Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Matthew Fry on Growth, Innovation and Building a Sustainable Health System

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Matthew Fry on Growth, Innovation and Building a Sustainable Health System · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
• 0:08
  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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  - pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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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.
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  - This is Alan Condon back with another episode
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  - of the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. And today, I'm
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  - delighted to be joined by Matt Fry,
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  - president and CEO of Freeman Health System, which
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  - is a nonprofit
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  - independent system with now eight hospitals, I believe,
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  - also headquartered in Joplin, Missouri.
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  - Matt, pleasure to have you make what I
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  - believe is your debut appearance on the Beckers
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  - podcast.
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  - For those of our listeners who might be
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  - as well acquainted with you, some of the
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  - fantastic work that Freeman Health System does, I'd
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  - love to hand the hand the floor over
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  - to you to just hear a little bit
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  - more about your role and your background at
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  - the health system.
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  - Yeah. Thank you. And it's great to be
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  - here with you.
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  - Freeman Health System is a nonprofit,
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  - locally owned, locally
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  - governed health system.
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  - We've actually been around for a hundred and
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  - one years this year,
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  - based here in Joplin, Missouri.
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  - We've experienced some recent expansion.
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  - We
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  - acquired four hospitals in Northwest Arkansas.
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  - That deal
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  - actually finalized and closed on June first of,
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  - this year of 2026.
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  - And then we also opened up a a
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  - small 10 bed hospital in Fort Scott, Kansas
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  - last year, around September
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  - 2025. So,
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  - the health system has grown to, about,
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  - eight hospitals,
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  - about 9,000 colleagues.
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  - And,
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  - you know, right now, we are laser focused
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  - on
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  - enhancing the services that we're providing to the
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  - patients that we serve. We're doing this through
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  - technology investments.
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  - One good example is
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  - we are,
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  - implementing we're in the process right now. We
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  - go live
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  - with the implementation
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  - of Epic enterprise wide
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  - in Missouri and Kansas at the end of
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  - October of this year. And we're in the
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  - process of doing our,
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  - EPIC build with a projected go live of
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  - EPIC in Northwest Arkansas
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  - around September or October of next year.
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  - We, recently
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  - invested in,
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  - Workday
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  - enterprise wide,
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  - and that's been very beneficial for our health
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  - system.
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  - And,
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  - you know, we're we're always on the
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  - hunt for
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  - state of the art technology
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  - in imaging and cath labs and perioperative spaces.
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  - So,
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  - again, we can meet the needs of our,
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  - of our patients with twenty first century technology.
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  - Fantastic. So it's certainly
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  - exciting time, it sounds like, for for Freeman
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  - Health System, your team, a 100 and year
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  - anniversary,
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  - essentially doubled its footprint, I believe, in such
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  - a small period of time. No eight hospitals.
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  - You kinda gave us the state of the
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  - union there in terms of what's really gone
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  - well, what you've been focusing on, acquisitions, technology
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  - implementations with your epic EHR. I guess just
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  - the one thing I'd like to pick up
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  - on is,
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  - talking about enhancing the services that you provide.
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  - Do you mind giving us a little bit
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  - more insight into what type of services those
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  - are,
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  - where those service take place, and kinda what
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  - makes the most sense for you and your
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  - community?
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  - Yeah. We,
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  - so we have a fairly robust cardiovascular
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  - service line.
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  - We do TAvers. We do a lot of
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  - interventional cardiology,
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  - medical cardiology,
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  - cardiovascular
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  - surgery,
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  - and,
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  - that's a service line that, you know, we
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  - have. There is unfortunately
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  - a lot of health
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  - needs in,
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  - not only our com immediate,
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  - service area, but our secondary service areas as
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  - well.
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  - And so
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  - we really have invested heavily in
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  - in growing our capabilities
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  - in the cardiovascular
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  - service line
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  - to help close the access gaps for the
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  - communities that we serve in Southeast Kansas, Northeast
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  - Oklahoma,
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  - Southwest Missouri, and Northwest Arkansas.
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  - That's, that's one. Another one is women's health.
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  - We have a really robust
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  - OB GYN, maternal fetal medicine,
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  - neonatal care,
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  - services that we provide,
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  - in,
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  - Southwest Missouri, in Northwest Arkansas in particular.
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  - And we've been really looking at ways for
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  - us to further enhance those services as well.
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  - Finally, I'll just mention,
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  - oncology.
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  - We have really great,
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  - medical
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  - hematology oncology services as well as radiation oncology.
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  - And we recently
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  - invested in putting a linear accelerator in South
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  - Southeast Kansas
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  - to help provide access to,
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  - those community members.
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  - And
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  - we I'm happy to tell you, we are
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  - actually,
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  - right at the tail end of that project,
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  - and so we'll be opening up for first
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  - patient here in the next couple weeks in
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  - that market. There's a number of other service
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  - lines that we're investing in, but,
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  - those are first to come to mind.
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  - Fantastic. So, certainly,
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  - a huge time of growth, a huge period
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  - of growth for the houses. I'm gonna stick
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  - with one more question around growth, and then
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  - we'll we'll we'll shift to some of the
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  - headwinds that you're facing.
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  - So you talked a lot about kind of
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  - your immediate priorities or near term growth. Matt,
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  - when when you look a little bit further
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  - afield, say the next two, the next three
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  - years,
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  - where are the biggest opportunities for Freeman Health
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  - to grow and where are you focused on
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  - there?
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  - I think there are a couple areas.
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  - One, first and foremost, our most important asset
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  - in in Freeman Health System is our people.
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  - I think, you know, we have put together
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  - a comprehensive strategic plan to,
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  - invest in the human capital of this organization,
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  - both monetarily as well as nonmonetarily.
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  - That is gonna be absolutely critical for us
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  - as we continue to
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  - build a sustainable health system into the future.
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  - I mean, really, everything
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  - hinges upon that.
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  - You know, secondary to that is really focusing
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  - on operational efficiency.
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  - You know, we,
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  - just like every other health system in The
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  - United States, are dealing with,
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  - unique challenges,
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  - from a reimbursement
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  - perspective,
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  - from an escalation in labor and in supplies
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  - expenses,
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  - and a whole host of other,
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  - headwinds that are coming our way. And so
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  - identifying and eliminating waste where possible and becoming
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  - more efficient and more patient
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  - centric, those are things that we're really leaning
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  - into heavily, and,
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  - we feel like they're,
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  - mission critical for us to be the provider
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  - of choice in the four states area.
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  - Got it. And I heard you did say
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  - that there's some potential headwinds coming down the
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  - pipeline in health care. And health care, really?
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  - No.
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  - I think we know what you're talking about.
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  - I think, certainly,
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  - we've been writing about it a ton when
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  - we think about what's coming down the pipeline.
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  - We've got the, the expiration of the ACA
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  - sort of subsidies,
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  - Medicaid funding cuts,
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  - the the list goes on and on.
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  - From your perspective and your seat in your
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  - health system, the biggest headwinds that you're keeping
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  - an eye on and preparing for, and maybe
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  - how are you going about preparing for that?
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  - Such a challenging time. No doubt health care
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  - is always challenging. It certainly seems like CEOs
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  - like yourself are working in arguably the most
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  - challenging time from a reimbursement landscape, which would
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  - be that be fair to say.
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  - Yeah. I think it's absolutely fair to say.
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  - And, you know, at its most basic level,
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  - it's inputs and outputs.
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  - We have to be laser focused on our
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  - cost structure and our operating model,
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  - and then we have to be laser focused
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  - on being the provider of choice. So we're
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  - generating enough revenue to
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  - provide
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  - either breakeven or a slight margin.
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  - You know, the days of the Freeman Health
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  - Systems of the world turning a five, six,
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  - 7% margin are gone.
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  - However, what we do need to do is
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  - we need to make sure that we're turning
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  - what margin we can because that's how that
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  - we then reinvest back in the organization, back
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  - in our people, back in technology
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  - to provide,
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  - the level of care that our community really
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  - needs. So,
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  - you know, at its most basic level,
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  - we just need to be really, really good
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  - mindful operators. We need to take care of
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  - our people. We need to meet our patients'
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  - needs,
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  - and we need to be very conscious of
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  - what our patients
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  - require and
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  - and how our patients wanna be interacted with.
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  - You know, I was listening to, someone that
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  - I respect dearly,
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  - in the industry recently, and
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  - they were talking about,
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  - it's kind of an ugly word nowadays to
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  - refer to patients as as consumers.
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  - But they were saying, you know, we shouldn't
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  - be afraid to consider patients consumers because at
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  - the end of the day, that's what they
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  - are. They're our customers.
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  - But any good business that has good customer
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  - retention,
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  - they know that you have to meet your
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  - customers where they're at in order to
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  - retain those customers and their loyalty and their
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  - business.
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  - And so, you know,
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  - we need to get back to the basics
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  - at Freeman Health System, and I would argue
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  - across the,
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  - across the industry,
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  - and ensure that
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  - at at our
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  - basic level, we are meeting our patients' needs,
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  - high quality care. We're providing unfettered access
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  - because that's ultimately
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  - how we're going to be selected when patients
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  - do have a choice and and there are
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  - other providers in
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  - the primary market or secondary market.
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  - Mhmm. Yeah. I think such a good good
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  - point. And it kinda ties nicely into our
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  - next question, Matt, in terms of a nice
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  - segue here. Shifting gears a little bit, you
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  - you just referred to
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  - comments around someone that you you admire as
• 10:43
  - a leader in terms of patients or being
• 10:45
  - referred to as consumers.
• 10:46
  - I I remember sitting down with you at
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  - a during our annual meeting, and I believe
• 10:50
  - you, attended Intermountain president and CEO Rob Allen's
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  - keynote session, and I really took away some
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  - great insights there.
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  - But outside of
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  - health care,
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  - is there is there a leader that you
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  - admire? Is there someone that you kinda take
• 11:04
  - a lot away from? Outside of health care,
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  - is there certain there's some ones that comes
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  - to mind and why? Just out of curiosity.
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  - That's a great question.
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  - I'll I'll talk about some leaders in health
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  - care that I really admire and then I'll
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  - talk about outside of health care. This is
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  - good. So,
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  - you had just mentioned Rob Allen,
• 11:22
  - the president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare.
• 11:27
  - Rob Allen is,
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  - an exceptional
• 11:29
  - leader,
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  - and
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  - I think what he and his team have
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  - done at Intermountain
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  - is,
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  - truly amazing. You know, they provide services
• 11:40
  - to,
• 11:41
  - very rural communities in the Mountain West, and
• 11:44
  - they have figured out how to do it
• 11:45
  - not only with a sustainable,
• 11:48
  - cost model and operating structure,
• 11:51
  - but they've been able to do it, in
• 11:53
  - a way that
• 11:55
  - I think has,
• 11:56
  - again, going back to, you know, kind of
• 11:58
  - the customer mentality,
• 12:00
  - met their patients where they're at.
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  - I I I
• 12:04
  - highly admire Rob and and what he's been
• 12:07
  - able to do.
• 12:08
  - Warner Thomas at Sutter Health has done some
• 12:11
  - really exceptional work,
• 12:13
  - primarily in
• 12:15
  - the,
• 12:15
  - proliferation
• 12:16
  - of their
• 12:18
  - ambulatory
• 12:19
  - footprint throughout,
• 12:20
  - Northern California.
• 12:22
  - I think he has appropriately
• 12:24
  - identified that access into the health care, system
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  - is
• 12:30
  - is really critical to,
• 12:32
  - being able to,
• 12:34
  - meet patients,
• 12:35
  - where they're at in life and closer to
• 12:38
  - home. And so,
• 12:39
  - Sutter Health has invested heavily in that, and
• 12:41
  - I think it's paid off, greatly for the
• 12:44
  - patients that they serve.
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  - And so those are a few leaders that,
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  - I just think are are,
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  - very exceptional, and I,
• 12:53
  - I think about them consistently when I'm making
• 12:56
  - decisions at Freeman Health System.
• 12:58
  - You know, outside of the health care industry,
• 13:01
  - you know, I have great admiration
• 13:04
  - for Walmart
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  - and the leaders of Walmart. I have great
• 13:09
  - admiration
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  - for
• 13:11
  - Amazon and for some of these other businesses
• 13:14
  - that have,
• 13:15
  - I think, been very innovative,
• 13:17
  - when they needed to be innovative in very
• 13:19
  - different ways.
• 13:21
  - But
• 13:22
  - at the root of that, and I'll I'll
• 13:24
  - talk about Walmart for a second. You know,
• 13:26
  - Walmart
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  - has,
• 13:29
  - provided
• 13:30
  - really high quality goods and services
• 13:33
  - to their customers,
• 13:36
  - and they've done it at a price point
• 13:38
  - that is attractive
• 13:40
  - and accessible to
• 13:43
  - the masses, really accessible to all.
• 13:46
  - And they've also,
• 13:48
  - been able to,
• 13:50
  - spread throughout communities. So,
• 13:53
  - you know, you don't have to drive, in
• 13:55
  - most cases,
• 13:57
  - thirty or forty minutes to get to a
• 13:59
  - Walmart.
• 13:59
  - Oftentimes, you know, you have to drive five
• 14:02
  - or six miles at max.
• 14:05
  - And
• 14:06
  - I think in health care, we can take
• 14:07
  - a lot of,
• 14:09
  - a lot of lessons learned from the Walmarts
• 14:11
  - of the world.
• 14:13
  - Now they have,
• 14:14
  - significant resources that many of us, including at
• 14:17
  - Freeman Health System, don't have.
• 14:19
  - So, you know, we obviously gotta keep that
• 14:21
  - in mind. But,
• 14:23
  - nonetheless, I think their ethos,
• 14:25
  - has been something that has guided that company
• 14:28
  - to success for,
• 14:29
  - many, many decades and will likely,
• 14:32
  - carry it forward,
• 14:34
  - in that same vein for decades to come.
• 14:37
  - Yeah. Yeah. I think some fantastic kind of
• 14:39
  - leaders might there. Obviously, Walmart, Amazon are really
• 14:42
  - innovating when they needed to innovate and and
• 14:44
  - going back to health care, I believe, Rob
• 14:45
  - Allen, you had mentioned, Intermountain president CEO and
• 14:48
  - Sutter Health president CEO Warner Thomas. I believe
• 14:51
  - he used to be at Ochsner beforehand.
• 14:53
  - I believe both might be at our CEO
• 14:55
  - and CFO roundtable in this fall as well,
• 14:57
  - which I know you'll be speaking out as
• 14:59
  - well, Matt. So maybe a potential,
• 15:01
  - opportunity connect there too.
• 15:03
  - Matt, last question before I let you go.
• 15:06
  - It's a question I've been I've been asking
• 15:08
  - health system CEOs,
• 15:09
  - on the back of all of our recent
• 15:11
  - podcast interviews.
• 15:13
  - If you would humor me with this last
• 15:14
  - one, if if you rewrote your job description
• 15:18
  - today, the job description of the health system
• 15:20
  - CEO,
• 15:21
  - what's the one bullet that wasn't there five
• 15:24
  - years ago and that most people still don't
• 15:26
  - realize is there? Maybe is there a specific
• 15:29
  - example of what that looks like that springs
• 15:31
  - to mind for you?
• 15:33
  - You know, I think,
• 15:35
  - health system CEOs today,
• 15:37
  - perhaps more than ever,
• 15:40
  - have to
• 15:42
  - be comfortable
• 15:44
  - making adjustments on the fly to
• 15:47
  - strategies,
• 15:48
  - to tactics, to
• 15:51
  - some of our, strategic objectives
• 15:54
  - because the environment is shifting so rapidly.
• 15:58
  - Health care has always been, an industry that
• 16:01
  - has had fairly monumental shifts.
• 16:05
  - But in the past,
• 16:06
  - they've taken a little bit of time or
• 16:09
  - I'll say more time
• 16:11
  - to kinda develop, implement, and then
• 16:14
  - so you've had a little bit more grace
• 16:17
  - periods
• 16:19
  - to adjust your organization and your strategy to
• 16:23
  - meet
• 16:24
  - those new, challenges or or the new dynamics.
• 16:28
  - I feel like that has hit a
• 16:33
  - rapid supercharge
• 16:34
  - recently.
• 16:35
  - And
• 16:36
  - health care system CEOs are
• 16:39
  - needing to pivot
• 16:41
  - rather rapidly.
• 16:42
  - And, it's it's really our job to make
• 16:45
  - sure that our organizations are prepared for those
• 16:48
  - pivots.
• 16:50
  - Matt, I think, thank you so much for
• 16:52
  - for humoring me with that last question on
• 16:54
  - the fly as well. Speaking of pivoting on
• 16:55
  - the fly, but I think a really fantastic
• 16:57
  - insight from you and,
• 16:59
  - Ora Health System CEO sitting in your place.
• 17:01
  - Matt, always a pleasure to catch up with
• 17:03
  - you. I think getting so much from our
• 17:05
  - conversations, a pleasure to be here with your
• 17:06
  - first Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 17:08
  - Really look forward to catching up with you
• 17:10
  - again down the line.
• 17:11
  - Thank you so much, Alan. This was great.
• 17:13
  - I appreciate your time.