Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leadership, Workforce Growth, and Building High Reliability in Healthcare with Alison Flynn Gaffney

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Leadership, Workforce Growth, and Building High Reliability in Healthcare with Alison Flynn Gaffney · 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 Scott Becker with the Beckers HealthCare
• 1:01
  - podcast.
• 1:02
  - I'm thrilled today to be joined by a
• 1:04
  - brilliant leader.
• 1:05
  - We're joined today by Allison Flynn Gaffney.
• 1:09
  - And Allison's got this incredible role as the
• 1:12
  - chief executive
• 1:13
  - officer of Banner University
• 1:15
  - Medicine in Tucson,
• 1:17
  - and he's had this fantastic
• 1:19
  - career.
• 1:20
  - Allison, can you take a moment and introduce
• 1:24
  - yourself?
• 1:25
  - And then after you do that, we'll talk
• 1:27
  - a little bit about biggest
• 1:29
  - priority today, what trends you're watching,
• 1:32
  - what you're most excited about, and a lot
• 1:35
  - more. And thank you for joining us.
• 1:37
  - Thank you so much, Scott. Humbled to be
• 1:39
  - here with you, today.
• 1:41
  - Allison Flynn Gaffney, as you said,
• 1:44
  - CEO banner university medicine tucson serving
• 1:47
  - Southern Arizona. We're Southern Arizona's largest nonprofit level
• 1:51
  - one trauma center academic medical center,
• 1:55
  - in service to our community of 1.3,
• 1:58
  - 1,500,000
• 2:00
  - southern Arizonans strong. So
• 2:02
  - just humbled to be here. My career's been,
• 2:04
  - you know, thirty three years and counting and
• 2:06
  - started part time as an inventory control clerk,
• 2:08
  - you know, and here we are. So,
• 2:11
  - I'm just really
• 2:12
  - thrilled to be of service and,
• 2:14
  - to really focus on
• 2:16
  - health care and how we can all collectively
• 2:19
  - collaborate and change the trajectory of the services
• 2:22
  - we provide.
• 2:23
  - And talk a little bit about the evolution
• 2:25
  - of your career.
• 2:28
  - It it it it may be any advice
• 2:29
  - that you would give to people that are
• 2:31
  - emerging as leaders and trying to develop great
• 2:33
  - careers.
• 2:34
  - Maybe give us a little bit of the,
• 2:36
  - you know, the background, the chronology a little
• 2:38
  - bit. You don't have to go through all
• 2:39
  - the details of it and and sort of
• 2:41
  - some of the lessons and what advice you'd
• 2:42
  - give to emerging leaders.
• 2:44
  - Absolutely. Well, born and raised new yorker,
• 2:47
  - and then a transplant to utah. And as
• 2:49
  - I as we say in our family, save
• 2:51
  - the best for last here in Arizona.
• 2:54
  - But I put myself through school for both
• 2:56
  - my degrees.
• 2:57
  - I own a university. I give them a
• 2:58
  - shout out,
• 2:59
  - New Rochelle, New York. And so my background
• 3:02
  - education wise is all health care. I'm a
• 3:05
  - fellow of the American College of Health Care
• 3:07
  - Executives, a big supporter of ACHE and and
• 3:09
  - what that can do for students all the
• 3:11
  - way through,
• 3:13
  - your your senior level career.
• 3:16
  - And then I I took a lot of
• 3:17
  - risks. I would say that the the way
• 3:19
  - to sum up my career is it was
• 3:21
  - not it is not a linear path
• 3:24
  - I I again worked in hospitals and then
• 3:26
  - I worked in consulting
• 3:28
  - with greater new york hospital association
• 3:30
  - and giliani partners back in the day when
• 3:33
  - the former mayor of New York City, Rudy
• 3:35
  - Giuliani, created a health care practice.
• 3:38
  - And I helped serve in that role,
• 3:40
  - internationally
• 3:41
  - as well.
• 3:42
  - And then, took an opportunity,
• 3:45
  - to get back into a hospital based service
• 3:49
  - and and did a number of roles at
• 3:51
  - university of utah health, which then led me
• 3:54
  - to
• 3:55
  - Again a nonlinear
• 3:56
  - pivot with jll and I led their health
• 3:59
  - care practice for a couple of years
• 4:01
  - nationally and
• 4:03
  - a lot of people ask me in particular
• 4:05
  - about that choice and as you know health
• 4:07
  - care covers a tremendous amount of square footage
• 4:10
  - in our country and globally
• 4:12
  - and I felt to be better prepared for
• 4:13
  - this role at some point in my career
• 4:16
  - that understanding the nuances of real estate facilities
• 4:19
  - management
• 4:20
  - actually workplace experience
• 4:22
  - For our teams and our patients that we
• 4:24
  - serve that that was just a key piece
• 4:27
  - that I needed to build more muscle on
• 4:29
  - and then the opportunity to serve here in
• 4:31
  - Southern Arizona,
• 4:32
  - the two reasons I said yes were,
• 4:36
  - our people. Right? And to work for
• 4:38
  - a a large organization, an ecosystem of Banner
• 4:41
  - Health, and then to be Privileged and humbled
• 4:44
  - to lead our academic arm here in Southern
• 4:46
  - Arizona,
• 4:47
  - again is the largest nonprofit
• 4:50
  - Our people
• 4:51
  - our teams are incredible, Scott. At some point,
• 4:53
  - I would love for you to meet all
• 4:54
  - 8,100
• 4:55
  - of them They're just incredible in service twenty
• 4:57
  - four seven three sixty five and our community
• 5:00
  - is just the trust that they put in
• 5:02
  - all of us
• 5:03
  - Help them at you know their time of
• 5:05
  - need we say all the time people are
• 5:07
  - born in our buildings
• 5:09
  - every day and then people also pass and
• 5:11
  - that's an emotional paradigm that our teams have
• 5:14
  - to deal with on a daily basis. And
• 5:16
  - so our role, my role, as the ceo
• 5:19
  - is to help create an environment of safety,
• 5:23
  - high quality,
• 5:24
  - and excellence and to make life easier so,
• 5:28
  - we can deliver better health care.
• 5:31
  - Fantastic.
• 5:33
  - And and and talk about
• 5:35
  - a little bit about
• 5:36
  - the ACHE
• 5:38
  - because this is one of the great organizations
• 5:40
  - in America and doesn't get enough credit. And
• 5:42
  - then I wanna talk about the evolution of
• 5:44
  - Banner Health, which has just been remarkable over
• 5:47
  - the last couple decades.
• 5:48
  - But just give a shout out, if you
• 5:49
  - don't mind, to the American College and what
• 5:51
  - they do because it's a magnificent organization.
• 5:54
  - Then I wanna talk about the amazing work
• 5:55
  - that's been done by, by Banner over the
• 5:58
  - last couple decades to become the system it
• 6:00
  - is today.
• 6:01
  - Absolutely. Well, acha g, we we could have
• 6:04
  - just a whole a whole day of conversation
• 6:06
  - on them. I joined acha g as a
• 6:09
  - student
• 6:10
  - and so, you know, thirty three year thirty
• 6:12
  - three years later,
• 6:13
  - here I am,
• 6:15
  - advocating for everyone in health care to be
• 6:17
  - part of this organization,
• 6:19
  - starting as a student and all the way
• 6:21
  - to a seasoned professional.
• 6:24
  - The education
• 6:25
  - that I received through the programs that ACHE
• 6:28
  - has, not just the annual congress, but the
• 6:30
  - different opportunities throughout the year
• 6:33
  - served me very very well the networking
• 6:36
  - just you know congress is five seven thousand
• 6:39
  - people now Scott when I started it was
• 6:42
  - probably 2,000 and you know always in Chicago
• 6:44
  - always in March and always freezing cold
• 6:47
  - and now they're they're looking at different cities,
• 6:49
  - you know around the country to be even
• 6:51
  - more inclusive
• 6:52
  - So did ev and the team have done
• 6:54
  - a tremendous amount of work to continue to
• 6:57
  - elevate bring in our military arms bring in
• 7:00
  - additional diverse, you know student populations making sure
• 7:03
  - that we're looking at rural health care and
• 7:06
  - just getting on top of the technology
• 7:08
  - and the different trends that we're all navigating
• 7:11
  - so I'm I'm just a huge I'm really
• 7:13
  - bullish on ACHE as an integral part of
• 7:16
  - one's career in health care no matter no
• 7:19
  - matter what, you know,
• 7:21
  - point at at your career you're you're in.
• 7:25
  - Fantastic. And talk about I've watched Banner
• 7:29
  - since doctor Fine took over years ago to
• 7:31
  - Amy Perry, become this amazing organization.
• 7:34
  - Talk a little bit about
• 7:36
  - how it's going so right, and what are
• 7:38
  - some of the things that Banner does right
• 7:40
  - that's made it work so well
• 7:42
  - well, I can't say enough about
• 7:45
  - Amy,
• 7:46
  - and and and and peter as well, right
• 7:49
  - peter kind of, you know being the the
• 7:50
  - genesis and for so long and
• 7:53
  - a historical
• 7:55
  - impact on the health care field in general
• 7:58
  - and then You know, Amy just leading us
• 8:00
  - forward into the next decades ahead, but promoting
• 8:03
  - health and wellness right keeping people out of
• 8:05
  - hospitals That's what we talk about all the
• 8:07
  - time Like, we don't want anyone here as
• 8:10
  - as strange as that might sound. We're focused
• 8:13
  - on keeping our community healthy and well and
• 8:15
  - and really not just talking about value based
• 8:18
  - care anymore, actually living it right through our
• 8:20
  - continuum that we have here
• 8:22
  - between,
• 8:23
  - our academic medicine, our partnership with SelectHealth,
• 8:27
  - with, rehab.
• 8:29
  - And then
• 8:30
  - we also you know, just the ten year
• 8:33
  - anniversary. I can't I can't forget to mention
• 8:35
  - that. I mean, the partnership between banner health
• 8:38
  - and the university of arizona
• 8:40
  - We just celebrated that ten year anniversary
• 8:43
  - last October.
• 8:45
  - And it's just it's changed, you know, it's
• 8:47
  - changed how
• 8:48
  - banner health how banner university medicine formed is
• 8:52
  - operating,
• 8:53
  - within the health care field and we're looking
• 8:55
  - to set the bar and
• 8:57
  - and you know, take Opportunities to try new
• 9:00
  - things to be able to bring back, you
• 9:03
  - know to the communities that we serve and
• 9:05
  - always keeping, you know, the patient who we
• 9:07
  - call sophia our patient front of mind and
• 9:10
  - how she navigates our system
• 9:12
  - how she,
• 9:13
  - navigates on behalf of her family
• 9:15
  - and the opportunities that we have in academic
• 9:18
  - medicine to focus on the missions of clinical
• 9:21
  - excellence,
• 9:22
  - educating the next generation. I mean, we've helped
• 9:24
  - educate more than 500 medical students train, you
• 9:28
  - know, 600 plus residents, 127
• 9:31
  - fellows. And last year as part of the
• 9:33
  - anniversary celebration,
• 9:34
  - we had for the first time an economic
• 9:37
  - analysis done. And Banner writes statewide, the partnership
• 9:41
  - has generated more than 59,000,000,000
• 9:44
  - in economic impact in just our first decade.
• 9:47
  - And that's everybody. Right? That's the person who
• 9:50
  - started Monday, Scott, and that's the person who's
• 9:52
  - been part of our organizations for decades. So,
• 9:56
  - it's a tremendous amount of work that Amy
• 9:58
  - and our executive team and our board do
• 10:00
  - every day and and all of us, right?
• 10:03
  - It's 60,000
• 10:04
  - people across six states,
• 10:07
  - and 33 hospitals strong and and some other
• 10:10
  - businesses that help support the value based care.
• 10:13
  - It it's just an incredible team to be
• 10:15
  - part of. We're not looking to sit still.
• 10:18
  - We're looking to to change the trajectory of
• 10:20
  - health and wellness in this country.
• 10:23
  - It's amazing energy, and I love getting a
• 10:25
  - chance to talk to you and to leaders
• 10:27
  - of the banner because they really do bring
• 10:29
  - this vision and effort that and then it's
• 10:32
  - both. Vision is nothing without effort behind it
• 10:34
  - to actually try and improve the health of
• 10:36
  - of people in our country. And and I
• 10:38
  - just love that.
• 10:40
  - Talk a little bit about as we look
• 10:41
  - at the second half of this year and
• 10:43
  - prepare for next year,
• 10:45
  - what are you most focused on, Allison? What's
• 10:48
  - what's what's what are you most focused and
• 10:49
  - excited about as we get into the next
• 10:51
  - six months of next year?
• 10:53
  - Well, we work really hard at banner university
• 10:55
  - medicine to you know, intentionally create an environment
• 10:59
  - where people feel valued supported
• 11:01
  - seen heard respected empowered.
• 11:04
  - And we call our one team so
• 11:07
  - our journey to becoming a high reliability organization,
• 11:11
  - Is top of mind for me and for
• 11:13
  - for all of our team members. We're really
• 11:16
  - we're honest. We're transparent
• 11:18
  - We're vulnerable
• 11:19
  - And that's the key to the magic of
• 11:21
  - our culture at banner health and at banner
• 11:22
  - university medicine Like it's not a hashtag. It's
• 11:25
  - a purposeful shift
• 11:27
  - and and we're really focused on that and
• 11:29
  - that's part of the advice I would give
• 11:30
  - to Emerging professionals and and leaders that you
• 11:33
  - and I both know it's like like be
• 11:35
  - visible be transparent be vulnerable
• 11:39
  - show up for your team show up for
• 11:41
  - your community embed in the community people should
• 11:44
  - know who you are
• 11:46
  - you know, most of us aren't behind a
• 11:49
  - desk and and that's part of the magic
• 11:51
  - of health care. But if there are opportunities
• 11:53
  - to engage your community and it's your internal
• 11:56
  - community, your teams,
• 11:57
  - in particular, your patients, and then the community
• 12:01
  - health partners that we all have and that
• 12:02
  - we're gonna need to really really collaborate with,
• 12:05
  - like, competition. I'm all for it. You know?
• 12:08
  - I'm I'm bullish on on making sure we're
• 12:10
  - number one.
• 12:11
  - And at the same time, I really feel
• 12:14
  - with everything that is ahead for all of
• 12:16
  - us in this field and some of the
• 12:17
  - unknown
• 12:18
  - that partnerships and collaboration
• 12:20
  - are critical
• 12:21
  - to how we deliver health care.
• 12:24
  - Thank you. And and talk about
• 12:26
  - physician shortages
• 12:28
  - and
• 12:30
  - what are some of the challenges
• 12:31
  - in accelerating
• 12:32
  - physician education,
• 12:35
  - providing more residency spots.
• 12:38
  - We've got challenges with primary care, challenges with
• 12:40
  - specialists.
• 12:41
  - But I I personally find the challenges with
• 12:44
  - specialists,
• 12:45
  - particularly as friends keep on dying of cancers
• 12:49
  - and the limited number of some specialty oncologists
• 12:52
  - to be so acute. And I know people
• 12:54
  - like to talk about primary care shortages, but
• 12:56
  - it seems like we're doing so much to
• 12:58
  - solve that through NPs, PAs, AI, but some
• 13:01
  - of these hardcore subspecialties so hard to solve.
• 13:05
  - Where do you see some of the evolution
• 13:06
  - of these supply demand issues and specialties and
• 13:09
  - and challenges?
• 13:10
  - Yeah. There's there's so there's so many opportunities.
• 13:15
  - So one of the things that we're doing
• 13:16
  - that just top of mind for me is
• 13:18
  - as I'm listening to you
• 13:20
  - outline kind of what we talk about every
• 13:22
  - single day,
• 13:23
  - is our school of medicine just recently increased,
• 13:26
  - from a 160
• 13:27
  - students. So that that's a that's a significant
• 13:30
  - it it doesn't sound like a lot, but
• 13:32
  - it actually is very significant on the the
• 13:35
  - number of physicians that we will be putting
• 13:37
  - out into our communities to serve.
• 13:39
  - So we're really very proud of that and
• 13:41
  - what our medical schools and the University of
• 13:42
  - Arizona and our partnership
• 13:44
  - is able to do. So that's one thing.
• 13:46
  - We're actively addressing it head on,
• 13:50
  - and we're really proud that a third of
• 13:52
  - the our, you know, primary care residents are
• 13:55
  - practicing in Arizona,
• 13:57
  - five years after completing their training. So we're
• 13:59
  - looking to also yes. We want to help
• 14:02
  - health care, the field nationally and globally. And
• 14:05
  - at the same time, we wanna make sure
• 14:07
  - that we have our physicians here locally to
• 14:09
  - take care of our communities,
• 14:12
  - at the highest level. From a specialty standpoint,
• 14:15
  - I also I think that we have to,
• 14:18
  - you know, as a community member, so not
• 14:20
  - as a CEO, as a patient.
• 14:22
  - Right? We have to start to understand and
• 14:25
  - we can do more education on this that
• 14:28
  - we will we will always have physicians and
• 14:30
  - our physicians are incredible, but our advanced practice
• 14:33
  - providers,
• 14:34
  - our nurse practitioners,
• 14:35
  - and our different,
• 14:37
  - roles that we have in service
• 14:39
  - are also part of the care team, the
• 14:41
  - brilliant care team, the heartwarming,
• 14:43
  - the the actual care about you as a
• 14:46
  - human first,
• 14:47
  - care team is what a patient wants. Right?
• 14:50
  - You want the best care. You want clinical
• 14:53
  - confidence. You wanna know that the place that
• 14:55
  - you're going to, you can trust and you
• 14:57
  - can trust the people in it and that
• 14:58
  - they're innovating at the top of their license.
• 15:02
  - And that's what we're doing at Banner Health.
• 15:03
  - That's, again, the magic that we're trying to
• 15:05
  - create here. We also so here locally through
• 15:08
  - the Chamber of Southern Arizona,
• 15:10
  - we have a specific physician workforce group, which
• 15:13
  - brings all of our hospitals serving in Southern
• 15:15
  - Arizona together to try to tackle this Because
• 15:17
  - I say all the time Scott and I'm
• 15:19
  - sure you can appreciate this from the business
• 15:21
  - lens You know trading people back and forth
• 15:24
  - is unhelpful
• 15:25
  - Right? That that just continues to create an
• 15:27
  - economic conundrum.
• 15:29
  - So we really want to focus on bringing
• 15:31
  - net new individuals
• 15:33
  - into our organizations,
• 15:34
  - into our state, into our communities. And I
• 15:37
  - know people around the country that I talk
• 15:38
  - to are are looking at the same opportunities.
• 15:41
  - Right? So we have to create great culture.
• 15:43
  - We have to have great opportunities for people
• 15:46
  - to have career pathways,
• 15:48
  - and we have to make sure our compensation,
• 15:51
  - you know, everything that we're doing to support
• 15:53
  - benefits, etcetera,
• 15:54
  - are key and critical. But the evidence based
• 15:57
  - data shows that people respond to people, and
• 16:00
  - people respond to a culture, and people really,
• 16:02
  - by and large, wanna be part of an
• 16:04
  - organization.
• 16:05
  - That's
• 16:06
  - number one. Right? That's setting the stage. That's
• 16:09
  - being innovative
• 16:10
  - and innovative and taking
• 16:12
  - serious and calculated risks to to improve.
• 16:15
  - And I think we're at a moment in
• 16:17
  - time in society where
• 16:19
  - culture is is really key, right? When all
• 16:21
  - the old cliches of, you know, culture eats
• 16:24
  - strategy for lunch, I'm sitting here to tell
• 16:26
  - you, you know, yes, you need a strategic
• 16:28
  - plan and
• 16:29
  - you need to make sure your people are
• 16:30
  - happy and your people are motivated
• 16:32
  - and they're held accountable.
• 16:34
  - People want to be part of a team
• 16:37
  - that's high performing
• 16:38
  - and that's what we aspire to every single
• 16:40
  - day here.
• 16:42
  - That that's
• 16:43
  - fantastic.
• 16:44
  - And,
• 16:46
  - Allison, talk about
• 16:48
  - any episodes
• 16:49
  - in your career
• 16:51
  - that have really stood out to you,
• 16:54
  - either surprised you or or encouraged you?
• 16:58
  - Like, what today
• 17:00
  - leaves you encouraged and optimistic and excited
• 17:04
  - or or throughout your career? Yeah. I I
• 17:06
  - was having dinner with one of our physicians,
• 17:08
  - last night,
• 17:10
  - and she asked me, you know, how are
• 17:12
  - you?
• 17:13
  - And I said, I'm exhausted and inspired every
• 17:15
  - day.
• 17:17
  - So so that's, I think, the the yin
• 17:19
  - yang that that those of us serving in
• 17:22
  - the health care field
• 17:23
  - Are right that that's our current state? That's
• 17:26
  - our level set?
• 17:27
  - But I'll go way back.
• 17:29
  - In the early part of my career and
• 17:31
  - I remember
• 17:33
  - having dinner with a a previous leader of
• 17:36
  - mine, chris o'connor who who you might know,
• 17:38
  - who's well known in our in our health
• 17:40
  - care field.
• 17:41
  - And he was my boss at the time
• 17:43
  - when I was at Greater New York Hospital
• 17:45
  - Association.
• 17:46
  - And we were out we had dinner,
• 17:48
  - and we were talking about, you know,
• 17:51
  - performance and career opportunities and jobs. And at
• 17:54
  - that time, I, you know, I was just
• 17:55
  - really excited to be a director. And,
• 17:58
  - you know, I was just really, you know,
• 18:00
  - proud and and maybe a little,
• 18:02
  - you know, a little ego about it. And
• 18:04
  - I, you know, I thought who I was.
• 18:05
  - And,
• 18:07
  - that was good, like, good enough. And he
• 18:09
  - identified in me and I'll never I can
• 18:11
  - see it like it was yesterday
• 18:13
  - when, you know, he said something to the
• 18:14
  - effect of what do you wanna be when
• 18:16
  - you grow up? And I said, you know,
• 18:17
  - director and, you know, maybe a senior director
• 18:20
  - and that would be fantastic. And, you know,
• 18:22
  - he looked at me with a little bit
• 18:24
  - of disgust and,
• 18:25
  - you know, and joy at the same time
• 18:27
  - and said, Allison, you're shooting too low. Like,
• 18:30
  - why would you limit yourself?
• 18:32
  - And I don't know that it really stuck
• 18:34
  - that night, Scott, but it stuck. And here
• 18:36
  - we are.
• 18:37
  - And I think there's a balance and in
• 18:39
  - particular for female executives of, you know, high
• 18:43
  - ego, low ego, high drive, low drive. So
• 18:46
  - what I aspire to every day is low
• 18:48
  - ego, high drive.
• 18:50
  - And
• 18:51
  - having someone believe in you
• 18:53
  - Early on in your career and being that
• 18:55
  - blunt with you
• 18:57
  - is something that shaped my career for the
• 18:59
  - rest of my life and he and I
• 19:00
  - are still in touch We're texting the other
• 19:03
  - day very good friends.
• 19:05
  - And I I give him a tremendous amount
• 19:07
  - of credit for, you know, pushing me out
• 19:09
  - of my comfort zone.
• 19:10
  - I I I I love that. I think
• 19:12
  - it's so helpful to have people that are
• 19:14
  - like, we always tell people, if you're starting
• 19:15
  - a business,
• 19:17
  - don't ask your friends.
• 19:18
  - And I say that and and and I
• 19:20
  - say that because your friends will say it's
• 19:21
  - a great idea.
• 19:23
  - And it it's often that you have somebody
• 19:25
  - that will say to you, you know, it
• 19:27
  - what what I say in actually starting businesses
• 19:29
  - is you better talk to customers because that
• 19:31
  - they'll tell you we're buying it or we're
• 19:33
  - not, and that's the best advice you can
• 19:34
  - get. Where your friends might tell you it's
• 19:36
  - great idea because they wanna encourage you.
• 19:39
  - It's so helpful to have mentors that will
• 19:41
  - periodically take you aside and say, you ought
• 19:43
  - to do this differently or you ought to
• 19:44
  - think about this differently.
• 19:46
  - And I think that could be so valuable.
• 19:49
  - Yeah. We one of the things being new
• 19:50
  - to Arizona, right, born and raised New Yorker,
• 19:53
  - transplant to Utah for eleven years, and now
• 19:55
  - here for a little over a year and
• 19:57
  - a half, our family has fallen in love.
• 19:59
  - Tucson is magical. If you've never been, you
• 20:01
  - have an open invitation.
• 20:03
  - Please come to visit us. It's just an
• 20:05
  - incredible community. But one of the things I
• 20:07
  - did with that spirit of what you just
• 20:09
  - said is as I was connecting with community
• 20:12
  - members and team members, we put together, you
• 20:14
  - know, a council of sort so we could
• 20:17
  - have community members representing everyone throughout Southern Arizona
• 20:21
  - give us feedback. Right? Talk to talk to
• 20:23
  - me. Talk to the collective we honestly, what
• 20:25
  - works, what doesn't work. We're not shy.
• 20:28
  - We're we're in pursuit of excellence.
• 20:31
  - And to do that, you need to be
• 20:33
  - told the truth. So, you know, yes, we
• 20:35
  - have our our patient surveys, and we ask
• 20:37
  - that everyone fill them out. And we have
• 20:39
  - our voice surveys, and I'm very proud of
• 20:41
  - the trajectory that we're taking internally with our
• 20:44
  - team members,
• 20:45
  - feelings more seen, heard, and valued.
• 20:48
  - Our top our top response this last go
• 20:51
  - around in April when we did our Pulse
• 20:53
  - internal survey,
• 20:54
  - the top double digit,
• 20:56
  - in the green response was does your organization
• 20:59
  - care about your health and wellness? I think
• 21:01
  - that's that's pretty darn important and we increased
• 21:04
  - 13.4%
• 21:05
  - in that question alone. And so that's not
• 21:07
  - an attagirl. That's a we're heading in the
• 21:09
  - right direction. Right and and we have more
• 21:11
  - work to do and from a community standpoint,
• 21:14
  - you know, we're really working on our patient
• 21:16
  - experience and attaching that to the work that
• 21:19
  - we do as an academic medical center a
• 21:21
  - non profit
• 21:22
  - and making sure that we're hearing the voices
• 21:25
  - of of all that we serve, all whom
• 21:27
  - we serve, and taking that seriously and making
• 21:29
  - changes, like, not talking about it, not writing
• 21:32
  - a white paper about it. Like, we're actually
• 21:34
  - doing it.
• 21:35
  - Just a a amazing work, Allison, and amazing
• 21:38
  - what you've done throughout your career. I love
• 21:40
  - watching your career. I love getting a chance
• 21:42
  - to visit with you. Congratulations.
• 21:44
  - And and BANNER's a remarkable system. And and,
• 21:47
  - what you're doing, increasing the residency spots, the
• 21:50
  - the the medical school graduates. I'm a huge
• 21:53
  - fan of AI preventive care, but I'm also
• 21:55
  - a believer in trust and verify.
• 21:58
  - And trust and verify means, yes, we'll we'll
• 22:00
  - we'll double down on prevention and AI, but
• 22:03
  - we're better enough doctors and nurses as well
• 22:05
  - to take care of our people. So I
• 22:06
  - I love what you're doing. Thank you so
• 22:08
  - much for joining us on the Peckshaya Healthcare
• 22:10
  - Podcast.
• 22:11
  - Thank you, Scott. Appreciate you.