Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building Workforce Engagement and High Reliability at Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center with Callie Miller

Transcript

Building Workforce Engagement and High Reliability at Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center with Callie Miller · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  This is Laura Diredo with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:02
  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 0:04
  Callie Miller, hospital chief executive at Presbyterian Santa
• 0:07
  Fe Medical Center. Callie, it's a pleasure to
• 0:09
  have you on the podcast today.
• 0:11
  Yes. Thanks for having me, Laura. Happy to
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  be here. Absolutely. Now I'm looking forward to
• 0:15
  our conversation and just learning a little bit
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  more about everything you're doing at Presbyterian Santa
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  Fe Medical Center because I know it's such
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  a fascinating time in health care. Certainly,
• 0:24
  a lot a lot to be thinking about
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  and sharing across the industry, and so I'm
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  looking forward to that. But before we dig
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  in, can you tell me a little bit
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  more about yourself and the hospital?
• 0:34
  Yeah. Sure. Absolutely. I'm Kelly Miller. I'm the
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  hospital CEO at Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center
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  in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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  Presbyterian is a large integrated health care system
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  in New Mexico, so we have both a
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  traditional delivery system of hospitals, clinics, ambulance service,
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  plus we have our own health plan. So
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  we serve one in three New Mexicans through
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  care delivery or health coverage in the state,
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  which is really unique.
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  Like I said, I'm at our Santa Fe
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  hospital, which is an acute care facility within
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  our Northern New Mexico operations. I've been here
• 1:04
  now.
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  I'm going on three years in Santa Fe
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  as a whole, going on almost two years
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  in this particular role. So
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  That's fantastic. And, you know, I think especially
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  when you look at, everything that's going on
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  in health care, it's been an impactful,
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  two years that you've been at the helm.
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  And so can you tell us a little
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  bit more about some of the trends that
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  you're watching currently?
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  Yeah. Yeah. I think you you hit on
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  it. It's an it's an interesting time in
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  health care, so certainly a lot of trends
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  to be keeping up with. I would say,
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  one of the top trends I'm always watching
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  is workforce engagement. You know, engagement amongst our
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  health care teams is probably more critical than
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  it has ever been.
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  I think we all know, but, you know,
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  an engaged team really drives quality improvement, of
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  course, drives retention and decreased turnover.
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  So, within workforce engagement too, I'm specifically watching
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  manager development and capability,
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  especially around our frontline managers. You know, we're
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  seeing that
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  this is usually their first management role, and
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  so their onboarding and then their ongoing development
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  and growth is is really critical to our
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  success as a facility.
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  You know, when your frontline managers are successful,
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  that really drives improvement and engagement for the
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  whole facility.
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  I think, you know, the next trend most
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  people are watching regardless of the industry they're
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  in is, of course, AI.
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  You know, in health care, we're really looking
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  closely at how it's reducing the burden on
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  our physicians and APCs, and
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  it's really amazing that five, six years ago,
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  the Ambient Learning was not as robust as
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  it is now. So we're seeing wins with
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  the Ambient AI. Our medical group has rolled
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  out to our physicians and APCs here, and,
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  you know, I'm hearing directly from physicians that
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  has made a significant difference for them in
• 2:44
  their practice, and that's huge.
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  I think third trend is, of course, the
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  constantly changing financial landscape. You know, as a
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  health care executive, you really have to stay
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  up to date and informed in this area
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  at all times.
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  Watching a lot of the changes at the
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  federal and state level and how that impacts
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  facilities like Santa Fe Medical Center. It's important
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  that we
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  really can be financially sustainable without compromising
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  on our mission or our impact in the
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  community.
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  I love that. I think all of those
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  trends are so important and very much top
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  of mind for many leaders across the country.
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  And I think, especially when you look at
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  workforce engagement,
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  in how valuable
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  every person is on the team and in
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  care delivery or administrative side.
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  And from your perspective, what are some of
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  the things that you're doing really to, improve
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  retention and just, keep that workforce engaged, especially
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  with some of the uncertainties going through the
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  industry right now?
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  I think, yeah, keeping, the workforce engaged has
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  been, you know, critical for us here,
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  and it's probably one of the things I'm
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  most proud of. You know, I'm really proud
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  of the culture we're building here at Santa
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  Fe Medical Center. So we're actually the newest
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  hospital within Presbyterian.
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  We opened in 2018 and then, of course,
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  shortly after that had a pandemic in 2020.
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  So,
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  you know, coming out of that pandemic and
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  trying to stabilize, we've really spent the last
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  few years laying the groundwork for the hospital
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  we wanna be and the culture we wanna
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  have. And so,
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  it takes time to build that culture. It
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  really doesn't happen overnight. So I'm proud to
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  say that we've we've been doing that.
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  We've seen our engagement scores for all staff
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  and then our position in APC group,
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  increase based on the year on the surveys
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  we had in 2025,
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  you know, which is great, and it takes
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  a lot of effort to do that. So,
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  it's important to me that staff feel and
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  know they can escalate ideas, concerns, or anything
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  else, and we're really seeing that in our
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  engagement score. So I'm I'm proud of that.
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  That's great to hear. It's really impressive to
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  have that type of engagement and,
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  really involvement by the staff and how the
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  health of the organization is going. And to
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  your other point too in looking at technology,
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  AI, and,
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  you know, really leveraging that to its fullest
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  abilities, I I think things are moving so
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  quickly with technology,
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  and there are a lot of,
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  changes happening with AI in particular when you
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  think about, all the different opportunities out there,
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  but then, you know, it it can also
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  bring some additional risks or challenges. And so
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  when you look at AI, from your organizational
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  standpoint, what are the conversations like with your
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  leadership team, and how are you really keeping
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  things focused and resources focused in the areas
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  that make the most sense, through this digital
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  transformation process?
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  Yeah. I think it's a great question. I
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  mean, I think, you know, really,
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  where we've seen Presbyterian
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  as a system really invest is, like I
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  mentioned in our, position at APC groups and
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  really trying to decrease the burden on them,
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  the the documentation burden, which we all know
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  is there. And so,
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  you know, to be able to keep and
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  retain your physicians and APCs, taking some of
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  that burden off of them has been critical.
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  So,
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  you know, again, proud to say that Presbyterian
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  as a whole has really rolled that out
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  to our physicians and APCs, and we're seeing
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  that momentum there. I think next steps are,
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  you know, organizational wide. There's,
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  you know, opportunities to look at, you know,
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  other areas where we can have wins like
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  that, things that we can automate, things that
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  are administrative in nature that we can, take
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  off people's plates so that we can really
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  focus on quality and the patient experience. So
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  excited to see where that kinda takes us
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  in the future.
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  I love it. I I think that's so
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  helpful,
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  to really understand where your head's at and
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  and to where are some of the things
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  that are the biggest opportunities for you moving
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  forward. And, you know, speaking of that, what
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  are you most focused on and excited about?
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  And and can you tell us a little
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  bit as well about something you're proud of
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  from the last six to eighteen months or
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  so?
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  Yeah. It's a great question. You know, like
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  I mentioned, really proud of the culture we're
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  building here at Santa Fe Medical Center.
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  You know, we've, like I said, built built
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  this culture slowly year over year, and so,
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  you know, that's that's our team coming together
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  to really do that. And so, like I
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  mentioned, we're seeing that in our engagement scores.
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  So we saw an increase in our engagement
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  scores for all staff and then physician and
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  EPCs
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  over 2024 performance. So we saw that in
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  2025. Of course, we will survey everybody again
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  here in the fall, and so, again, expecting
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  to,
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  really continue to increase engagement. So something I'm
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  really proud of there. What we're gonna be
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  focused on and excited about in 2026
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  is, you know, some of our key quality
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  initiatives.
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  Were really laying the groundwork as a system,
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  for our journey to high reliability, which is
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  great.
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  And then, Santa Fe Medical Center really saw
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  some record growth for key services last year,
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  and the plan is to continue to grow
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  those services as well as grow the overall
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  acuity of the facility.
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  And that's gonna allow us to expand the
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  patients we're able to care for in Santa
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  Fe. So I'm really excited about that.
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  That's cool to hear. And, I I think
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  it's so critical to have that, clinical team
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  in place that really is able to serve
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  the community and adapt to whatever the community
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  needs are, at any time. And, you know,
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  that journey to high reliability is not an
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  easy one. I know it takes a lot
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  of planning and time and then, you know,
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  effort from the team in order to get
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  there.
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  So, as you're going through this journey, has
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  there been anything that,
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  has surprised you so far about it, or
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  or where do you see some of the
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  spaces where your team is just most excited
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  to dig in?
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  I I don't think there's any,
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  anything that's come out, you know,
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  so far. We're really kind of at the
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  beginning of this journey, and so, I know,
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  really this entire week,
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  we have, partners here with Crestani really helping
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  us on our high reliability journey. So right
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  now, we're really in kind of a fact
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  finding mode and and kind of in that,
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  you know, talking to frontline staff. So really
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  excited about this week. They'll be at Santa
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  Fe on, Friday. And so,
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  that's really a chance for our frontline staff
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  to, you know, talk about quality, talk about
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  their processes, talk about things that maybe they
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  see as an opportunity. So, you know, just
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  grateful that the staff is really plugging into
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  that work and that they're excited about it.
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  So it's yeah. Excited about that journey this
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  year.
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  Absolutely. That sounds great. And definitely, we'll be
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  looking forward to learning more as you get
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  further along within that journey. Now before we
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  wrap up here, I wanted to talk about
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  leadership as well. What advice would you give
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  to evolving leaders, especially those who are trying
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  to,
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  just build their career in emerging in the
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  space?
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  I think, two pieces of advice that I
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  would give. I think first, you know, be
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  open to opportunities. I think career opportunities such
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  as promotions or the chance to, you know,
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  be over a new service line or book
• 9:22
  a business
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  sometimes come when you least expect it, and
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  those can be the best opportunities to really
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  grow and learn. So,
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  just embrace it. And then I think second
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  piece of advice is
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  really take the time to invest in physician
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  relationships.
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  You know, as a health care executive, you
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  really cannot be successful without the trust and
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  buy in from your physician. So it's important
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  to invest early on and really continuously build
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  those relationships with them. So those are those
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  are my two pieces of advice.
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  I love it. Kelly, thank you so much
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  for joining us on the podcast today. This
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  has been such an insightful conversation,
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  inspiring to hear about what you've been up
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  to, and looking forward to continuing this conversation
• 10:01
  in the future.
• 10:02
  Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Laura.