Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Rebuilding Rural Healthcare Through Partnership and Community Focus with Justin Harris

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Rebuilding Rural Healthcare Through Partnership and Community Focus with Justin Harris · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a version of AI in health care
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  - that lives mostly in press releases,
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  - pilot programs, partnership announcements,
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  - theoretical use cases.
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  - And then there's the version that lives in
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  - the work, the CIO trying to get a
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  - the revenue cycle leader weighing automation against accuracy,
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  - the CISO who knows that every new integration
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  - is a new attack surface.
• 0:28
  - Becker's eleventh annual IT and Revenue Cycle Conference
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  - is built for the people doing that work.
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  - More than 2,500
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  - executive level attendees,
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  - 600 plus speakers, and four days of sessions
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  - designed around the real operational questions behind AI,
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  - cybersecurity,
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  - revenue cycle performance, and digital health.
• 0:48
  - Join us September 14 through the seventeenth.
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  - For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
• 0:59
  - This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - Podcast, and we are recording live at the
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  - first ever rural health summit. I'm currently joined
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  - by Justin Harris, who is the CEO at
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  - Davies Community Hospital, which is managed by Deaconess
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  - Health System.
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  - So, Justin, thanks for being here. I'll have
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  - you start off by just briefly introducing yourself
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  - and telling us more about your role and
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  - the scope of your organization,
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  - including what's currently commanding most of your attention
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  - as a leader.
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  - Yeah. So I'm Justin Harris. I'm the CEO
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  - of Davies Community Hospital and have the opportunity
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  - to serve our community,
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  - of Davies in Washington,
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  - Indiana.
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  - We are located
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  - about halfway in between Evansville, Indiana
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  - and,
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  - Indianapolis, Indiana.
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  - And we are solely focused on developing and
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  - creating more opportunity for care, within our community.
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  - You know, the whole goal is to keep
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  - care close to home. And as we go
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  - through our our next strategic opportunities of reset,
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  - rebuild, and renew, we are excited about what,
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  - is coming next.
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  - So in a year marked by rapid change,
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  - what recent decision or pivot
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  - conviction from you, particularly when it came to
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  - aligning people, resources, or capabilities?
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  - So I have been at,
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  - Davies Community Hospital for just, almost a year
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  - now,
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  - and, the opportunity that has presented itself is
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  - to bring back things to our rural hospital.
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  - What is important,
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  - in rural health care is to
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  - keep care close to home of what we
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  - do best. That's primary care. That's general surgery.
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  - That's our our gen you know, the orthopedic
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  - platform,
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  - women's health services. These are things that our
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  - patients should not have to
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  - drive thirty, forty five minutes, an hour to
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  - just to receive what I call basic care.
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  - And so what that is our focus. Our
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  - focus right now is,
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  - is is rebuilding our services,
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  - and and what we what we know we
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  - can do well.
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  - We have a great therapy program. We're continuing
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  - to build on those services here at Davies
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  - and, just just really focused on our internal
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  - opportunities,
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  - that we have.
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  - And how did that moment challenge your assumptions,
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  - and what did it change about how you
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  - approach decision making, talent, or organizational readiness?
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  - Well, we we have made the decision in
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  - the past year to,
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  - change our our management
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  - agreement.
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  - The hospital has, had a management partner,
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  - for several years, back in since about 2017,
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  - and we made the decision,
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  - right as I was coming on board to
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  - partner with Deaconess Health System out of Evansville,
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  - Indiana.
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  - Deaconess is a large organization,
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  - in our region,
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  - that partners and owns and manages,
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  - affiliates with hospitals across the tri state, Indiana,
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  - Kentucky,
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  - and Illinois.
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  - And the model that they present is one
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  - that
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  - solely exists to keep care in these communities
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  - that they get to partner with. It is
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  - not to take patients back to Evansville, Indiana,
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  - back to the larger tertiary centers.
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  - Our tertiary centers across the country are packed
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  - with patients. And so how can we develop
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  - models that build our community in rural hospitals,
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  - to a sustainable model, to a financial,
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  - positive model? We know that rural hospitals are
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  - having a lot of trouble across the nation
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  - becoming and staying financially feasible.
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  - And and and like our hospital,
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  - just in the past six, seven months or
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  - so, we have, we are now in a
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  - positive state on a month over month basis
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  - where we have been losing millions of dollars
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  - on a monthly basis. And so that takes
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  - partnership, that takes commitment to the community, that
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  - takes involvement from the community, and that's that
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  - is exactly what we're doing at Davies Community
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  - Hospital.
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  - And shifting gears a little bit, when you
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  - think about the forces reshaping health care right
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  - now, where do you believe leaders need to
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  - be more decisive, especially while balancing
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  - speed, risk, and having the right teams in
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  - place?
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  - So
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  - being more decisive or or where we should,
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  - ensure of what we're doing is we need
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  - to be in in focus with our with
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  - our legislators. We need to be in focus
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  - with our local government, our state government, even
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  - on the federal level.
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  - It is our job as leaders to ensure
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  - that we are being heard, and we can
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  - make a difference on the legislative side. At
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  - the same time,
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  - we need to be in
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  - every day our financials and revenue cycle,
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  - and we need to make decisions on a
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  - daily basis about how to lead the organization.
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  - While, sure, I'm the CEO in title,
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  - but any leader, as I shared earlier this
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  - morning,
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  - at one of our events,
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  - you are never too big to not be
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  - involved in the in the revenue cycle,
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  - in the financials of the organization
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  - because we all impact that. And at the
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  - end of the day, if we don't make
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  - any money, it's hard to provide good health
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  - care. Right? Because you don't have the ability,
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  - to bring services or you don't have the
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  - ability to buy supplies, pay your staff. And
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  - so we have to be focused on the
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  - revenue cycle side, the recoupments,
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  - the readmissions,
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  - the pre authorizations.
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  - That is somewhere where we as leaders in
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  - rural health care have to be focused day
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  - in, day out.
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  - And as we wrap our conversation, I'd love
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  - to know that as uncertainty
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  - has become the norm, what leadership habit or
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  - mindset has been the most critical in keeping
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  - your organization and your people moving forward?
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  - Positivity.
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  - You gotta be positive on a on a
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  - daily basis, and everyone knows that I'm a
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  - pretty positive person.
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  - I'm pretty realistic at the same time,
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  - and and I am very transparent.
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  - It is important, especially in rural health care,
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  - that we are transparent
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  - with our team,
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  - internally with our team and within our community.
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  - But we, I think, we have to be
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  - energized. We have to show from the top
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  - down that what it means to the organization,
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  - what it means to the community.
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  - If you're moping around, if if your people
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  - aren't seeing you on a daily basis, you're
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  - not communicating with your team,
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  - then then you need to be out there.
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  - You need to be out communicating with your
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  - people because that goes in line with culture.
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  - We can change our operations and financials,
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  - and and sometimes pretty quickly.
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  - But if your team is not on board,
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  - if your medical staff is not on board,
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  - then it's hard to make that last and
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  - be sustainable.
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  - So we need to have a positive attitude.
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  - We need to be involved
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  - and and actively participating,
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  - with our team's development,
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  - and cultural mindset.
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  - Well, Justin, thank you so much for joining
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  - me today on the Becker's healthcare podcast and
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  - sharing these thoughts and insights. Again, we are
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  - recording live at the first ever rural health
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  - summit. Thank you so much.
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  - Thank you. Appreciate being here. It's a great
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  - event.