Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Waleed Javaid, MD, Chief Quality Officer at WVU Hospitals

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Waleed Javaid, MD, Chief Quality Officer at WVU Hospitals · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  Hi, everyone. This is Erica Carbajal with Becker's
• 0:03
  Hospital Review, and thank you so much for
• 0:05
  joining us for this episode of the Becker's
• 0:07
  Healthcare podcast.
• 0:09
  Today, we're joined by doctor Waleed Javaid, chief
• 0:12
  quality officer of WVU Hospitals.
• 0:16
  Doctor Javed, happy New Year. Thank you so
• 0:18
  much for being here.
• 0:20
  Thank you so much, Erica, for inviting me,
• 0:22
  and thank you to Becker's and you specifically
• 0:25
  to,
• 0:27
  allowing me to participate in this podcast. Thanks.
• 0:30
  Yeah. Absolutely. And and as you know, we're
• 0:33
  in middle of flu season right now, so
• 0:35
  we appreciate you taking the time.
• 0:38
  A big story that we're following right now,
• 0:40
  so let's start there.
• 0:42
  Can you share a little bit about if
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  there's anything that you at WVU Medicine,
• 0:47
  if the system or hospitals you're overseeing are
• 0:50
  doing anything differently to prepare for or manage
• 0:53
  the surge in flu cases this year or
• 0:55
  share maybe a capacity management strategy that you
• 0:58
  see is is really crucial right now?
• 1:01
  Yeah. So I oversee WVU hospitals, which is
• 1:04
  a combination of three hospitals, Rue Ruby Memorial,
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  which is the West Virginia University Hospitals because,
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  centralized surgery care hospital, and then, children's hospital
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  as well as a smaller community hospital called
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  Fairmont Hospital.
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  And and and and what we are seeing
• 1:21
  across West Virginia
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  and,
• 1:24
  is not as intense of
• 1:28
  a flu season that everybody else is experiencing
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  at the moment, but we have started
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  to see increasing numbers.
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  But as
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  our job dictates, we start planning ahead
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  of any increasing numbers and we are already
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  kind of making sure, first, our staff,
• 1:49
  all our staff are vaccinated.
• 1:51
  If they are not vaccinated for any reason,
• 1:54
  that they are protected with masks and other
• 1:57
  modalities,
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  we
• 2:00
  educate our staff and
• 2:02
  our patients as well to make sure that
• 2:04
  we are trying to minimize the exposures.
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  And then, just preparing ourselves in terms of,
• 2:10
  the potential issues that might occur. People are
• 2:13
  calling in, say, how are we gonna deal
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  with those as well? But I think it
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  is, something that highlights the importance of getting
• 2:20
  vaccinated, getting prepared,
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  making sure, that us, our families, everybody's vaccinated
• 2:26
  at the moment.
• 2:29
  Yeah. Thanks for sharing, doctor Javed.
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  I I know you started
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  your role just a few months ago. So
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  what has been something that you've been really
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  focused on, or what was your main goal
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  in in these first few months into the
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  role?
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  So I think,
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  thank you, Erica, again for this question. I
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  think the most important thing, as chief party
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  officer is to understand
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  really what the priorities of the organizations are
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  in terms of quality and then, making sure
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  the priorities
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  are what would make sense,
• 3:01
  for patient care, what would make sense for
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  for benefiting
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  our our the people we serve, basically.
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  So I think
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  we've been looking at
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  the overall,
• 3:15
  extent of the work we are doing.
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  As chief quality officer, I see see several
• 3:21
  different departments. I
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  see patient safety, infection control.
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  We have patient experience,
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  quality and data analytics,
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  as well
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  as
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  heart and vascular registries,
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  other elements
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  that get involved in quality are also under
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  our purview.
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  So within
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  that, those areas, we've been actually making sure
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  that one, we are we are being very
• 3:48
  efficient, and second, that we are providing the
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  best,
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  possible care. And third,
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  is making sure that within all our aspects,
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  we are we are being,
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  we are being more
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  cognizant
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  of
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  of the fact that patient is central to
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  all our activities
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  and that all our activities are are for
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  the improvement of the patient care themselves.
• 4:17
  Yeah. Thanks for recapping that. And two, I
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  know we've been covering more about just, you
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  know, the ambulatory shift and and more care
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  moving to outpatient settings.
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  Do you anticipate that, you know, being a
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  focus in 2026
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  in terms of shoring up quality in across
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  outpatient footprint as as more complex care is
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  moving there and and CMS eliminating inpatient only
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  list?
• 4:42
  So I think, I think with
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  the and thank you again for this question.
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  So
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  the for the last many years, there has
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  been an increasing push to increase the outpatient
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  work,
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  moving patients to more of the outpatient setting
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  versus the inpatient setting,
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  for several reasons. I think the one most
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  important reason
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  is that one hospital setting is extremely,
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  extremely expensive
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  and it's it is also very, very limiting.
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  So patient gets admitted, there are several days,
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  they're kind of confined to the hospital
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  walls and and it really is pretty
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  big disruption for our patients. So again, being
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  focused on the patient care itself,
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  outpatient setting is beneficial
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  for,
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  for majority of our patients to get their
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  care for. So
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  many services are expanding
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  into
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  our outpatient settings.
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  We have started to focus on the patient
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  experiences in those areas,
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  making sure the infection control side, that they
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  are compliant with all the regulations.
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  And then also from our end, increasing and
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  supporting our outpatient facilities
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  to address this increasing number of patients that
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  they they anticipate to see.
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  Yeah. Thanks, doctor Javed.
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  Are there any big headwinds you you foresee
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  throughout 2026
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  or
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  challenges that keep you up that you anticipate
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  maybe will take up a lot of your
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  time,
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  in 2026?
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  I think, so thank you again for this
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  question. I think that there are several headwinds
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  that not only our organization any other organization
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  would be facing
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  at 2026
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  and beyond.
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  And the most important thing about that really
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  is
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  is the fact
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  that,
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  that
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  the amount of money that is being spent
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  on
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  health care is eventually going to decrease from
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  different payers, including CMS and others.
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  And we
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  need to be extremely
• 6:58
  efficient in what we are doing to be
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  able to match and provide the services
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  and to provide higher quality care. What other
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  movement I've seen I've been seeing from
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  the payer side really is that they are
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  emphasizing a lot on quality of care that
• 7:16
  is being provided. Again,
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  that's completely under what I've been doing or
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  my work is is to make sure that
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  we optimize that care to to the highest
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  quality of care provided.
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  And that really would end us in a
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  situation where,
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  we either are able to match
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  and provide the highest quality of care, get
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  the best in reimbursement
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  and reinvest ourselves
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  into
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  our mission, which is a patient care,
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  or
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  that the hospitals are unable to match the
• 7:49
  needs because the quality of care is not
• 7:51
  adequate. So it's it's a balance. I think
• 7:53
  the most important thing that we are trying
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  to one of the more important things we're
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  trying to focus is the social determinants' health,
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  that we are addressing the patient's needs beyond
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  just the health care needs as well and
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  trying to support them as well. That is
• 8:07
  one of the quality metric, but more importantly,
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  that actually is something that we're trying to
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  get into,
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  from all angles to support our patients where
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  they are in their lives.
• 8:21
  Yeah. Doctor Gervais, I think you you touched
• 8:22
  on something that's, you know, on the minds
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  of of all health care hospital and health
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  system leaders right now in terms
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  of shifts from payers and,
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  decreases in in Medicaid funding.
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  Obviously, something that we're covering a lot of.
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  So
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  I wanted to just build on that more,
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  you know, as hospitals are preparing for a
• 8:43
  potential rise in uninsured and underinsured patients with
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  the expiration of ACA premium subsidies and in
• 8:51
  addition to looming Medicaid cuts.
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  What steps do you think that hospitals and
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  health systems should be taking
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  now to ensure that that quality doesn't suffer,
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  and that they're
• 9:02
  they can try to wrap their arms around
• 9:04
  patients who may be losing coverage.
• 9:07
  Yes. I think understanding and working closely with
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  our financial
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  colleagues, our finance,
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  directors, and others is is crucial for for
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  any organization. We can continue to watch closely
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  how the, the financial
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  impact of different programs are.
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  The the way I think about this is,
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  just looking at broadly,
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  majority of programs, including CMS, has
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  quality programs, which ties a lot of,
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  lot of funding
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  with pay to performance.
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  So pay to performance or pay to reporting,
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  but major the cases that we are seeing
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  or majority of,
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  funding restrictions we see is with payer to
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  performance. Like, if our performance
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  the hospital's performance or any hospital's or system's
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  performance is is poor
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  in, for example, in,
• 10:00
  in the elements of
• 10:03
  healthcare quality or infection control.
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  If they are if they have too many
• 10:08
  infections, then their payment gets cut.
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  In the past, that could have been okay,
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  because you can offset it with other funding
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  even though it's not okay from patient care's
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  perspective. This actually provides us a opportunity to
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  kind of
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  emphasize the need to optimize
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  patient care to a point that their
• 10:30
  patient care is not compromised. The infections are
• 10:34
  eliminated.
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  The quality of care that is being provided,
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  for example,
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  reducing the number of complications,
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  which are tied with reimbursement,
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  improve our performance, and use these
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  times
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  where the financial hardship would be to optimize
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  the care, to provide the best quality of
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  care, to make sure that we get the
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  the right and complete reimbursement
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  to the and we are not reducing our
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  funding from that end. That's one thing. So
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  once we
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  try the best and highest quality care, hopefully
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  that will
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  result in reduction in
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  complications, reductions in patient stays, reducing the oral
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  cost of the hospitalization,
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  and improving our financial conditions as well. So
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  I think the way I think about this
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  is, like, we really need to gear up.
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  I've told my team already is that this
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  year, next several years, but this year specifically
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  is gonna be a relentless
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  pursuit of excellence for us. We will be
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  just being relentless.
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  Anywhere there's an opportunity, we'll we'll get after
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  that. We'll make sure that we perform to
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  a point,
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  of excellence in every aspect to make sure
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  our
• 11:50
  patients are getting the highest quality of care
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  and
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  then with the result that
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  they have better outcomes, that
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  we have as a hospital better outcomes for
• 12:02
  our patients. And then our
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  and a side effect of that really would
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  be that our reimbursement
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  will also
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  catch up and hopefully will support our efforts.
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  So that would be the biggest focus for
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  us is to really maximize our improvement processes.
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  I know the funding concerns and all are
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  there
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  and I think there are bigger issues that
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  I think this question might be better addressed
• 12:27
  by the finance people in the hospital, but
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  from my aspect is to optimize the care
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  to the best
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  possible
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  where
• 12:36
  we reduce the costs
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  for patients.
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  Like, if I for example, like, I tell
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  my peep my my my my staff, so
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  I have all all my people I I
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  lead is that, hey. Nobody is in a
• 12:48
  hospital,
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  because they want to be. Right? Patients don't
• 12:53
  come to the hospital because they want to
• 12:55
  be in a hospital. They are in a
• 12:57
  hospital because of a need,
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  we and because of an illness or an
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  injury.
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  We we need to fix their illness,
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  their injury,
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  their need very, very quickly,
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  so that they are out and about back
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  to their lives.
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  And that really
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  is what we will see in next,
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  two to five years is optimizing care quickly,
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  making sure people are getting better very, very
• 13:25
  quickly,
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  back to their feet outside the hospital. And
• 13:29
  I think,
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  that will hopefully result in decreasing expenses for
• 13:33
  the hospital
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  supporting the
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  decreasing the,
• 13:38
  decreasing,
• 13:39
  amount of revenue that might be coming in
• 13:42
  or offsetting that that might be coming in.
• 13:47
  Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. It is interesting
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  to hear clinical leaders' perspectives
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  on this. And I think you raised just
• 13:53
  such a critical point about how
• 13:56
  sort of meeting the moment, if you will,
• 13:58
  for for quality and and how it's more
• 14:00
  important than ever to have quality and high
• 14:03
  focus on delivering high quality excellent care and
• 14:07
  having that show up in in in the
• 14:09
  financial positioning of of the organization as well.
• 14:14
  Doctor Gervais,
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  thank you so much for joining us.
• 14:18
  We really appreciate your time and and insights,
• 14:21
  and,
• 14:22
  thank you so much. We look forward to
• 14:24
  chatting with you again and following up on
• 14:27
  some of the work and and quality improvement
• 14:29
  initiative that you're leading later this year.
• 14:33
  Well, thank you so much, Erica, for the
• 14:35
  for the invitation. I think you touched upon
• 14:37
  several
• 14:38
  important factors or several important
• 14:41
  elements. And I would love to continue to
• 14:43
  have this conversation because this is an important
• 14:46
  conversation for us to have for our listeners
• 14:48
  to also to to also
• 14:51
  understand how important it is to improve the
• 14:54
  quality of care, for everyone's benefit.
• 14:58
  Yeah. Absolutely.