Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Fritz François, MD, Executive Vice President, Vice Dean, and Chief of Hospital Operations at NYU Langone Health

Transcript

Fritz François, MD, Executive Vice President, Vice Dean, and Chief of Hospital Operations at NYU Langone Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - 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 do they go
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  - to 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
• 0:49
  - upper right.
• 0:51
  - This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:53
  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 0:56
  - Fritz Francois, executive vice president and
• 0:59
  - vice dean as well as chief of hospital
• 1:01
  - operations at NYU Langone Health. Fritz, it's a
• 1:03
  - pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  - It is an absolute pleasure to join you,
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  - Laura.
• 1:09
  - Fantastic. Well, I'm looking forward to hearing more
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  - from you about some of the great things
• 1:13
  - you're doing at NYU Langone as well as
• 1:15
  - how you're thinking about the future. But before
• 1:17
  - we dig in, can you tell us a
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  - little bit more about yourself and your background?
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  - Sure. I am a,
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  - gastroenterologist
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  - by training, having done,
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  - medical school, my residency,
• 1:28
  - fellowship,
• 1:29
  - chief residency,
• 1:31
  - as well at, NYU Langone
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  - and had my entire career at NYU.
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  - So it's been a fantastic place to grow
• 1:39
  - as a, as a clinician,
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  - and also to contribute to the organization in
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  - various ways. That's great to hear. Now can
• 1:48
  - you give us just a quick state of
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  - the union? What's gone well this year, and
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  - what are you looking forward to for the
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  - rest of 2026?
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  - Sure. You know, there's so many really exciting
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  - things,
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  - that have happened, at NYU Langone. And I
• 2:00
  - will say that our focus over the past
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  - year has been first and foremost on on
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  - our culture, which is something that we we
• 2:08
  - continually
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  - work on. But the importance of that actually
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  - is that we have a culture of exceptionalism,
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  - and we believe that it's it's important to
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  - continue
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  - to, you know, to focus on our staff,
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  - focus on the opportunities,
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  - for growth,
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  - professional
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  - development.
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  - And as a reflection of that, you know,
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  - we've had a number of prestigious awards this
• 2:28
  - year, you know, recognizing us
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  - as
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  - a place where individuals
• 2:33
  - want to come and to have careers.
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  - We have focus on, on, you know, hiring,
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  - like, military veterans, people with disabilities,
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  - new graduates,
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  - having entry level, like, workers, etcetera,
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  - and that has contributed significantly
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  - to developing an amazing,
• 2:50
  - culture
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  - where it is about
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  - focusing
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  - on exceptionalism.
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  - So I would point to that as a
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  - key thing. The second
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  - is
• 3:00
  - focus on quality
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  - and safety. That's our brand.
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  - And as a reflection of all the work,
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  - amazing work that so many people have done,
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  - you know, this past year,
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  - we have been recognized by,
• 3:13
  - Visiant as the number one academic medical center
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  - for quality and safety, and we are extremely
• 3:20
  - proud of that. We have also been recognized
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  - by The US News and World Report where
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  - all 13 of our of our,
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  - specialties
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  - were ranked in the top 20.
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  - And
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  - we have also focused on innovation
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  - this year. And one of the best examples
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  - that I can share with you, Laura, is...
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  - Has to do with the the advancement
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  - of, of the science of xenotransplant
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  - by doctor Robert Montgomery. I mean, I can't
• 3:46
  - tell you how exciting,
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  - that work is, and it's just amazing to
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  - see
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  - that, that the the, the efforts that are
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  - going on that will have the potential to
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  - save so many lives in the years to
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  - come. And finally, one of the key things
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  - that that we've focused on this past year,
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  - we continue to focus on actually is has
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  - to do with, access.
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  - And, you know, the demand for our world
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  - class health care continues to increase, and we
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  - have continued
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  - to open up new ambulatory practices.
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  - We've,
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  - continued to engage,
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  - various partners, and and we are planning
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  - on new inpatient spaces.
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  - So those are some of the things in
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  - terms of the, you know, the state of
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  - the union, if you will, and what we've...
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  - We're continuing to work on for 2026.
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  - That's great to hear. And, you know, I,
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  - just... I can underscore the access challenge that
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  - you mentioned. I know it's something that a
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  - lot of some different hospitals and systems
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  - talk about when we speak with them across
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  - the board. And so,
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  - you know, opening new ambulatory as well as
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  - interesting that you're, expanding the inpatient spaces and
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  - to your point having, more,
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  - innovation going on within the organization as an
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  - academic system too doing the research and development
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  - there. So how do you balance
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  - all of that?
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  - You know, when when you're looking at hospital
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  - operations, there's so many things going on. How
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  - do you balance all that, get the right
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  - resources, the right places, and keep people focused
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  - on, you know, what's important today and revolutionary
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  - today as well as building for the future?
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  - It's a wonderful question, and I'll tell you
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  - that, part of the way that we do
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  - it. And so... And to your point, it's
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  - a lot of effort, but it's a... It
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  - it takes an incredibly dedicated team of, of
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  - individuals.
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  - And what we focus on... Again, I'll come
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  - back to this notion of trying to
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  - deliver the best possible care
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  - to our patients
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  - and being singularly focused on serving,
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  - the communities.
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  - And that's why when we think about how
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  - we actually are expanding, we think about
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  - where our patients are coming from. How can
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  - we bring the care to them? How can
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  - we engage,
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  - the communities in which they live
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  - so that we can ensure that it's not
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  - just these touch points, meaning that when they
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  - come to the clinic or where they come
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  - to the ED or the hospital,
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  - but we're also thinking about how do we
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  - ensure that when they transition back home that
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  - they have the support actually that they need
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  - and that we have an environment, a network
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  - that can support them close to their,
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  - to the... To where they live and where
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  - they work. That's been our philosophy, and and
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  - that's really a guiding principle for us.
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  - Absolutely. I I love that it seems like
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  - so critical and central to the mission of
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  - health care too is thinking about that patient
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  - first and how to engage them and really
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  - fulfill their needs. Now
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  - I know a lot of great things happening,
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  - but there's also some headwinds,
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  - upfront. So what are some of the big
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  - headwinds that you're thinking about and keeping an
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  - eye on for the future? Yeah. You know,
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  - you're absolutely correct, Laura. So as far as
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  - headwinds, you know, I would start with,
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  - the labor force. You know, the Thailand,
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  - pipeline is one that,
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  - we keep a very close eye on, and
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  - there are challenges there, especially as it relates
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  - to
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  - technical staff. And we wanna make sure that,
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  - that we have,
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  - the, you know, individuals
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  - who can
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  - fill the various roles. And the reality is
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  - that,
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  - there's...
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  - Some of those, positions
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  - are very difficult to, you know, to find
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  - the individuals
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  - either because,
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  - there's limited numbers who are going into those
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  - areas
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  - or there's the competition
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  - for a smaller pool, whether, you know, like
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  - farm... Pharmacy
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  - techs or radiology techs, etcetera. And so that's,
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  - that's a challenge.
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  - The second is, you know, though we... I
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  - mentioned that we're working on on access, but
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  - capacity is a challenge, you know, in terms...
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  - And the reason for that is... Has to
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  - do with the fact that we have an
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  - aging population
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  - where the demand for health care actually is
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  - increasing.
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  - And so the... As we continue
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  - to expand, we realize that that demand continues
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  - to be there. And so we're... We have
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  - to be creative in terms of how we
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  - think about
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  - care delivery models,
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  - not just in the traditional
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  - way, but also thinking about care at home.
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  - And so capacity is yet an, is a
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  - headwind that we have to consider... That we
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  - keep an eye on. And the third,
• 8:17
  - I would say would be, cybersecurity.
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  - And it is... Has a significant potential, obviously,
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  - for a disruption.
• 8:25
  - And not only is it a threat to
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  - hospitals and health care facilities, but also
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  - our partners. Meaning, think about the the supply
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  - chain and how that might be disrupted,
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  - financial organizations, etcetera.
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  - So it is something that we are prepared
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  - for, and and we know that it is
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  - a headwind. It's just on... Unfortunately, the reality
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  - that we live in, that we live in.
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  - But I do see it as a significant
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  - headwind.
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  - Absolutely. I think that makes a lot of
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  - sense. And, you know, when you look at
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  - things like cybersecurity or, supply chain disruptions that
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  - are likely coming, but you just don't really
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  - necessarily
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  - know when or where or or, just the
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  - the capacity for that. And so there's a
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  - element of uncertainty involved. How do you prepare
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  - for those things that,
• 9:11
  - you know, are are largely uncertain, but, you
• 9:12
  - know, you need a strong foundation with the
• 9:14
  - teams in order to overcome when they do
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  - happen? Yeah. It's a... Yeah. We're really glad
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  - you asked. You know, one of the key
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  - things for us that we learned many years
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  - ago, and it goes back to,
• 9:24
  - believe it or not, Superstorm Sandy, where we
• 9:27
  - weren't as prepared as we could be. And
• 9:30
  - for the very first time in our entire
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  - entire history, like, you know, our... The hospital
• 9:34
  - was completely shut down.
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  - Oh, like, everything stopped literally. We could not
• 9:39
  - take care of patients. The hospital was closed.
• 9:42
  - We had to find other places to educate
• 9:44
  - our our students for a time. The research
• 9:47
  - mission was disrupted.
• 9:48
  - And moving forward, what we did is that
• 9:50
  - we started, doing these tabletop exercises. We developed
• 9:55
  - the,
• 9:56
  - emergency management and enterprise resilience group
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  - that help us to do... Develop what I
• 10:02
  - call the what if
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  - culture. Meaning, what if this happens? What would
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  - we do? How prepared are we? Can we
• 10:09
  - develop plans?
• 10:10
  - And since that time, every year, we do
• 10:13
  - at least two or sometimes three
• 10:16
  - tabletop exercises where we make up scenarios,
• 10:19
  - and we, you know, stress test them. And,
• 10:21
  - you know, how good we think we we
• 10:23
  - are... How well are we are we prepared
• 10:25
  - for, let's say, a major storm or it
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  - might be, again, like a cybersecurity incident
• 10:31
  - or it might be an active shooter, etcetera.
• 10:33
  - But I believe our our, teams actually go
• 10:37
  - through these scenarios
• 10:38
  - and prepare for what might be possible.
• 10:41
  - And one of the things that I'm most
• 10:43
  - proud of of this organization, Laura, is that,
• 10:46
  - one of the the cyber... One of the
• 10:48
  - tabletop exercises that we did
• 10:51
  - occurred on 01/08/2020.
• 10:55
  - And the scenario that we made up, completely
• 10:58
  - made up, is what if there was an
• 11:00
  - outbreak of a respiratory virus?
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  - On 01/08/2020,
• 11:04
  - the entire leadership team with the
• 11:07
  - dean convened
• 11:08
  - to think about and to work through that
• 11:10
  - scenario.
• 11:11
  - And, of course, the reason I stressed that
• 11:13
  - date, 01/08/2020,
• 11:16
  - was, this was before anyone knew that there
• 11:19
  - was going to be an outbreak
• 11:21
  - of, you know, of COVID and came a
• 11:24
  - pandemic. So believe it or not, we literally
• 11:27
  - prepared
• 11:28
  - for a scenario that eventually
• 11:30
  - came to fruition.
• 11:32
  - And so we had a lead time in
• 11:34
  - terms of thinking about all the things that
• 11:36
  - one can think about as far as the
• 11:38
  - supplies, where would a patient go, like, how
• 11:40
  - would we manage this. So that has been
• 11:42
  - a a really important element for us as
• 11:45
  - part of our culture, which is what if.
• 11:47
  - Just being prepared, as prepared as one can
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  - be.
• 11:52
  - Wow. How fortuitous
• 11:54
  - that you have that exercise and, you know,
• 11:56
  - it's just,
• 11:58
  - coincidence,
• 11:59
  - is really stunning there. But being prepared and
• 12:02
  - having that ability to know how things are
• 12:04
  - gonna go, I can imagine,
• 12:07
  - makes things a little bit more easy to
• 12:09
  - to come once they do come down the
• 12:10
  - line. Absolutely.
• 12:12
  - Excellent. And, you know, I think on the
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  - other side of the coin too, I know
• 12:15
  - there's a lot of opportunities for growth. And
• 12:17
  - so could you talk a little bit more
• 12:18
  - about that? How are you thinking about growth
• 12:20
  - over the next two to three years or
• 12:21
  - so?
• 12:22
  - Yeah. You know, I'm glad you're asked because,
• 12:23
  - you know, our approach to think, to growth
• 12:26
  - is is to think about, again, like, be...
• 12:28
  - What do our patients need? And we and
• 12:30
  - we... Our... That patient centered
• 12:32
  - approach to things has allowed us to identify
• 12:35
  - several areas based on
• 12:37
  - what what we're seeing. Like...
• 12:39
  - And they include neurology,
• 12:42
  - and that that makes sense when you consider,
• 12:44
  - you know, what I mentioned before about the
• 12:46
  - aging population.
• 12:48
  - Cancer care is another, and that spans the
• 12:51
  - gamut in terms of,
• 12:52
  - you know, various, areas,
• 12:55
  - not only in terms of,
• 12:57
  - adults, but also even,
• 12:59
  - childhood
• 13:00
  - cancers.
• 13:01
  - Cardiovascular
• 13:01
  - medicine
• 13:02
  - is, something else that we see that there
• 13:05
  - is going to be,
• 13:07
  - continue to be, growth opportunities, and that includes
• 13:11
  - not only the the prototypical
• 13:13
  - cardiovascular
• 13:14
  - health, but also cardiometabolic
• 13:16
  - disease and the approach to such and the
• 13:18
  - shift in in the way in which things
• 13:20
  - have shifted
• 13:21
  - with new medications that are currently in existence
• 13:24
  - and those coming down the pike.
• 13:26
  - Orthopedics,
• 13:27
  - is yet another area again because of the
• 13:30
  - aging population
• 13:31
  - and the,
• 13:33
  - the innovations that have occurred actually in those
• 13:35
  - in those areas.
• 13:36
  - We think that there's growth there. And and
• 13:38
  - finally, behavioral health,
• 13:41
  - which is, another area that we continue to
• 13:44
  - see, very, very high demand. And so I
• 13:46
  - would highlight those actually as, in the next
• 13:49
  - two or three years, actually, as being a
• 13:51
  - very big opportunities of growth.
• 13:54
  - That makes a ton of sense. You know,
• 13:57
  - I I love it. And definitely is exciting
• 13:59
  - to hear those spaces where adding services and
• 14:02
  - advancing some of the technologies and innovation in
• 14:04
  - them,
• 14:05
  - really now provide opportunities for that additional capacity
• 14:09
  - in better patient outcomes.
• 14:10
  - Absolutely.
• 14:12
  - Now before we wrap up here, I'm curious.
• 14:14
  - Who's a leader, really, from any industry that
• 14:16
  - you admire and why?
• 14:18
  - No.
• 14:20
  - So it's a great question. I have a...
• 14:21
  - Yeah. I could point to a number of
• 14:23
  - of of individuals, historical figures, etcetera. But if
• 14:26
  - if I focus on more
• 14:28
  - of,
• 14:30
  - modern,
• 14:31
  - individuals,
• 14:32
  - you know, one person stands out to me,
• 14:34
  - and,
• 14:35
  - one of the individuals that stands out actually
• 14:37
  - is, Jensen Huang. And the reason for that
• 14:40
  - actually is a... Is that, you know, when
• 14:42
  - you read about,
• 14:44
  - Jensen Huang, he's a
• 14:46
  - visionary leader who also has, you know, like
• 14:50
  - a more of a long,
• 14:52
  - long time horizon
• 14:54
  - where he's really
• 14:56
  - looking at things in a way
• 14:58
  - where it's very much about the future.
• 15:01
  - And he reminds me almost like as somebody
• 15:03
  - who's not a... Like a distance
• 15:05
  - runner as opposed to a sprinter. He's in
• 15:07
  - it for the long haul. He understands what
• 15:09
  - it's gonna take, and there's going to be
• 15:11
  - sort of a cadence to how things develop.
• 15:14
  - And with that in mind, he's willing to,
• 15:17
  - to pivot
• 15:18
  - as things change. And when you look at
• 15:21
  - what has happened to his company and how
• 15:23
  - he's actually has evolved both personally as well
• 15:25
  - as with companies, you know, that certainly speaks
• 15:28
  - to it that that he has,
• 15:31
  - changed with the various opportunities,
• 15:33
  - not being,
• 15:34
  - sclerotic
• 15:35
  - in terms of the way he thinks.
• 15:38
  - And there's another element, which I also think
• 15:40
  - is important as a as a leader that,
• 15:42
  - he embodies, which is a level of authenticity
• 15:46
  - and transparency,
• 15:47
  - frankly, with, what is going on. Like, you
• 15:50
  - know, if, you know, where it's not about
• 15:51
  - just sometimes mistakes... He makes mistakes or things.
• 15:54
  - They are setbacks
• 15:56
  - and willing to talk about it. So
• 15:59
  - I... And and the reason that I that
• 16:01
  - I that I came up as as, as
• 16:03
  - an example is because
• 16:04
  - what I just described are things that are
• 16:06
  - important to us at NYU Langone Health as
• 16:09
  - an organization and and something that
• 16:12
  - our leaders also believe in. In other words,
• 16:14
  - this notion of being,
• 16:16
  - visionary,
• 16:17
  - having a long view, understanding
• 16:19
  - that in health care that we're not in
• 16:22
  - it just for a minute, but rather thinking
• 16:25
  - about where are we going to be three
• 16:27
  - years from now, five years, even ten years
• 16:30
  - from now. Where are things going, and how
• 16:31
  - do we plant seeds that will bear fruit?
• 16:34
  - And being authentic and transparent.
• 16:38
  - We absolutely believe actually in transparency. And similar
• 16:40
  - to
• 16:41
  - how Jensen actually uses data and he thinks
• 16:43
  - about innovation,
• 16:45
  - we have also,
• 16:47
  - you know, use
• 16:48
  - and leverage
• 16:49
  - data and built, like, you know, analytics, you
• 16:53
  - know, an analytics
• 16:54
  - center with dashboards
• 16:56
  - that allow us to keep a finger on
• 16:58
  - the pulse of
• 16:59
  - what's going on, and it allows us to
• 17:01
  - pivot. Again, similarly to how actually
• 17:04
  - is, his latest company. So he is a
• 17:07
  - leader that I would point to as someone
• 17:08
  - that I admire in terms of what he's
• 17:10
  - done in different industry than health care, certainly,
• 17:13
  - but similar characteristics
• 17:15
  - in terms of what's important
• 17:17
  - and how, you know, he can continue
• 17:19
  - to innovate and think about the future.
• 17:24
  - Absolutely. I love that. I think all those
• 17:26
  - points are so critical when you look at,
• 17:28
  - you know, where... What it takes to be
• 17:29
  - a visionary, how to build that vision, and
• 17:31
  - then execute on it. So,
• 17:33
  - I love that. Fritz, thank you so much
• 17:35
  - for joining us on the podcast today. This
• 17:37
  - has been such a fun conversation. You know,
• 17:39
  - really covered a lot of ground, and it
• 17:41
  - was great to to learn and hear from
• 17:43
  - you. And I know you'll be speaking at
• 17:44
  - our CEO, CFO roundtable, so I look forward
• 17:46
  - to continuing the conversation in November.
• 17:49
  - It was my pleasure, Laura. Thank you for
• 17:51
  - the invitation.