Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Jody Reyes, Chief Operating Officer of the Clinical Enterprise at UI Health Care

Transcript

Jody Reyes, Chief Operating Officer of the Clinical Enterprise at UI Health Care · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
• 0:08
  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
• 0:14
  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
• 0:19
  - leaders are deliberate about where do they go
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  - to pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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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 Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  - Jody Reyes, COO of the University of Iowa
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  - Health Care's,
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  - clinical enterprise. Jody, it's a pleasure to have
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  - you on the podcast today. Thank you. Thank
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  - you for having me.
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  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation. I
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  - know we'll dig deep into
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  - some of the great things you're doing at
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  - the University of Iowa as well as how
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  - you're thinking about the future. But before we
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  - dive in, can you tell us a little
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  - bit more about yourself and your background?
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  - Happy to.
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  - And, again, as I as I mentioned, I'm
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  - just getting over a bit of a cold
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  - this morning, so please excuse the quality of
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  - my voice.
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  - I'm Jody Reyes, and I serve as the
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  - chief operating officer for the University of Iowa
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  - Health Care, where I oversee operations
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  - across our clinical enterprise.
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  - I actually began my career as a nurse
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  - and served active duty,
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  - as an officer in the United States Navy
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  - Nurse Corps
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  - from 1999
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  - through
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  - 2004,
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  - including
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  - a deployment to Iraq in,
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  - 2003.
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  - And that experience shaped a lot of how
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  - I think about leadership
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  - and teamwork,
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  - accountability,
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  - and performing
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  - in a complex environment.
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  - Over the course of my career,
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  - I moved into health care leadership and operations,
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  - and today, my role at Iowa
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  - spans our academic medical center,
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  - children's hospital,
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  - our community hospitals,
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  - and
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  - the ambulatory environment,
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  - peri op,
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  - emergency rooms, just a real broad range of
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  - the clinical and operational functions
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  - across our clinical enterprise.
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  - What I enjoy most about my role
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  - is building strong teams and creating the structures
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  - and clarity and discipline
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  - that allow people to perform at their best.
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  - And I'm focused
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  - very much
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  - on execution,
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  - accountability,
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  - continuous
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  - improvement,
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  - quality,
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  - and
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  - using data
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  - to help us understand
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  - how we can get better.
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  - That is especially important, I think, right now
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  - because health care is changing so quickly,
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  - and we have to continue delivering exceptional care
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  - while also improving access, strengthening performance,
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  - and making sure that our organizations are positioned
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  - well for the future.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. You know,
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  - it is a huge responsibility
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  - to do these transformations within the health care
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  - space and to your point, which is a
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  - very complex environment. But, certainly,
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  - your background and experience
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  - shows you're up to the task. And I
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  - I love your point on making sure you've
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  - got the teamwork and ready to go, for
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  - providing that exceptional care. Now could you give
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  - us a quick state of the union? What's
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  - going well this year, and what are you
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  - focused on for the rest of 2026?
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  - Well, we're really proud of the of the
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  - work being done at UI Health Care.
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  - You know, I would describe our state of
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  - the union as one of tremendous opportunity,
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  - but also a need for greater operational discipline.
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  - A lot has gone really well
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  - for us here.
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  - We've continued to grow as a system,
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  - including,
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  - the opening of our North Liberty campus, which
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  - is a specialty orthopedic hospital.
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  - We are increasingly thinking and operating as an
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  - enterprise rather than just a collection of individual
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  - hospitals and departments.
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  - And one of the things I feel really
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  - good about
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  - is the increased focus on using data,
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  - creating an accountable
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  - team
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  - across, again, the clinical enterprise, and
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  - really focusing in on operational performance.
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  - In health care, we have an enormous amount
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  - of data,
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  - and the challenge is turning it into information
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  - that our leaders and our front line
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  - can actually use to make decisions
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  - and then creating accountability
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  - around those decisions.
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  - So for the remainder of '26, my focus
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  - is really on three things.
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  - One,
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  - improving operational performance,
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  - b,
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  - leveraging our scale as a system,
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  - and strengthening
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  - our financial resilience.
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  - I think that means looking very deliberately at
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  - work force productivity,
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  - capacity and throughput,
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  - supply chain management,
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  - high cost clinical resources, and how we standardize
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  - operations
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  - across the enterprise where that makes sense.
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  - Ultimately, I think the goal is really simple.
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  - We need to make it easier for our
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  - teams to provide great care while making sure
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  - that the organization
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  - is positioned
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  - to remain strong for the long run.
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  - I love that. And I think, you know,
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  - having that simple strategic goal, very much,
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  - being able to focus on what you need
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  - to do, to make it easy, provide great
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  - care, and then create experience for patients, I
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  - mean, makes a lot of sense. I'm curious
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  - as you're looking at that operational performance, thinking
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  - about, you know, what productivity looks like, financial
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  - resilience, capacity throughput, and standardizing some of the
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  - processes around that.
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  - What does it take from the team on
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  - the ground to to really make sure you've
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  - got, the right processes in place and that
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  - they're being adopted and implemented and standardized where
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  - they need to be standardized and,
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  - adjusted where they need to be adjusted?
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  - It's a great question.
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  - You know, we ask a lot of our
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  - leaders,
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  - in health care.
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  - You know, we are
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  - constantly
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  - in, an environment of of
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  - rapid change.
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  - And
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  - the,
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  - you know, the need to bring people along
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  - from a change management perspective
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  - is just critical.
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  - You know, one of the things that I
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  - say all the time, I I think I
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  - say it at least five times a day,
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  - is that we need our leaders
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  - to be able to see problems.
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  - It's very hard, right, in the in the
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  - middle of
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  - a busy day
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  - to really be able to look across the,
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  - you know, the the the processes,
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  - the workflows,
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  - and understand
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  - where the waste
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  - is,
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  - where we are asking people to do rework
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  - and,
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  - redundant,
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  - processes.
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  - And I
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  - think that that is the the one thing
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  - that if you have leaders that show up
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  - every
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  - day with a keen eye towards
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  - how do we make things better for our
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  - teams
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  - and our patients. Right?
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  - One begets the other.
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  - Then I think that it makes it
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  - so much easier,
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  - to do the work.
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  - And I think that that is a critical
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  - piece when we talk about performance improvement
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  - that is just really essential.
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  - Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Now when you
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  - look ahead to... I know there's plenty of
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  - headwinds in the industry. So what do you
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  - have your eye on most now and preparing
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  - for in the future?
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  - Yeah. You know, there are so many headwinds,
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  - but I think the biggest one is probably
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  - the changing economics
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  - of health care.
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  - You can't open an article or, you know,
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  - read a journal
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  - or even talk to a colleague,
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  - without this topic coming up.
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  - I think that academic health systems
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  - have historically relied on several mechanisms
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  - to help support the additional missions that that
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  - we are,
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  - accountable and responsible for, things like
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  - three forty b,
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  - provider based reimbursement,
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  - and other
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  - payment structures. They are all under significant scrutiny
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  - at this time.
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  - Site neutrality,
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  - is a particularly important issue because it challenges
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  - some of our underlying economics of providing complex
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  - care
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  - in our academic health systems.
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  - And at the same time, our underlying costs
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  - continue to
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  - rise. Labor,
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  - pharmaceuticals,
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  - supplies,
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  - implants,
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  - technology,
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  - capital,
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  - they are all so expensive,
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  - and health
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  - systems cannot simply pass those costs along to
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  - our patients.
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  - So the question we're really asking ourselves
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  - is, how do we redesign our operating model
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  - before those external forces
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  - require us to do it?
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  - That means becoming
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  - much more intentional about productivity,
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  - site of care,
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  - clinical variation,
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  - supply utilization,
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  - and how we deploy our limited capital dollars.
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  - I think
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  - that our organization,
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  - will be its strongest
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  - over the next several years,
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  - if we are willing to make those changes
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  - proactively
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  - rather than waiting for reimbursement
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  - pressures
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  - to force the conversation.
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  - I think that makes a lot of sense.
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  - And that slight mindset shift of being more
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  - proactive,
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  - really can make a big difference in terms
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  - of the results that you're getting and how
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  - you're thinking about, the different problems and getting
• 10:38
  - more upstream.
• 10:39
  - Now where do you see some of the
• 10:41
  - big opportunities for growth as well in the
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  - next couple years?
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  - So for us at University of Iowa, I
• 10:47
  - think the biggest opportunity is leveraging the scale
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  - of the system that we've built.
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  - You know, health health systems have grown tremendously
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  - over the last decade,
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  - but simply getting larger does not automatically create
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  - the value.
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  - You actually have to operationalize
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  - that scale,
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  - And it's no simple task.
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  - We have an opportunity here to become much
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  - more intentional
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  - about where care is delivered,
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  - how patients move across our,
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  - system of care,
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  - and how we standardize the infrastructure
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  - supporting that care.
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  - That includes things like,
• 11:28
  - supply chain management,
• 11:30
  - how pharmacy
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  - is,
• 11:32
  - leveraged,
• 11:33
  - laboratory, imaging, workforce management,
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  - emergency management,
• 11:38
  - accreditation,
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  - other enterprise functions
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  - that historically
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  - have been managed locally.
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  - I think it's important. We don't wanna take
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  - away,
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  - right,
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  - ownership
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  - and empowerment
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  - and accountability, frankly,
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  - from our frontline leaders in those different organizations.
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  - So how do you
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  - continue
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  - to create that environment of accountability
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  - and ownership,
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  - but also
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  - think about things from an enterprise
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  - perspective
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  - and ensure
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  - that we are creating that standardization
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  - and that lack of variation. I think it's
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  - a... It's gonna be, for us, you know,
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  - we're we're new to that journey because, frankly,
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  - we are a relatively
• 12:27
  - new,
• 12:29
  - health care system, if you will,
• 12:31
  - in in
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  - growing from one
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  - kind of mega academic medical center,
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  - which has been serving Iowa for, you know,
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  - over a century,
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  - to that of a conglomeration
• 12:45
  - of of hospitals and clinics.
• 12:48
  - On the clinical side, I think it means
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  - continuing to grow areas where an academic health
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  - system is uniquely positioned
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  - to provide value,
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  - particularly
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  - highly complexed and specialized care.
• 13:03
  - I think there is
• 13:05
  - an access component to this,
• 13:07
  - as well. Growth is not just about adding
• 13:10
  - beds or buildings.
• 13:12
  - It's about improving throughput,
• 13:15
  - reducing that unnecessary variation,
• 13:18
  - expanding our ambulatory capacity as more things move
• 13:22
  - into that ambulatory
• 13:24
  - setting,
• 13:25
  - and making sure that our patients can get
• 13:27
  - the right level of care
• 13:29
  - at the right location
• 13:31
  - at the right time.
• 13:33
  - If we combined the clinical capabilities of an
• 13:37
  - an academic medical center with the operational
• 13:40
  - discipline
• 13:41
  - of a truly integrated health system,
• 13:44
  - I think that creates a very powerful growth
• 13:47
  - platform.
• 13:51
  - Absolutely. You know? And and it's really cool
• 13:53
  - to have that academic,
• 13:55
  - size, scale
• 13:56
  - in mission and then being able to, to
• 13:58
  - your point, have the discipline of the integrated
• 14:00
  - health system that really focuses on the right
• 14:03
  - things and can have everybody
• 14:05
  - understanding
• 14:06
  - how they can uniquely
• 14:09
  - seek out value and show that value moving
• 14:11
  - forward. And, you know, the idea of value
• 14:13
  - in health care seems like it's evolved a
• 14:15
  - bit over the last several years. And knowing
• 14:19
  - how,
• 14:20
  - you... You're creating that type of value within
• 14:22
  - the system, I can imagine,
• 14:24
  - you know, it takes some time culturally, but
• 14:26
  - at the end of the day, it really
• 14:27
  - makes a big difference.
• 14:29
  - Agreed.
• 14:31
  - Fantastic. Well, before we wrap up here, I
• 14:34
  - wanted to ask you about leadership. Who is
• 14:35
  - a leader that you admire really from any
• 14:37
  - industry and why?
• 14:40
  - I love this question.
• 14:41
  - You know, because I started my career in
• 14:43
  - the United States Navy as a nurse corps
• 14:45
  - officer,
• 14:47
  - I've always paid attention to military leaders and
• 14:50
  - the lessons they offer about building teams, creating
• 14:53
  - accountability,
• 14:55
  - and performing under pressure.
• 14:57
  - I'm sure many leaders listening
• 15:00
  - have heard of commander Mike
• 15:03
  - Abbershop,
• 15:04
  - and probably many have read his book,
• 15:07
  - It's Your Ship.
• 15:08
  - His story is well known,
• 15:10
  - but what has always mattered to me is
• 15:13
  - not simply that he took a poorly performing
• 15:15
  - ship and turned it around.
• 15:17
  - It's how he taught...
• 15:19
  - How he thought about his responsibility
• 15:22
  - as a leader.
• 15:24
  - He did not begin by assuming the crew
• 15:26
  - was the problem. He started by asking what
• 15:29
  - he could do differently as their commanding officer.
• 15:33
  - He listened.
• 15:35
  - He learned what was getting in their way,
• 15:38
  - and he set very clear expectations
• 15:40
  - and then gave people both the authority and
• 15:43
  - the accountability
• 15:44
  - to perform.
• 15:46
  - That's really stayed with me throughout my entire
• 15:49
  - career.
• 15:50
  - You know, I feel very blessed that I
• 15:52
  - was able to start,
• 15:54
  - as a as a young health care leader
• 15:57
  - in in the military environment.
• 16:00
  - As leaders, we do not always get to
• 16:02
  - choose our circumstances,
• 16:04
  - the resources we're given or not,
• 16:07
  - or even all of the people that are
• 16:09
  - on our team.
• 16:11
  - You know, in health care, especially, the environment
• 16:13
  - is incredibly complicated and the pressures are significant.
• 16:17
  - But we do have a tremendous amount of
• 16:19
  - influence over the culture that we create,
• 16:22
  - the clarity that we provide, and the stand...
• 16:25
  - Standards that we establish.
• 16:28
  - And I believe deeply in building strong teams
• 16:31
  - and giving people ownership and creating trust.
• 16:34
  - But I also believe high performance
• 16:37
  - requires discipline,
• 16:38
  - accountability,
• 16:40
  - and a relentless focus on getting better.
• 16:44
  - So that's why this story continues to resonate
• 16:47
  - with me.
• 16:48
  - His leadership
• 16:49
  - philosophy reinforces something I have carried from the
• 16:53
  - navy into my
• 16:55
  - entire career across health care, and that is
• 16:58
  - great leaders do not just demand better performance
• 17:01
  - from their teams.
• 17:03
  - They create the conditions that make better performance
• 17:06
  - possible.
• 17:10
  - I love it. The... That's so critical in
• 17:12
  - having that lens on performance, understanding the team,
• 17:15
  - and really taking the time to get close
• 17:18
  - to the teammates,
• 17:19
  - and develop that trust and relationship
• 17:21
  - goes a long way. Jody, thank you so
• 17:23
  - much for joining us on the podcast today.
• 17:25
  - This has been a really fun and fascinating
• 17:27
  - conversation,
• 17:28
  - and I know you'll be speaking at our
• 17:30
  - CEO CFO roundtable in November, so I look
• 17:32
  - forward to seeing you in person there.
• 17:35
  - Thank you so much. This has been wonderful.
• 17:37
  - I appreciate the opportunity to share what we're
• 17:39
  - doing here at UI Health Care.