Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Austin Reeder on Growth, Capacity and Leading Through Healthcare’s Rapid Change

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Austin Reeder on Growth, Capacity and Leading Through Healthcare’s Rapid Change · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - There's a small circle of people who truly
• 0:04
  - understand what it takes to lead a health
• 0:05
  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
• 0:08
  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
• 0:11
  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
• 0:14
  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
• 0:17
  - And it's why the most effective c suite
• 0:19
  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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  - pressure test their thinking.
• 0:22
  - 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.
• 0:39
  - 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.
• 0:51
  - This is Laura Dierdahl with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  - Austin Reeder, president of Froedtert Hospital. Austin, it's
• 0:58
  - a pleasure to have you on the podcast
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  - today. Yeah. Thank you so much. It's a
• 1:01
  - pleasure to join you here on this Monday
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  - morning.
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  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation. I
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  - know, there's a lot going on right now
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  - in health care and certainly some really cool
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  - things you're doing at Froedtert. But before we
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  - dive in, can you tell me a little
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  - bit more about yourself and your background?
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  - Yeah. Sure. So I'm the president of Froedtert
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  - Hospital.
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  - I am from Birmingham,
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  - Alabama originally. I spent fifteen years
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  - in New Orleans, kinda grew up through the
• 1:27
  - various health care systems there in New Orleans,
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  - Louisiana,
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  - and most recently
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  - was with Ochsner Health and,
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  - moved up here to Milwaukee about twenty months
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  - ago and, joined Froedtert ThetaCare
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  - and, and serve as the president of of
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  - Froedtert Hospital, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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  - Well, that's amazing to hear. And, you know,
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  - I'm curious, could you just give us a
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  - quick state of the union? What's gone well
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  - this year so far, and what are you
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  - focused on for the rest of 2026?
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  - Sure thing. We are actually kinda just kicking
• 1:59
  - off our fiscal year. And so over halfway
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  - through the calendar year, but we're on a
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  - July fiscal year. And so we wrapped up
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  - f y '26
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  - a few,
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  - couple months ago and and now pivoting into
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  - kinda FY '27. And, you know, this this
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  - was my first
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  - full year, full fiscal year, being at at
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  - Froedtert ThetaCare. And I have to say, we
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  - just we have amazing people,
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  - that do amazing things every day here at
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  - Froedtert Hospital solving the most complex of problems
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  - for our patients. And so one of the
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  - things that I'm, you know, is most important
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  - for me is just caring for our people
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  - who care for our patients. And
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  - I am very proud to say that, you
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  - know, over the last year, we reduced our
• 2:42
  - our staff turnover by 2%,
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  - which is really important,
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  - being able to,
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  - maintain a cohesive teams, which is then gonna
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  - have kinda downstream impacts on all things quality,
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  - safety,
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  - patient experience, and our kind of our financial
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  - outcomes.
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  - We saw 22
• 3:01
  - reduction in hospital acquired infections.
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  - Volumes increased really across the board, whether it
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  - be outpatient visits, surgeries, external transfers. And so
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  - that was a it was a really great
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  - year.
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  - And as we pivot into this new fiscal
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  - year and kind of the back half of
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  - the calendar year,
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  - we are really positioning Froottert Hospital for continued
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  - growth.
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  - The growth over the last couple years has
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  - really been due to just creating efficiency
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  - efficiency in place,
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  - which is allowing us to care for more
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  - patients, but we're really, you know, hitting kind
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  - of a brick wall in in certain areas
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  - from a physical capacity standpoint.
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  - And this year will position us to be
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  - able to kind of unlock
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  - kind of the future at Froedtert Hospital. We
• 3:45
  - have a new hospital tower
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  - that will come online in the next, twelve
• 3:50
  - to fifteen months, which will allow for an
• 3:52
  - additional 96 beds.
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  - Our ER is expanding,
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  - with additional trauma bays and ER rooms.
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  - We hit record births last year,
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  - and so our birthing center is expanding as
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  - well. And we're also going live with an
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  - OBED,
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  - which is a, a a concept
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  - that will allow us to be able to,
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  - decant our adult ER,
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  - which, as, you know, mentioned is busting at
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  - the seams, but also provide
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  - additional level of specialized care for expecting mothers,
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  - allowing us to,
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  - improve,
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  - maternal fetal outcomes across, across Milwaukee. So really
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  - this next fiscal year is preparing operationally
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  - to be able to, kind of unlock,
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  - this, additional capacity here at the hospital.
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  - It makes a lot of sense. You know,
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  - it's exciting to be able to expand it
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  - and see that new capacity and and, expand
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  - service lines as well that are so important
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  - to the broader community. I think especially when
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  - you're looking at,
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  - the OB care and and,
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  - maternal care too. I think that's something that
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  - in many communities,
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  - is either just a very challenging thing to
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  - have or is disappearing in some ways. And
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  - so when you look at building out a
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  - program like that, what does it take and
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  - and how are you making sure that you're,
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  - bringing those services into the,
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  - families in the community that need it?
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  - No. I think that's a it's a great
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  - question, and it's being clear
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  - on kind of our purpose,
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  - purpose kind of here at the hospital,
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  - our connectivity into the community and aligning on
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  - where where we have kind of collective
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  - opportunity within the health care system and then
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  - with our partners,
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  - across the community.
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  - And and I'll say, you know, Milwaukee, you
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  - know, has done a a great job,
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  - really aligning
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  - across the continuum
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  - between health care systems
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  - with other partners in the community
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  - and has really, put a stake in the
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  - ground that we are going to improve maternal
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  - fetal outcomes
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  - across, across Milwaukee.
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  - And, at Froedter ThetaCare, Froedter and the Medical
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  - College at Wisconsin, our OBED is is one
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  - important way that we're going to
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  - attempt to do that. And so
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  - we have alignment with our partners at the
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  - Medical College of Wisconsin to be able to
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  - bring in
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  - OB hospitalists that will staff twenty four seven
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  - this OBED
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  - to allow for that specialized care, not only
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  - for our existing,
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  - patients,
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  - kind of in our kind of our or
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  - our OB
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  - sphere of influence, but any patient across,
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  - Milwaukee,
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  - in the region that needs
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  - emergency care while pregnant.
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  - Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
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  - And, you know, it's just fascinating to hear
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  - about, and I appreciate
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  - the work you're doing there. Now I know
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  - there's a lot of challenges upcoming as well.
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  - What are some of the biggest headwinds that
• 6:51
  - you're keeping an eye on and preparing for?
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  - You know, it's it's it's it's interesting. We
• 6:56
  - we recently had a board retreat for Froedtert
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  - Hospital over the last couple months, and one
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  - of the themes to kinda kick off the
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  - retreat was
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  - around the speed of change
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  - in health care.
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  - And as I reflect, it's prob that concept
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  - has probably been a theme
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  - for many border treats over the last twenty
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  - plus years. I think one thing that is
• 7:18
  - a little bit different
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  - is that it's not just the speed of
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  - change, but it's the amount of change and
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  - the simultaneous
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  - changes
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  - all at once,
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  - whether it be workforce challenges, cost pressures, revenue
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  - pressures. We have an aging population
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  - which presents
• 7:35
  - unique challenges.
• 7:37
  - How do we use AI?
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  - There's many disruptors, new disruptors coming every day,
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  - that present challenges and and pushing us as
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  - a health care system to need to be
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  - easier and faster
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  - for our patients,
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  - and then really just kind of balancing growth.
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  - As I mentioned earlier, we've got lots of
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  - opportunity
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  - to grow, but being able to do it
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  - in a way that's cost effective,
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  - in the short term and and long term.
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  - And so I think the biggest challenge in
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  - front of us is how do you balance
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  - all of the simultaneous
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  - shifts? Because a solution to one problem
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  - can present other challenges,
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  - and create new challenges for for us as
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  - an industry.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. And I
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  - think when you look at the pace of
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  - change, of course, so much is going into
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  - that whether it's the technology or policies or
• 8:28
  - just the way the patients want to interact
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  - with their, health care journey. So when you're
• 8:33
  - thinking about making sure you've got the team
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  - ready to continue to grow, stay nimble, and,
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  - face these changes
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  - and adapt, what are are some of the
• 8:43
  - things that you're trying to do culturally or
• 8:45
  - or ways that,
• 8:47
  - leaders are are making sure their teams are
• 8:49
  - ready for for whatever comes down the pipe
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  - in the next couple of years?
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  - I think it's important to be clear on
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  - purpose
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  - and who you are and and who you're
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  - not,
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  - which will kinda push you to
• 9:05
  - have clarity around your strategy,
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  - to to ask tough questions and make tough
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  - decisions
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  - and to be able to,
• 9:13
  - decide what you're what you're going to do
• 9:14
  - and what you're not going to do, which
• 9:16
  - I think is is is really important for
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  - us as leaders in in health care. We
• 9:21
  - we can't do this alone. We also can't
• 9:23
  - be everything for everybody. And so I think
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  - that that
• 9:26
  - that rigor and intentionality
• 9:28
  - around,
• 9:29
  - around strategy, but also of operational strategy and
• 9:32
  - how we execute is really important.
• 9:34
  - And then I'll just kinda
• 9:36
  - close with, you know, his his people. And
• 9:38
  - so we we we have to be able
• 9:40
  - to get the people piece right. There's a
• 9:43
  - great book, Good to Great. I'm sure many
• 9:45
  - people have read Good to Great, you know,
• 9:46
  - and then one of the great lines in
• 9:48
  - there is,
• 9:49
  - first who, then what.
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  - And so being able to get the right
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  - team in place for us to be able
• 9:54
  - to navigate all of these major challenges,
• 9:57
  - which are gonna continue to be there and
• 9:59
  - continue to,
• 10:00
  - kind of pivot,
• 10:02
  - over time is is really important.
• 10:05
  - I love it. And absolutely, good to grade
• 10:07
  - is such an important concept and something that
• 10:10
  - really can help leaders as they're trying to
• 10:12
  - figure out what's going to make a big
• 10:14
  - difference in the next couple years or so.
• 10:17
  - Now, on the flip side, where do you
• 10:18
  - see the biggest opportunities for additional growth in
• 10:20
  - the next two to three years?
• 10:23
  - Yeah. We we need to continue to
• 10:25
  - grow our ambulatory presence.
• 10:28
  - I'm sure most organizations are are looking for
• 10:31
  - opportunities to grow
• 10:32
  - in the ambulatory space, whether it be our
• 10:34
  - primary care footprint,
• 10:36
  - specialty care, access,
• 10:39
  - but doing it in a way that's patient
• 10:41
  - centric,
• 10:42
  - and closer to our patients. And so whether
• 10:44
  - that be virtual options,
• 10:47
  - whether it be options that are closer to
• 10:50
  - home in the neighborhoods,
• 10:52
  - it's it's important that we continue to be
• 10:55
  - closer to our patients
• 10:56
  - to be easy and to be easier to
• 10:58
  - use.
• 10:59
  - And so, but also having that connectivity
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  - to a place like Froedtert Hospital,
• 11:06
  - if if and when
• 11:08
  - you need our our services. And we we
• 11:10
  - hope you don't have to. We hope that
• 11:11
  - we are continuing to grow as a as
• 11:14
  - a, you know, population health, organization and keeping
• 11:17
  - patients healthy and and happy and out of
• 11:19
  - the hospital.
• 11:20
  - But that's a beauty of being a part
• 11:21
  - of a of a true health system.
• 11:23
  - That should be able to provide access closer
• 11:25
  - to our patients, but also have that tertiary,
• 11:28
  - quaternary care available
• 11:29
  - if and when you need it.
• 11:31
  - Specifically for me at at Froedtert Hospital, which
• 11:34
  - is kind of this my sphere of influence
• 11:37
  - is
• 11:38
  - being able to grow kind of our tertiary
• 11:40
  - quaternary care here at Froedtert Hospital. As I
• 11:43
  - mentioned in kind of the previous,
• 11:46
  - question, we're adding 96
• 11:48
  - additional beds
• 11:49
  - as we as a collective health care system
• 11:52
  - or systems
• 11:54
  - do better and get better at keeping people
• 11:56
  - healthy
• 11:57
  - and care moving closer to home and in
• 11:59
  - the home, there's gonna be fierce competition for,
• 12:02
  - tertiary, quaternary
• 12:04
  - volume. And so for us, you know, it
• 12:07
  - it's an opportunity,
• 12:08
  - to leverage our strength with our partnership with
• 12:11
  - the Medical College of Wisconsin using, you know,
• 12:14
  - academics as a differentiator for us, access to
• 12:16
  - clinical trials,
• 12:18
  - and being able to set ourselves apart,
• 12:22
  - with
• 12:23
  - programmatic differentiators
• 12:24
  - and and,
• 12:26
  - programs of distinction. And so that's a lot
• 12:28
  - of my focus going into this year is
• 12:31
  - ensuring that we are elevating those specific,
• 12:35
  - programs
• 12:36
  - that can allow us to continue to grow,
• 12:39
  - tertiary, quaternary volume.
• 12:41
  - That's helpful to understand. And I I think
• 12:43
  - especially when you're looking at adding capacity,
• 12:45
  - growing that volume in, really facing
• 12:48
  - additional care needs within the community,
• 12:51
  - it makes a lot of sense to have
• 12:53
  - that inventory presence grow and then look at,
• 12:56
  - you know, where else you need to
• 12:58
  - to expand the capacity for,
• 13:01
  - additional service lines across the board. So I
• 13:04
  - appreciate that. And then it seems like the
• 13:05
  - programs, and and making sure you're a differentiator
• 13:08
  - as well will be very important, heading into
• 13:10
  - the future. 100%.
• 13:13
  - Absolutely. Well, before we wrap up here, I
• 13:15
  - wanted to ask you about leadership as well.
• 13:17
  - Who is a leader you admire really from
• 13:19
  - any industry and why?
• 13:21
  - I appreciate that question. I I I I'll
• 13:23
  - give you actually, I'll give you two. I'll
• 13:24
  - give you one in the industry and and
• 13:26
  - one outside of the industry. Outside of the
• 13:27
  - industry,
• 13:28
  - Outside of the industry, during my time at
• 13:30
  - Ochsner, I we would bring in or the
• 13:32
  - organization would bring in, you know, various speakers.
• 13:35
  - And one of the most influential ones for
• 13:37
  - me that I've continued to follow is Ranjay
• 13:40
  - Gulati. He's a professor at Harvard Business School.
• 13:43
  - Really enjoy his
• 13:45
  - thoughts on leadership, and specifically one is his
• 13:49
  - book titled Deep Purpose.
• 13:51
  - It's a wonderful book, and I've really have
• 13:53
  - really kinda latched on to that topic about
• 13:56
  - what does it mean to be a purpose
• 13:57
  - driven organization.
• 13:58
  - And, you know, some of the themes are,
• 14:00
  - you know, really not kinda stopping at superficial
• 14:03
  - purpose, but digging deeper into what kinda what
• 14:06
  - your what your true purpose is as an
• 14:09
  - organization, which, as I mentioned earlier, it really
• 14:11
  - forces you to ask those tough questions,
• 14:14
  - and it gives clarity to your strategy. And
• 14:16
  - so I've taken that with me and continue
• 14:19
  - to kinda follow his work. And then inside
• 14:21
  - the industry, I'll say Warner Thomas, who's the
• 14:23
  - current president and CEO of Sutter Health. He
• 14:25
  - was the CEO at Ochsner,
• 14:27
  - for a long time.
• 14:29
  - He really set an example for me early
• 14:31
  - in my career
• 14:33
  - that people matter
• 14:35
  - and leadership matters.
• 14:37
  - And and and he was great at being
• 14:39
  - able to create a
• 14:42
  - intentional structure,
• 14:44
  - that allows for kind of that that people
• 14:46
  - development,
• 14:47
  - leadership development. He spent weeks out of his
• 14:50
  - out of his year
• 14:52
  - dedicating time to kind of our leadership calibration
• 14:55
  - process and our team talent review, which, you
• 14:58
  - know, allowed for us to be able to
• 14:59
  - continue to grow our people. And and he
• 15:02
  - also set the tone from the top that,
• 15:04
  - you know, we're going to care for those
• 15:06
  - that care for our patients and prioritizing our
• 15:08
  - people, whether it be giving out free gas
• 15:11
  - after a major hurricane or or supporting our
• 15:15
  - teams during COVID. So I'll say Warner Thomas,
• 15:18
  - from a a people perspective and and Ranjay
• 15:20
  - Gulati,
• 15:22
  - from a thought leadership around kind of deep
• 15:24
  - purpose.
• 15:26
  - Both outstanding leaders and and and thought leaders
• 15:29
  - as well. We love Warner Thomas, of course,
• 15:31
  - at Becker's and it's always so inspiring to
• 15:33
  - hear him talk about what he's doing and
• 15:35
  - how he's thinking about the future and and
• 15:37
  - to your point, structuring the leaders of the
• 15:40
  - future. So that's really cool to hear. And
• 15:42
  - I have to, check out Ron Jagalati as
• 15:45
  - well. It sounds like he has some great
• 15:47
  - concepts and will be an interesting person to
• 15:49
  - keep following. Sure thing.
• 15:51
  - Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us
• 15:53
  - on the podcast today. This has been such
• 15:54
  - a fun conversation, and I'm looking forward to
• 15:56
  - seeing you as well in person at our
• 15:58
  - CEO CFO roundtable coming up here in November.
• 16:00
  - I know you'll be speaking on a panel
• 16:02
  - and digging into more of these themes that
• 16:04
  - we talked about today. So looking forward to
• 16:06
  - seeing you there.
• 16:07
  - Sounds great. Thank you so much for the
• 16:09
  - opportunity, and we'll see you at the conference
• 16:11
  - soon.