Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Liz Popwell on Health System Strategy and Patient-Centered Care

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Liz Popwell on Health System Strategy and Patient-Centered Care · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
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  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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  - pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - Podcast.
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  - I am thrilled today to be joined by
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  - a remarkable leader in health care. We're joined
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  - today by Liz Popwell.
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  - Liz has had a great leadership career. She's
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  - currently the system vice president,
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  - strategy and international at common spirit health. Common
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  - spirit health is now the largest not for
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  - profit health secure system in The United States,
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  - other than Kaiser, which is really a mix
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  - of insurance and health systems.
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  - But CommonSpirit's
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  - the largest and incredible health system.
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  - Wiz, can you take a moment and tell
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  - us about yourself
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  - and and and your career?
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  - Happy to, Scott. I've been in health care
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  - a little over thirty years
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  - and, started out my career as a health
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  - care consultant,
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  - before I came over to the provider side.
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  - And,
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  - throughout the course of my career, have spent,
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  - different roles both in quality executive roles,
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  - operational and COO roles,
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  - and strategy roles for the last several years.
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  - Gosh. Ten plus years. I've been a strategy
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  - executive for large health systems,
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  - from Atrium Health to Ascension
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  - and now thrilled to be with CommonSpirit
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  - and have been with CommonSpirit now for two
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  - years,
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  - helping them develop their their new national strategic
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  - plan, which we're getting ready to launch, and
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  - then also working with just an incredible
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  - incredible team of leaders across The US.
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  - Thank you. And and and talk for a
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  - second about what trends are you watching in
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  - health care today.
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  - Obviously, it's such a challenging and changing time.
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  - What what are you watching closely currently? What
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  - are the trends you're keeping an eye on?
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  - So the trends, you know, for for, you
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  - know, the next three to five years are
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  - similar to what the trends have been in
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  - the past, but I think a little bit
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  - of a, you know, a twist to that.
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  - You know, focusing on patients and not locations
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  - has become a big trend. You know,
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  - consumers have choices,
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  - and they don't really simply rely on office
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  - or hospital visits and the the episodic care
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  - that they used to.
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  - They want more unification.
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  - They want a more unified team based approach.
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  - They wanna make sure that, you know, when
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  - they choose a health care partner or a
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  - health care provider,
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  - that it that is really a holistic process,
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  - which means using virtual care, home based care,
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  - all the preventative care that they need, to
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  - make sure they get the right treatment at
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  - the right time
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  - regardless of where they are and what they
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  - need, and that it's seamless and unified.
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  - And I think systems like ours are really
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  - poised
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  - to connect patients to the entire health care
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  - system,
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  - and that system should act as one organization,
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  - not just a collection of assets or hospitals,
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  - so that we use use our shared data,
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  - our shared standards, processes
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  - across all the locations and where we provide
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  - care. And that is that is a trend
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  - we're seeing patients choose,
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  - systems like ours because they like the fact
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  - that we are centralizing
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  - operations,
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  - making things easier for them. The back office
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  - components, you know, the AI components, all of
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  - those things are enabling
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  - to these health systems and help us really
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  - work as a system and truly unify for
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  - the patients that we serve.
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  - Thank you. When you and then you look
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  - at sort of the effort to integrate this
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  - great system,
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  - how do you think about how you focus
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  - your efforts over the next year when you
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  - think about strategy, you think about what should
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  - be done as an aligned
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  - 40,000,000,000
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  - plus organization.
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  - How do you look at that over the
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  - next couple years and the big focuses on
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  - what you're trying to do?
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  - Absolutely. So, you know, obviously, technology
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  - is a big, you know, the big trend
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  - for everyone.
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  - And, you know, we we are looking at,
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  - you know, trends just like everyone else. You
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  - know? So my perspective is, you know, technology
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  - we don't use technology for technology's sake, but
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  - we really lean in instead and ask questions
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  - like
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  - AI, for example.
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  - What problems are we trying to solve? Is
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  - it a staffing,
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  - augmentation
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  - issue? Is it a patient access issue?
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  - Are we trying to improve our our affordability
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  - and cost?
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  - And really looking at what problems that we're
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  - seeking to solve as a health care ecosystem
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  - and using technology to support these fixes, looking
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  - at people, processes, and technology
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  - so that we ensure we we we select
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  - the right tools to integrate into better workflows,
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  - not just adding it as an add on
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  - to existing processes, but really taking a holistic
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  - approach.
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  - We're also looking at things like how do
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  - we how do we, as an ecosystem, partner
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  - with
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  - organizations
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  - that things so things that we're not experts
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  - in. You know, we as health care entities
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  - and and health care providers
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  - need to be and continue to be better
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  - at our core business
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  - and form deeper, longer partnerships with payers,
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  - technology companies, and other groups rather than just
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  - simple vendor relationships.
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  - Really integrate,
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  - those partnerships
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  - so that we work together on shared goals
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  - and solutions
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  - in order to improve outcomes,
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  - looking at affordability and lowering cost, and making
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  - sure, most importantly, that we're enhancing the patient
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  - experience.
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  - So all of those things wrapped up together
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  - help us really create smarter operations.
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  - So strategy
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  - coming together with with financial performance, coming together
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  - with operational
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  - processes and really galvanizing the organization,
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  - that we serve,
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  - so that we can make sure systems
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  - don't unnecessarily
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  - look at
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  - individual components, but they're really looking at improving
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  - efficiency and effectiveness
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  - and reinforcing
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  - the operational savings, efficiencies, and growth to better
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  - care for
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  - the system, the communities, and the individuals that
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  - we serve.
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  - Thank you. And take a moment, Dawn. Liz,
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  - you've had this great leadership career.
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  - I've watched you thrive and do great work.
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  - What advice would you give to emerging leaders?
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  - Yeah. Health care is changing. I think the
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  - one constant we can all agree to is
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  - that health care is constantly changing.
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  - And,
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  - one of the things that I would say
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  - with regard to that is that,
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  - you know,
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  - our emerging leaders need to start thinking about
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  - several different things.
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  - They need to think about,
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  - you know,
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  - as this ecosystem continues to evolve and change,
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  - what does that mean for them? I think
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  - the most,
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  - important thing is that organizations struggle struggle as
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  - you know with strategy as well as implementation.
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  - Building a good strategy and then implementing a
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  - strategy are are are two two sides of
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  - a coin. And so my advice to early
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  - learners into early careers is to really think
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  - about
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  - getting close to the work and as close
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  - as possible.
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  - Care is very local
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  - and,
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  - very important to understand how the decisions we
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  - make,
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  - as leaders
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  - and as emerging health care leaders affect not
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  - just,
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  - the local communities, but the actual patients themselves,
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  - the individuals that we're serving.
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  - How does it impact the clinicians,
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  - the frontline teams,
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  - and how do we have an impact on
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  - the communities we serve. Strategy becomes much stronger
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  - when we're grounding ourselves in our organizational and
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  - our organizational priorities and how it really operates
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  - and really understanding how it operates and where
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  - we can make those efficiencies better.
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  - And my advice is really to stay close
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  - to that work,
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  - remain curious
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  - of all things because
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  - we are constantly gonna continue to change and
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  - emerge and develop. And being curious helps us
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  - be innovative.
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  - Taking on assignments that stretch you as an
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  - individual beyond your current role is how you're
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  - going to learn as an individual
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  - and how you're gonna help your organization actually
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  - succeed in operations and strategy
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  - and not just consider,
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  - you know, plans on paper. Really, really understand
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  - how it affects
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  - the processes on a on a daily basis.
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  - I'd also say relationship building, and, Scott, we
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  - we've talked about this in other podcast, is
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  - is always important.
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  - Across functions,
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  - understanding the operational
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  - the financial impact,
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  - how your decisions,
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  - and how your ability to really pull people
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  - together
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  - and, collaborate
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  - turns into comfortable,
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  - and turns into ideas becoming more comfortable implementation
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  - and results oriented,
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  - measurable,
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  - impacts.
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  - We don't wanna focus too much on the
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  - next title necessarily. I think some people
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  - worry a lot about title,
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  - and really not so much about the person
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  - that they want to become,
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  - and people don't always want that next title.
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  - So really looking at,
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  - you know, as an individual, what what makes
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  - you tick? What makes you excited about the
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  - daily work you're doing? And then how do
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  - you build the relationships and the trust
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  - to solve the difficult decisions,
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  - to build that career pathway forward,
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  - and to really help, advance your your career
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  - and your career endeavors? So
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  - so in summary, a few things I would
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  - just say would be spend time in operations.
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  - If if you're not an a clinical caregiver,
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  - you need to spend time with the clinical
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  - caregivers
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  - and really understand how care is delivered. You
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  - need to lean in and learn when to
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  - say no. I think sometimes as leaders, especially
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  - emerging leaders,
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  - we try to say yes to everything.
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  - But sometimes, you know, we need to say
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  - no and stay focused both strategically and operationally
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  - so that we can make sure we have
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  - the impact that we really are trying to
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  - drive.
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  - And then build credibility by pairing your insights,
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  - your knowledge, your thought leadership,
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  - with the outcomes we're trying to resolve and
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  - to to really to impact as an organization.
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  - Last and most important, build relationships that last
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  - building trust and relationships is what will help
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  - leaders emerge and will help people see the
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  - talents for what you bring to the table.
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  - And sometimes
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  - they will have opportunities for you that you
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  - don't see for yourself.
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  - And having those relationships will help you be
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  - successful in that space.
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  - But no. You have that perspective on sometimes
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  - you will find people that see in you
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  - something that you don't see, and this could
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  - be huge catalyst in careers and lives if
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  - you come across those people. I think it's
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  - a wonderful, wonderful perspective.
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  - Liz, it's always just fantastic to visit with
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  - you. I wanna thank you for joining us
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  - today, on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I love
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  - getting a chance to talk to you. Thank
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  - you so much for joining us. Thank you
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  - so much.