Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Tanner White, MBA, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer at Altru Devils Lake

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Tanner White, MBA, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer at Altru Devils Lake · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - This is Laura Dierdahl with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:01
  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 1:03
  - Tanner White, chief executive officer at Ultra Doubles
• 1:06
  - Lake. Tanner, it's a pleasure to have you
• 1:07
  - on the podcast today. Good morning, Laura. Thank
• 1:09
  - you so much for having me.
• 1:11
  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited for this conversation. I
• 1:14
  - know a lot happening in health care, so
• 1:15
  - it'll be great to get your perspective as
• 1:17
  - well as how you're thinking about the future.
• 1:18
  - But before we dig into that conversation, can
• 1:20
  - you tell us a little bit more about
• 1:22
  - yourself and your background?
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  - Yeah. I was born and raised in the
• 1:25
  - great state of North Dakota. I spent some
• 1:27
  - time as I've evolved in my career down
• 1:30
  - in South Dakota, but recently moved back up
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  - to the North Side.
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  - And, live in Ultra Devil's Lake. I've been
• 1:36
  - here for about fifteen months.
• 1:40
  - Fantastic. And, can you tell us a little
• 1:42
  - bit about Ultra Devil's Lake? Where is it
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  - positioned in the community, and and, what do
• 1:46
  - you know for? Yeah. Ultra Devil's Lake is
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  - located in that Northeastern region
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  - of North Dakota. We serve a population size
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  - of around 22,000,
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  - just given the 30 to 40 mile radius
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  - that we serve.
• 2:00
  - And we recently just surpassed our six month
• 2:02
  - mark as Altru Devil's Lake after being acquired
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  - by Altru on March 1 from CommonSpirit.
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  - Excellent.
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  - So given,
• 2:13
  - where you're at today, could you give us
• 2:15
  - a quick state of the union? What's gone
• 2:16
  - well so far, and what do you have
• 2:18
  - your eye on for the rest of 2027?
• 2:20
  - Yeah. It's been a busy six months,
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  - you know, since our transition.
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  - Working in our new EMR, we switched from
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  - Meditech over to Epic. We integrated
• 2:31
  - all of our ancillary services as we joined
• 2:34
  - the clinic
• 2:34
  - in Devil's Lake, which was already part of
• 2:36
  - Altru.
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  - And, honestly, Laura, just rebuilding our culture. And
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  - we've done all of that under the objectives
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  - to position Altru Devil's Lake as a health
• 2:46
  - care hub in North Central North Dakota,
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  - support a patient first hub and spoke care
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  - model,
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  - and improve the patient experience through customer service
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  - and facility improvement.
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  - Through all of that,
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  - we've doubled our average daily census. From a
• 3:00
  - year ago, we've seen an uptick in ER
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  - volumes by 20%
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  - and have expanded our market share to better
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  - serve the communities around us. And I just
• 3:09
  - can't thank the staff and providers enough for
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  - all the hard work they put in, the
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  - changes they've gone through,
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  - and for keeping high quality care as a
• 3:18
  - priority
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  - above everything else.
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  - Looking at the remainder
• 3:23
  - of 2026,
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  - we will just continue to assess the needs
• 3:27
  - of the community,
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  - analyze rural health transformation opportunities,
• 3:31
  - and implement our strategy effectively.
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  - We maintain a strong focus on building trust
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  - within our teams
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  - and with our community.
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  - We have an exceptional clinical care team, and
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  - our mission to make a difference for those
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  - we serve remains central
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  - to everything we do.
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  - I love that. And I think, you know,
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  - that question of access to care and, the
• 3:55
  - needs of the community is such a,
• 3:57
  - important one and one I hear coming from
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  - and sometimes often. So when you think about,
• 4:02
  - you know, access and how that,
• 4:05
  - has evolved and changed, Where have been some
• 4:07
  - of the the things that you're working on,
• 4:09
  - that have been successful, or what are you
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  - looking forward to, when you think about expanding
• 4:14
  - access and just making sure that the community
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  - has what they need in order to,
• 4:19
  - get the health care that is so important
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  - to them?
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  - Yeah. As we bring services back to this
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  - community, you know, we wanna keep care close
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  - to home. That's really been our model. Altru's
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  - been great at giving us the support we
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  - need from a staffing perspective,
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  - equipment upgrades,
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  - etcetera.
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  - And so we've really focused on two components
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  - of that. One is our inpatient,
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  - and swing bed status, making sure that we
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  - don't have to send patients out to receive
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  - care. And so I mentioned doubling that. That's
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  - been a really good thing. The other component
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  - is bringing more procedural areas closer to our
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  - our
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  - community.
• 4:59
  - We
• 5:00
  - launched a hand specialist, doctor Du, earlier this
• 5:03
  - spring, and we have plans to explore more
• 5:06
  - under ophthalmology as well as some other services
• 5:08
  - over the next three to six months.
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  - I love it. So, it'll be great to
• 5:13
  - see that expansion. But from your perspective too,
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  - I know there's a lot of challenges ahead.
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  - So what are some of the headwinds that
• 5:19
  - you have your eye on and you're preparing
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  - for? Well, there's a lot, like you mentioned.
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  - For sure, the primary headwind we are preparing
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  - for and quite frankly dealing with is workforce
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  - challenges.
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  - Since joining the Altru health system, we have
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  - been able to improve our reliance on locums
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  - and travelers, which I think is important
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  - for that continuity of care piece.
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  - But we just have more work to do.
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  - It's very challenging to bring work force to
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  - rural America. And here in Devil's Lake, we
• 5:47
  - are no exception.
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  - And I just see this as an ongoing
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  - challenge for us in the years ahead. We
• 5:52
  - are working hard with the community to make
• 5:55
  - this a joint effort. I think it has
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  - to be. It's important to leverage community partners
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  - to create a warm welcoming environment and make
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  - people feel at home when they are seen
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  - if we would be a good fit for
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  - them.
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  - And, additionally,
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  - having the right culture is just so vital.
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  - The generational
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  - workforce challenges we are seeing
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  - are that we have, you know, a more
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  - selective group, and we must be aware of
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  - that. We need to meet their demands.
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  - And we also need to have competitive wages,
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  - access to loan payback programs, incentives,
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  - and on and on.
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  - It's certainly a tough challenge for sure, but
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  - we look forward to working through it, building
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  - a strong health care team that allows us
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  - to take care of the community we serve.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. And, you
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  - know, it's really interesting to think about how
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  - the workforce is changing and what it takes
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  - from a health system and hospital perspective in
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  - order to stay on top of some of
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  - those things. And I know it's important to
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  - have the workforce in place when you're looking
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  - to grow and develop. So Mhmm.
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  - How are you thinking about that, and what
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  - are the opportunities that you're looking at when
• 7:01
  - you think about growth in the next couple
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  - years?
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  - Well, I mentioned our hospital recently being acquired
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  - by Altru
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  - effective March 1. Altru is also currently exploring
• 7:10
  - the acquisition of CHI Saint Alexis Health in
• 7:14
  - Bismarck as well as two other critical access
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  - hospitals from CommonSpirit.
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  - So it's exciting to be part of a
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  - growing system.
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  - So when you ask where our best opportunity
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  - to grow is, it's really looking at the
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  - West in our market share, capture opportunities there.
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  - So while it's exciting to be part of
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  - a growing system, we know we have a
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  - duty to do what is right for the
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  - community of Devil's Lake and bringing care close
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  - to home, operating efficiently, and providing the best
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  - possible care remain our focus.
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  - Got it. That that makes a lot of
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  - sense. And I know as a leader,
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  - it it's easier said than done to talk
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  - about focus and and keeping the team focused.
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  - And so how do you make sure that,
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  - you know, they're,
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  - everyone and you've got a culture in place
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  - that, you know, you're limiting the distractions and,
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  - focusing on what is most important?
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  - Yeah. It's all about, you know, living within
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  - our mission and making sure that
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  - our values align and that the employees and
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  - providers that we have
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  - have a connection to our mission, which is
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  - to make a difference for those we serve.
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  - And that mission
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  - is easy to connect to. Right? All of
• 8:21
  - us got into health care to to do
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  - just that. And so it's making sure that
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  - as we journey along that we're
• 8:28
  - riding that ship with them, not telling them
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  - what to do, making sure that they're,
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  - you know, giving us valuable input and we're
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  - listening to them.
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  - They're the ones by the bedside, and
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  - they know they will be willing to share
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  - with where we should go as we journey
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  - ahead.
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  - Makes a lot of sense. You know, I
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  - I love that focus and then being able
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  - to impart that onto the rest of the
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  - team is so critical.
• 8:55
  - Before we wrapped up here, I wanted to
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  - ask you about leadership.
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  - Who is a leader that you admire really
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  - from any industry and why?
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  - Yeah. That's a good question.
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  - He won't like me bringing up his name,
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  - but a health care executive I admire and
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  - to who I owe much of my health
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  - care journey to is a guy named Todd
• 9:13
  - Forkel. He happens to be the CEO of
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  - Altru Health System.
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  - What I admire about Todd is just his
• 9:20
  - ability to stay calm in the face of
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  - adversity.
• 9:22
  - He along with his diet partner, doctor Joshua
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  - Deer, who's the president of Altru,
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  - have taken Altru from some difficult times and
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  - grown our system into one with a very
• 9:33
  - bright future.
• 9:34
  - Todd has a servant leader mindset, and he
• 9:37
  - doesn't lose sight of what's important in how
• 9:39
  - we deliver care, enhance quality, and ensure efficient
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  - operations
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  - all while shifting our system
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  - to what we need to be to absorb
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  - and overcome the headwinds coming our way. I
• 9:51
  - appreciate what he's taught me throughout my journey,
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  - and I look forward to continuing to learn
• 9:55
  - from him for years to come.
• 9:57
  - Outside of health care,
• 9:59
  - I am an avid football fan, and so
• 10:02
  - I think there's a strong parallel between running
• 10:04
  - a football team and running a hospital team
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  - when you have to rely on your, you
• 10:08
  - know, position groups or your departments
• 10:10
  - all doing something different, but yet chasing a
• 10:14
  - common mission.
• 10:15
  - And so I've got a lot of inspiration
• 10:18
  - from head coaches like Nick Saban, Bell excuse
• 10:20
  - me, Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin, just to
• 10:23
  - name a few.
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  - Absolutely. I love that. I think especially
• 10:28
  - timely as the football season has been kicking
• 10:30
  - off here. And, you know, I think that
• 10:32
  - point about being able to be first and
• 10:34
  - foremost calm in the face of adversity and
• 10:37
  - then having
• 10:39
  - a organization and different departments all run together
• 10:42
  - toward a common goal,
• 10:44
  - is so important. So,
• 10:46
  - thank you so much, Dana, for jumping in
• 10:48
  - and in the podcast today and sharing with
• 10:50
  - us your perspective. And it really inspirational to
• 10:52
  - hear what you're doing at UltraDev was like.
• 10:54
  - So I appreciate your time and look forward
• 10:56
  - to connecting with you at our CEO, CFO
• 10:58
  - roundtable where I know you're speaking on a
• 11:00
  - panel. We'll dig deeper into many of the
• 11:02
  - things we talked about today. Thank you, Laura.