Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Marty Bonick, President & CEO of Ardent Health Services

Transcript

Marty Bonick, President & CEO of Ardent Health Services · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  This is the Becker's Healthcare Podcast,
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  created by the team of Becker's Healthcare,
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  Thanks for listening. Now here's the episode.
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  This is the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm Molly Gamble,
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  vice President editorial, and today I'm spending time with Marty Bonk.
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  Marty is president and c e o of Ardent Health Services,
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  a hospital and healthcare network based in Nashville. Marty,
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  welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for being my guest today. How are you?
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  And where do we find you?
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  Thanks, Molly. It's great to be here with you today, and I am in Nashville,
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  Tennessee, where our home office is located. Uh, great to be with you today.
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  Marty, before I continue, we talk some really important trends in the industry.
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  I have to ask, as a Nashville fan myself, your favorite barbecue restaurant. I,
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  I have my own favorite, but I'm always looking to expand the roster,
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  if you will.
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  Yeah, that's a great question. And, um, super competitive these days. Um,
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  I would say it, it's, it's a tossup for me between two, my namesake, um,
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  Martin's Barbecue is a, is a really good shop in town, um, but Ed Lee's, um,
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  is, is also really, really strong. So it's, uh, it's great to have choices, but,
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  uh, those are two are my favorites.
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  Martin's, uh, is one of my favorites. Ed Lee's, uh, is new to me,
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  so thanks for the, the recommendation. Marty. Um,
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  for listeners who may be less familiar with Ardent Health Services,
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  can we start off by learning from you a couple key facts or insights that would
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  help them better appreciate and understand your perspective?
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  Yeah, so, uh, historically, you know, you, you mentioned we are a,
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  a hospital health services company. Um, and,
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  and statistically we have 30 hospitals and 200 sites of care across eight
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  markets in six states. Um, we have about 23,000, uh,
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  team members in our company, including, uh, almost 7,000 nurses and, and 1400,
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  uh, uh,
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  providers that are aligned with us through employment or other contractual
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  arrangements. But, um, really the way I've been looking at our company is,
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  is much more than a hospital company or a healthcare system, but,
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  but really focusing on becoming a consumer-centric health services organization.
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  That that really is putting the person, that the patient, the consumer,
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  the center of everything we do, and realize that,
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  that we've got a number of facilities and services, whether those are physical,
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  uh,
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  bricks and mortar facilities or virtual services technology to interact and stay
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  connected with our patients. And so really in a transformation from, uh, uh,
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  a collection of hospitals and clinics to an ecosystem focused around the
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  consumer and, and all of their needs around healthcare services.
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  Mm-hmm. and Marty, it seems like, I mean,
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  I remember at Becker's even just a few years ago,
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  there were still articles in which people had conflicting viewpoints about
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  whether people who are the customers in healthcare should be referred to as
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  consumers or patients.
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  There were some strong opinions that consumers was not an appropriate term.
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  And as you just described,
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  you're looking to build a consumer-centric healthcare organization.
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  It seems like there is much broader acceptance of seeing patients as such.
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  Well, there, there is, and I, you know, I had the, the fortune or misfortune,
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  however you like to look at it, of, of becoming a patient after a,
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  a bike accident, uh, about a year and a half ago. And for the first time in my,
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  you know, adult life really became a, a patient. And, um, um, you know,
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  I'd say that we've got great caregivers, um, that are trying to do their best,
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  you know,
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  stuck with systems and processes that don't necessarily meet expectations beyond
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  the care, you know, and I'm talking about how do we interface with care from a,
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  um, insurance perspective or billing perspective, a scheduling perspective,
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  you know, all the things that we do in our day-to-day lives.
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  I can control my whole, uh, universe practically from my iPhone. Um,
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  but in healthcare, I mean, it's largely been a brick. I can call somebody,
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  navigate a phone tree, be put on hold, you know, get disconnected. You know,
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  it's, we,
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  we've been kind of our archaic historically in the way we've approached things,
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  and people want convenience in everything that they do.
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  Healthcare is no different. And, uh, to a certain extent,
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  I think we've got reluctant consumers. Nobody really wants to be a patient. Um,
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  you know, something happens and they, they become a patient.
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  But if you go back to a definition, a patient is somebody who is acted upon.
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  And I don't know about you, Molly, but you know, I think most people were,
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  you know, we don't wanna be acted upon.
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  We want to be involved in the care that we receive. Um, you know,
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  we wanna have our opinions be voiced in the, in the care that we received. And,
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  and historically, I think we have had this, we have built it,
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  and you must come to us mentality in healthcare. And, um,
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  the world is changing and,
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  and literally everything else that we consume as consumers. And,
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  and I don't think healthcare's really that different at the end of the day in
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  terms of what people expect. And the more that, um, people realize this,
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  the more, uh,
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  new entrants we see coming into the traditional healthcare space saying it could
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  be different. It should be different. And,
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  and they're trying to make it different. So it's,
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  it's really an imperative upon us to think about our patients as consumers and,
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  and not just as somebody that is sort of subjected to being acted upon by us.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  . Well, Marty, it sounds like from an unfortunate bike accident,
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  you know, you, that's valuable perspective gained,
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  especially for someone who sits in a position like you do.
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  But I think you're right. You know, I think the patient term,
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  meaning that you were acted upon is that cross purposes with the goal of people
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  being active participants in their own health and wellness. Um, let's,
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  let's talk about some of the headwinds you're looking at today.
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  You are c e o of one of the country's largest private health systems.
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  What do you see as the biggest headwinds in the near term and also long
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  term that are really commanding your attention?
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  Yeah, that's a great question, Molly. Um, you know, there,
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  there really is no short of challenges, I think, in, in healthcare today. Um,
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  but, but we're really tr choosing to look at them as, as opportunities. Um,
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  obviously we've got, you know, rising cost, um, you know,
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  and inflation that we're still, um, trying to get under control. Um, you know,
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  particularly in the workforce, uh, in, in labor. But,
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  but also the supply chain is still not, uh, back to where things used to be.
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  And, and, you know, we've taken that as a,
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  as an imperative to really work smarter and think differently about how we
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  approach the work that needs to be done. Um,
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  the workforce challenges I mentioned are, are getting better. Um, but,
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  but they're not back to, to pre pandemic levels. Um, and so, you know,
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  that's caused us to think about how can we use technology,
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  artificial intelligence, uh, machine learning, um, how do we,
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  how do we really embrace technology to get that to work for our caregivers
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  versus our caregivers having to work for the technology, which is,
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  I think of how things have been, um, up to this point.
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  And so we want to ease the, the workforce burdens that our, our people have.
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  If, if we've got a, a workforce shortage of, or talent shortage,
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  how can we make their jobs easier to provide better care, more efficient care,
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  more effective care? Um, so,
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  so that's a challenge that I know the industry's facing. Um,
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  as we talked a little bit about this, this changing consumer preferences, uh,
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  it is, is a headwind and we see disruptors, quote unquote,
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  come into the industry and they're trying to, to pick part pieces of,
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  of what we do as health systems. But, um, but,
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  but I think that's really a wake up call to our industry and a change that
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  really needs to happen. And, um,
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  as you said that the bike accident for me really was a,
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  a wake up call and a blessing in a sense that, uh, uh, one, I'm still here,
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  and two, I've got a, a platform now to do something with that experience and,
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  um,
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  really challenge our organization to change the way in which we interact with
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  our patients as consumers and, and really think from their perspective. Um, I,
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  I think from a payer perspective, we, we've got, uh, this, this gradual but,
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  but, but meaningful shift away from fee for service to value-based care. And,
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  and I think that's a way for us to, um,
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  care for our people across their health journeys and realize that we need to be
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  able to provide care on their terms where they want,
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  not where we want them to be necessarily. Um, but, but where they need to be,
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  uh, to get the right care at the right, uh, convenience, the right cost,
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  location, et cetera. And, um, you know, so that's, that's, uh,
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  certainly a challenge that we're navigating, uh, throughout all this, uh, the,
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  the headwinds that we have. And then, and again,
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  those disruptors that are trying to,
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  to carve out niche offerings or point solutions that we have provided. But,
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  but I think, again, it's,
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  it's a wake up call to us in terms of how we can think differently and,
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  and to ultimately disrupt ourselves, um,
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  versus just reacting to what's happening to us. So those are,
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  those are some of the, the big things that I think about that, uh, you know,
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  we're, we're dealing with across the industry and,
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  and how we're thinking about them at Ardent.
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  Mm-hmm. and Marty, I appreciate how you put,
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  I think on your first mention you put disruptors within quotes,
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  and I think that's,
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  that says something to me because we've been talking about different forces in
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  business, whether it be several years ago, Airbnb, Netflix,
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  how Netflix disrupted Blockbuster. I mean,
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  now that's a really archaic and old example.
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  And now Netflix is having its own challenges, of course,
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  but these disruptors have changed. You've seen some move in, some move out,
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  some that perhaps pose some risk, at least in theory initially,
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  and then that never really played out. So I think it,
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  it's a fit to put that in quotes.
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  'cause there's been a lot of churn to what and who is a disruptor to health
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  systems traditionally. How are you thinking about this? I mean, this is a,
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  a category of of business strategy and awareness that can,
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  you need to be flexible, nimble, but you also need to be really aware.
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  Can you talk about how you balance the days issues at hand
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  and then also kind of this big category of disruptors or disruption
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  that could someday really come to affect ardent health?
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  Yeah, let, let me start with the disruptor part. Well,
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  it's what's fresh in my mind. Uh, I was listening to another podcast, uh,
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  n y u professor, uh, Scott Galloway. He's got a podcast, the Prop G podcast.
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  And, uh, he was just talking about this in the episode I was listening to and,
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  and, and the paraphrasing what he said, but he says, you know,
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  all the attention goes on these disruptors,
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  but it's really much more of a statement about the disrupted and, you know,
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  a reflection on an incumbent in not meeting their customer's needs or wants, uh,
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  you know, in a relevant way today. And, and he, he mentioned also Netflix,
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  not in the blockbuster day, but uh,
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  you know how it kind of disrupted cable tv and you see all these people cutting
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  the cord right now. You know what,
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  we don't want to pay $150 a month for a bunch of channels that we don't really
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  want and be subjected to watching commercial advertising for products we don't
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  want. We just wanna watch the content we want when we wanna watch it. And so,
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  so, you know, Netflix delivered a different, uh,
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  value proposition at a much cheaper cost point, you know,
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  and so you can see how they gain popularity,
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  and now there's much more competition for Netflix than there used to be,
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  which is different challenge. But, you know, for,
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  for us in the healthcare space, it's the same way. You know, we,
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  we have expected people to take time out of their day or out of their workplace
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  to come and sit in a waiting room.
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  And even though we give you a 10 o'clock appointment,
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  we don't call you back until 10 40.
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  We make you fill out all these paper forms and, you know, we're disjointed and,
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  you know, repetitive in what we do. And, um, you know,
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  the world has worked differently. So it,
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  it's no surprise that an Amazon who's obsessed with customer
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  satisfaction sees healthcare as an opportunity, you know, to be disrupted. Um,
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  but, but I look at Amazon and go, okay, you're, you've bought a company, uh,
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  you know, you can't possibly, you know, have the geographic coverage in a,
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  in a short timeframe at least to provide physical interaction with every patient
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  across America. So you have a telehealth offering, which is great, and,
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  and I think telehealth is, um, here to stay for our industry,
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  something we need to embrace. But,
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  but what happens when you need something beyond that telehealth,
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  when you need the x-ray, you need the lab test, you need, uh,
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  something beyond what can be done virtually. Um, Amazon's, and again,
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  struggle with that is my prediction. And, um, you know, they, they, they're,
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  they're a force to be reckoned with for sure. But,
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  but I really look at this as ours to lose, we provide, you know, primary care,
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  same day, walk-in appointments, virtual care for all of our patients. Um, but,
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  but do we think about it in a way in which, um, you know, it running,
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  this is a, a separate business unit, a company just like Amazon.
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  So a little example, my wife got a, an email from Amazon, uh,
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  saying, as a loyal Prime member,
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  we'd like to introduce you to one medical group and come and get, uh, you know,
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  your, your on demand 24 7 virtual care option for
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  $169 a year, or whatever the, the number was. And, uh, you know,
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  I look at our community and we've got several big name organizations in,
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  in Nashville, uh, reputable health systems,
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  and I'm pretty sure they all do the same. Um,
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  but I haven't gotten an email or she hasn't gotten an email from them offering
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  the same value proposition, you know, and that's an opportunity. So as,
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  as we think about it, as ardent, you know,
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  we know what the disruptors are trying to do,
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  and they can really only operate in a narrow sliver.
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  We can provide the full continuum of whatever we need.
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  We just have to think about it differently.
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  And so this can't be something we do off the side of our desks. Um,
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  this can't be something that we're, we're thinking about part-time.
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  We've really gotta think about, you know, what do our consumers want?
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  How do we deliver to that them to that,
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  and give them what they want on their terms. And so to your,
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  to the second part of your question about prioritization, you know,
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  how do we distinguish what's, what's there, what's noise? Um, you know,
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  we always start with the question, you know, how does this support our purpose?
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  And our purpose is, is caring for others, and it's our, it's our patients,
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  it's their loved ones, it's, uh, our communities and it's, it's each other and,
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  you know, what do we need to do?
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  And so that helps us to put a lens on what we're trying to do.
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  Is this gonna help us deliver better care, achieve safer outcomes? Um,
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  is this gonna relieve burdens to our caregivers? Um, and the,
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  the daily challenges that they face, um,
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  is it gonna help us better deliver care outside the four walls of our hospitals
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  and clinics to, to, to develop a, you know, better,
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  more consumer friendly experience?
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  And so those are some of the true Norths that we look at when we're making
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  decisions and, and how we're thinking about things. And, um, you know,
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  we've really got a, a plan that we're calling essentially Den 360,
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  that that puts the, the person, the patient, the, the consumer at the center,
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  and realize that our, our facilities, our assets,
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  our technology are all there to support that consumer's interaction and,
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  and their healthcare, personal healthcare need versus, uh, you know,
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  just statistics of, of patients and heads and beds or clinic visits or,
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  you know, throughput metrics or what have you. So that's,
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  that's how we're thinking about thinking like a disruptor against ourselves and,
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  and, uh,
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  keeping our true north of our purpose at the center of everything that we're
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  doing. Mm-hmm.
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  , a couple reactions there, Marty. I, I love Scott Galloway.
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  I'm so excited to hear someone else mention him. Prof g um,
• 15:03
  if listeners are familiar, a a brilliant business mind, um,
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  for things across numerous industries. So it's,
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  it's great to hear a plug for him,
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  but also to your example about your wife getting that email from Amazon about
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  one medical, you know, this was the first year Amazon, I mean,
• 15:20
  with the one medical acquisition now complete, um,
• 15:24
  was able to plug healthcare services through one medical on its prime day,
• 15:29
  which is just interesting to think about healthcare being included in something,
• 15:33
  um, that, that consumer friendly, that targeted, uh, like you said,
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  not typically communicated as such from the traditional brick and mortar health
• 15:41
  systems.
• 15:42
  Yeah, yeah. And I, I, again, I I think that's exactly right. And it's,
• 15:46
  it healthcare's mainstream. You look at politics, I mean,
• 15:49
  this is gonna be another central point in the next presidential election as it
• 15:53
  has been. Um, you know,
• 15:54
  healthcare is not seen as affordable or accessible as it needs to be. And,
• 15:59
  you know, that's, that's, uh, an indictment on us. You know, I mean, there's,
• 16:02
  there's lots of moving parts there. Um, you know, the insurance system is,
• 16:05
  you know,
• 16:06
  challenge that we have and the entitlement mentality and all these things. But,
• 16:09
  but it's, it's really an opportunity for us to step up. And as I say, it's,
• 16:13
  it's ours to lose. We, we've had the patient relationships,
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  and I believe as a health system, we should be the trust broker. Um, I,
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  you know, as, as I think about my personal healthcare journey,
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  I don't think about, uh, my insurance telling me where I,
• 16:27
  I should receive care or an Amazon or a technology company.
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  I trust my physician, but,
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  but if we don't give them the tools and the technology and the resources to
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  provide an Amazon-like experience,
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  it's not gonna be a surprise if people go and, and,
• 16:42
  and shop and test the waters and see what else is available.
• 16:45
  So I agree with you completely. Mm-hmm.
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  You had mentioned in your introductory remarks that ar I is aligned with 1400
• 16:52
  providers, whether that's through affiliation, employment,
• 16:55
  I wanted to carve out a moment with you to talk about physicians. Right Now. I,
• 16:58
  I, in talking with other health systems CEOs,
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  I really appreciate the thought they raised to me, which is that, you know, yes,
• 17:05
  let's talk about shortages, let's talk about deficits, but at the same time,
• 17:08
  let's make sure we are really appreciating the physicians who are with us and
• 17:13
  making sure that we are doing things and accommodating them in a way that
• 17:16
  empowers them. So I'm curious what that looks like at Ardent. You know,
• 17:21
  you mentioned you trust your physician.
• 17:23
  How are you really putting physicians in place to be
• 17:28
  partners and the primary point of contact for consumers?
• 17:33
  Yeah, so, so let's start with the statistics, uh, for a second. We, we,
• 17:37
  our physicians, uh, and, and, uh,
• 17:40
  allied providers see about 3 million patient visits a year, uh,
• 17:45
  which is probably more than 20 x. The number of inpatient admissions we have,
• 17:48
  we have as a, as a comparator. So, so we've got a lot of touch points with our,
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  uh, with our communities, with the people that lives in our communities,
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  many of which don't ever need to step in inside the,
• 17:59
  the four walls of a hospital in a, in a given year. Um, but, but, um,
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  but have a lot of healthcare needs nonetheless. And so, so historically,
• 18:07
  I think where health systems have, have, have maybe lost, uh,
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  lost their focus is we've,
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  we've thought of physicians as a mean to putting people in bed to, to,
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  to putting people in the OR and, and, uh, you know, creating these, uh,
• 18:20
  opportunities for facility-based, uh, statistics. But, but really, uh,
• 18:25
  it's that patient relationship that's so important. And, you know,
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  do we have the ecosystem to provide the health services that patients need in
• 18:32
  their everyday lives beyond the four walls of the hospital? So for us, you know,
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  we really see the physicians as the is is the front door to our community, um,
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  to create those trusted relationships. And, um, you know,
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  some of those patients will,
• 18:46
  will end up in the hospital and need those services, but, but many will not.
• 18:49
  And so, um, we're, we're thinking about, um, you know,
• 18:53
  our physician platform as the, is the catalyst for our value-based care, um,
• 18:57
  for providing the right level of services in the right place and the right
• 19:01
  location and the right fee structure. Um, and, and really, you know,
• 19:05
  that being the, the driver for our, our company going forward. And if you,
• 19:09
  if you go back to the disruptor comment, um, what, what does c v s,
• 19:14
  Walgreens, Optum, uh, Amazon all have in common recently? You know,
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  they've, they've purchased large platform position groups or are expanding their
• 19:22
  physician private presence. Why, to get closer to that, that personal patient,
• 19:27
  you know, consumer relationship, uh, where,
• 19:30
  where I think we have the opportunity as health systems is to embrace that same
• 19:33
  mentality and, and physicians aren't there just to put people in the hospital,
• 19:37
  they're there to lead the relationship. And if we do that, we have that,
• 19:40
  that ecosystem around to provide care when they need more than what can happen
• 19:44
  in that office. And,
• 19:45
  and where I think ultimately we have the upside still on an Amazon or, uh,
• 19:49
  an Optum or c v s, et cetera. So,
• 19:52
  so that's how we're thinking about the physicians and how we,
• 19:54
  how we work with them.
• 19:55
  And so how do we give them the tools that they need to be successful? Um,
• 19:59
  how do we help grow that pipeline that you alluded to? Um, you know, we,
• 20:03
  we've invested even in technology,
• 20:04
  we've got a company called Winnow that we created to help us to recruit
• 20:08
  physicians into our network. And, uh, the way I look at winnow is it's, uh, we,
• 20:12
  we kind of created the LinkedIn for physicians without them knowing they joined,
• 20:16
  you know, so we know every physician across the country where they trained, uh,
• 20:21
  where they live, where their spouses, uh, or partners, uh, um,
• 20:25
  reside where their families grew up.
• 20:27
  And so we can try to triangulate and find warm candidates that would be, um,
• 20:31
  you know, good candidates to, to go and try to recruit, um,
• 20:34
  bring people into our markets that we, we operate. And so, you know, we're,
• 20:38
  we're just trying to think about, you know, again,
• 20:40
  how do we put the physicians and,
• 20:42
  and our patients as consumers at the center of what we're doing to be able to,
• 20:45
  to drive that, those interactions and trust, trust relationships. Mm-hmm.
• 20:49
  .
• 20:50
  And, and just to kind of loop back on the disruption piece, you know,
• 20:53
  when you talk about C V S Health, Amazon,
• 20:56
  these big companies buying these phys physician groups and platforms,
• 21:01
  you know, do you see any, I I guess my question is this,
• 21:04
  it's that like primary care physicians especially are in such a powerful,
• 21:08
  they hold such a powerful seat, but they typically,
• 21:11
  it's not a lucrative specialty compared to some others.
• 21:13
  There was just an article in Harvard Business Review,
• 21:15
  I believe a couple weeks ago about how PCPs more than some other specialties,
• 21:20
  need a lot of encouragement to take on leadership roles.
• 21:23
  They're often reluctant to do so,
• 21:25
  but when you see these big companies looking to add more physicians to their
• 21:29
  ranks, Marty, do you think that kind of
• 21:34
  renews the importance or power that these healthcare players
• 21:39
  hold, um,
• 21:39
  and what can often seem like a very system to system landscape
• 21:45
  of healthcare?
• 21:45
  Do you think it renews any empowerment or interest in the individual physician
• 21:50
  and the influence they can yield and kind of, and where patients are going,
• 21:55
  how care is delivered?
• 21:56
  I'm just curious at a high level what your thoughts are on that. Yeah.
• 22:00
  I, I completely agree and I, uh, I missed that particular, uh, H B R article,
• 22:04
  but, um, but it, but it makes complete sense. And, you know, if you step back,
• 22:09
  I think you,
• 22:10
  you can understand maybe how the primary care role got diminished, um,
• 22:14
  in a sense when you, when you put that hospital lens on top of it, you know,
• 22:18
  primary care, um, largely exists outside the four walls of the hospital.
• 22:23
  And as, as the rise of hospitalists came about, you saw, you know,
• 22:27
  a lot of primary care physicians even giving up some of their hospital
• 22:30
  privileges because they weren't following and rounding on their own patients
• 22:34
  anymore. You know?
• 22:35
  And so there's been an evolution over the last couple decades, um,
• 22:38
  that has taken primary care further and further away from the hospital, which,
• 22:41
  you know, if you're a hospital, if you're, if you're a hospital c e o,
• 22:45
  and just looking at that lens, you're,
• 22:47
  you're completely dependent upon that referral strain,
• 22:49
  but yet they don't practice in your hospital,
• 22:51
  and you don't see them every day in the doctor's lounge or cafeteria. And,
• 22:54
  and so it, it's easy to see perhaps how, how things have evolved.
• 22:59
  But I think it's also indicative if as you look at an Optum or you look at a,
• 23:04
  you know, an Oak Street or one medical group,
• 23:06
  how the rise of primary care has come back and, you know,
• 23:09
  I think primary care is central to a successful value-based population health
• 23:14
  strategy, and they're going to be the,
• 23:16
  the quarterbacks and at the center of that, and the rest of us are,
• 23:19
  are going to be, um, um, living off of, of that. So, um, I,
• 23:23
  I completely agree that there's an opportunity here that,
• 23:26
  that needs to be taken advantage of. And, um, you know,
• 23:29
  and we need primary care to reengage in this holist holistic healthcare,
• 23:35
  uh, mindset about how do we care for a community, a population, and, um, they,
• 23:40
  they have to be tip of the spear because they're the ones having those
• 23:42
  conversations and making the decisions of where patients are ultimately,
• 23:45
  ultimately gonna be. Mm-hmm.
• 23:47
  , as we down wind down here this year,
• 23:51
  RNA introduced the role of C M I O to its executive ranks.
• 23:55
  Can you tell us more about that, Marty,
• 23:56
  and what the impetus was for that addition?
• 24:00
  Yeah. So, uh, Dr. Brad Hoyt, uh,
• 24:02
  stepped into our chief medical Information Officer role and, uh,
• 24:05
  great addition to the team. He,
• 24:07
  he's been a practicing physician with us in our Tulsa market, um, for,
• 24:11
  for a number of years, but, uh,
• 24:13
  has always had a bend for technology and, and what do the physicians need?
• 24:18
  And so this was a role that we brought on, uh,
• 24:20
  as part of our growing focus around, uh, again,
• 24:24
  embracing technology to improve what we do,
• 24:26
  how we do it to make our hospitals smarter, to interface with our patients, uh,
• 24:31
  more effectively. Uh, you know,
• 24:33
  everything that we do has a technology component. And so, so Brad's role is,
• 24:37
  is central to understanding what do our providers need to be successful, um,
• 24:42
  and,
• 24:42
  and embrace everything we've been talking about from being the trust broker with
• 24:46
  our patients to managing their, their care, um, as a population, uh,
• 24:50
  working with our payers. Uh, so it's, it's really central to that. But,
• 24:54
  but Brett also plays a role in, um,
• 24:56
  our innovation and transformation committee that is focusing on, you know,
• 25:00
  what other technologies do we need to bring into our organization and do we
• 25:04
  build those? Uh, we, we recently announced, uh,
• 25:07
  a launch of a venture studio with a company called Switch Point, uh,
• 25:10
  here in Nashville. And, uh, you know,
• 25:13
  there's gonna be solutions that we need that don't really exist out in the
• 25:15
  market. We're gonna go build our own. And kind of like winow, uh,
• 25:19
  or Polaris is another example, uh, around, uh,
• 25:21
  demand prediction and staffing and scheduling, uh, that we created. And, uh,
• 25:26
  what are the things that we need to go buy or partner with other, uh,
• 25:29
  organizations. And so we need to have that, um,
• 25:32
  that physician clinician mindset, uh, as a part of,
• 25:35
  of making sure we're making good investments in technology that really are gonna
• 25:39
  solve our problems and advance our organization. Mm-hmm.
• 25:42
  , I wanna wish Brad continued luck and success in his new role.
• 25:47
  And Marty, I wanna thank you for being my guest for this dynamic conversation.
• 25:51
  You touched on a number of really important issues right now and interesting
• 25:55
  issues, uh,
• 25:56
  that are in play right now for big health systems and smaller organizations too.
• 26:00
  So, wanna thank you for being my guest, Marty Bick,
• 26:03
  president and c e o of Ardent Health Services. Wish you a great and,
• 26:07
  and continued success in the year ahead. Marty, thanks for joining us.
• 26:11
  Thank you so much, Molly. It was great to be with you today.
• 26:14
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• 26:17
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• 26:21
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• 26:22
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• 26:30
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• 26:34
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• 26:39
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