Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Jason Shenefield on Making Rural Healthcare More Affordable and Embracing AI

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Jason Shenefield on Making Rural Healthcare More Affordable and Embracing AI · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
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  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
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  - This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Healthcare
• 1:01
  - Podcast.
• 1:02
  - We're thrilled today to be joined by a
• 1:04
  - brilliant leader.
• 1:06
  - We're joined today by somebody who's had a
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  - fantastic
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  - career of leadership in health care, the CEO
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  - of Phelps Health. We're joined today by Jason
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  - Shenafield.
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  - Jason,
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  - can you take a moment,
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  - and I've gotta check one thing on timing
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  - here.
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  - So here is the first question.
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  - We're we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna focus
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  - mostly on Trenton Healthcare.
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  - We're gonna focus a lot on what you're
• 1:31
  - most focused on and leadership.
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  - But I have to ask you,
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  - when you were in Carbondale
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  - Mhmm. Had they already outlawed the Halloween party
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  - that Southern Illinois University was famous for, or
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  - was the Halloween party still going when you
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  - were there?
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  - Well, I'm sorry I don't have a great
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  - answer to that because when I attended,
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  - Southern Illinois
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  - and my diploma's from Carbondale, I actually did
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  - it when I was in the military. So
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  - they,
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  - brought professors up to Great Lakes, Illinois,
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  - and I did all my education on the
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  - weekends. It was,
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  - Saturdays and Sundays for
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  - several weekends, for a few years. So I
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  - I've actually never been to the campus.
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  - So I don't I don't know about the
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  - Halloween party.
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  - That is remarkable. So talk a little bit
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  - about that because
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  - managing going to school while being in the
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  - military,
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  - you were at Great Lakes in North Chicago
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  - here? Yes. Yes.
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  - Congratulations
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  - and and fantastic, and thank you for your
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  - service. Remarkable.
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  - What was it like? We'll get back to
• 2:34
  - Phelps in a moment. A great system. Be
• 2:37
  - before I get into, like, what it was
• 2:39
  - like being in the military and going to
• 2:41
  - college and pursuing a bachelor's in health care
• 2:43
  - management.
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  - Then you did an MBA in it later.
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  - So you're a lifelong learner. I love that.
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  - Tell us a little bit about Phelps Health
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  - in Missouri and about yourself. And then I
• 2:52
  - do wanna talk to you about this unbelievable
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  - life of being in the military
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  - and studying at the same time in what
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  - you did. Sure.
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  - Yeah. So Phelps Health, we're
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  - a rural hospital,
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  - licensed for 240 beds in Rolla, Missouri.
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  - We serve a six county region with about,
• 3:10
  - about a 180,000
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  - lives that we that we take care of.
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  - And
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  - we have a medical group, with about a
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  - 130
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  - employed physicians and providers,
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  - you know, very,
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  - robust services,
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  - you know, from gastroenterology,
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  - neurology, orthopedics,
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  - general surgery.
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  - I hate to leave any out. We have
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  - a fantastic cancer program.
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  - Just started a neuro spine program this year.
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  - So we're we're in an area that, you
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  - know, we're growing. We provide a lot of
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  - robust services, but we're in a rural area,
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  - which I love. It's kind of at my
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  - core. I grew up in a in rural
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  - Iowa, and and, you know, that's
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  - taking care of people in in the rural
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  - part of America is very important to me.
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  - And talk about some of the challenges in
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  - rural America
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  - in terms of how is population? Is population
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  - stable in your area? Is business stable in
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  - your area? And then what does it look
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  - like being able to field enough doctors
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  - and nurses to take care of people?
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  - Yeah. So I think, you know, we have
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  - we have some growth,
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  - both population and economic. I think, you know,
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  - where we're located in Rolla,
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  - Phelps Health has grown a lot. We have,
• 4:18
  - Missouri University,
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  - Missouri S and T University here.
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  - And, you know, that adds to to growth
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  - in population economic
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  - development. So, I mean, we're seeing good growth
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  - economically,
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  - which is important for recruiting.
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  - You know, it it is challenging to
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  - recruit physicians to rural areas. But I think
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  - when they come here, they realize that, you
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  - know, yes, it's smaller than a big metropolitan
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  - area, but it offers a lot of amenities.
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  - And I think,
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  - as a community partner, I'm involved in a
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  - lot of the economic development,
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  - discussions and activities. And, you know, I think
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  - it's important that we keep
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  - growing,
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  - sustainably so that we can attract, you know,
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  - the talent that we need here.
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  - That's fantastic. And what are some of the
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  - things
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  - well, let me ask the question about leadership
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  - being a lifelong learner, being in the military
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  - with going to college. I mean,
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  - I I have a law school classmate from
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  - of mine
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  - who started a community college, then went to
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  - college, then went to Harvard with me.
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  - You started at College of Lake County, which
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  - I've been to several times and very familiar
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  - with in our area, a great place.
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  - I mean, how proud must you be of
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  - the evolution
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  - of leadership that you've undertaken throughout your career
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  - to military,
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  - community college, to finishing a college degree well
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  - in the military,
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  - and then going on to be this incredible
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  - leader of a health system.
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  - Any advice that comes out of that? And
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  - and I can't ask you how proud you
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  - are because it's an impossible question to answer,
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  - but
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  - you gotta be quite proud of yourself. It's
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  - an incredible story
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  - and and and growth.
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  - But any advice on being a lifelong learner,
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  - nurturing that drive in people, finding that passion?
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  - Any thoughts?
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  - Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, honestly,
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  - I was talking to someone just a week
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  - or so ago about my military experience. And
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  - I think
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  - I think what really helped was, you know,
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  - in my early twenties, I was I was
• 6:16
  - experiencing leadership opportunities and roles in the military.
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  - And
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  - so, you know, going to college,
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  - taking on early leadership roles, learning from that,
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  - failing you know, having failures, and and, you
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  - know, what can you do better from that.
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  - So I think
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  - I think young people,
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  - who aspire to to be in leadership or
• 6:35
  - those that are in leadership and wanting to
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  - grow, I think it's it's
• 6:40
  - grasping any opportunities that come your way. You
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  - know, work to do your best at it.
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  - Don't be afraid to fail, but but make
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  - sure you learn from it.
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  - And I think that's that kinda sums up
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  - my my whole career, really. I mean, it's
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  - I've done a lot of different things and,
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  - you know, really just tried to learn as
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  - much as I could along the way, whether
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  - it was in the work or academically through
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  - through formal education.
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  - It it really, really impressive. Congratulations.
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  - To talk for a second about as you
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  - look into 2027,
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  - what are you most focused on and excited
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  - about?
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  - Well, I think, you know, looking ahead, one
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  - of the things that that I'm really excited
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  - about is is we're really
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  - we're really trying to figure out how to
• 7:24
  - make health care more affordable in our community.
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  - And one of the ways we're doing that
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  - is we're we're really embarking on a direct
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  - to employer
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  - strategy, which we've been we've been going down
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  - probably about the last two years, but
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  - offering a a direct
• 7:39
  - to employer health plan to businesses in the
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  - community,
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  - you know, looking at
• 7:44
  - plans that really,
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  - have low to no co pays,
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  - looking at plans that have low low to
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  - no deductibles. I think most of them are
• 7:54
  - around $500 deductibles.
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  - And our goal is is to save employers
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  - on their health care spend by giving them
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  - really good pricing,
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  - and then also helping the individuals have low
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  - out of pocket costs so that they're not
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  - deterred from doing preventative care or wellness care.
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  - And so I think that, you know, we're
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  - we're doing that. We've we've worked with another
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  - health system on a Medicare Advantage Plan.
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  - And then we're also going to be launching
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  - a a PBM or pharmacy benefit manager
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  - program,
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  - by the end of the year that'll really
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  - get launched into 2027.
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  - So a lot of those areas where it's
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  - just,
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  - the cost of care, we're trying to find
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  - out find ways of how do we insert
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  - ourselves
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  - and
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  - make care more affordable.
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  - Thank you. And and and and and talk
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  - about
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  - where are things looking at in terms
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  - of patient experience, consumer experience,
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  - and are you using any digital tools, anything
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  - that you love so far
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  - that you're using to enhance that, or is
• 8:56
  - it more around people and care coordination?
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  - How are you thinking about patient and consumer
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  - experience in your area?
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  - I think you gotta think about all of
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  - it. I mean, we we are using tools.
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  - We're using AI,
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  - you know, in our clinical settings. We we've
• 9:09
  - been using ambient listening now for a little
• 9:12
  - over a year, in our physician clinics.
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  - We're we are looking at expanding that into,
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  - the nursing roles, so on the inpatient area.
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  - But, you know, that does tie directly to
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  - the patient experience because if
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  - they're able to actually just have a conversation
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  - and their documentation is picked up through that,
• 9:32
  - the patients feel like they're actually being listened
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  - to, that they're being heard. They feel like
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  - they're actually getting more time, because it's it's
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  - an engaged
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  - discussion versus,
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  - you know, some questions and then turning around
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  - and documenting a computer. So I think ambient
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  - listening has been
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  - a a big thing for us.
• 9:51
  - Being on Epic, Epic is investing a lot
• 9:54
  - of AI technology throughout its system. And so,
• 9:57
  - we watch and see what they're doing and
• 9:59
  - and look at how that would help in
• 10:01
  - our community and in our setting and, adopt
• 10:04
  - those things as they come along. So I
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  - think AI is just it's it's gonna really
• 10:08
  - transform the way that we do things.
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  - Thank you. And besides are are you ever
• 10:13
  - surprised at how quickly ambient listening became a
• 10:16
  - need to have type of thing?
• 10:18
  - Yeah. I mean, it's you know, I felt
• 10:20
  - you know, I I think when I first
• 10:22
  - heard about it, it was almost,
• 10:24
  - three or four years ago at the EPIC
• 10:26
  - user group meeting.
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  - And, you know, at the time, everyone's excited,
• 10:30
  - but it took us a couple years to
• 10:31
  - really get the buy in and and to
• 10:33
  - get to where we were ready to go
• 10:35
  - with it. But I will say,
• 10:37
  - once we introduced it and we had physicians,
• 10:39
  - using it and we got feedback from patients,
• 10:42
  - everyone really bought into it. And and now,
• 10:45
  - you know, when I talk to my peers,
• 10:48
  - you know, around the state, almost everyone's using
• 10:50
  - it, Whether it's, you know, the Epic, you
• 10:52
  - know, version or whatever
• 10:54
  - their health record is,
• 10:56
  - almost everyone's using it. So it is it
• 10:58
  - is amazing how quickly it's caught on, and
• 11:00
  - it's almost just the common
• 11:03
  - common tool now.
• 11:05
  - Right. Amazing. Is there anything else that you
• 11:07
  - see in the AI world
• 11:09
  - that is
• 11:10
  - likely to be
• 11:13
  - a need to have in the next couple
• 11:14
  - years? Like, ambient listen became a need to
• 11:16
  - have. There's some predictive analytics tools that feel
• 11:19
  - like that.
• 11:20
  - Are there evolutions that you're watching that you
• 11:23
  - see as, hey. This is the next thing
• 11:24
  - we're gonna have to have. It's not like
• 11:26
  - an option. We're gonna have to have it.
• 11:28
  - Well, I think if you look at,
• 11:31
  - really on the the business administrative side, I
• 11:33
  - think looking at using it for payer contracts,
• 11:36
  - supply contracts,
• 11:38
  - to really make sure that you're you're paying
• 11:40
  - for and you're purchasing,
• 11:42
  - at your
• 11:44
  - agreed upon rates, making sure that you're getting,
• 11:46
  - you know, the best deal.
• 11:48
  - So I think, you know, administratively, it's gonna
• 11:50
  - have a huge,
• 11:51
  - advantage.
• 11:52
  - I also know that a lot of the
• 11:53
  - people that will be using it to to
• 11:55
  - check and balance are gonna be also using
• 11:57
  - it as well.
• 11:58
  - So I think it's it's gonna be interesting
• 12:00
  - to see how on on both sides
• 12:02
  - it's being used, but
• 12:04
  - hopefully in the middle, it it achieves
• 12:07
  - positive for, ultimately, for the patients,
• 12:10
  - you know, that we can keep costs down
• 12:12
  - and and
• 12:13
  - manage it better through using AI.
• 12:16
  - One more question. If you were to look
• 12:18
  - at the biggest challenge that you're currently facing,
• 12:22
  - and and does that be unique to Phelps
• 12:24
  - Health, what do you think of as the
• 12:26
  - most
• 12:27
  - challenging thing that you're following right now or
• 12:30
  - facing?
• 12:31
  - Well, I think it's it's really following, you
• 12:33
  - know, legislation,
• 12:35
  - both federal and state level. And and, you
• 12:37
  - know,
• 12:38
  - I think, you know, prior authorizations,
• 12:40
  - I think three forty b,
• 12:42
  - you know, there's been some good work done
• 12:43
  - in the in the past year, especially at
• 12:46
  - the state level on on those two items.
• 12:48
  - But I I know that there's a lot
• 12:50
  - of attention,
• 12:51
  - at the federal level,
• 12:53
  - you know, and and it's it's where we're
• 12:55
  - probably you know, health care is at the
• 12:57
  - biggest, hospitals are probably at the biggest battle
• 13:00
  - with insurers and pharmaceutical companies on, you know,
• 13:03
  - keeping those programs in place, especially three forty
• 13:07
  - b,
• 13:07
  - but also trying to just look at decreasing
• 13:09
  - the administrative burden of prior authorizations and and
• 13:12
  - the cost that that incurs on the health
• 13:14
  - system. So I think it's it's watching the
• 13:17
  - outside things that you can't totally control, but
• 13:19
  - hopefully you can help influence.
• 13:22
  - Thank you so much. I I love that.
• 13:25
  - Jason,
• 13:26
  - what a remarkable career in leadership.
• 13:30
  - Just fantastic. I think you've been at Phelps
• 13:33
  - now ten, almost twelve years. What a remarkable
• 13:36
  - run-in leadership.
• 13:38
  - Congratulations.
• 13:39
  - Thank you so much for joining us today
• 13:41
  - in the Becker's healthcare podcast. We look forward
• 13:42
  - to seeing you in Chicago.
• 13:44
  - But but what a pleasure to visit with
• 13:45
  - you. Thank you so much for joining us.
• 13:47
  - I appreciate it. Yep. Nice talking with you.
• 13:49
  - And what a remarkable career. Thank you, sir.
• 13:52
  - Thank you, Scott.