs of patients and families,
• 17:33
  it's not enough just to contribute to the
• 17:34
  scientific discovery,
• 17:36
  not enough just to have one of the
• 17:38
  largest clinical programs in the country.
• 17:40
  So, you know, a place like CHOP, we're
• 17:42
  really proud of both of those things, and
• 17:43
  they're and they are really important.
• 17:45
  But to really advance here, we have to
• 17:48
  make sure that these resources are available quickly
• 17:50
  and efficiently, and that requires us thinking about
• 17:54
  overcoming barriers related to insurance coverage, travel,
• 17:58
  housing,
• 17:59
  and others. And we're trying to work to
• 18:01
  remove as many of those barriers as possible,
• 18:03
  but it's really critical that we, as an
• 18:06
  organization, but really that the system
• 18:09
  generally
• 18:10
  gets as good as we can at doing
• 18:12
  that.
• 18:13
  And that will really let
• 18:15
  the scientific innovation and clinical innovation that's coming
• 18:18
  to bear
• 18:19
  really be able to have a transformative effect
• 18:21
  for as many kids as possible.
• 18:24
  So it's an, you know, it's an example
• 18:26
  really where some of the opportunities we've been
• 18:28
  talking about and some of the challenges we've
• 18:29
  been talking about actually come together.
• 18:31
  And I think our shared
• 18:34
  potential and opportunity and challenge for the time
• 18:36
  ahead is we ought to simultaneously
• 18:40
  lean into and capture the full promise of
• 18:43
  the opportunities
• 18:44
  and the innovation
• 18:45
  while simultaneously
• 18:47
  tackling these important challenges. And so that's some
• 18:50
  of the important and hard work ahead.
• 18:53
  Dan, thank you so much for sharing all
• 18:55
  of your insights today. We absolutely cannot wait
• 18:57
  to share them with our audience. And, of
• 18:58
  course, we look forward to connecting with you
• 19:00
  again soon.
• 19:01
  Sounds great, Chris. Thanks so much for having
• 19:03
  me. I really appreciated it.