Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Robert Poznanovich, Chief Growth Officer at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

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Robert Poznanovich, Chief Growth Officer at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:01
  The Becker's team is excited to announce the
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  launch of our new CFO and Revenue Cycle
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  podcast.
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  Tune in for conversations with finance experts from
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  the top hospitals and health systems. We'll discuss
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  key trends and ideas to drive meaningful change
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  in the industry. Look for Becker's CFO and
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  Revenue Cycle podcast wherever you listen to episodes.
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  This is Scott King with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  Bob Poznanovich,
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  chief growth officer at Hazelyn Betty Ford Foundation.
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  Bob, how's it going? Thanks so much for
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  joining us today. Hey. Great, Scott. Thanks for
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  having me. I think we're gonna have a
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  great conversation and kinda dive into, you know,
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  a lot of the big opportunities and challenges
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  in health care today. But before we dive
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  into all that, can you please just tell
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  us a little bit more about yourself and
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  your background?
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  Sure.
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  I am the chief growth officer at Hazel
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  and Betty Ford, which has lots of different
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  areas of responsibility
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  in developing the relationships and partnerships
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  with the business the business to business communities
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  that refer patients to us and partner with
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  us. But I also represent
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  the entire,
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  enterprise
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  as far as making,
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  our product services,
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  available,
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  to the communities we serve. And as a
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  nonprofit, we have a long history
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  of knowledge sharing. So it's trying to create
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  those pathways that help it help more patients
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  get help and for us to share our
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  knowledge,
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  with the industry.
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  I've been here for about fifteen years, and
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  prior to that, I was the founder and
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  CIO of AIR Health, which is a behavioral
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  health company.
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  And then prior to that, I did,
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  twenty years in the high-tech, mostly startups.
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  Wonderful. Appreciate you sharing all the background. I
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  feel very interesting.
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  And getting getting to the great work
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  at Betty Ford, I'm just curious what
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  accomplishments you're most proud of from the past
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  year.
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  Yeah. I think well, I think in the
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  past the past year has been yeah. I
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  think we if we look at the addiction
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  treatment world today and we look at the
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  changing patient
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  expectations
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  and then the patient needs, I think the
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  thing that I'm most proud of, I think
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  that we're most proud of, that we accomplished,
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  last year
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  is
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  our evolution of our mission
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  and our care to do more integration
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  of mental health and substance use and to
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  create new
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  co occurring
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  mental health and substance use substance use disorder
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  programs,
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  and that we're opening up new service lines
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  and new facilities to support the growing needs
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  of these more complex patients. I would also
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  say I I I
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  do wanna miss the thing I think that
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  we're most proud of too. One of the
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  things that we're most proud of too is
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  that last this year, we celebrated our seventy
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  fifth anniversary. You know, Hazel Betty Ford was
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  one of the pioneers in addiction treatment. They're
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  founded back in 1949.
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  And then in 1982, we merged with the
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  Betty Ford Center who also celebrated,
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  you know, its fortieth anniversary. So we had
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  a lot of years of of first or
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  or or or years of recognition last year.
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  But I think also that,
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  our continued focus through some general
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  generation generation of,
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  of donations
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  generous donations that we've been able to establish
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  a national center for for family and children
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  so that we could continue to evolve treatment
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  to the families, which is really important in
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  need, and to children whose parents are struggling
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  with substance use that we continue to expand,
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  you know, our research and care and to
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  share that knowledge and care with anybody in
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  The US who needs that help.
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  I wanna ask you about
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  technology.
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  I'm sure, obviously, developments technology help
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  you and your colleagues with the work you
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  do with Betty Ford. But is it also
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  does it also create challenges when you're when
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  you're dealing with patients and people you're trying
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  to help and and
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  how there's such easy access to things that
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  they might be abusing or attempted to abuse?
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  Yeah. I mean, that that's a really good
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  question. I think that that's one of I
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  think our challenges moving forward
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  is
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  how do we meet the changing expectations
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  of consumers
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  as it relates
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  to how they want how they
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  look for care,
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  how they engage in care, and what they
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  expect care to look like.
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  One of the initiatives that we're working on
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  and that we've worked on
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  over the last couple of years is to
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  create
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  new digital patient pathways
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  to kind of make make help us meet
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  patients where they're at
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  in not only their disease, but also in
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  their decision making process.
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  So we can make care more accessible
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  and easier to access,
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  more confidential.
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  And I think,
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  you know, we're faced with some of the
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  challenges of emerging new of new tech companies,
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  you know, who keep moving into the the
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  behavioral health space
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  who,
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  you know, are are are bringing a lot
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  of solutions to market quickly. And how do
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  we compete with that while we're still holding
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  true to, you know, our long term model
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  of care? You know, combining that that science,
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  evidence based therapies with spiritual, mental, physical well-being,
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  as well as communities. I think that's the
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  challenge for us is to be true to
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  our model, but also to evolve it in
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  a digital world.
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  What are the big organizational goals you've set
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  for 2025?
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  To continue to integrate
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  and expand,
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  our mental health
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  and substance use treatment
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  and to continue to to hire,
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  the staff recruit and hire and retain the
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  staff that is qualified
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  to
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  deliver these different,
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  forms of treatment,
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  to meet
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  the, again, the complexities of the patients,
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  that we're seeing.
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  What headwinds do you anticipate for the next
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  year or two? Well,
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  that's a great question. If you, you know,
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  I think if you think of us as
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  an organization,
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  I think that we're we've got a lot
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  of challenge. I mean, the things that pop
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  up always are, you know, payer payer reimbursement
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  rates.
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  I think if you look at digital security,
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  you know, and and rev cycle management and
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  staff retention, as I mentioned, I think those
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  are all the issues facing,
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  the organizations. If I think about me specifically,
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  you know, in in my organizational
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  growth,
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  I think,
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  I think it is,
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  continue to grow demand
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  and to understand,
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  the changing
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  patterns of consumers
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  to to find effective,
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  ways to acquire patients,
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  while the cost of acquisition is growing.
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  I think we see a lot of patients
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  today using kind of that word, that shopper,
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  who are more confused trying to navigate behavioral
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  health, you know, as ever before.
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  I think many of them are turning to
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  doctor Google
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  and,
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  you know, finding easy access on ramps
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  that,
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  may not be what they need, but maybe
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  what what they were trying to do. And
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  then what happens to those patients and where
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  do they fit fall into,
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  the cracks when, you know, those levels of
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  intervention
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  don't provide the help they need?
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  You know, what do they do next? I
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  think, you know, the headwind is
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  is trying to,
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  look at new ways to to engage patients
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  and to provide the services that they're looking
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  for and then to expand our continuum
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  to support them in the way they wanna
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  be supported so that, you know, the emphasis
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  on digital and virtual product development will be
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  important.
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  You shared a lot about your career at
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  the start of the podcast.
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  How are you evolving as a
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  leader?
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  That's a really good question too.
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  Yeah. We we put a lot of work
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  into our DEI initiatives this year,
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  and I think that that's opened my eyes
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  to opportunity for inclusion.
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  I think as an individual,
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  I am
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  really working to understand
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  the crossroads
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  of traditional patient care
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  and and the digital world. So I personally
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  been investing a lot of time and effort
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  into,
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  technology,
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  AI,
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  and,
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  growing need to bring technology into all of
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  our patient interactions.
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  And one of my areas of responsibility
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  is our first call for help teams. And,
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  you know, how do we continue to evolve
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  that patient journey? How do we use AI
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  to help make our
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  first call for help,
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  staff
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  more effective?
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  And, you know, how do we use technology
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  to better understand
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  our patients, their needs, and to personalized care
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  for them? You know, on a on another
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  personal level, since we're talking today, Skye, I
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  will share that. I am excited today to
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  to that I am celebrating my thirtieth year
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  of recovery.
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  Not only am I a Hazel and exec,
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  but, thirty years ago, I was a Hazel
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  and Betty Ford patient.
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  And I think, you know,
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  living my life's journey in recovery,
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  being able to mix that combination of business
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  and recovery
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  experience
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  to helping us guide, you know, where we
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  need to go in the future and then
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  also, you know, how I practice those principles
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  at all of my affairs,
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  you know, within, our organization
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  has been something that I've been focusing on.
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  Well, a big congratulations on that, Bob, and
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  thank you very much for sharing. I'm sure
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  that experience has made you a huge asset
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  to everybody you're helping over there. And thanks
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  so much for joining us. It was a
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  great conversation, and I look forward to working
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  with you again soon. Thank you. Thank you
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  very much.