Latest / Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast / Sean Lally, President and CEO of St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children

Transcript

Sean Lally, President and CEO of St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children · Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast

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  This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by a
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  terrific leader.
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  We're joined by Sean Wally,
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  and Sean has had this tremendous career.
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  He he currently serves as the president and
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  chief executive officer of the Saint Mary's Healthcare
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  System for Children. He's been at Saint Mary's
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  for about ten years.
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  He also, early in his career, spent a
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  lot of time in sort of the philanthropic
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  world, the fundraising world, and so forth. We're
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  gonna talk to Sean today about Saint Mary's,
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  about his career, trends he's watching, and a
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  lot more. Sean, thank you for joining us.
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  Can you take a moment to introduce yourself
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  and tell us about Saint Mary's?
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  Got it. Thank you so much. And, really,
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  thank you so much for having me on
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  your outstanding program.
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  So I'm Sean Lally, as you said. I'm
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  the president and CEO here at Saint Mary's
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  Healthcare System for Children. Saint Mary's is a
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  very special place within the health the health
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  care landscape in New York. We were founded
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  in 1870.
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  It's what we believe was New York's first
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  pediatric hospital with a mission to improve the
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  health and quality of life for children, young
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  adults, and families with medical complexity.
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  And while our modalities of care have evolved
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  significantly over a hundred and fifty five years,
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  our DNA has remained the same. This is
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  the place where children and families who need
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  help the most come to get it. And
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  we execute that mission in a number of
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  different ways. So we're unique in that we
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  have a continuum of care, which begins in
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  a beautiful facility, the only freestanding
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  facility in New York dedicated to long term
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  pediatric medical medically complex care,
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  which has a 124
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  beds.
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  And we execute on that mission through a
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  certified home health care agency that serves about
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  1,500 children across the region. In addition to
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  care coordination services,
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  medical day care,
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  and a variety of dynamic and innovative outpatient
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  rehab programs,
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  and really anything we can think of and
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  execute on that's gonna improve the health and
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  quality of life for these special kids and
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  their families.
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  Simply amazing. And and and talk to us
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  about your career journey
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  into health care and then into leadership and
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  then pediatrics specifically. Can you tell us a
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  bit about sort of your journey and and
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  how you ended up where you're at? And
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  congratulations on on what you're doing. It's remarkable.
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  Yeah. No. I really appreciate that, Scott. So,
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  my career has taken a number of interesting
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  turns.
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  I graduated
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  college,
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  with a degree in philosophy and very little
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  concept of what to do with myself.
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  And I was fortunate to go to work
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  for Memorial Sloan Kettering
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  and enter a leadership training program there,
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  which began with patient relations and eventually grew
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  to a career in philanthropy.
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  And along the way, I became an attorney
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  and got admitted to the New York State
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  Bar, but I was really fascinated by the
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  intersection of the public and private sectors
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  and how people take energy, vision,
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  and resources to really affect change, in a
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  significant societal way.
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  And along the journey, I had children, and
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  my children were born prematurely,
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  which really forced a lot of soul searching
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  for me.
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  And, eventually, I got recruited to come work
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  at Saint Mary's.
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  And it's ironic because I grew up in
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  Queens, not too far from the facility, but
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  I've never heard of this place. And the
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  minute I walked through the door, I was
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  so overwhelmed
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  by how unique
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  the environment here was and how committed the
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  staff were and how warm and welcoming
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  every single unit and every single application of
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  care was here.
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  And it was over a decade ago, and
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  every day has been the best day of
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  my career that I've been here. So I
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  feel incredibly fortunate
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  to now be at the helm,
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  serving as president and CEO.
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  That's an amazing journey and I and I
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  love that. I think most people would would
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  love to be in that spot where they
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  just love where they work, they love what
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  they do.
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  Take two minutes on advice you would give
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  to, emerging leaders,
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  emerging career people,
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  on finding that right spot, on on on
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  finding the right position, the right situation
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  where one could thrive and help an organization
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  thrive.
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  So it's a really great question.
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  I would advise people in a couple of
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  different ways.
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  One, it really is about finding the right
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  people to work with, and I've been so
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  fortunate at every step in my career to
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  have great mentors and great partners.
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  And when I came to Saint Mary's, that
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  leveled up between the board here, the my
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  predecessor CEO, and the senior management team, and
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  really the entire staff,
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  which leads to my next point, which is
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  commit early to being a lifelong learner
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  and be humble to accept education and knowledge
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  from wherever it's gonna come, be it book
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  learning or every single person you encounter.
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  And the environment at Saint Mary's is so
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  open to that
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  where, you know, I found from the day
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  I walked in the door, people were just
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  so giving when it came to information and
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  knowledge
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  that I was able to grow just every
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  day I came to work. And that's part
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  of the reason I keep coming back is
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  because I learned from my colleagues every single
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  day I come here.
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  So it's an amazing
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  story. Talk about pediatric state.
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  What are some of the trends you're watching
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  currently? What's top of mind in in what
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  you're seeing in pediatrics?
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  Yeah. So the number one issue we're thinking
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  about now is the existential crisis posed by
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  potential cuts in Medicaid.
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  And in the medically complex space,
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  so much reimbursement is driven through Medicaid and
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  managed Medicaid
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  that the seismic changes that are happening on
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  the federal level and the trickle down effects
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  they'll have at the state level
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  really
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  require deep reflection in terms of what will
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  impose to this population and the way we
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  provide care.
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  So we're working deeply with parents, with legislators,
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  with policymakers,
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  with the governor
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  to figure out how to ensure that these
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  kids are protected no matter what policy changes
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  come into effect.
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  The other is the emergence of technology. So,
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  you know, as your audience knows, pediatrics is
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  usually an afterthought when it comes to dynamic
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  innovation.
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  But we're finding,
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  particularly at the staff level, that there are
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  ways to accelerate growth continually using technology and
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  data
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  that are really transforming the way that we
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  conceive care delivery for our special population.
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  Good. Good. Thank you. And what kind of
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  technology are you most excited about? Do you
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  see having the most impact?
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  So,
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  it comes quickly and in different ways every
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  day. I think just to give you a
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  couple of highlights, the one that we're driving
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  towards is the integration of predictive analytics using
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  AI with early warning systems. And for a
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  medically complex population,
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  technology like that has the potential to radically
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  transform the way we conceive of what care
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  delivery looks like. So for children who are
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  in our facility,
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  it would mean avoidance of terrible outcomes
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  and really creating care plans that are responsive
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  more and more to each individual child care
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  journey, but also would unlock extraordinary potential for
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  children to be cared for in the home.
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  And embedded in our mission is the firm
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  belief that every child deserves the best care
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  possible for that child, and no two children
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  are the same. And the belief that there
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  are more children who could be cared for
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  at home using different technologies and modalities of
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  care. And so when you take devices like
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  that, when you take technology like that, when
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  you take innovation like that and you wet
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  it, the parents who are just desperate for
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  help,
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  the outcome the potential there is just extraordinary.
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  That that is fantastic. And you've got parents
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  that are very excited to get that help
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  and very anxious to get that help. So
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  I I I and it really is
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  a partnership between the system and the parents
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  and the children
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  to get the best care available, isn't it?
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  I mean, we have seen parents are our
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  greatest resource. They're our greatest ally.
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  We find that parents have such a unique
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  understanding of what their child needs.
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  We find that, as we mentioned, when we're
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  confronting seismic policy change, parents are our greatest
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  advocates
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  with their passion and their insight. And so,
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  really,
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  you know, we say we're patient family centered,
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  but it's more than that. We are hand
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  in hand with parents every day in their
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  health care journey.
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  I I could not agree with that more.
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  You know, you have this situation where sometimes
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  parents get in the spot where they feel
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  like the physician is either talking with them
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  or down to them, and it makes a
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  huge difference in how the care is delivered
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  and the ultimate outcome for the patient and
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  the child. When you get in that right
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  partnership relationship between the parents and the physicians,
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  the nurses, the leadership,
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  we're also much better off.
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  Sean, let me ask you one more question.
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  And and we, quite frankly, would love the
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  continuity of the story of of Saint Mary's
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  whenever you'd like to be on the podcast.
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  So we're we are so thankful for you
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  joining us today.
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  Tell us what you're most focused on and
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  excited about as we get to the end
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  of this year and the start of 02/1926.
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  Where are you most focused and excited? Then
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  I'll ask you, you're in Queens. Do you
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  ever get to go to the US Open?
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  Because that's in Queens, I believe, too. But
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  but but first, what are you most focused
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  on and excited about currently?
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  Yeah.
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  Oh gosh. Scott, I am excited about so
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  many things. I I think, I'm still relatively
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  new as president and CEO just three months
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  in,
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  but, really, it's engaging with staff.
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  I think the workforce that we have at
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  Saint Mary's is truly unique in health care.
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  We like to say it's a place where
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  big hearts help little patients.
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  And what I find with all of our
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  staff is the depth of compassion that they
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  have
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  combined with an innovative spirit is something that's
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  gonna drive us to just really, incredible heights
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  when it comes to evolving our care delivery
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  model.
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  And so that that's my number one thing,
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  I think, as we go to the rest
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  of the year is really just continuing to
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  engage with staff and figuring out how to
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  partner to really drive innovation and care.
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  We are in Queens. Unfortunately, most of us
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  are meds fans. I hope you edit that
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  out. We're we're you can see Citi Field
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  from one of our patient rooms.
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  So we don't get to the open much,
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  but we did have an adaptive tennis program
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  come in with then they're gonna come back
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  next year so that some of our kids
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  who are in wheelchairs were able to simulate
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  the US Open, which is really cool.
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  That's fantastic. And it's okay to be a
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  Mets fan. I'm a Chicago sports fan. I
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  feel your pain. I understand.
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  The the the Cubs' greatest falling apart ever
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  was in 1969
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  when the amazing Mets took over and took
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  them out. So we we have some sort
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  of love for the Mets as well. So
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  it is what it is, and we're long
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  suffering Chicago sports fans. So we We're united
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  in Missouri then, Scott. Yeah. Yeah. We we
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  really are. Sean, what a great pleasure to
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  to visit with you. Amazing the work that
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  Saint Mary's Hospital for Children is doing. Thank
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  Thank you so much for joining us, and
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  and and thank you, Sophie, for allowing us
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  to visit with Sean. Thank you very, very
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  much. Thank you. Yeah. And, Scott, thanks for
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  all you do. Keep up the great work.