Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Sarah Matlin, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Memorial Health

Transcript

Sarah Matlin, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Memorial Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm Kelly
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  Gooch, Senior Editor and Enterprise Lead at Becker's.
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  And I'm thrilled to be joined today by
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  Sarah Matlin, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy
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  Officer at Memorial Health. Sarah brings a unique
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  perspective to this role, having led strategy both
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  within health systems and as a founder and
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  CEO of OKTS Strategic Advisory.
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  Now at Memorial Health, she's helping guide the
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  strategic direction of a regional system with a
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  broad care footprint. Sarah, thank you so much
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  for joining me. Oh, thank you, Kelly. I
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  appreciate it.
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  I'd love to start out today, Sarah, by
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  having you
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  explain a little more about your
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  background and what you what brought you to
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  the position you're in today.
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  Yeah. No. I appreciate that.
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  I joined health care about sixteen years ago
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  from out of industry. And at that time,
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  you know, one of my biggest concerns was
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  going from the, you know, high high intense
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  pressure of management consulting into health care, thinking
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  it would be boring. And then in the
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  first year, the Affordable Care Act was passed.
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  So I can't say, you know, I've stopped
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  since then. There you know, health care is
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  one of the most dynamic industries and one
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  of the most important, really.
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  It impacts every person's life, in our country,
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  and there's a lot to fix, I should
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  say. So I spent, fifteen years as chief
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  strategy officer at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Northern
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  Kentucky and the greater Cincinnati market, had a
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  a wonderful career there, and, decided to go
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  out on my own, spent a year really
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  consulting a lot in the AI space. I
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  believe AI is one of the key strategic
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  moves that we're gonna see in health care.
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  It's gonna make a lot of impact in
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  the industry.
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  And, and then the memorial position came up,
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  and it interested me for a couple of
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  reasons.
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  First and foremost was its new new relatively
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  new leader, in Mandy Eaton. Mandy joined Memorial
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  about a year ago, to take the CEO
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  position,
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  and she came from Cone Health. And I
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  was very familiar with Cone, very innovative system
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  that recently joined Ryzant.
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  And so I was really interested in in
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  Mandy, not only for her Kone experience, which
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  I knew would be an incredible experience to
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  and and someone to partner with, but also
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  Mandy, her experience is as a chief human
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  resources officer. And I just thought that is
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  really interesting to me. I haven't seen that
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  a lot in the industry,
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  from, you know, kind of the HR leadership
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  track up to CEO, the top job. And
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  I thought, you know, what better background and
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  experience
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  can a leader have at this moment in
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  time in health care where there is so
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  much change in front of us, but to
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  have, you know, that people experience. Because at
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  the end of the day, you know, the
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  people are gonna be required, you know, to
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  make these moves and and to kind of
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  get an alignment,
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  to really help transform health care. So that
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  was what I was really excited about at
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  first.
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  Absolutely. Yeah. Sounds like a lot of, as
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  you said, alignment there, just on where the
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  industry is now and new leadership and background
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  and and everything coming together in in all
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  those ways.
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  And
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  so I wanted to ask you
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  now, Sarah, just a little more about how
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  you're thinking about your priorities as you come
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  into Memorial Health.
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  Yeah. Absolutely.
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  I joined Memorial mid January, and they had,
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  really were at the tail end of a
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  strategic planning process that they had partnered with,
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  an outside consulting firm on. That process started
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  last summer. And so
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  a little unusual,
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  to come in as a chief strategy officer
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  and have a plan almost finished.
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  But my very first priority
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  was getting that across the finish line. So,
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  we started mid January. We had a board
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  meeting at the February
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  where, you know, we were going to present
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  the plan for approval.
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  And so there was a lot to do
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  to make sure the plan was ready. It
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  was simple. It was straightforward,
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  and yet visionary
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  and, really set a new tone
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  that represented
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  the really dynamic nature I was seeing of
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  the the new leadership team, which was you
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  know, Mandy has a a great blend of
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  people that have been at Memorial for for
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  decades and really a lot of lived experience
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  in the health system, both in the critical
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  access hospitals as well as the tertiary campus
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  in Springfield,
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  and then a few new leaders there. And
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  so a lot of, you know, excitement, but
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  also a lot of leadership alignment,
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  to to accomplish.
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  I thought what was really interesting is is,
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  we were planning
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  on debuting the plan,
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  with our board at the same time as
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  our key leadership team called our Leadership Coalition.
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  I've actually never done that before. So I
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  was like, this is gonna be interesting. You
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  know, the board and the leaders are gonna
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  hear and see the plan, in its finality,
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  for approval all at the same time. And
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  it was a really transformative experience.
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  Well, yeah. That that's really interesting. Definitely having
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  that that approach of both seeing it at
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  the same time and that plan. That's, yeah,
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  just really interesting
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  perspective there. And and I know you have,
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  as you've outlined, sir, you've you've led strategy
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  both from inside systems, external and as an
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  external advisor. And so when you step into
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  Memorial Health,
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  I was curious
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  how you assess where to focus first, essentially,
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  especially systems balance growth, margin pressure, and and
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  evolving care models.
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  Yeah. Absolutely. That's a great question.
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  Memorial is is not unique,
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  in the challenges it faces. Right?
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  The reimbursement
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  challenges
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  with an unknown Medicaid landscape from, recent legislation
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  at the federal level,
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  they face all of the same challenges. What's
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  unique about Memorial, and and part of the
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  reason I was really interested
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  in the position, is the market in which
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  Memorial is operating. So the Springfield, Illinois market
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  is really one of three markets in The
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  United States with these
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  characteristics.
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  You know, two health care systems,
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  one of which, Memorial, we don't employ our
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  own specialty physicians,
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  in the in the Springfield market. We rely
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  on a partnership with one of the largest,
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  independent physician groups in the country, the Springfield
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  Clinic. They have over 650
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  employed physicians.
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  And so they are our specialists along with
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  a medical school, a medical school that doesn't
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  have its own medical campus. And so we
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  have a strong partnership with,
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  SIU, Southern Illinois,
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  university that has a, a medical school in
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  Southern Illinois,
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  and and they are also our specialists. So
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  it's a really unique
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  opportunity
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  to figure this out and and really put
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  the patient at the center for us all
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  to gain alignment,
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  across our three entities, two nonprofits and a
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  for profit. It's it's really dynamic and and
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  interesting, and that intrigued me. Let's try to
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  figure that puzzle out.
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  It's, you know, it's not without its challenges
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  to try to get everybody on the same
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  page about what's needed, what the community needs,
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  and how to serve those who are, you
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  know, less fortunate in the community,
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  when you have that kind of blended, strategy.
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  So that's been a lot of a lot
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  of my focus, I think, is trying to,
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  build those relationships.
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  What what is really interesting too is that
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  all of those organizations
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  are having a leadership change within the same
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  twelve months. So we experienced that a year
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  ago at Memorial with Mandy Eaton coming on
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  board. The Springfield Clinic has a brand new
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  CEO that just started last week, and SIU
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  is recruiting a new dean. So here we
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  have, you know, this really interesting time, I
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  think, in Springfield is, you know, a brand
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  new, really, leadership team in the healthcare ecosystem.
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  You know, what an opportunity to reset
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  and look forward and maybe reimagine and redesign
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  health care for a community.
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  Wow. That's that's so interesting,
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  just new leadership across across the board and
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  and just really how that,
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  like you said, that puzzle of of coming
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  together in that way.
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  And I I know
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  that, like you said, you've been in Memorial
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  Health since,
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  January, but, so far, I was just curious
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  if there's any any specific initiative you call
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  out as far as one that maybe you
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  view as most innovative or exciting
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  that you've launched or advanced so far this
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  year, and then what really made it a
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  priority, for the organization as well?
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  Yeah. That's a great question. I I entered
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  Memorial when a lot of transformation was already
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  well underway.
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  So Memorial has grown as many health systems
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  do through acquisitions and partnerships with with other
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  hospital systems. They found themselves,
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  today and how they're operating today with seven
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  different electronic medical records, if you can imagine
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  that. So the system itself is in the
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  middle of a a giant,
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  digital transformation, I would call it. So, they're
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  in the process of aligning all of the
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  different hospitals and clinics onto the Epic platform.
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  Our academic partner in SIU will be also
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  coming on to our our Epic,
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  you know, platform in in February
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  2027.
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  So you can imagine that's a big heavy
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  lift for the organization,
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  and it's creating not just a system. It's
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  not just replacing a system, but all of
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  the processes and systems and connective tissue that
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  has to happen.
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  Patient handoffs, coordination of care, all of that
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  has to really be redesigned. So there's nothing
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  more transformative
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  than that, I can say. And so that's,
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  that's where the organization is really focused, I
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  would say, to set the stage for us
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  to be able to do a lot more,
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  a lot more for the patient, simplicity in
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  a single patient portal. Right now we have
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  four.
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  You know, it's, it's so it's we're really
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  focusing everything on the plan around the patient.
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  We're also focusing everything around humans. So our,
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  our entire strategic
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  plan, the foundation is human centeredness.
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  And we believe that, you know, the patient
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  has to always come first, and it's our
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  people that make that possible.
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  And so,
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  one of the things and the tenants, the
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  key tenants of this digital transformation is to
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  really make sure that our teams have the
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  tools and the resources
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  to get the work done,
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  and make the right thing to do the
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  easy thing to do. So that whole piece
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  is a is a big piece of the
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  transformation
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  while we're setting our sights on longer term
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  growth strategy. Right? We've got to get our
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  house in order first. We need to make
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  sure that we have the foundation,
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  that is solid, that is going to make
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  us the best health care
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  system, you know, not for profit health care
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  system
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  that that can show how you can excel
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  and and how you can connect and partner
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  with others. But we've got it we've got
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  a lot of got a lot of housekeeping
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  to do first.
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  Absolutely. And
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  I wanted to just, lastly, ask you more
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  of a forward looking question here, as well.
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  As you know, our audience being hospital health
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  system executives, I was curious,
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  as you're looking ahead over the next few
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  years, what you really think will distinguish health
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  systems that execute well on strategy from those
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  who
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  maybe struggle more with that, and and what
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  role do you think leadership alignment plays in
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  that?
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  Yeah. I have to think that, one thing
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  health care is not good at is saying
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  no to things.
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  You know, strategy in my mind is about,
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  in some ways, about resource allocation. It's about
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  deciding where you're going to
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  invest and where you have to walk away.
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  And
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  as community health systems are often,
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  you know, in this position of of being
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  sole providers, being primary givers, you know, and
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  and not really being able, like a a
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  a for profit, you know, business, a manufacturing
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  business, to cut out portfolios. It's a little
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  hard to cut out health care portfolios. Right?
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  You can't say, we're not gonna take care
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  of pneumonia patients anymore. So I think it's
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  being choiceful
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  about where you're going to invest,
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  and and being super intentional. And that's going
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  to mean saying no to some things
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  and, and and creating some discipline that isn't
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  always easy. And so I think systems that
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  excel will do that really, really well. They
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  will have their long term vision in mind.
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  They will have
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  values and principles by which they're operating, by
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  which they're making decisions, and they'll have a
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  sense of discipline,
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  to really stay the course,
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  even in the midst of maybe criticism for
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  for letting go of some things that they
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  they can't do as well as others or
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  or partnering in different ways.
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  And so I think there are gonna be
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  some hard choices to make. I mean, I
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  think the, you know, the implications of of
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  Medicaid funding
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  being dramatically reduced, you know, three years from
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  now, that's on everyone's,
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  you know, eyes. Everyone's looking at that. Every
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  board is looking at those financial models that
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  show a dip, you know, coming down. We've
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  got to figure that out. I mean, we've
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  got to figure out a way to take
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  care of people in our country
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  and and do it more affordably. We've got
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  to leverage technology
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  in in a different way.
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  We have to get people to the right
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  sites of care where they can be cared
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  for in a more, you know, cost effective
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  way, but yet still feel like they're cared
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  for, you know? And so figuring out those
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  models,
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  that can be more efficient, I think, is
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  the trick. And, I don't know that I
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  have any silver bullets or anybody else does,
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  but, that's what I'm looking forward to building
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  at Memorial Health.
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  Yeah. I definitely think everyone, like you said,
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  is is thinking, the same things and and
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  dealing with a lot of those those same,
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  issues and and industry
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  industry,
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  environment right now. So thank you so much,
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  Sarah, for a fun, interesting conversation today, and
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  I hope we can
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  connect again soon.
• 13:22
  Absolutely. Great to great to be here. Thanks
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  for having me.