Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Expanding Access and Strengthening Rural Healthcare with David Walker

Transcript

Expanding Access and Strengthening Rural Healthcare with David Walker · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
• 0:04
  - leaders right now is not a short list.
• 0:07
  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
• 0:09
  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
• 0:12
  - favor,
• 0:12
  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
• 0:15
  - and discipline,
• 0:16
  - and a workforce story that is still being
• 0:19
  - written.
• 0:20
  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
• 0:23
  - more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
• 0:27
  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
• 0:30
  - are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
• 0:32
  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
• 0:35
  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
• 0:37
  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
• 0:39
  - It's the kind of event you leave with
• 0:41
  - a clear sense of where you stand and
• 0:42
  - what comes next.
• 0:44
  - So join us November second through the fifth
• 0:46
  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, and come
• 0:49
  - ready to do the hard thinking.
• 0:50
  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:54
  - by clicking on the events tab in the
• 0:56
  - upper right.
• 0:58
  - This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:00
  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 1:02
  - David Walker, chief executive officer of George E.
• 1:05
  - Reeves Memorial Hospital in Florida. David, it's a
• 1:07
  - pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
• 1:10
  - Well, thank you. It's a pleasure to be
• 1:11
  - here.
• 1:12
  - Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm excited for our conversation because
• 1:15
  - I know, you know, health care is changing
• 1:17
  - so quickly right now, and especially looking at
• 1:19
  - rural health care and and hospitals like your
• 1:22
  - own. There's so much happening, and and real
• 1:24
  - need for for innovation within the space. And
• 1:26
  - so I'm excited to speak with you about
• 1:28
  - some of the things you're doing as well
• 1:29
  - as how you're thinking about the future. But
• 1:31
  - before we dive in, can you tell me
• 1:33
  - a little bit more about yourself and your
• 1:34
  - background?
• 1:35
  - Yes. My name is David Walker.
• 1:38
  - I've been the CEO of George Williams Memorial
• 1:40
  - Hospital coming up on seven years.
• 1:43
  - My background is public health, substance abuse and
• 1:45
  - mental health as well.
• 1:46
  - Spent a number of years with the Florida
• 1:48
  - Department of Health in Franklin County,
• 1:50
  - as an operations manager,
• 1:53
  - working in the public health space.
• 1:56
  - That's great to hear. And, you know, such
• 1:57
  - an important background,
• 1:58
  - especially today with
• 2:00
  - a lot of focus and attention paid to,
• 2:04
  - you know, the better of the bigger health
• 2:05
  - space. Now from your perspective, can you give
• 2:08
  - us a quick state of the union for
• 2:09
  - Georgia James Memorial Hospital? What has gone well
• 2:12
  - this year, and what are you focused on
• 2:13
  - for the rest of 2026?
• 2:15
  - Yes. Also, before I speak on that, I'm
• 2:18
  - also a local pastor too, so I have
• 2:20
  - to like a dual head. Not regular with
• 2:22
  - a religious
• 2:23
  - atmosphere,
• 2:24
  - a faith based atmosphere in this situation as
• 2:27
  - well. But, yeah, Georgia Williams Memorial Hospital, for
• 2:30
  - many don't know, it's a small public access
• 2:32
  - hospital
• 2:33
  - between Tallahassee, Florida and Panama City on the
• 2:36
  - Gulf
• 2:36
  - Coast here.
• 2:38
  - And the hospital, you know, is probably one
• 2:40
  - of the second largest or third largest employee
• 2:43
  - of choice in Franklin County.
• 2:45
  - We're focused, you know, providing, you know, emergency
• 2:48
  - services, outpatient and inpatient,
• 2:51
  - rural health center,
• 2:52
  - swing based service to our rural areas. And
• 2:54
  - since we're geographically isolated, you know, we wanna
• 2:57
  - create access,
• 2:58
  - local local access to care.
• 3:02
  - Our goal this year is to strengthen our
• 3:03
  - financial operational
• 3:05
  - foundation
• 3:06
  - to position our hospital for growth,
• 3:09
  - including in that is that, you know, looking
• 3:10
  - at our revenue cycle performance,
• 3:13
  - reducing claim denials, expanding patient access, and strengthening
• 3:16
  - our community partnerships that we have, you know,
• 3:18
  - our local communities,
• 3:20
  - as well as investing into our facilities. You
• 3:22
  - know, we have, a project going on right
• 3:24
  - now that we were,
• 3:27
  - renovating
• 3:28
  - one of our
• 3:29
  - rooms, small office
• 3:31
  - within the hospital for a state of the
• 3:33
  - art CT machine to come in to provide
• 3:35
  - certain,
• 3:36
  - needs for the community.
• 3:38
  - Along with that, you know, focusing on our
• 3:40
  - employees is very important as well. And so
• 3:42
  - we'll, you know, focus on focus on a
• 3:44
  - lot of,
• 3:45
  - employee engagement opportunities within us with our staff,
• 3:49
  - here,
• 3:50
  - this year. And then the remainder of this
• 3:52
  - year, you know, we've you know, our six
• 3:54
  - priorities or five priorities, you know, we wanna
• 3:56
  - try to get paid faster. Right now, you
• 3:59
  - know, we continue to fight a a bell
• 4:01
  - with certain, you know, insurance companies with with
• 4:03
  - denials. So we wanna reduce those denials and
• 4:05
  - improve our collections.
• 4:06
  - We wanna keep health care services local. Our
• 4:09
  - individuals here have to travel an hour and
• 4:11
  - a half,
• 4:12
  - east or west for certain services. So we
• 4:14
  - wanna try to,
• 4:16
  - provide those services as local as possible.
• 4:18
  - Recruit, retain, and support our local workforce. We're
• 4:21
  - gonna continue to support our staff. Then we
• 4:23
  - wanna use better, better data in executive dashboards.
• 4:26
  - We wanna make sure our dashboards can give
• 4:28
  - us,
• 4:29
  - included data so we can make good decisions
• 4:32
  - for server service line implementation.
• 4:34
  - And one of the most exciting things that
• 4:36
  - we that we're doing here, we're getting ready
• 4:38
  - to create
• 4:39
  - any retail pharmacy
• 4:41
  - in one for one of our rural health
• 4:42
  - centers for an area that do not have
• 4:44
  - any kind of pharmacy services. It's like a
• 4:46
  - desert for pharmacy services. So we're getting ready
• 4:48
  - to create and develop a retail pharmacy clinic
• 4:52
  - in one of our rural health centers, and
• 4:53
  - that's very, very important for us. And as
• 4:56
  - well as provide outpatient physical therapy and develop
• 4:59
  - an oncology infusion program here at Buffalo Hospital.
• 5:02
  - So we have a lot of different things
• 5:03
  - that we're we're trying to do here that
• 5:05
  - we're doing. Hey. Use the word trying because
• 5:07
  - trying is a fair word. There's a lot
• 5:09
  - of things that we're doing. And so we're
• 5:11
  - not we really don't wanna just simply maintain
• 5:13
  - the hospital as it is. We wanna position
• 5:16
  - the hospital to be stronger and more sustainable
• 5:18
  - for our global health system here in our
• 5:19
  - community.
• 5:21
  - I love that. I I think it's so
• 5:23
  - impressive to to see how you're able to
• 5:25
  - grow, within the rural space and have that
• 5:27
  - mindset of,
• 5:29
  - you know, what you're doing to to grow,
• 5:31
  - what you're doing to continue to provide access
• 5:33
  - and improve care, within the broader community. And
• 5:37
  - I'm curious, you know, the,
• 5:39
  - few pieces you mentioned, you know, in in
• 5:42
  - terms of what you wanna bring into,
• 5:44
  - the hospital and different services you wanna try,
• 5:47
  - programs you wanna expand.
• 5:49
  - How do you
• 5:52
  - kind of select the things you wanna focus
• 5:54
  - in on, and what resources do you need
• 5:55
  - in order to bring this all together? I
• 5:58
  - know it's especially a challenge, right now for
• 6:00
  - a lot of organizations if they're looking at
• 6:02
  - where they wanna invest their precious dollars. And
• 6:05
  - so,
• 6:06
  - what do you do there in order to
• 6:07
  - make sure you're able to keep growing and,
• 6:09
  - investing in these things,
• 6:11
  - as some of the financial challenges continue to
• 6:13
  - rise?
• 6:15
  - Yes. For example, you know, one of the
• 6:16
  - majors we're we're focusing on is what we
• 6:18
  - call it, a retail pharmacy clinic.
• 6:20
  - And, of course, you look at the data.
• 6:22
  - You know, you wanna make sure your decisions
• 6:24
  - are are database.
• 6:25
  - You know, the service lines you you wanna,
• 6:28
  - provide to the community is based on data.
• 6:30
  - But we know in one of our rural
• 6:32
  - health centers in another city within our county,
• 6:34
  - there's, you know, we got 30 miles, thirty
• 6:37
  - thirty plus miles to the nearest pharmacy.
• 6:39
  - And so this is this is a situation,
• 6:42
  - you know, where we saw a need, and
• 6:44
  - we act and and felt that we need
• 6:45
  - to supply that need.
• 6:47
  - And then and this,
• 6:49
  - operation will come out of our own operation
• 6:50
  - budget funding,
• 6:52
  - but we're we're not seeking additional funding, for
• 6:54
  - this. So we're we're planning to do this
• 6:56
  - on our own,
• 6:57
  - and it it'll be a phased attempt, a
• 7:00
  - phased step that we'll begin to to roll
• 7:01
  - this out. When we look at, outpatient physical
• 7:04
  - therapy right now within our county and and,
• 7:08
  - we don't have a
• 7:10
  - good physical therapy presence. You know? Our patients,
• 7:12
  - people have to travel outside the county for
• 7:15
  - outpatient physical therapy service. Now we provide inpatient
• 7:18
  - physical therapy services with our,
• 7:21
  - inpatient rehab program, but outpatient physical therapy services.
• 7:24
  - So So this is another need. If you
• 7:26
  - look at the data, you know, you don't
• 7:27
  - have the services, and then we'll begin to
• 7:29
  - phase this particular service
• 7:31
  - in,
• 7:33
  - slowly.
• 7:34
  - We're also looking at, you know, oncology infusion
• 7:37
  - program, you know, partnering with another provider to
• 7:39
  - help us provide the service to our people.
• 7:41
  - You know, we have individuals that live right
• 7:43
  - across the street from the hospital, would have
• 7:45
  - to drive to Tallahassee. I'll Panama City, that's
• 7:48
  - an hour and a half drive just for
• 7:50
  - that oncology infusion services. So these are the
• 7:52
  - things that you you look at the data,
• 7:55
  - and if you can do it, you know,
• 7:57
  - the margins are not too hard to do.
• 7:59
  - You know, you you take a chance and
• 8:01
  - you do it.
• 8:02
  - I love that. And I think what a
• 8:04
  - great philosophy of being able to, you know,
• 8:06
  - understand
• 8:07
  - everything that goes into the process and, you
• 8:09
  - know,
• 8:10
  - decide to make that decision and and and
• 8:12
  - go for it is amazing.
• 8:14
  - What are some of the biggest headwinds that
• 8:15
  - you're keeping your eye on right now and
• 8:17
  - preparing for in the future?
• 8:19
  - Yeah. Well,
• 8:20
  - number one, always the margin pressure.
• 8:23
  - You know, the rising labor cost,
• 8:26
  - you know, supply, you know, insurance, you know,
• 8:28
  - even medical insurance issues that we're having. And
• 8:31
  - if infrastructure costs,
• 8:33
  - that, you know, reimbursement doesn't always cover. So
• 8:36
  - these are some some of the things that
• 8:37
  - we're we're continuing to look at. You know,
• 8:39
  - workforce recruitment
• 8:40
  - and retention is always a a a a
• 8:43
  - significant issue in rural in the rural space
• 8:45
  - because we compete
• 8:46
  - with lots of health systems that can, you
• 8:48
  - know, pay
• 8:50
  - better and offer,
• 8:51
  - a a variety of services.
• 8:54
  - In cybersecurity, you know, this is one, you
• 8:56
  - know, that's always been on my mind,
• 8:58
  - to focus on even a few years ago
• 9:01
  - just to begin to think about cyber cybersecurity.
• 9:03
  - It it is a concern for rural hospitals.
• 9:06
  - You know, we're seen as easy easier targets,
• 9:09
  - and we're investing right now in the safe
• 9:11
  - in the strong with safeguards
• 9:13
  - and response readiness to cybersecurity. But I think
• 9:15
  - cybersecurity
• 9:16
  - is a is a is a very big
• 9:18
  - one. You know? These other ones, rising labor
• 9:20
  - costs, you know, supply,
• 9:23
  - workforce recruitment and retention has always been there,
• 9:25
  - but cybersecurity now has really been one that
• 9:28
  - has been jumping out to us.
• 9:31
  - Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
• 9:33
  - And, to your point, I know you talked
• 9:35
  - about, you know, recruiting and retaining,
• 9:37
  - into the workforce as well as, you know,
• 9:39
  - rising labor costs as being something that, is
• 9:42
  - top of mind for you. So
• 9:44
  - how is your approach to workforce changing or
• 9:46
  - shifting? Is there anything that you're doing differently
• 9:49
  - to,
• 9:50
  - bring folks in and and keep folks,
• 9:52
  - in the region. I know it's especially,
• 9:54
  - a point of focus for a lot of
• 9:56
  - rural hospitals and facilities. So I'm curious what's
• 9:59
  - worked well for you and and what you're
• 10:01
  - looking at trying potentially in the future. Yeah.
• 10:03
  - One of the things about,
• 10:05
  - what workforce, you know, we wanna be we
• 10:07
  - wanna be that employee of choice.
• 10:09
  - And so some of the things that we
• 10:11
  - know that we did not compete maybe with
• 10:13
  - salary,
• 10:14
  - you know, but we could create a an
• 10:16
  - inducing environment a conducive environment for them, you
• 10:19
  - know, a a more of an environment a
• 10:21
  - flexible work working schedule, a flexible working plan
• 10:24
  - for them.
• 10:25
  - It's not as busy as is when you
• 10:27
  - work in a city, a rural hospital, so
• 10:29
  - you have that downtime as well.
• 10:32
  - Also looking, you know, maybe invest in some
• 10:34
  - of their,
• 10:35
  - certifications, you know, the, you know, standard certifications
• 10:38
  - that they they would like to to achieve.
• 10:40
  - A lot of different trainings, you know, we
• 10:41
  - often pay for that investment into our staffing
• 10:44
  - up in those particular areas as well.
• 10:47
  - And acknowledge them and recognize them. You know,
• 10:49
  - right now, we have a continue,
• 10:51
  - area that we call our employee of the
• 10:53
  - month that we kinda continue to recognize our
• 10:55
  - staff to make them feel valued.
• 10:57
  - It and so these are some of the
• 10:59
  - intangible things that maybe can help out,
• 11:02
  - with with staffing,
• 11:04
  - issues, you know, that your staff feel like
• 11:06
  - they belong to your hospital. I tell people
• 11:09
  - we're more than a hospital. We're a family.
• 11:10
  - And so we begin to treat individuals like
• 11:12
  - family, help them to have buy in the
• 11:14
  - different decisions that we make, you know, even
• 11:16
  - at their level. You know? Sometimes they stay
• 11:18
  - with us instead of traveling an hour and
• 11:20
  - a half away, thirty minutes, forty minutes away
• 11:22
  - for a higher paying job.
• 11:24
  - Well, that makes a ton of sense and
• 11:26
  - is a a great point point in terms
• 11:28
  - of the things that you're able to offer
• 11:30
  - in the environment and culture there too.
• 11:33
  - It sounds amazing.
• 11:34
  - And and speaking of looking into the future
• 11:36
  - and growth, what are some of the best
• 11:38
  - growth opportunities that you have in the next
• 11:39
  - two or three years? I I know we
• 11:41
  - talked a little bit about, some of the
• 11:43
  - things you're doing, but I'd love to hear
• 11:45
  - more of a a a full,
• 11:48
  - kind of thought on on where some of
• 11:50
  - the best opportunities might be. Yeah. Yeah. Well,
• 11:53
  - you know, when we look at the next
• 11:54
  - two years, what we wanna do. You know,
• 11:56
  - our greatest opportunity is keep more care local.
• 11:58
  - So anything that we do, we wanna make
• 12:00
  - sure we keep care local. We'll we'll invest
• 12:02
  - in the more of our telehealth
• 12:04
  - options here,
• 12:05
  - business specialists, you know, trying to expand some
• 12:08
  - of our outpatient programs.
• 12:10
  - Growth is not about becoming a large hospital
• 12:12
  - or a big hospital system. You know? We
• 12:14
  - just wanna become more responsive to our community
• 12:17
  - and begin to offer these particular service. Like
• 12:19
  - I said, the retail pharmacy space can be
• 12:21
  - very big for us.
• 12:23
  - Specialty clinics, another one that we really wanna
• 12:25
  - begin to,
• 12:27
  - put a focus on. Like like, right now,
• 12:29
  - if I need a cardiac cardiologist, I have
• 12:31
  - trouble.
• 12:33
  - You know, that's hour and a half away.
• 12:35
  - Each way, you know, for individuals in our
• 12:37
  - county, it depends on depending on the insurance.
• 12:40
  - So specialty clinic is one of the big
• 12:41
  - ones that we'll begin to focus on in
• 12:43
  - the infusion oncology space. We really wanna focus
• 12:46
  - in on that. And then enhance our Sween
• 12:48
  - bed service, our
• 12:50
  - stronger post acute discharge services. You know, Sween
• 12:53
  - bed, which is the inpatient we have, for
• 12:55
  - small, full of access hospitals is very important.
• 12:58
  - Individuals who get the inpatient rehab bill locally
• 13:01
  - instead of, you know, getting it in Tallahassee,
• 13:03
  - Panama City, which is an hour and a
• 13:04
  - half away. So we really wanna focus on
• 13:06
  - that service. We wanna keep people here local
• 13:08
  - as much as we can.
• 13:10
  - In the in the best in our facilities.
• 13:12
  - We wanna continue the best in our facilities.
• 13:14
  - Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I think that makes a
• 13:17
  - ton of sense and having that as a
• 13:18
  - a rallying cry too, I can imagine, is
• 13:20
  - inspiring for the team.
• 13:23
  - Yes. It is. It it is. It's inspiring
• 13:24
  - for them. I mean, they they're excited about
• 13:26
  - some of the things, programs that we're bringing
• 13:28
  - into and and investments that we're doing here
• 13:31
  - in the facilities.
• 13:32
  - That's fantastic to hear. Well, before we wrap
• 13:35
  - up, I'm curious.
• 13:36
  - What what is a leader that you admire
• 13:38
  - really from any industry and why?
• 13:41
  - It's it's two of them I I kinda
• 13:43
  - admire. You know, the first one is Oprah
• 13:45
  - Winfrey. I mean, she,
• 13:47
  - she she leads to empathy and authenticity. You
• 13:49
  - know, she turned a lot of personal
• 13:52
  - adversity into resilience. I mean, if you read
• 13:54
  - her story, you know, the things that she,
• 13:56
  - you know, been through and,
• 13:58
  - and even in upbringing of her life, even,
• 14:00
  - when she had a different shows, but she's
• 14:02
  - always rose to the the top of leadership.
• 14:04
  - You know? So over
• 14:06
  - Win Winfrey is somebody that, you know, we've
• 14:08
  - always I've always looked up to. You know,
• 14:10
  - she treat people with kindness and, working at
• 14:13
  - a rural health space. You know, we need
• 14:14
  - to pretend to treat people with kindness.
• 14:16
  - Ali Mulally, you know, former president and CEO
• 14:19
  - of Ford Motor Company. You know, he had
• 14:20
  - a cultural transparency
• 14:22
  - and accountability. That's the teamwork, which is big,
• 14:24
  - and that's what we really wanna do here.
• 14:26
  - And so in my life, I try to,
• 14:28
  - you know, live a life of transparency and
• 14:29
  - accountability and teamwork and try to, you know,
• 14:32
  - embody that to my individuals that I'm serving
• 14:34
  - with. And remember, you know, leaders both of
• 14:36
  - these leaders, they are servant leaders. They serve
• 14:38
  - the lead.
• 14:40
  - And that's that's the area that I always
• 14:42
  - keep in mind.
• 14:43
  - I love that. Both great leaders and great
• 14:46
  - qualities to bring into,
• 14:48
  - leadership of any organization.
• 14:49
  - David, thank you so much for joining us
• 14:51
  - on the podcast today. This has been such
• 14:52
  - a fun conversation. You're really informative and inspiring
• 14:56
  - to think about everything you're doing at, Rooms
• 14:58
  - Memorial. And I look forward to speaking with
• 15:00
  - you as well at our,
• 15:02
  - CEO, CFO Ron table. I know we'll be
• 15:04
  - sitting on a panel and, speaking and digging
• 15:06
  - deeper into many of these topics. So looking
• 15:08
  - forward to that and and excited to see
• 15:10
  - you soon. Alright. Well, thank you. I really
• 15:12
  - appreciate it. Thank you for having