Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Jamie Bailey on UTMB’s Growth and AI Strategy

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Jamie Bailey on UTMB’s Growth and AI Strategy · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
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  - leaders right now is not a short list.
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  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
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  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
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  - favor,
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  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
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  - and discipline,
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  - and a workforce story that is still being
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  - written.
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  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
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  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
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  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
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  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
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  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
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  - It's the kind of event you leave with
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  - a clear sense of where you stand and
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  - what comes next.
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  - So join us November second through the fifth
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
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  - and come ready to do the hard thinking.
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  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
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  - by clicking on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Scott Becker with the Beckers HealthCare
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  - podcast.
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  - Thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant
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  - leader at a fantastic
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  - health system.
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  - We're joined today by Jamie Bailey.
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  - Jamie serves as executive vice president and the
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  - chief financial officer
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  - at UTMB,
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  - University of Texas medical branch, UTMB, a magnificent
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  - system.
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  - Jamie, so excited to visit with you today.
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  - We'll talk about
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  - trends, what you're most focused on,
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  - yourself, and and a lot more.
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  - Jamie, can you take a moment and introduce
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  - yourself and also tell us about UTMB?
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  - Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you, Scott. Like like you
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  - said, Jamie Bailey,
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  - executive vice president and chief financial officer at
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  - UTMB.
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  - I've been at UTMB since, 04/01/2024,
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  - so a couple of years.
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  - Prior to that, I was at, Baylor College
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  - of Medicine for twelve years, so familiar with,
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  - sort of health systems in the Houston and
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  - Galveston metropolitan area for quite some time.
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  - By way of background,
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  - I'm sort of a pure finance and accounting,
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  - major,
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  - starting my career at, Deloitte in their financial
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  - advisory practice in Chicago,
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  - and sort of made my way to health
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  - care, like I said, about fifteen years ago.
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  - So it's been an interesting ride, in Germany.
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  - UTMB is a very, very unique place. It's
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  - been around since 1891.
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  - So the oldest medical school, sort of West
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  - Of The Mississippi.
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  - So a lot of history, a lot of
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  - culture there.
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  - But, from a health system perspective, I think
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  - we still have a lot of a lot
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  - of opportunity to grow.
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  - Roughly 1,100 beds in total,
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  - over 100,
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  - clinics,
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  - across the Southeast,
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  - Texas and Houston,
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  - region and area.
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  - But I think we have a lot of
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  - opportunity to grow. So how we embark upon,
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  - AI capabilities, how we continue to be,
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  - more efficient in in supply chain, how do
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  - we,
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  - incentivize our physicians in the right ways, right,
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  - thinking about different compensation plans and models. Those
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  - are all things that are, sort of top
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  - of mind, for UTMB.
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  - But I think we have a lot of
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  - opportunity.
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  - We're in a growing market, in the state
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  - of Texas, and so it's exciting to kind
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  - of,
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  - be along that journey,
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  - in a competitive,
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  - environment.
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  - And so I'm going to,
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  - give you a quiz question.
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  - And you're gonna have to tell me,
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  - what the answer is to this if you're
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  - ready to participate in this quiz.
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  - Alright. Let me know if you're ready and
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  - if you're,
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  - not too nervous or anything of that sort.
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  - I think
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  - I'm ready. Yeah. You're you're you're ready to
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  - go. Okay. So here is the question.
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  - I'm gonna give you two people
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  - and you're gonna tell me who said this
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  - famous quote.
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  - Okay? Okay. Doctor Joakim Reiser, a a magnificent,
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  - magnificent leader. You're gonna say, is this quote
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  - attributed to him or the next person? Okay?
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  - So we got Joakim Reiser, great leader, CEO,
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  - UTMB.
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  - The second person is Kurt Cignetti.
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  - And you'll know who Kurt Cignetti is because
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  - you're an Indiana graduate and Yeah. I assume,
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  - hopefully, you might, you know, follow it and
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  - stuff like that. So Yep. Who said, is
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  - it doctor Reiser or Kirkman
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  - Signetti
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  - that said,
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  - Google me, I win?
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  - Oh, that Signetti.
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  - Yes. Correct. Correct. No. Listen. When, when he
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  - first arrived, I mean, he he came in
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  - first arrived in Indiana, he came in guns
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  - blazing. So, yeah, that that one's a that
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  - one's a easy one.
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  - Yes. And and it's so not doctor Reiser's
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  - personality to say that kind of thing or
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  - to act like that. He's so much more
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  - understated
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  - and one of the most brilliant, wonderful leaders,
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  - but coach Cignetti has had incredible success as
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  - well. So that's that. So you're a Kelley
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  - School graduate of business. I'm a U of
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  - I person in accounting and finance too. And
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  - then you also went to Rice, a magnificent
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  - graduate school. Talk to us a little bit
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  - about
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  - let let me take a step back. UTMB,
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  - the trends you're watching in health care right
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  - now, UTMB has got magnificent leadership between yourself,
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  - doctor Reiser, and others, and in a in
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  - a great system, what trends are you watching
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  - currently?
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  - Yeah. We're watching a lot of trends. Right?
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  - So there's a lot of, political things. There's
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  - a lot of, health health care specific things
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  - that we are we are tracking.
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  - Right? There was just news, the other day
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  - in Houston Chronicle and other outlets around, you
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  - know, Medicaid and Medicaid eligibility and how they
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  - may impact us and, you know, I think
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  - they said on average, Texas hospitals are losing
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  - about $27,000,000
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  - a day.
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  - So we're trying to always kinda keep ahead
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  - of, or abreast of all those types of
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  - policy type, changes. Right?
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  - I mentioned that, you know, Houston and Texas
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  - Medical Center and Galveston area is a growing
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  - population. So how do we account for the
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  - changes in that population and population growth? Right?
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  - And we have a aging population as well.
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  - So how do we sort of, stay on
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  - the forefront in terms of our,
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  - patient,
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  - journey,
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  - and patient experience from that perspective?
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  - There's been a lot of questions and changes
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  - in the research area. You know, there's been
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  - a lot of funding cuts, from the NIH,
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  - for example. There have been questions around indirect
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  - rates on research, etcetera.
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  - And then, you know, our students. Right? How
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  - do we continue to attract the best and
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  - brightest?
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  - Those are all things that are on the
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  - forefront of our of our minds. I would
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  - say the other thing that was very,
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  - energetic from doctor Reiser coming on the board,
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  - which was about three years ago,
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  - so he actually brought on a fourth mission,
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  - and that's innovation.
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  - And so we've embarked upon,
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  - an exciting journey on innovation front. So how
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  - do we turn, you know, discoveries into commercializable,
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  - activities?
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  - How do we take advantage of AI? Right?
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  - So we've developed a new AI center.
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  - We've, appointed a a chief AI officer, right,
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  - in doctor Peter McCaffrey.
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  - We've established many committees around AI. How do
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  - we evaluate different opportunities? How do we evaluate,
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  - you know, in house activities around AI, taking
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  - advantage of that. So we have a lot
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  - of things,
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  - sort of in the hopper around,
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  - all these areas, but it's exciting. It's challenging,
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  - but very exciting.
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  - It it it really is remarkable what the
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  - system is doing and what you're doing.
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  - You know, I I I'll come back to
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  - the Google Me, I win concept in a
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  - second because
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  - UTMB,
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  - it it could easily be
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  - Google us, we provide great care, and we
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  - innovate, and and we educate. It's really amazing
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  - what what UTMB
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  - does and what you're doing. Talk a bit
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  - about, Jamie, about the next year. What are
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  - you most focused on heading into 2027?
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  - What are you most focused on and excited
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  - about?
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  - Yeah. I think, growth in AI.
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  - So from a growth perspective, I think we've
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  - seen, you know, double digit growth since,
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  - doctor Reiser joined us on in terms of
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  - top line revenue and overall budget.
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  - So we're embarking upon,
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  - eclipsing $4,000,000,000,
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  - in total revenues,
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  - next fiscal year, which started for us three
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  - days ago.
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  - So our fiscal year starts September 1.
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  - So, we are focused on growth. We just,
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  - approved
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  - a $300,000,000
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  - expansion in our League City campus as one
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  - of our more,
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  - growing areas. So we wanna continue to provide
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  - patient care.
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  - We have a lot of opportunities in our
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  - cancer care program,
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  - and really expanding upon that.
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  - So we're really focused on growth. I think
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  - we have a lot of opportunity, and like
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  - I said, we're in a growing market, from
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  - a patient perspective. So we wanna make sure
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  - that we can meet that demand,
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  - that we serve and provide service to,
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  - our customers and our patients. So,
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  - really focused on that.
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  - Fiscal year twenty seven,
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  - doctor Reiser has coined it as the year
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  - of AI for UTMB.
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  - So,
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  - we are heavily focused on that. Like I
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  - mentioned, we established the council to evaluate opportunities.
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  - We are,
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  - almost every day evaluating,
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  - new and different initiatives around that. So how
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  - do we build out certain
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  - pilot programs?
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  - How do we develop use cases, right, and
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  - and then actually,
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  - execute on those use cases. So we got
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  - a lot of things that are, still in
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  - its infancy stages. Right?
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  - But I think there's a lot of opportunity
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  - there, and it and it spans the cross
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  - across all of our missions. Right? So when
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  - you think about, supply chain,
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  - when you think about even from a HR
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  - perspective. Right? How can we be more efficient
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  - in talent acquisition?
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  - Revenue cycle is obviously one that's right, with
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  - a lot of AI, capabilities. Any function,
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  - right, that has a lot of, what I
• 9:48
  - would say, lesser value add activities,
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  - right, mundane activities that people do day in
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  - and day out, we wanna figure out if
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  - there's ways that we can be more efficient
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  - on that front. And so every mission is
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  - exploring different ways and opportunities to evaluate that,
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  - and we wanna make sure that we execute
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  - on that. So I think there's a lot
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  - of opportunity.
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  - It will provide a lot of more higher
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  - level and hopefully more satisfying work, for all
• 10:15
  - of our folks, whether that's a staff member,
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  - whether that's a student, or a a clinician
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  - seeing patients. Right? We wanna make sure that
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  - they're operating at sort of top of license.
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  - Right? Top of their skill set. And so,
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  - that's what we're focused on for us is
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  - really growth in AI.
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  - Right. No. I absolutely I absolutely love that.
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  - And and, Jamie,
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  - you have this great leadership career,
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  - incredible knack for both numbers and people and
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  - dealing with things. Talk a little bit about
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  - in such clarity of mission, what advice would
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  - you give to emerging leaders, Jamie? What do
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  - what do you advise somebody trying to have
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  - a leadership career, trying to have an impact?
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  - Talk a bit about what what advice do
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  - you give to emerging leaders? Yeah. My my
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  - leadership style is to empower
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  - people,
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  - to make decisions. Right? We can talk about
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  - certain parameters. We can talk talk about certain
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  - guardrails right around,
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  - some of those decisions, but I want them
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  - to be motivated and empowered to make decisions.
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  - So I am not a micromanager whatsoever.
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  - I like to,
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  - provide leadership by example as well.
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  - So putting in the hard work,
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  - and, you know, evaluating, you know, challenging situations
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  - on a daily basis. Right? I wanna be
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  - an example.
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  - But I wanna empower my people. So I'm
• 11:27
  - not gonna be an expert in every,
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  - area. I'm not gonna be an expert in
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  - all domains, you know, but we have certain
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  - skill sets across the board. And so I
• 11:36
  - wanna be able to,
• 11:38
  - leverage,
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  - my team, their skill set, their perspective,
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  - right,
• 11:43
  - and their experience to make decisions. And so,
• 11:46
  - that's sort of my leadership style. And so
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  - I would encourage anyone who is embarking upon
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  - a leadership journey to
• 11:53
  - focus on people development
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  - and focus on empowering their team.
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  - I've come to realize,
• 12:00
  - right, less and less of my day to
• 12:03
  - day job, if you will, is about crunching
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  - numbers.
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  - It's less about executing on certain spreadsheets
• 12:10
  - or, you know, typing up that memo of
• 12:13
  - understanding.
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  - Right? It's more about people management, and it's
• 12:17
  - all about how do you motivate people, how
• 12:19
  - do you explain to them how their role
• 12:22
  - fits in, But then also giving them the
• 12:24
  - tools, the resources,
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  - etcetera, to make the decisions.
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  - And then, you know, recognizing that no one's
• 12:30
  - perfect. Right? There's gonna be mistakes. How do
• 12:32
  - we learn from that? How do we account
• 12:34
  - for changes in the environment? But, ultimately, it's
• 12:37
  - all about the people. So,
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  - my career,
• 12:41
  - you know, started off. Right? You gotta be
• 12:43
  - detailed in in a certain skill set. Right?
• 12:45
  - Whether that's finance or accounting or, you know,
• 12:48
  - just general business,
• 12:50
  - ideas and concepts. Right? But as you grow
• 12:52
  - in your career, it's less about those things.
• 12:55
  - And so I feel like the most successful
• 12:57
  - leaders are the ones who can navigate that
• 12:59
  - journey between getting out of the weeds of
• 13:02
  - a spreadsheet per se,
• 13:04
  - and really evaluating how to manage a team
• 13:07
  - and make sure that that team can be
• 13:09
  - successful.
• 13:10
  - Thank you. No. And I and I and
• 13:12
  - I love that and that concept of moving
• 13:14
  - early on in your career,
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  - task execution,
• 13:18
  - getting things done
• 13:19
  - to further on in your career,
• 13:21
  - to leading, growing, empowering others, and and and
• 13:25
  - and seeing that strategy and aligning teams, I
• 13:27
  - think it's such a great, great perspective on
• 13:30
  - it. I think that's right on.
• 13:32
  - Jamie, I wanna thank you for taking the
• 13:34
  - time to visit with us today. I I
• 13:36
  - love watching UTMB.
• 13:38
  - It's one of the,
• 13:40
  - I I don't wanna see the one of
• 13:41
  - the it's one of the best systems in
• 13:42
  - the world that doesn't get as much
• 13:45
  - notoriety as it should because it's such a
• 13:47
  - great system. And and I and I wanna
• 13:48
  - thank you for your leadership and for joining
• 13:50
  - us down the Becker Healthcare podcast. We're big
• 13:52
  - fans. Thank you very much. Thank you. We
• 13:54
  - appreciate it, and and we agree. We wanna
• 13:57
  - get, we wanna get our name more out
• 13:58
  - there. And so we're looking forward to that
• 14:01
  - journey. Yeah. It's exciting.
• 14:03
  - Thank you so much for joining us today
• 14:05
  - on the, the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Just remarkable.
• 14:07
  - Thank you so much. Thank you.