Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Sarina Rodriques, Associate Vice President of System Lab Operations at Rush University System for Health

Transcript

Sarina Rodriques, Associate Vice President of System Lab Operations at Rush University System for Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders
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  together to unpack the most pressing issues facing
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  the industry.
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  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
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  and unexpected ways.
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  This April, more than 3,500
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  healthcare executives will return to Chicago for Becker's
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  sixteenth annual meeting.
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  Seven ninety five elite speakers will offer new
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  sixteenth.
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  For the agenda and event details,
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  visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right.
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  This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Health
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  Care podcast.
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  We're thrilled today to be joined by a
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  wonderful leader
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  from a a brilliant leader from a wonderful
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  institution.
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  We're joined today by Serena Rodriguez.
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  Serena's both at Rush University System for Health.
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  She's also from the Yale School of Management.
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  Serena, a great pleasure to visit with you.
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  I I will tell you I spent the
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  morning downtown at the Rush campus, so I
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  was so excited to see you on the
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  schedule today.
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  Can you take a moment and tell us
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  a little about yourself
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  and about your career?
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  Oh, sure. I can do that. So as
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  you mentioned,
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  I'm Serena Rodriguez. I am the associate vice
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  president
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  for laboratory
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  systems,
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  throughout the Rush,
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  university
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  system in Chicago.
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  As you, of course, know, Rush is an
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  academic health system. It's got a really great
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  mission
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  around
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  patient care, but, there's this wonderful
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  additional,
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  you know, mission we have around education,
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  research, and health equity.
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  We are, very complex in our environments.
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  We not only support
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  tertiary care, but quaternary care. We have this
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  incredible teaching mission,
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  and we're also really growing our ambulatory footprint.
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  We recently opened, another ambulatory site on North
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  And Harlem,
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  but we are deeply committed to community
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  access.
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  So in my role, I oversee lab operations
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  across the system.
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  I have a lot of strategy around
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  workforce
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  strength. Of course, quality and regulatory governance
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  is critical to, laboratory medicine.
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  We also serve as a reference laboratory
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  for systems,
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  throughout rush.
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  We are looking at some strategies around insourcing,
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  laboratory technology.
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  A core program of why I was brought
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  into Rush with my background in,
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  expertise in laboratory medicine
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  as a consultant
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  throughout The US
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  where I did a lot of system work
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  is to advance
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  the
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  one rush,
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  one laboratory model
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  standardizing
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  to improve safety, efficiency, compliance,
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  while still allowing some flexibility
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  around that academic setting.
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  The goal is to have a enterprise laboratory
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  that's reliable,
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  scalable,
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  and positioned to support
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  this long term growth that health's,
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  mission is.
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  So that's just a little bit about me.
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  Well well, thank you. What are some of
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  the core trends that you're watching currently? What
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  are those are the big things that you
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  have your eye on?
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  There are, several trends that are shaping how
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  we lead laboratories
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  today.
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  The first one would be workforce sustainability.
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  It really goes beyond recruitment.
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  We're focused on fatigue risk
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  and competency
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  depth,
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  leadership coverage across all shifts,
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  and long term viability of staffing models that
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  really historically
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  relied on overtime
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  and sort of informal coverage.
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  Systems are increasingly recognizing
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  this as both a patient safety risk and
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  an enterprise risk. So I'm really focused on
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  local leadership even though we are a system.
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  We really need to ensure that all of
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  our employees
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  on all hours of the day
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  are being thought about, you know, from that
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  fatigue risk
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  and having presence locally.
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  The second area that I'm seeing a trend
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  around is reference lab and insourcing strategies, sort
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  of a reassessment
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  of what makes sense
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  to do
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  ourselves.
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  So we have this strong ambulatory presence
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  throughout the Chicagoland
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  area out into Aurora.
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  We're looking at
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  taking care of all of our patients, whether
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  they're inpatient or ambulatory.
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  So we have a strategy for ambulatory
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  growth, looking at things like turnaround time, where
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  testing is performed, should it be performed locally
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  at the point of care,
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  and also just that total cost of owning
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  our laboratories,
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  not just at the incremental cost per test
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  level, but how does it impact value based
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  care and outcomes to our patients?
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  Wherever we can, we are looking at strategies
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  to in source testing back in house.
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  We think this will help create better access,
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  growth,
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  and improve quality. And then finally, the third
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  trend that comes to my mind is governance.
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  We want to be sure that we are
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  responsible
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  for how we utilize laboratory testing.
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  So we wanna move away from fragmented
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  on-site based decision making towards structured governance for
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  test utilization,
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  point of care testing,
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  technology,
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  blood management, and quality. So those are some
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  things we're looking at with a
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  external
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  membership approach, not just an internal lab membership
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  approach of using our providers,
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  our clinicians,
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  our pharmacists
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  to support governance around laboratory utilization.
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  Thank you. And and take a moment on
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  the sort of as you get into 2026,
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  Serena, where are you most focused and excited?
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  Building infrastructure
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  is my focus.
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  As I mentioned,
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  to do governance work, we need to have
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  the right people
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  hired and engaged.
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  So I'm creating new workforce models
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  and
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  updating the operating standards
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  so that we can have people
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  available to do the governance work as well
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  as being able to bring growth
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  back in house.
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  So that's gonna take some infrastructure
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  rebuilding.
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  Outside of the last sixty six to eighteen
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  months, I'm really proud of the progress we've
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  made
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  for,
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  system wide support,
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  setting clear expectations
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  and accountability on decision making.
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  We're really aligned with our regulatory bodies like
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  CLIA and CAP, and patient safety is always
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  at the forefront for everything we do.
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  I think creating this workforce stabilization
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  and redesign
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  has helped us
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  get ready for the work ahead.
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  We're also doing a lot more work around.
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  Illinois isn't a licensed state for laboratorians.
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  However, we do hire certified techs, and so
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  creating skill mixing where we utilize certified techs
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  versus,
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  different skill mixes with medical lab assistance or
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  uncertified
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  text. We need them all. They're critical to
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  our
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  coverage.
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  So we're using a lot of that
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  understanding of when we need
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  certification
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  and when we do when we don't.
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  We also are really positioned
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  to be a growth partner.
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  I love that Rush invests in their programs,
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  and they've been really
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  supportive of the laboratories.
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  Really proud of that, and it has given
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  us the momentum
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  to continue
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  to grow and invest in our laboratories.
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  Thank you. And you've had this great both
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  leadership and education
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  career. You're a,
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  master's in health systems management,
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  executive education,
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  assistant professor.
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  What what advice would you give to emerging
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  leaders?
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  And and talk for a moment about
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  this commitment to lifelong learning?
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  Oh, yes.
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  Well, first advice I would give I give
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  to everybody when I'm
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  teaching either a a course on financial management
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  or operations
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  is being able to communicate
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  the story to your executives
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  and using financial language that helps to paint
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  the picture.
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  So being a data driven leader is so
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  critical, especially
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  for laboratorians, but across all disciplines.
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  If you can connect volume
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  data to staffing models, quality risk, and cost,
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  you really build credibility
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  and influence very quickly.
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  Think it helps you to
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  achieve
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  those high goals that you're after.
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  I also think that it's really important to
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  invest early on leadership development, and we've mentioned
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  governance
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  often here
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  so that you bring in strong leaders who
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  have, diverse skill sets so that you have
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  a diverse group of
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  employees,
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  or leadership employees.
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  So I think
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  technology and capital matter,
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  but strong infrastructure and capable leaders at every
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  level,
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  those investments,
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  you know, they are critical to being able
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  to deliver
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  the value.
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  And then I think that another advice final
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  advice would be,
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  you know, create systems that have sustainable performance.
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  So burnout and turnover
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  are, rarely individual
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  failures. They're usually signals of system strain.
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  Leaders who address this proactively,
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  they'll protect both people and their patients.
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  I think staying collaborative and cute curious,
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  those leaders who listen
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  well build trust across disciplines, not just in
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  their lab space.
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  They're willing to challenge
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  legacy models,
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  really have better outcomes. I mean, we all
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  we have to be ready for challenging legacy
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  models.
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  This is a whole new world of health
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  care today.
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  Rina Rodriguez, what a pleasure to visit with
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  you. What a remarkable career.
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  Thank you for taking the time to visit
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  with us today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  Just incredible what you're doing and what Rush
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  is doing. Thank you so much.
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  Thank you so much for having me.