Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Robert Sabina, CEO of HCA Houston Healthcare Medical Center

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Robert Sabina, CEO of HCA Houston Healthcare Medical Center · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  This is Madeline with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast,
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  and I am thrilled to be joined today
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  by Robert Sabina,
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  CEO of HCA Houston Healthcare Medical Center. Robert,
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  thanks so much for joining me. Oh, it's
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  my pleasure to be here.
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  So, Robert, before we kick things off, do
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  you mind sharing with our listeners just a
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  little bit about your background in health care
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  and more on your organization?
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  Absolutely. So,
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  I I've been in health care for,
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  about twenty years now.
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  My graduate degree is in health care administration,
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  business administration from University of Minnesota. I've been
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  working in the Houston market for the entirety
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  of of that period of time postgraduate.
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  I worked for several of the health systems
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  in and around Houston,
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  starting in the Texas Medical Center,
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  with, Saint Luke's Episcopal Health System, and then
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  moved over to another system and joined HCA
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  about ten years ago now. I remember the
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  day. It was 08/24/2017,
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  and I remember that date because it was
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  two days before hurricane Harvey. So my first
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  week, was seeing the power of,
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  HCA,
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  responding to a catastrophic weather event, and it
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  was a really powerful start for me. So
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  I've been in a couple different areas, mostly
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  operations
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  field within health care as I moved up,
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  and currently occupy the role of chief executive
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  officer at our medical center facility, HCA Houston
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  Healthcare Medical Center, located right here on the
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  North Side of Hermann Park. Beautiful view out
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  my window today on a sunny Monday afternoon,
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  and, blessed to be,
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  have the opportunity to to work here.
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  Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing. And
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  honestly, surprisingly, here in Chicago, it is also
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  a sunny day. So I'm very happy to
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  have some good
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  weather.
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  So, again, thanks for for kicking us off
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  with sharing a little bit on that background
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  there.
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  First question I have for you here. So
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  April was National Volunteer Month. With this in
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  mind, could you share how HCA Houston Healthcare
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  Medical
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  Center approaches its volunteer program,
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  and what role do student volunteers play in
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  this day to day life at your facility?
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  Yeah. Thanks for the question. I'll I'll I'll
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  start at a higher level in saying, you
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  know, our approach to volunteerism here at HCA
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  Medical Center is a pretty simple one. You
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  know, we want it to be meaningful for
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  the for the volunteers,
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  but also really connected to what the needs
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  are of the facility.
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  And so volunteers really integrated into the part
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  of the day to day experience for our
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  patients, visitors,
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  and our clinical care teams. Anywhere from greeting
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  patients as they come in the front entrance,
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  welcoming them to our facility, walking them throughout
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  the facility, help them wayfinding,
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  supporting in areas like surgery,
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  reception, the the emergency department,
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  and assisting with, various administrative tasks,
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  that are needed, across the facility.
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  For students in particular, though, that's a really
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  valuable kinda intersection
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  between,
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  you know, value to the student volunteer as
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  well as value to the organization.
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  Value to organizations is the same when it
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  comes to supporting our our administrative and,
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  clinical departments,
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  but value to the individual as they get
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  this exposure to health care for the maybe
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  the first time, or maybe seeing it, in
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  the acute setting for the first time, which
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  can be a much more complex,
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  interplay of departments and roles and personnel
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  than many of the, the other settings of
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  health care. And so for them to try
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  out and say, is this something that I'm
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  passionate about? Get exposure to it firsthand, see
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  it with their own eyes,
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  and then maybe be,
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  generate an interest in in health care as
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  a profession. And and we partner with several
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  training programs,
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  throughout the Houston market and throughout the country,
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  really,
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  to
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  pipeline these volunteers then into clinical roles and
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  then up up through advanced clinical roles if
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  that's their desire. So it really is a
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  great opportunity for them to get exposure on
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  the front end and support our our mission,
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  and clinical enterprise along the way.
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  That's so cool to hear. And, you know,
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  volunteering obviously is just so important in the
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  first place, but also getting exposure to an
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  industry that, you know, one of our main
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  challenges has been workforce
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  recruiting, retaining. So maybe on, like, a a
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  broader level, could you share the value of
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  exposing these these young people to these types
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  of environments
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  and and kind of working on that recruitment,
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  retaining? Any examples you can share, maybe how
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  this might hopefully shape their perspective on a
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  health care career?
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  Yeah, absolutely. And actually, I use a personal
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  example from one of our executives. Awesome. Yeah.
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  This really can be a, a powerful,
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  life altering experience for for for folks.
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  We have a senior executive at the hospital
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  today that twenty five years ago started as
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  a volunteer in an emergency department, one of
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  our sister facilities within the Gulf Coast division
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  of HCA. Wow. And, started there as volunteer,
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  moved on into a PCT role because
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  his,
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  interest in health care was sparked by seeing
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  it firsthand. Right? Being able to kinda put
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  your eyes on it, making health care feel
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  real. What does it actually look like
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  in person, versus, you know, what do I
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  imagine health care to be? And and that
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  passion was ignited in him. And, you know,
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  he moved into a PCT role, a patient
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  care tech support role, then went on to
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  nursing school supported by HCA,
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  moved into leadership over the course of his
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  next fifteen years of his career, and eventually
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  into executive leadership at multiple campuses. And so
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  a real
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  success story of building a career that was
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  sparked by that initial
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  exposure to volunteerism
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  in one of our emergency departments throughout the
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  facility.
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  Health care is a complex field, and it
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  can feel intimidating.
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  I mean, you you see it on some
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  of these TV shows, and it was,
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  you know,
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  it's it's made to look
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  exciting.
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  It's not always that, but it's but it's
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  always interesting.
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  Yeah. And it can be intimidating for these
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  for these young folks. But to expose them
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  to that early, just to show them what
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  health care looks like actually at the bedside
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  and and in these organizations,
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  really broadens their perspective and and allows them
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  to, think about not just one role, but
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  but health care is a combination of many,
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  many different roles. And and and maybe there's
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  something that appeals to them whether it's a
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  doctor or nurse,
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  or radiology tech,
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  or or a transporter. Right? I mean, what
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  where's your passion and how do you connect
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  that if health care and altruism
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  and and supporting
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  human
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  life, and the care of human life is
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  something that you're passionate about.
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  Yeah. The sky's the limit for these younger
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  volunteers and getting that hands on work, I'm
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  sure, is so exciting to many of them.
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  So thanks for sharing that awesome example.
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  And as I mentioned at the beginning of
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  the podcast, April was National Volunteer Month, and
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  it's a moment to recognize service. But, obviously,
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  at organizations like yours, volunteers are a part
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  of this fabric year round.
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  So how do you think about the relationship
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  between community service and that long term health
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  care workforce pipeline even even further? Like, what
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  do you envision in three to five years
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  with this program?
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  Yeah. Obviously,
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  you know, it it's an important,
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  kind of dipping the toe in the water.
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  Volunteerism really where community service, and future opportunity
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  kinda come together.
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  Volunteer month in particular, it's a great time
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  to recognize contributions, but but also to reconnect
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  as, health care professionals who've chosen this profession
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  maybe a decade or two decades or three
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  decades or more ago. We have one fifty
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  year employee here who was here in 1975
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  when doors opened. And and so we we
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  provide opportunities,
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  to connect with the community even today for
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  our leadership teams, our bedside colleagues,
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  with partner organizations throughout the Houston market. But
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  for students, it really becomes the starting point,
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  of of their,
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  you know, connection to community service, for many
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  of them, particularly our Volonteen program. So they
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  come in, they give it what whatever time
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  they can, and along the way, they start
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  asking questions about, you know, where they might
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  fit in health care or in in service
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  in another way because health care really is
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  a service oriented,
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  or, you know, profession and calling.
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  And that's how interest can sometimes when we
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  see it, you know, in every one of
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  these classes, every one of these volunteering programs,
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  interest turns into direction,
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  whether that's towards nursing school or towards,
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  the medical school or or towards one of
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  our,
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  allied health programs.
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  So it really becomes this this connection to
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  I can do something, make a living doing
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  it, and do it with a service mentality
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  and mindset.
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  Creating those early experiences really helps students explore
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  and build confidence and and begins to see
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  themselves,
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  as a future in health care. Yeah. And
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  I have to ask you too. I mean,
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  again, touching on the fact that here at
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  Becker's even, we've covered a lot of workforce
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  challenges,
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  recruiting, retaining, all the things,
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  even the cost behind it. So what does
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  it mean for you as a CEO to
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  to sit back and watch these young people,
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  you know, light up when they're around,
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  health care workers and and really start to
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  see maybe a future passion there.
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  You know what? It it reminds me of,
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  going back to when I started in health
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  care, and I and I wasn't a clinician.
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  You know, I came into health care with
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  an engineering background.
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  Mhmm. And it kinda speaks to the what
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  turns you on about this profession?
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  I had a an interest in being in
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  a serving, you know, servant organization, something that
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  gives back some altruistic,
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  bent to it. And,
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  for me, what I like to do is
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  solve complex problems. And so I I see
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  and that's how I got in health care.
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  But when I see these students connect the
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  dots and see how many
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  diverse
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  professional
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  opportunities there are to pursue Yeah. And they
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  get excited about that, it really it reignites
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  the fire in me.
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  And it's a really powerful,
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  perspective to have,
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  the the young folks coming in particularly and
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  seeing,
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  something that that really
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  really turns them on to a profession that
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  is
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  a profession of giving. Yeah. And so the
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  experiential aspect of that is really where there's
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  power, and and and we know certainly as
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  adults, but even even younger folks, experiential learning
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  and and and really getting that hands on
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  experience,
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  where they can see the pace that the
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  teamwork, which is obviously critical in healthcare,
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  and then the humanity, the human side of
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  it.
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  How people communicate and support one another and
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  make a difference in these people's lives that
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  are coming to us in in some of
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  their toughest moments.
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  It's a powerful thing that that that can't
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  be replicated in a lot of professions, and
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  I I think that, you know, that that
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  reminds us all of of why we got
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  in this this industry in the first place.
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  And it's just a powerful, perspective to to
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  have as part of our clinical team.
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  Yeah. That is so true there. But for
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  a student who might even be on the
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  fence about whether medicine is the right path
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  for them,
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  what would you say
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  this hospital volunteer experience offers them that maybe
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  a textbook or classroom
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  maybe couldn't?
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  No. It's a great question. You know, I'm
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  a big fan of the,
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  the man in the arena quote, and I
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  think this this kinda speaks to that, which
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  is experience is is the best,
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  perspective provider.
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  So for hospitals, you know, students can experience
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  all diverse kind of sets of what it
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  really looks like to care for patients. And
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  it's it's it's always rewarding. It's often rewarding.
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  It's,
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  not always exactly what you'd picture it would
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  be, but by gaining that real world experience,
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  you can really understand, hey. Is this something
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  that I can see myself doing?
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  You know, theory in classroom is important and
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  critical to the learning process, but that hands
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  on
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  putting knowledge to practice, putting experiential
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  learning, into the the kind of scaffold of
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  knowledge that these these folks have, just a
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  critical component to connecting to the why of
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  is this something that I that I'm passionate
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  about as a profession and and I could
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  see myself doing with my life?
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  Yeah. For sure. I mean, even for someone
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  like myself, like, to have that hands on
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  experience, I feel like would be,
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  more of
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  a, like, interest to me than maybe just
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  reading about it. Right? So, like, that is
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  such a important component of this. So well,
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  Robert, thank you so much for sharing more
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  about this volunteer program and and the examples
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  you provided today. Very important topic,
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  and it's been such a pleasure speaking with
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  you. We're excited to chat with you again
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  sometime soon. It's been a pleasure speaking with
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  you as well. Thank you very much for
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  the time. Thank you.