Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leading Through Healthcare’s Next Era: Workforce, AI and Community-Based Care with John M. Fogarty

Transcript

Leading Through Healthcare’s Next Era: Workforce, AI and Community-Based Care with John M. Fogarty · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
• 0:04
  - understand what it takes to lead a health
• 0:05
  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
• 0:08
  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
• 0:11
  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
• 0:14
  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
• 0:17
  - And it's why the most effective c suite
• 0:19
  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
• 0:21
  - pressure test their thinking.
• 0:22
  - 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
• 0:38
  - have easy answers.
• 0:39
  - 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.
• 0:50
  - Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  - My name is Chanel Banger. And today, I
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  - have the pleasure of speaking with John Bogarty,
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  - president of Beth Israel Deaconess Needham Hospital, who
• 1:00
  - joins the podcast today to share insights and
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  - his background, health care trends he's keeping an
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  - eye on, and a bit more. John, thank
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  - you so much for joining me today.
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  - Glad to be here. Thank you.
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  - Perfect. It's great to have you. And to
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  - get us started out, could you please introduce
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  - yourself and tell us a bit about your
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  - work in health care?
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  - I have been the president here at, Beth
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  - Israel Deaconess Needham for about fifteen years
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  - and had spent,
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  - twenty plus years prior to that in different,
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  - leadership and presidential
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  - roles in hospitals
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  - in the Midwest and
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  - New England.
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  - And,
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  - I
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  - reside up here in,
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  - Rhode Island and, work in, Massachusetts.
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  - So we're a small community hospital in,
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  - suburban Boston and,
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  - have enjoyed the, entirety of my career.
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  - Perfect. Thank you so much for the introduction.
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  - And now getting into the meat of the
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  - podcast a bit, can you talk about the
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  - trends you're currently watching
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  - in health care today?
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  - I'd point to four,
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  - trends.
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  - Most of it is what I would characterize
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  - as
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  - post pandemic trends, and that is,
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  - a rise in chronic illness in health care
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  - and in hospitals in particular,
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  - largely due to the disruption in care and
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  - some of the isolation,
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  - that,
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  - patients and the general population experienced
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  - during the pandemic. So we see people who
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  - are much sicker,
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  - particularly in inpatient
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  - hospitalization,
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  - needs are much more acute than they were
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  - five or six years ago.
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  - The second,
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  - significant trend that I would point to is
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  - also a rise in
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  - behavioral health needs. And, again, those were always
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  - out there in the community.
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  - I really think that the pandemic and everything
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  - that, came with it,
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  - exacerbated
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  - the mental health, if you will, of society
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  - in general.
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  - And we're seeing that at all levels,
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  - children, adolescents,
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  - adults,
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  - older adults.
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  - We've had to modify
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  - our services,
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  - expand services,
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  - rethink what we're doing in our emergency rooms,
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  - to, to meet that need.
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  - The third is,
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  - a significant workforce disruption,
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  - that occurred,
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  - again, largely due to the pandemic. Now
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  - society in general,
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  - had a workforce
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  - disruption,
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  - but I would say that, health care and
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  - hospitals in particular,
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  - were uniquely affected just because not only did
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  - we experience
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  - the, the issues that the rest of society
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  - did,
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  - with COVID, but we were,
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  - on the front lines
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  - and treating and dealing with, people who were
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  - coping with the virus.
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  - So,
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  - a lot of turnover
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  - in,
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  - the pandemic era era, a lot of use
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  - of temporary help,
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  - a lot of burnout issues,
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  - a much more transient workforce. So
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  - I hope to talk to you a little
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  - bit, during this session about what we were
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  - able to do to bend the curve on
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  - that, if you will.
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  - And lastly,
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  - in terms
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  - of utilization
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  - trends, a continued
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  - move
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  - of care
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  - to the community. We are a community hospital
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  - in Suburban Boston. We're part of the Beth
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  - Israel Lahey Health System, which is
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  - a network of, both academic and community
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  - providers.
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  - And in our circumstance,
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  - we have seen
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  - a continued increase
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  - of patients and families just wanting to seek
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  - care closer to home
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  - and that's been a key strategic
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  - focus of our hospital and our system
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  - to deliver,
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  - the majority of the care, not in,
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  - urban,
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  - centers, but,
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  - in communities
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  - that, are closer to where patients and families
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  - live.
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  - Got it. Got it. And given all those
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  - trends, what are you focusing your time and
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  - energy on right now, and what excites you
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  - most about what's ahead?
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  - Well, I like to think I'm excited about
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  - everything that I'm focusing on, but the, the
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  - things that rise to the top specific to
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  - the workforce,
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  - we spend a lot of time
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  - thinking about how best to engage our employees.
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  - We do an engagement survey
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  - every other year and a,
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  - a focused,
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  - pulse survey for employee engagement.
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  - In the in between years,
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  - we've spent a lot of time just making
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  - sure that, our employees feel valued
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  - and, that are working in a place,
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  - that they enjoy coming to every day.
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  - I've been a strong believer, particularly in health
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  - care, that, though you might have all
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  - the latest technology
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  - and
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  - clinical assets at your disposal,
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  - if you don't have an engaged workforce,
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  - the rest of it really won't count for
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  - much. So we're actively engaged in that, and
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  - I'm very happy and excited to see the
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  - turnover rates,
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  - have started to come down,
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  - far less use
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  - of, contract labor,
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  - and just a more settled
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  - workforce. We're not all the way there yet.
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  - I think we all still have a long
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  - way way to go, but we put a
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  - lot of effort into things like
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  - leadership training,
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  - scholarship
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  - programs.
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  - Most of that, we have been able to
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  - do in our hospital through,
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  - our philanthropic
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  - and fundraising efforts. So, that's been re really
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  - exciting and reassuring that, we've had the community's
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  - support for that. The second thing that I
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  - would say I'm excited about that, many are
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  - excited about in the country is the,
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  - the advent of AI and the expansion of
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  - AI,
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  - and,
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  - in my particular
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  - take on it, I'm really excited about
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  - our ability to use
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  - AI to make the work life of our
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  - providers and employees
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  - easier. Things like documentation,
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  - diagnosis,
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  - patient
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  - access,
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  - using those technology
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  - tools
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  - to fill in the gaps, if you will,
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  - where,
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  - the workforce in general needs help and rising
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  - to the challenge of an aging and sicker
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  - population.
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  - So those are the two things that I
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  - would point to as,
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  - real, areas of excitement and work, for me.
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  - Absolutely. And now we've talked about what's ahead.
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  - Looking back on the past six to eighteen
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  - months or so, can you talk about an
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  - initiative or a project or just something that
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  - you're most proud of accomplishing?
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  - I would say,
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  - the ability of our organization,
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  - to come through the challenges
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  - of the last five or six years,
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  - particularly in the last year or two
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  - in terms of, our ability to,
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  - rise above the challenges,
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  - stabilize the workforce.
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  - The Beth Israel Lahey Health System is a
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  - relatively new system, only seven years old.
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  - We've come together as
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  - a system in terms of collaboration
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  - and becoming
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  - better at systemness,
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  - if you will.
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  - So particularly in the last six to eighteen
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  - months, I would say
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  - those are two of the things that, I
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  - found to be real points of pride.
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  - That's great to hear. And I'm curious to
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  - hear, as somebody with three plus decades of
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  - experience, what advice would you give to emerging
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  - leaders looking to have the same impact and
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  - drive in their careers as you have?
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  - I spent a lot of time in my
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  - career, particularly in the la latter half of
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  - my career
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  - in, mentoring and coaching emerging leaders.
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  - I, I do some adjunct faculty
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  - work at some of the area universities.
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  - I take administrative residence from my my alma
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  - mater, Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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  - So this is something that is really important
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  - to me. It won't be too long before
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  - I will be moving from the provider side,
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  - to substantially the consumer side of health care,
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  - so
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  - it's important to me that we have good,
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  - clear minded,
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  - future leaders
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  - in health care.
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  - My advice to any
• 9:32
  - emerging or evolving leader
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  - is,
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  - keeping your mind open
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  - always to learning, growing,
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  - looking at things in new ways. There's nothing
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  - wrong with being a leader who shows vulnerability.
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  - None of us have
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  - all the answers,
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  - and I think one of the most important
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  - aspects of, leading any organization is to say,
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  - look, I don't have all the answers and
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  - I could use your help in finding them,
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  - And I've always found that people are very
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  - responsive
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  - to that. I'd say a second point would
• 10:10
  - be,
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  - try to view a situation not just from
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  - your own viewpoint,
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  - but how the person
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  - across the table might be looking at it
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  - because I find that is often a very
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  - productive way to get to a solution. If
• 10:26
  - you're only bringing your own perspective
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  - to the table or to a discussion,
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  - it's much easier to get to EMPath. So
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  - whether that is talking to a clinical leader,
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  - a staff member,
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  - a colleague,
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  - I think viewing,
• 10:42
  - a situation through the lens of their eyes
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  - is incredibly important. And lastly, I would just
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  - say,
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  - as a leader, it's important to stay positive.
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  - I have to,
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  - grapple with the reality of the challenges that
• 10:56
  - are out there. There's no getting around that,
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  - but no one wants to follow a leader,
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  - who is a pest, and I think as
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  - a leader, you really have to see,
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  - the, the light at the end of the
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  - tunnel and inspire people to keep moving toward
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  - the goal even though there may be setbacks
• 11:14
  - along the way.
• 11:16
  - I love that. Well, that's a great note
• 11:17
  - to end on. John, I wanna thank you
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  - once again for your time today and for
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  - sharing your insights on the Becker Self Care
• 11:23
  - podcast. Thank you so much. Have a good
• 11:25
  - day.