Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Todd Conklin, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Care New England Health System

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Todd Conklin, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Care New England Health System · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  This is Andrew Cass with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:02
  Podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined today by
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  Todd Conklin, executive vice president and CFO of
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  Care New England Health System. Todd, it's a
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  pleasure to have you on the podcast.
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  Thanks, Andrew. Nice to be here. Thanks for
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  having me.
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  Yeah. Before we begin, can you tell us
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  a little bit about your background?
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  Sure. I'd be happy to. As you indicated,
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  my name is Todd Conklin. I serve as
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  the
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  executive vice president, CFO of Care New England
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  Health System.
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  Care New England Health System is a tax
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  exempt Rhode Island based,
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  academic affiliated health care system.
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  We serve, the state of Rhode Island and
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  portions of both Massachusetts
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  and Connecticut.
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  Probably,
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  hopefully a helpful quick snapshot
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  of Care New England. It's a three hospital
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  system.
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  We have a very prominent women and infants
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  specialty hospital,
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  240
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  beds,
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  including a very prominent 80 bed
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  neonatal,
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  intensive care unit, which is,
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  one of the largest in the Northeast as
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  well as one of the largest in the
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  country. We also have,
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  Kent Hospital,
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  359
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  bed community,
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  hospital offering
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  comprehensive
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  medical surgical services as well
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  as specialty care services.
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  We also are a significant
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  provider of behavioral health services. Butler Hospital, located
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  also in Providence, Rhode Island,
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  is a 143
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  bed,
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  strong provider of behavioral health services. We also,
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  like many other health systems,
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  have an employed physician
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  enterprise, Karen Winklea Medical Group,
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  which approximates 630
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  physicians,
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  clinicians.
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  Many hospitals,
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  probably,
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  measure themselves in terms of annual revenue.
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  We represent about a $1,600,000,000,
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  annual revenue health system.
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  Care New England probably considers itself
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  a provider of foundational health care services. We're
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  a strong provider of primary care,
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  behavioral health services, and specialty services. I joined
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  Care New England
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  in 2023,
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  so I'm in my fourth year serving in
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  my role
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  originally from Chicago.
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  Spent the first twenty years of my career
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  in Chicago before relocating to
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  Denver,
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  where I served lived and served as for
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  a
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  decade. Happy to be here with you today.
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  Thanks for having me. Yeah. It's great to
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  have you.
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  So the first question I wanted to ask
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  you is what are three of the top
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  trends you're following in health care today?
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  That's a great question. There are many,
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  exciting,
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  trends within our industry.
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  I'll,
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  consistent with your question, try to focus on
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  the top three.
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  Artificial intelligence,
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  AI,
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  is certainly one of those trends and, specifically,
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  AI becoming
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  core infrastructure
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  versus just an analytical tool,
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  in our industry. So,
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  an exciting trend of seeing the automate automation
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  of documentation,
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  coding services,
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  administrative
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  tasks,
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  which are certainly
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  important to me from a CFO standpoint,
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  but other exciting
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  clinical developments and uses of AI supporting
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  diagnosis
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  diagnosis
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  and imaging,
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  risk prediction,
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  triaging patients.
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  What we're finding, Andrew,
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  we're seeing the developments is AI serving as
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  a copilot for clinicians,
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  not just an analytical tool.
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  And I think if you follow our industry,
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  the exciting trend of AI really no longer
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  being optional,
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  and it's how health systems operate today, which
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  is an exciting development.
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  Certainly, in my chair as a CFO, cost
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  pressure and and affordability
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  within health care,
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  is something that I follow closely.
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  It is amazing,
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  that The US health care,
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  annual spend is
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  approaching $5,000,000,000,000.
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  And if you look at,
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  many of the sources where they predict,
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  the impact on consumers' insurance premiums for consumers,
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  continue to project to rise significantly,
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  which,
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  I think in many ways is tragic for
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  our country.
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  So,
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  that certainly has my attention.
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  And as you as excited,
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  excited as I am about AI,
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  one,
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  you know, if you look back in history,
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  any technological
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  developments,
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  AI,
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  or technology tends to drive cost
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  upwards initially,
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  before costs are driven down. And I think
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  in our evolution
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  as an industry,
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  any increase in cost,
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  is something that we should pay attention,
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  to. Lastly, probably the trend that I follow,
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  is the consolidation
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  or continued consolidation of health care.
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  This really is different consolidation
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  than what, we're familiar with in the past.
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  Decades ago when
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  consolidation
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  began to occur,
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  many health systems were really trying to build
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  scale.
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  And I think the goal,
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  is more pure and richer than it was
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  to just simply become larger.
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  The goal today,
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  is achieving better interconnectedness,
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  which I think is a positive development.
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  You see health systems today
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  outsourcing and creating partnerships with tech firms.
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  You know, and I think the reality is
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  health systems can't do it all. They can't
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  specialize in all the technology that we need,
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  in our industry, and I think that's moving
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  in a very positive direction.
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  And I think lastly, you know, with the
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  consolidation,
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  health systems are developing quickly,
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  into ecosystems,
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  for
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  providing care, and I think that's a very
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  positive development.
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  And so what would you say you are
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  most excited about right now, either with your
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  health system or in health care,
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  more broadly?
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  Yeah. That's a great question. And,
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  I'm probably happy to say that, some of
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  the things that I'm most excited about
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  are things that are happening in our industry,
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  as well as things that are happening within
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  our health system.
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  There continues to be a growing,
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  level of interest
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  and investment,
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  within our industry.
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  And I think this,
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  anytime,
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  where there continues to be interest in development,
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  it typically will lead to exciting developments and
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  innovation.
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  And I see that both regionally and nationally,
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  as well as within,
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  our care New England health system.
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  You know, as we started or I started
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  to hint at this, AI is beginning to
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  run,
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  parts of health care today, even in our
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  system,
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  as well.
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  AI is detecting diseases earlier, detecting cancer and
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  heart diseases.
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  And I think the one,
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  development,
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  in terms of AI improving
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  day to day workflows in health care,
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  is resulting in more efficient,
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  and more effective care.
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  I should probably give you an example of
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  that. The the use of ambient technology,
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  in day to day interactions
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  with a physician
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  and a patient,
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  is an exciting development. The technology
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  has become
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  incredibly
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  precise,
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  and helpful to providers,
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  whereas,
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  providers
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  used to,
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  be,
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  really required to
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  talk to the patient
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  and have their face and nose in a
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  computer,
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  typing into an electronic health record.
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  The Ambient technology just simply records the conversation,
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  and it allows the physician to look at
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  the patient, to
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  focus on the patient,
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  patient's needs. And I think it results in
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  more effective care, certainly more satisfying
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  both to the,
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  providers as well as the patient. So,
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  it's very exciting.
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  You know, in my system, just as a
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  an example, probably six months ago, we piloted
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  this technology,
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  with overwhelming,
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  success
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  and improved satisfaction and efficiency in care. And
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  when you think about, across our country where,
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  there is a shortage of primary care providers,
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  making sure that,
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  we can,
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  handle the access and the needs of patients
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  in our communities.
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  This is a huge plus,
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  for our industry that allows greater access,
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  for patients.
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  I think the rise of,
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  longevity,
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  in our country, people are living longer, but
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  more importantly,
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  living more, you know, healthier,
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  is a development that is exciting,
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  in our industry. Not too long ago, you
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  know, when you go back to the nineteen
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  hundreds,
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  with the average age of
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  the population being in the 30 years old,
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  range,
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  with it now approaching 80 years old,
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  I think,
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  the rise of longevity and and healthier living
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  is a positive development,
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  within our industry.
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  And I think health care continues to move
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  beyond hospitals.
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  It's becoming more convenient,
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  more continuous, and more accessible,
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  for patients, and that's a positive
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  development.
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  I think all of the above is making
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  health care,
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  more intelligent, hopefully, continuous and personalized, and and
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  those things are very exciting to me.
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  Great. And,
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  how are you thinking about growth over the
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  next twelve months?
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  Yeah. Growth is certainly important,
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  you know, in health care,
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  certainly important for our system because it measures,
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  in many ways meeting the needs of the
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  communities.
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  And I think, typically, there are
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  different lenses that you can utilize,
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  when considering,
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  and I put this category since you asked
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  over the
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  next twelve months into a short,
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  short term growth. I think,
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  improved productivity of physicians through
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  AI ambient tools,
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  working more intelligently
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  versus working harder,
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  and also achieving achieving improved satisfaction
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  per, for patients.
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  I think our industry,
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  as we look at growth,
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  being mindful,
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  that we move away from sick care,
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  to preventative
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  and predictive care,
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  is certainly part of how we look at
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  growth.
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  Home based,
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  care is certainly an area which we,
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  are paying attention to.
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  Interestingly, Andrew,
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  the needs for behavioral health services, not only
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  in our market,
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  but nationally,
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  the demand still outpaces,
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  supply on a national level. So we're
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  being mindful of that. I think digital health,
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  not because of COVID. You know, this originated
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  in a lot of,
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  instances where it advanced as a result of
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  COVID,
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  but now because it's effective, it's efficient, and
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  it's more satisfying for both physicians and patients.
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  We're looking at the digital health as part
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  of short term health. And then,
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  you know, two other areas
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  that are very prominent in our health system,
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  especially living in the Northeast,
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  but aging population and elder care,
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  growth and needs and meeting those needs of
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  the community,
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  communities that we serve. And then lastly, specialty
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  pharmacy services. I think the breakthroughs,
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  in this space,
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  in caring for patients is very,
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  is an area that we focus on for
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  growth. I think bottom line,
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  the areas of growth that we tend to
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  provide interest on are those areas that move
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  us closer to the patient,
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  that make care more efficient and data driven,
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  and and lastly, probably shifting the care from,
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  treatment to prevention. Those are the areas of
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  growth that or at least the lenses that
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  we look through.
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  Well, those are the questions I had for
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  you today, Todd. Thank you for joining us.
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  It's been a pleasure speaking with you, and
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  I can I hope we can talk again
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  soon? Great. Thank you, Andrew. Thank, Andrew. Thanks
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  very much for having me.