Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Capacity Strategy and Operational Resilience at U Health with Gina R. Hawley, DrPH, MHA

Transcript

Capacity Strategy and Operational Resilience at U Health with Gina R. Hawley, DrPH, MHA · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:01
  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings health care
• 0:04
  leaders together to unpack the most pressing issues
• 0:06
  facing the industry.
• 0:08
  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
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  and unexpected ways. This April, more than 3,500
• 0:15
  health care executives will return to Chicago for
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  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting.
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  795
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  elite speakers will offer new lessons, new case
• 0:23
  studies, and predictions about what comes next. Join
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  us April 13 through the sixteenth.
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  For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:33
  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right.
• 0:37
  This is Laura Dierdo with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:40
  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 0:42
  doctor Gina Holly, system associate chief operating officer
• 0:45
  at University of Utah Health and chief operating
• 0:47
  officer at the University of Utah Hospitals and
• 0:49
  Clinics. Doctor Holly, it's a pleasure to have
• 0:51
  you on the podcast today. Thank you, Laura,
• 0:53
  for having me. I really appreciate it.
• 0:55
  Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation because
• 0:58
  I know health care is such a fascinating
• 1:00
  field, always changing and a lot of innovation
• 1:02
  right now, but also many challenges ahead too.
• 1:05
  So,
• 1:05
  looking forward to learning a little bit more
• 1:07
  about the things you're doing at University of
• 1:09
  Utah Health as well as how you're thinking
• 1:11
  about the future. But before we begin, can
• 1:13
  you tell me a little bit more about
• 1:14
  yourself and your background?
• 1:15
  Yeah. Sure. Thank you.
• 1:17
  Yeah. I've been at University of Utah Health
• 1:20
  for about three years.
• 1:22
  Prior to that, I was the vice president
• 1:25
  professional support services.
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  And, prior to that, I was, senior director
• 1:29
  of neuroscience and spine at Oregon Health and
• 1:31
  Science University. I spent about eight years there.
• 1:33
  And then prior to that, I was at
• 1:35
  Johns Hopkins Medicine for nine years,
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  again, in neuroscience service lines for most of
• 1:39
  my time there.
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  Been in hospital operations and strategy for,
• 1:45
  over twenty years.
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  Started my career as a nursing assistant,
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  which is, to this day, one of the
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  best jobs I've ever had. Got to do
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  baby baths and work labor delivery at high
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  risk OB.
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  I was premed when I start that I
• 1:58
  started a long time ago. That's what I
• 2:00
  thought I was going to do.
• 2:01
  And,
• 2:02
  discovered I wasn't really good at the sciences,
• 2:04
  but
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  around patients and just a little bit more
• 2:08
  of the business and administrative aspects really, called
• 2:11
  to me. So I feel I have the
• 2:12
  best of both worlds that today in my
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  role,
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  I am, still supporting those that are on
• 2:17
  the front lines and so forth.
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  Originally from Omaha, Nebraska and been lucky to
• 2:22
  be at some great places across the country.
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  For my background, you know, I have my
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  bachelor's and master's in health care administration, my
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  doctorate
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  in public health, and, teach part time as
• 2:31
  well, which I really enjoy. It's been great
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  hearing sort of from the generations
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  to come and students,
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  of what health care could be in the
• 2:39
  future.
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  Absolutely. That is amazing. And to have that
• 2:43
  kind of career evolution gives you a really
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  strong background to now,
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  you know, lead through the times that we're
• 2:48
  going through today. I'm curious. When you think
• 2:50
  about the last year or so, can you
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  tell me about the most important initiative you
• 2:54
  led? What did you do, and what were
• 2:55
  the results?
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  Yeah. No. That's a great question. There's been
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  so many great initiatives. So when thinking about
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  this question,
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  it was a little bit hard to just
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  pick one or just really focus. And, again,
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  we're the initiatives we have are just with
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  such amazing teams here at UHealth.
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  Probably one that I think is really, really
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  near and dear to my heart and,
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  something I think will probably be one of
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  the most, impactful projects I work on in
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  my career
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  is,
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  opening up our new campus in West Valley.
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  West Valley in Utah is the second largest
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  city,
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  and there are many health care deserts in
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  West Valley. It's about twenty, twenty five minutes
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  from, the University of Utah campus.
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  And,
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  in certain areas of ZIP codes in West
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  Valley, there is a ten year difference in
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  life expectancy
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  because of these health deserts that we have.
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  So we have, disparities in health outcomes and
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  so forth. And so University of Utah Health
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  is excited to be partnering with the West
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  Valley community to build, the first health care
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  campus off the University of Utah campus
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  to provide care. So it'll be,
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  we've already breaking ground. It'll be opening up
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  in 2028
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  for for ambulatory services, 2029 for inpatient services.
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  And, just when you think about the care
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  that we give, University of Utah, by the
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  way, and University of Utah hospitals and clinics,
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  we are the states and regions only active
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  medical center.
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  So we take care of the tertiary, culinary
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  care. And we this is just an aspect
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  of just what we feel is such a
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  great partnership and and part giving back part
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  of the community that that really
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  is looking for it. And,
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  it will be about a 140 beds, over
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  200,
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  outpatient rooms. And when you think about
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  now having those health care deserts set, it's
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  astonishing.
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  Another fact is that in Utah, nine out
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  of 10 inpatient beds are on the East
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  Side
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  of, I 5 or interstate, whereas only one
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  out of 10 beds are on the West
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  Side. And so that's where the West Valley
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  side to to to bring this will be
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  huge. So this is this is exciting time.
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  Why this is important this last year is
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  that because of financial constraints, it's so a
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  little bit of a stop and go project
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  just given, just how we support it, and
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  we're just excited to move ahead.
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  Absolutely. I I love that. And, you know,
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  I think it's really cool, to be able
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  to expand in this way. I I know
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  that, you know, so many hospitals and and
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  health care organizations are trying to figure out,
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  you know, how they're going to keep their
• 5:22
  current services afloat. But being able to look
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  at how you're then, you know, evolving and
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  changing and continuing to,
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  you know, create some more of those outpatient
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  spaces or or cover, you know, services in
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  a larger area, it it makes so much
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  sense and is so helpful.
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  I'm curious, you know, when you go through
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  this kind of change and are are looking
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  at,
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  ways that you want to make a difference
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  in kind of more of the the community
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  health side of it.
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  You know, how do you think about your
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  resources? How do you make sure that as
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  you're creating more outpatient space or more,
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  you know, service lines and access points, that
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  you're getting your resources to the the right
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  places that are gonna make the most sense,
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  not only for the community, but also for
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  the health system sustainability?
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  Yeah. It's a really good question. And I
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  think here at University of Utah Health, we've
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  been really cognizant of just, right, the headwinds
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  are coming our way and how to be
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  thoughtful. So while I talked about West Valley,
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  there are initiatives and things we're constantly prioritizing
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  to really think about what's the biggest impact.
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  Right? And and this is getting collaboration with
• 6:26
  the community and our university campus and just
• 6:29
  great leadership here. But it's it's great to
• 6:32
  be talking about new builds, but we all
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  know that we can't do that all the
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  time. And so how do we think about
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  really initiatives that give some high level impact
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  as we continue to grow and support our
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  community?
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  Things such as, you know, looking at different
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  ways
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  to to have a different access within our
• 6:48
  ambulatory space. Right? Looking at air traffic control
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  models to really utilize the space as best
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  possible. Looking at reducing our referral leakage,
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  for radiology. Looking at different time slots and
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  weekends
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  for our perioperative OR services.
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  Looking across our system, we are a five
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  hospital system currently.
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  Our main campus and our cancer hospital, mental
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  health hospital, orthopedics,
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  and rehab hospital. But going past a specialty
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  hospital along with our main hospital and looking
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  at where underutilization
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  is occurring in terms of bed capacity and
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  how can we shift around populations is key.
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  So through our capacity action work, which is
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  led by just amazing folks here and, just
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  a lot of thoughtfulness,
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  how do we continue prioritizing the impact? And
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  we've done some really cognizant work of looking
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  at that
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  high impact
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  and maybe, you know, like, effort to really,
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  low, medium, or high effort to try to
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  get some of those gains now.
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  That that's, really helpful to understand. Thank you
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  so much for digging a little bit deeper
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  and telling us about, you know, your processes
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  there and how things are working at the
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  executive level. Now looking ahead, could you talk
• 7:56
  a bit deeper on some of the big
• 7:57
  priorities and headwinds you're focused on for 2026?
• 8:01
  Yeah. Actually, absolutely. So one thing we're focusing
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  on, we're sort of excited to be thinking
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  differently is about sort of a new care
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  line model. How we look at care lines
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  and how we look
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  at care lines across geographies and platforms to
• 8:14
  create a clinically integrated network. So not just
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  thinking about our typical,
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  you know, a patient gets care at one
• 8:20
  site but has a different process to get
• 8:22
  care at another site,
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  and not thinking about our usual traditional, you
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  know, no malintent, but how we structure
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  in terms of departments and things. But how
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  do we look at episodes of care for
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  those patients and really giving sort of streamlined
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  care across
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  across different platforms? Right? As we think about
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  not just our hospitals, but partnerships,
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  clinic sites,
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  affiliates, how do we how do we get
• 8:46
  the care to the patient that really needs
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  it most for whether it's cardiovascular, neurosciences,
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  or other areas?
• 8:53
  How do we be as streamlined as possible?
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  And this really does include standardizing quality, access,
• 8:58
  pathway,
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  performance
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  accountability, but all putting patients at the center
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  of care. So that's a big priority we're
• 9:05
  focusing on in 2026
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  at UHealth.
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  Another one I mentioned for was, like, just
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  the system capacity and growth planning that we
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  talked about. We have some other facility builds,
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  builds that we've had. We've opened up a
• 9:17
  new crisis care center. We're up to a
• 9:19
  new cancer location in Vineyard, which is, close
• 9:22
  to Provo, Utah. And just continuing to look
• 9:23
  at where we could expand our ambulatory sites
• 9:23
  as well. Looking
• 9:25
  at
• 9:26
  sites as well.
• 9:28
  Looking at access differently, how do we look
• 9:30
  at access
• 9:31
  throughout all of our areas, whether it's transfer
• 9:33
  center or patient pathways
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  in a patient? Stewardship hub is something we're
• 9:38
  looking
• 9:39
  And then, you know, really, other key headwinds
• 9:42
  or priorities
• 9:43
  that we talk about a little bit more
• 9:44
  later if interested. But, again, how do we
• 9:46
  keep our staff,
• 9:48
  you know, with all the staffing constraints, with
• 9:50
  the baby boomer population retiring,
• 9:53
  a lot of expertise going. How do we
• 9:54
  think, innovatively about our staffing through as we
• 9:57
  continue to grow and continue supporting communities is
• 10:00
  really a top of mind.
• 10:02
  And along with that, all the external factors.
• 10:04
  Right?
• 10:05
  Payer shifts, regulatory,
• 10:07
  things of that nature,
• 10:08
  financial constraints. And for us, being active medical
• 10:11
  center, research and educational,
• 10:13
  support and constraints. How do we continue supporting
• 10:15
  all of our teams doing what we do,
• 10:18
  given that we do take care of some
• 10:19
  of the sickest in the area?
• 10:22
  That I I think it it's so helpful
• 10:24
  to understand, you know, what makes a big
• 10:27
  difference. I I think a lot of the
• 10:28
  policy shifts and changes and trying to figure
• 10:30
  out access points seems to be top of
• 10:32
  mind for so many hospital systems and organizations.
• 10:35
  And when you think about, you know,
• 10:37
  how,
• 10:38
  those policies are shifting and changing and and
• 10:40
  from your perspective too, thinking about, the geographies
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  as well, which is fascinating,
• 10:44
  is there anything that, you know, you're going
• 10:46
  to have to do differently in the coming
• 10:48
  year because of all of this? Any kind
• 10:51
  of different,
• 10:52
  I guess,
• 10:53
  ways you're thinking about, you know, roles, hiring,
• 10:56
  staffing, or or anything else that you're trying
• 10:58
  to put in place to make sure that
• 11:00
  you're evolving as these population and policies and
• 11:03
  more change?
• 11:05
  Yeah. I think I think there's a lot
• 11:06
  going on, of course, like, sort of the
• 11:08
  hot topic of AI
• 11:10
  and digital engagement. Like, how do we how
• 11:12
  do we be more operationally efficient
• 11:15
  with new solutions that we have not had
• 11:16
  before is is something that is a huge
• 11:19
  discussion here at at UHealth and
• 11:22
  and what how we could proceed forward. So
• 11:24
  I think there's a lot of excitement to
• 11:26
  how do we how do we include things,
• 11:28
  and how do we think of things differently
• 11:30
  with AI
• 11:31
  to make lives easier and to really get
• 11:33
  care to the patients where they need it.
• 11:35
  Right? That includes things also like virtual care
• 11:38
  and telehealth and,
• 11:40
  and really, focusing also with not the patient,
• 11:44
  but also caregivers
• 11:45
  and and different aspects through all of our
• 11:48
  the the ways that patients receive their care.
• 11:51
  I will also note the other piece, I
• 11:53
  think, is geographies
• 11:54
  and communities is, how we think about hiring
• 11:57
  staff
• 11:58
  is really key. Right? Like, we have different
• 12:01
  generations
• 12:02
  of of team members that are coming in,
• 12:05
  and the generations that are coming in now
• 12:07
  are very different from the generations of the
• 12:09
  past. Right? And so how do we think
• 12:11
  about even things such as job descriptions and,
• 12:15
  benefits and what what the teams of the
• 12:18
  future are looking for. And now
• 12:20
  how do we re
• 12:22
  relook at things that we are really thinking
• 12:24
  thoughtfully of
• 12:25
  of, how to bring in those staff that,
• 12:27
  you know, honestly, right now could be burnt
• 12:29
  out and
• 12:30
  wellness is an issue. How do we how
• 12:32
  do we think thoughtfully on getting the teams
• 12:36
  that wanna be here, but also giving pathway
• 12:38
  programs
• 12:39
  and helping support them through the different priorities
• 12:42
  that they have that, again, may not have
• 12:44
  been of generations of past?
• 12:46
  That makes a lot of sense. And I
• 12:48
  love the kind of tagging of technology and
• 12:50
  AI too because it's such a important,
• 12:53
  shift. And I know it's happening in the
• 12:54
  health care space and can make some things,
• 12:57
  you know, easier, more efficient, but at the
• 12:59
  same time, you know, brings new challenges or
• 13:00
  new ways you have to,
• 13:02
  look at problem solving. So, that that's really
• 13:06
  interesting. What do you think the hardest thing
• 13:07
  you'll have to do in the coming year
• 13:09
  will be?
• 13:10
  Oh, well, you know, there's that's a that's
• 13:13
  a great question. And,
• 13:15
  there's a lot of hard things, but they're
• 13:17
  good. Right? And I think that's where,
• 13:20
  a lot of us in this space,
• 13:22
  with health care leadership
• 13:24
  and
• 13:25
  and just being in the delivery aspects have
• 13:28
  all these things that we we could concentrate
• 13:30
  on. So it's so hard to pick on
• 13:31
  one. I think for us here at University
• 13:33
  of Utah Health, we have a new leadership
• 13:35
  under doctor Bob Carter, who's our new executive
• 13:38
  vice president for University of Utah Health that
• 13:40
  includes, all of our missions
• 13:42
  of research education, patient care, and community.
• 13:46
  And we're working towards new,
• 13:48
  being a system, right, which is different for
• 13:51
  some, some organizations, including University of Utah Health,
• 13:54
  where we we may have acted more
• 13:57
  as sort of different departments or different missions.
• 13:59
  And so one of the things that I
• 14:01
  am thinking will be
• 14:03
  something that is difficult but exciting as well
• 14:06
  is how do we continue the system change
• 14:09
  in a way
• 14:10
  that keeps us moving quickly ahead,
• 14:13
  keeps us aligned, but also,
• 14:15
  keeps us,
• 14:17
  sort of thinking about just the operational aspects.
• 14:19
  Right? It doesn't keel our teams over. It
• 14:21
  takes a lot of good change management
• 14:24
  for it and a lot of communication and
• 14:26
  really thoughtful thinking. Because if we have amazing
• 14:29
  teams of works that are doing already great
• 14:30
  work, so how do you take it to
• 14:32
  that next level?
• 14:33
  It's something that I and our teams and
• 14:35
  leadership have been thinking a lot about as
• 14:37
  we go into this next phase
• 14:39
  and,
• 14:40
  exciting times for YouHealth.
• 14:43
  Absolutely. That that's amazing to hear. And, you
• 14:45
  know, kind of moving into this new phase
• 14:47
  and new transitional and transformation,
• 14:49
  it is really cool. You know, it brings
• 14:52
  me,
• 14:52
  to ask about growth too. Where do you
• 14:54
  see some of the best opportunities for organizational
• 14:56
  growth? I know we've talked a little bit
• 14:58
  and you mentioned about some of the new
• 15:00
  things you your ways are expanding and the
• 15:02
  organization is growing. But, you know, as a
• 15:04
  whole, how are you thinking about that and
• 15:06
  and making sure,
• 15:07
  that you're executing on it too?
• 15:10
  Yeah. So I've talked a lot about,
• 15:12
  so far, we've or we've discussed, you know,
• 15:15
  a lot of that growth expansion, right, within
• 15:16
  our communities, providing care in different areas. You
• 15:20
  know, that includes rural health care and getting
• 15:22
  to areas, you know, being Utah,
• 15:24
  that, a lot of our community doesn't necessarily
• 15:27
  have easy access to care. We've talked about
• 15:30
  operational efficiencies. We've talked about digital,
• 15:33
  engagement and care lines and partnerships and access.
• 15:36
  I will also note, one opportunity that I
• 15:39
  I would be remiss if I didn't say
• 15:41
  is how we continue growing with quality and
• 15:43
  safety in all these aspects. Right? How do
• 15:45
  we keep on getting better in the care
• 15:46
  we're delivering to make sure it's it's safe,
• 15:49
  it's value based, it's excellent care?
• 15:52
  University of Utah Health has done some amazing
• 15:54
  things. We are top tier for Visiance
• 15:57
  in quality and safety,
• 15:58
  across other, like, active medical centers.
• 16:01
  But it's not just the the recognition, actually,
• 16:03
  is that we really take to heart our
• 16:05
  processes or quality and safety and continue to
• 16:08
  look at ways to improving,
• 16:10
  whether that's patient identification, whether that's looking at
• 16:14
  different protocols and so forth. It's it's super
• 16:17
  exciting for us, but it's also something that
• 16:19
  we think is is should be the standard
• 16:21
  for communities.
• 16:22
  So with all the things I've said, how
• 16:24
  do we keep that baseline
• 16:25
  of quality and safety and patient experience? Right?
• 16:28
  We talk we talked a lot about our
• 16:30
  teams. We wanted to make sure that our
• 16:32
  patients
• 16:33
  and how they they receive their care
• 16:36
  is really at the forefront because it's daunting
• 16:38
  to get care, especially nowadays.
• 16:40
  And for especially those that are not familiar
• 16:42
  with health care, how do we continue
• 16:44
  utilizing
• 16:45
  new resources like AI or like, you know,
• 16:48
  some of the things that we have coming
• 16:49
  our way
• 16:50
  to better deliver care is something that I
• 16:52
  think is a really great opportunity. So really
• 16:54
  think about things that may, for some systems,
• 16:57
  come as a natural point, but you can't
• 16:59
  you always have to keep on striving for
• 17:01
  better.
• 17:02
  And I think we we've our teams have
• 17:04
  done a really nice job of just thinking
• 17:06
  try to continually think ahead of what is
• 17:08
  some of the things that we can continually
• 17:10
  work to improve on because we all know
• 17:12
  we have our opportunities
• 17:13
  to improve and,
• 17:14
  take that responsibility to heart.
• 17:17
  I love that. Doctor Holly, thank you so
• 17:19
  much for joining us on the podcast today.
• 17:20
  This has been such a a fun conversation
• 17:22
  to have and really informative
• 17:24
  to, know how you're working with your teams
• 17:27
  and really continuing to grow and develop for
• 17:29
  the future. So,
• 17:30
  thank you for your time today, and I'm
• 17:32
  excited to see you as well in April.
• 17:33
  I know you'll be speaking on a panel
• 17:35
  at our annual meeting and talking through, I
• 17:37
  can imagine, many of the same things we
• 17:38
  talked about today, but just a one bit
• 17:40
  more depth and,
• 17:41
  candor, you know, as we're looking at how
• 17:44
  truly health care is transforming. So, thank you
• 17:46
  so much for your time, and, you know,
• 17:48
  look forward to seeing you in April.
• 17:50
  Thank you so much, Laura. Really appreciate it.
• 17:52
  I had a great time talking with you.