Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Driving Growth and Excellence at St. Joseph's Health with Dr. Dustin Riccio

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Driving Growth and Excellence at St. Joseph's Health with Dr. Dustin Riccio · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

0:02
This is where health care leadership comes together.
0:04
Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
0:07
hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
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speakers to Chicago
0:12
April.
0:14
This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas
0:17
Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former president George
0:20
w Bush. For the agenda and event details,
0:22
visit beckershospitalreview.com
0:25
and click on the events tab in the
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upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
0:29
in Chicago.
0:31
This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
0:33
podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
0:36
doctor Dustin Riccio,
0:37
president and chief executive officer at St. Joseph's
0:39
Health System. Doctor Riccio, it's a pleasure to
0:41
have you on the podcast today. Good morning,
0:43
Laura. Thanks for having me.
0:45
Now I'm excited for our conversation because I
0:47
know there's so much happening in health care,
0:48
and, you know, it'll be really fun to
0:50
learn a little bit more about what you're
0:51
doing at St. Joseph's and how you're thinking
0:53
about the future. But before we dive in,
0:55
can you tell us just a little bit
0:56
more about yourself, your background, and St. Joseph's
0:58
Health System?
1:00
Absolutely.
1:01
So my name is, Dustin Riccio. I am
1:03
the president and chief executive officer here at
1:05
St. Joseph's Health. The way I like to
1:07
describe myself is, especially being in Jersey, is
1:10
that I'm actually a Jersey boy.
1:12
I I grew up down in on the
1:14
Jersey Shore before, as I tell people, before
1:16
it was the Jersey Shore.
1:18
And, really great spot to grow up. I
1:21
wound up,
1:22
going to, Bucknell University and subsequently did med
1:25
school up in in Syracuse, New York.
1:28
And, at that time, really, was spending some
1:30
time
1:31
in getting acquainted with what the clinical realm
1:34
was. And,
1:36
I did my residency there. I got married
1:38
at that time and wound up spending about
1:40
twenty years up in the Rochester and the
1:42
Upstate area.
1:44
I got my first attending job, in Rochester,
1:47
New York, and,
1:48
my wife and I raised a family there
1:51
for
1:51
really twenty years.
1:53
And during that time, I I really took
1:55
a
1:56
a liking to,
1:58
and a love for the administrative
2:00
realm of medicine.
2:02
And I started as the chair of the
2:03
department, eventually became the president of a hospital
2:05
in a smaller region within Rochester Regional Health,
2:08
and eventually got to the point where I
2:10
started looking to see what else was out
2:12
there. And I was really happy to
2:14
find a position that was available,
2:17
here in New Jersey when a recruiter reached
2:19
out and talked to me about the position
2:21
that was opening up, because of her retirement
2:24
at St. Joseph's Health in Paterson, New Jersey.
2:27
I looked at the opportunity. I fell in
2:29
love with the place when I came to
2:30
interview
2:31
for it. And,
2:33
the way the team here really
2:35
wrapped their arms around me and the culture
2:37
that is St. Joseph's Health, the mission of
2:40
who we are and what we do, it
2:42
really attracted me to the organization.
2:44
And I was fortunate enough to be offered
2:46
the position and,
2:48
took the position back in,
2:50
January
2:51
2024.
2:52
I've now been in the role for for
2:54
two years and,
2:56
loving New Jersey, loving being back in this
2:58
great state, and also appreciative for the work
3:01
that we're doing here and the purpose that
3:03
I have in serving this role and serving
3:06
this community at St. Joseph's.
3:08
So that's a little bit about me, Laura.
3:09
That's my
3:10
past, twenty years
3:12
in thirty seconds or less.
3:15
Oh, that's amazing. I mean and and what
3:16
a great career you've had going from the
3:18
clinical side into administration and then being able
3:20
to get back to New Jersey is just
3:23
fantastic. And I love the way you describe
3:25
the feeling that you had when you got
3:26
to Saint Joseph's and and truly,
3:29
you know, having that connection and feeling like
3:31
you've been supported since you've been there. So,
3:33
that's amazing to hear. And, you know, I'm
3:36
I'm curious. Could you tell us a little
3:37
bit more about the last year or so,
3:39
an important initiative that you led? What did
3:40
you do, and what were the results?
3:42
Well, yeah. Maybe I'll if it's okay with
3:45
you, I'll extend it back even two years
3:46
because I think that first year where I
3:48
arrived here was even more important about setting
3:51
up what we did last year. Because that
3:53
first year for me was really a year
3:55
of listening and learning and spent a lot
3:58
of time with the entire
4:00
constituents of our community.
4:02
I spent a lot of time with
4:04
our frontline team members. I spent a lot
4:06
of time with our executives and our legislators,
4:09
and really getting an understanding, even though I
4:11
know knew Patterson growing up, even though I
4:13
knew the landscape for the health care industry
4:16
in New Jersey, I I wanted to see
4:18
where we were. And in doing that three
4:21
to six month listening session and then doing
4:24
a nine month strategy session on where we
4:27
needed to go, it set up back to
4:29
your question. It set up what the last
4:31
year was, and that was 2025.
4:33
Because
4:34
walking out of '24 into '25 was a
4:37
function of executing on the listening session,
4:40
getting in a
4:41
buy in from the board, the community, the
4:43
frontline team as to what our vision was
4:45
going to be, what our strategy was gonna
4:47
be. And then in January '25,
4:50
we kicked off that
4:52
strategic plan. We launched it. And it has
4:55
been probably the most important thing that we
4:57
did,
4:58
last year. And why is that important? Because
5:01
what we wanted to do was we wanted
5:03
to recognize what I had learned back in
5:06
'24,
5:07
that this organization really needed to expand itself
5:10
from a growth standpoint. It needed to
5:14
recognize the excellence that it was
5:17
and how we needed to both get back
5:19
there, as well as build upon the great
5:21
things that we were already doing. And then
5:23
what I described to you about
5:25
coming here in '23 when I was interviewing
5:28
for the position
5:29
and how much I appreciated the culture and
5:31
mission and then expanding that culture. Because our
5:34
strategic plan launch isn't just about growing market
5:37
share. Our strategic plan launch that we did
5:39
in January 25
5:41
was those pillars around growth, excellence, and culture.
5:44
And and what we tacked on there was
5:47
what I keep saying to people, that fourth
5:49
pillar. That fourth pillar is,
5:51
hey. Listen. We need to tell our story
5:53
a little bit differently as to who we
5:55
are at St. Joe's, and I call that
5:57
amplifying our voice. So what we did last
5:59
year in January, we launched that strategic plan
6:02
with the pillars of growth,
6:04
excellence,
6:05
culture,
6:06
and amplifying our voice. And back to your
6:08
original question, I think that's the most important
6:10
thing we did last year, and I think
6:12
it's probably one of the most important things
6:13
that this organization
6:14
has done in the last several years.
6:18
I love that. And I I think it's
6:19
so critical to have that kind of vision
6:22
into, you know, where you want the health
6:24
system and organization to be and and how
6:26
the people are functioning within it. And to
6:28
your point in in looking at amplifying your
6:30
voice, having that excellence in the in the
6:33
culture in place, what does that look like
6:35
in the last year as you're,
6:37
you know,
6:38
unveiling that to the team and then actually
6:40
seeing them,
6:41
make changes in how they're thinking about the
6:43
the organization and how they're talking about it?
6:46
You know, what did that look like, and
6:48
how are you seeing that actually come to
6:49
fruition?
6:51
Yeah. And going one layer deeper,
6:53
Laura, is
6:55
on the growth standpoint,
6:57
it it really is about
6:59
recognizing what the community needs are and how
7:01
we're expanding into those communities. And we've defined
7:04
those into nine different strategic areas.
7:06
The primary is really around primary care. There
7:08
is a dearth of primary care where we
7:11
are currently at as well as in some
7:12
of the markets that we wanna be in.
7:14
Right? And we wanna build out our primary
7:16
care strategy and have been spending the last
7:18
year plus in doing that. In addition to
7:20
that, we have also defined eight additional specialties
7:23
and subspecialties that we need to grow in,
7:25
that the community needs and we believe that
7:27
we are providing and can provide
7:29
more of. And then lastly is our ambulatory
7:32
our ninth
7:33
strategic growth area is around our ambulatory focus,
7:37
areas.
7:38
And that's ambulatory surgery, that's our ambulatory campuses,
7:41
and how we can actually grow that to
7:42
serve the community better. But the excellence and
7:45
culture piece are,
7:46
how we're doing that is taking those listening
7:49
sessions again, and we are recognizing
7:52
the high quality
7:53
that we have within our clinicians and the
7:55
care that we offer,
7:56
and we are seeing how we can double
7:58
down on that. I will typically call it,
8:00
the the trophy case, you know, but what
8:02
we what we're really pushing the team to
8:04
do is to say, hey. You guys are
8:06
doing a great job here. We believe that
8:07
we are the market leaders in several different
8:10
comp components of clinical care. We were fortunate
8:12
enough, based off of the work that the
8:14
team did even prior to my arrival, to
8:16
receive two LeapFrog a grade ratings,
8:19
in last year. And it's actually,
8:21
something that hasn't been achieved at this campus
8:24
ever. Right? And so letting the team recognize
8:27
that and building on that excellence those excellence
8:29
initiatives
8:30
is how we're building out that pillar. From
8:32
a cultural standpoint,
8:34
reengaging
8:35
our team
8:36
differently. The culture that I described to you
8:38
when I walked in the doors back in
8:39
'23 is exactly what I wanna build upon.
8:42
And the human capital aspect of what we
8:44
do here at St. Joseph's Health is so
8:46
critical. And if you were here, you can
8:48
actually feel it. It is about living the
8:50
mission. It's about recognizing
8:52
what the Sisters to Charity of St. Elizabeth's
8:54
created back in 1867
8:56
with an 11 bed hospital
8:58
and providing to the community that we are
9:00
doing today across three different campuses now. Right?
9:03
And the team knows that. They know what
9:06
it means to to do that, and they
9:08
live the mission every day. And we are
9:09
investing in that both from an employee engagement
9:12
standpoint, as well as out within the community.
9:15
And that has been actually critical for us
9:18
to
9:19
get buy in on the strategic plan as
9:21
well as to advance the growth initiatives. Right?
9:23
So that growth, excellence, and culture. And then
9:25
I heard you very specifically ask about what
9:27
does it mean to amplify our voice. It's
9:29
doing what you and I are doing today.
9:31
Right? It is about
9:33
continuing to be humble, but also letting our
9:37
communities know and letting the entire state know
9:40
that we were actually a high quality organization
9:45
that serves
9:46
a challenged
9:49
group population within Patterson, but also is expanding
9:52
outwards so that people can feel exactly the
9:55
culture that I'm describing to you. And that
9:57
means getting in front of the communities. That
9:59
means getting in front of our legislators.
10:01
That means getting in front of our payers.
10:03
And and that means getting in front of
10:05
our team members to say, we are doing
10:07
this really well, and I need you to
10:09
speak a little bit more loudly about that
10:11
work.
10:12
And that has really caught on here. It's
10:15
why I'm doing what I'm doing. It's why
10:17
I'm spending that time in front of the
10:18
community, in front of the legislators, in front
10:20
of the team members to continue to carry
10:22
that message.
10:23
A little less humble,
10:25
not bragging, somewhere right in the middle.
10:28
I love that. You know, and that's such
10:31
a critical way of of really branding and
10:33
having yourself out there, within the community and
10:36
just really being proud of everything that you
10:38
do. So I I love it. I think
10:41
looking ahead into the next year, what are
10:43
some of the big priorities that have been
10:44
that that you're focused on for the next
10:45
twelve months or so?
10:47
What we are looking at in '26 is
10:50
how do we keep our foot on the
10:51
gas? Right? We we we kicked off that
10:54
strategic plan. We launched it back in January
10:56
25, and we actually saw a lot of
10:58
big wins in those nine different areas that
11:00
we described that I described to you.
11:02
Not everything was a win. Right? And what
11:04
we did is even in the last part
11:06
of '25 is we said, hey. Listen. There's
11:08
a lot of changes that are coming within
11:09
our industry, within the administration,
11:11
that we need to be cognizant of. And
11:13
how do we actually evolve our strategic plan
11:15
to make sure that the organization is successful
11:17
moving forward?
11:18
So we made that evolution at the '25
11:21
and into '26.
11:22
But, really, what I am focusing on right
11:24
now is at the same time where we're
11:26
putting out fires, that we are also keeping
11:28
our foot on the gas. And that foot
11:30
on the gas means growth, excellence, culture, amplifying
11:33
our voice, and supporting our team to to
11:36
do exactly that. It means getting in front
11:39
of our federal, our state, and our local
11:41
governments to let them know what the administrative
11:43
changes that are happening on an industry wide
11:46
level and how they are impacting us. And
11:49
in addition to that, it also means holding
11:51
others accountable for that. Right? Making sure that
11:54
the payers know what the challenges are gonna
11:56
be coming forward and that,
11:58
we need to be recognized as an entity
12:00
within,
12:01
Northern Jersey, if not the region. And then
12:03
it's getting in front of our our patients
12:05
and our communities and letting them all know
12:08
all the stuff that we are doing so
12:09
that we can continue to drive volume
12:12
as well as a great patient experience.
12:14
So if you were to ask me in
12:16
in simple words, it would I would say
12:18
we need to keep our foot on the
12:19
gas. We cannot take what happened in '25,
12:22
which was a big win for the organization,
12:24
those growth initiatives. We need to double down.
12:27
We have the flywheel going now. We just
12:29
need to spin it a little faster.
12:31
That makes a ton of sense. And, you
12:33
know, I I really appreciate you talking through
12:35
that because it is a time of a
12:36
lot of uncertainty, a lot of changes, and
12:38
I think a lot of leaders
12:40
across the board are trying to figure out
12:41
how to keep their teams focused and results
12:44
driven, process driven,
12:46
while at the same time looking into the
12:47
future too and building for the future, which
12:49
is a hard,
12:50
thing to balance. And so from your perspective,
12:53
when you're,
12:54
you know, working with your teams, your leadership
12:56
teams, and then, you know, communicating out to,
12:59
the frontline
12:59
staff as well. How do you really kind
13:03
of walk that line and and make sure
13:05
that,
13:06
you're thinking about the right things? What are
13:07
the results? What are the impact that some
13:09
of these things are making,
13:11
you know, for the organization?
13:14
I I would say that the pace of
13:16
change is is truly breakneck within health care,
13:19
and
13:20
and, unfortunately, a lot of the change hasn't
13:22
necessarily been all that positive.
13:25
And what that means in my mind
13:27
is that
13:29
we, and I say we, I mean the
13:31
executive team and myself
13:33
and, really, the entire organization is we need
13:36
to communicate better.
13:37
I I it's I've been saying this now
13:40
for,
13:40
I don't know, fifteen years, but I used
13:42
to think I was a really good communicator
13:45
until I got into
13:47
the executive space. Right? And then and I've
13:50
tried to iterate towards better,
13:53
if not great as a communicator over the
13:55
past twenty years, within the administration.
13:58
And
13:59
at a time right now where the pace
14:01
of change is so fast,
14:03
it is so necessary for myself
14:07
to be a better communicator. It is so
14:09
necessary for our executive team to communicate better.
14:13
Right? And I don't mean just simply sending
14:15
out emails, but getting in front of the
14:17
team to make sure that, number one, they
14:20
know that the direction that we are going.
14:22
Right? They know that we are executing on
14:24
the commitments that we made to them, to
14:26
the communities,
14:27
and to all other constituents that interact with
14:30
St. Joseph's Health. And then lastly is
14:34
listening to them as they give us feedback
14:36
as the direction that we are going. Right?
14:39
Because that is the feedback loop that needs
14:41
to happen, and that is what makes up
14:43
a great communication plan. It is not simply
14:45
just sending an email out and saying we
14:47
did this.
14:48
It is following that communication loop, getting the
14:51
closure from the team, from the community to
14:54
make sure that we are headed in the
14:55
right direction, and then evolving that as I
14:57
described with what we did at the '25,
15:00
not just based on the administrative changes, but
15:02
what we were hearing back from the team,
15:04
what we were hearing from the community. Is
15:06
it perfect? No. But at the same time,
15:08
that level of communication is something that I
15:11
am challenging myself to do better on. I
15:13
am challenging our executive team on. And I
15:16
believe that that will be the critical component
15:18
for the success that we need at this
15:20
organization as well as within the health care
15:23
to execute on those growth plans and bring
15:25
better services out to the community.
15:28
That is so helpful to understand, and thank
15:30
you for digging a bit deeper there. It's
15:32
just really fascinating times that we live in
15:34
and certainly,
15:35
helpful to get your perspective on how you're
15:37
dealing with all of this. Now what do
15:39
you think the hardest thing you'll have to
15:40
do in the coming year will be?
15:43
The hardest thing that we're gonna have to
15:44
do is to maintain the pace that we
15:47
are currently at. And I I talked about
15:50
keeping our foot on the gas,
15:51
but I also recognize that,
15:53
from a a strain perspective
15:56
that, listen, there are there are workforce challenges
15:58
that are out there. There are there are
16:00
reimbursement challenges, that we have at an industry
16:03
level.
16:05
And where we are organizationally right now, as
16:08
we continue to pull this organization
16:10
up,
16:11
that pace of change
16:13
is really challenging. Right? And that change doesn't
16:15
just I don't mean just from a growth
16:17
perspective, but I also mean in the organization,
16:20
at the executive level, and actually building up
16:23
what our our middle management team is currently
16:26
doing.
16:27
That pace of change in an organization
16:30
has to
16:31
be balanced, and
16:33
that is one of the hardest things that
16:35
I am going to do at from a
16:37
leadership standpoint.
16:38
And then I would say
16:40
that pace of change married with the challenges
16:44
that are coming through from an administrative standpoint
16:47
that are gonna impact us financially
16:50
are two of the things that I,
16:53
gives me some level of anxiety,
16:55
on a daily basis. But I absolutely believe
16:58
that these are some things that we can
17:00
take on both from a change standpoint and
17:02
a change management standpoint
17:04
and deal with the industry level, the administrative
17:06
changes that are coming down to us, not
17:08
just from a reimbursement standpoint, from a regulatory
17:10
standpoint as well. And when if we bring
17:13
those two things together, balance the place of
17:15
change with the administrative and the industry changes,
17:17
then we will be successful. But that is
17:19
going to be very hard.
17:22
Absolutely. I I think, it's, you know,
17:25
so critical to have that type of focus
17:27
that we were talking about earlier in the
17:29
conversation,
17:30
because,
17:31
you know,
17:32
this balance, and especially from the financial standpoint
17:35
and change management too is is never easy.
17:38
But before we wrap up here, I wanted
17:40
to ask about growth too. Where do you
17:42
see some of the best opportunities for organizational
17:44
growth over the next couple years?
17:46
Thanks, Laura. I I would reflect back on
17:48
that question, and I would say that
17:51
really covered a lot of it,
17:53
already up to this point. And, really, what
17:55
organizational growth in my mind comes down to
17:57
is execution.
17:59
Right? And from a growth standpoint, we talk
18:01
through what those areas are from a primary
18:03
care, down through the specialties and subspecialties and
18:06
into that ambulatory care space.
18:08
We need to execute in that realm. From
18:10
an excellent standpoint,
18:11
if we wanna grow,
18:13
we need to create a great patient experience,
18:16
and we need to let people know all
18:18
the great work that we are currently doing
18:20
and make sure they know that we are
18:21
two of the safest hospitals in the nation.
18:23
From a cultural standpoint,
18:25
we need to make sure that the team
18:26
has bought into the growth that I just
18:28
described to you and that we are investing
18:31
in the human capital and continue to invest
18:33
in the human capital so that the culture
18:35
can continue to grow here
18:37
and our organization can grow. And lastly, I
18:40
keep reiterating it, but we need to continue
18:42
to tell our story a little bit differently.
18:44
We need to let people know that we
18:46
are expanding and that we are bringing additional
18:48
services out to the community, that we have
18:50
created a marketing plan that we are launching
18:52
and a brand refresh that's coming out there
18:54
to describe all of the things that I
18:57
just talked to you about.
18:59
We need to execute on growth,
19:01
excellence, culture, and amplifying our voice, and then
19:04
this organization will continue to become what we
19:07
know it can be and even greater in
19:09
the future.
19:11
I love that. Thank you so much for
19:13
joining us on the podcast today. This has
19:15
been such a fascinating conversation. I really appreciate
19:18
you digging deep into some of the cultural
19:20
things you're doing as well as how you're
19:22
thinking about growth and development, and I look
19:24
forward to continuing the conversation as well at
19:26
our sixteenth annual meeting in April. I know
19:28
you'll be speaking on a panel, and it'll
19:30
be great to connect there and keep the
19:31
conversation going. Laura, thank you so much. I
19:34
really appreciate the time.