Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Dr. Mike Guertin, MD, MBA, CPE, FASA, Professor of Anesthesiology & Chief Perioperative Medical Director, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Transcript

Dr. Mike Guertin, MD, MBA, CPE, FASA, Professor of Anesthesiology & Chief Perioperative Medical Director, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
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  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 0:35
  My name is Will Riley from r one.
• 0:38
  I'm joined today by Mike Guertin. Mike is
• 0:41
  the professor of anesthesiology
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  and chief perioperative medical director
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  at the Ohio State University
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  Wexner Medical Center.
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  Welcome to the podcast, Mike. Thank you. Well,
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  good morning. Good morning. Good morning.
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  So to start us off, tell us a
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  little bit about your role. Tell us a
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  little bit about, Wexner Medical Center, the communities
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  that you serve there.
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  So I started as
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  obviously a professor of anesthesiology
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  and as an anesthesiologist
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  many years ago at Ohio State.
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  I had the opportunity then to
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  stay at the university in an adjunct role,
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  but help start the first physician owned ambulatory
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  surgery center in Central Ohio back in 1998
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  when that industry
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  was really in its early stages.
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  And then twelve years ago, I came back
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  to the university and
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  was initially the medical director of ambulatory surgical
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  services. And then during the pandemic, this role
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  was created chief perioperative medical director.
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  And really the goal of that was to
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  combine
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  all of the pavilions. We have 12 different
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  places,
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  pavilions where we do surgery.
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  And rather than having them work independently
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  and in silos,
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  really bring everything together so that we could
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  function as a system and provide better access
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  for patients, better access for the surgeons who
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  need to care for those patients,
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  and make sure that we could really do
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  things
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  in a more efficient manner.
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  Got it. Okay. Fantastic.
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  Tell us a bit about,
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  the
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  community that you serve and some of the
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  broader
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  organizational
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  priorities that you're working under right now.
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  So we have a new strategic
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  initiative that was just created in the last
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  two years
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  by our CEO who came to us several
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  years ago,
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  and he has helped to create the strategic
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  initiative that really the goal is what we've
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  always been is one of the major
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  health systems for the state of Ohio. And,
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  really, our goal is to continue and to
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  grow that even more,
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  recognizing that as an academic
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  quaternary
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  academic
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  health system,
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  we really do provide care for people across
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  the state with some of the innovative
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  and advanced things that we can do.
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  But, also, we want to make sure that
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  we don't lose sight of the fact that
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  we also want patients to be able to
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  come to us for
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  their routine
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  straightforward
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  health care
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  and provide that health care. So really being
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  a
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  an academic health system that provides
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  the complete
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  full circle of care for patients
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  is really our goal. And strategically,
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  part of that is partnering with hospitals across
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  the state
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  to
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  help them as well to grow their programs,
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  the things that we can help them to
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  grow,
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  and
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  provide
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  assistance
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  and guidance with all of those initiatives and
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  priorities that they have in their communities. Okay.
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  Our community in Central Ohio is growing.
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  It is the second largest
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  city,
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  metropolitan
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  city in the Midwest behind Chicago,
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  and Columbus is growing exponentially.
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  So our goal is to continue to grow
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  as well to make sure we can serve
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  all of the people that are coming into
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  Central Ohio
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  and serve them in an efficient manner,
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  giving them the access that they need to
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  the high quality health care that we provide.
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  Got it. Excellent. Okay. Thank you for that
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  for that background.
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  So, Mike, I'd like to talk to you
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  about technology and innovation.
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  So, historically,
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  health care has moved
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  fairly conservatively
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  when it comes to the adoption of new
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  technologies,
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  I think it's safe to say.
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  But it feels a bit different now with
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  AI. It feels like that that technology is
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  being embraced
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  with more enthusiasm
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  and and more speed.
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  Do you see that from your vantage point?
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  Absolutely. I think you're you're very right when
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  you say that in the past, and that
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  was a very kind way of putting it,
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  that health care has been conservative.
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  And and there's a number of reasons for
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  that because of what we do. It's very
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  sensitive, and we're not dealing with
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  commodities. We're dealing with people, and
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  it's things that are very sensitive to them.
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  So we've had to be conservative, but that
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  has made us sometimes go slower
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  than other industries and lag behind.
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  I think now we're seeing that change, and
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  health care is really in the forefront of
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  a lot of these
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  technologies that are coming about.
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  And when we think about AI, I think
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  there's really a great opportunity for health care
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  to advance
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  in how we care for patients
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  and in how patients
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  are able
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  to get the information they need to take
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  better care of themselves and prepare themselves for
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  the care that we can deliver. So I
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  think that AI is is very important and
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  all the technologies that go around that Right.
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  That allow us to be more efficient.
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  One of the things that's really important, people
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  oftentimes think that, well, if we have AI,
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  we'll need less people in health care, and
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  I don't think that's the case. I think
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  that what it really is is creating more
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  efficiency
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  so that the people that are in health
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  care can spend more time
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  face to face with patients and talking to
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  patients, helping patients directly,
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  and less time searching for information
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  in a on a computer. Mhmm. Using that
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  technology for those kinds of things. And then
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  on the business side of it also, making
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  sure that we have all the things that
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  we need to make sure that our billing
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  is done correctly,
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  make sure that we are
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  any of the policies, procedures,
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  processes
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  that we have created are being followed.
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  And if they're not,
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  have flags that are put up for people
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  to say, hey, we need to do this.
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  So I think utilizing that technology is really
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  important and critical and doesn't eliminate jobs. It
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  actually makes the people
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  who are performing those jobs
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  be more effective. And and really, they they
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  end up being more fulfilled with the roles
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  that they're doing because, again, they spend less
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  time in front of a computer, more time
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  in front of a patient. Yeah. Okay. I'd
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  love to hear about some examples of some
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  of the work that you've been doing in
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  that regard.
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  Before we do that, I want to ask
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  you about how you're going about innovation.
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  In in in health care innovation, you often
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  hear about two
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  sort of archetypes, incumbents,
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  people who are the large
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  health care providers or large payers or large
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  technology
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  providers. Right? And insurgents,
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  disruptors,
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  new entrants, be that on the clinical side
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  or just pure technology
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  side, the these two sort of dimensions sort
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  of or these two characters sort of meet.
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  How how are you looking at innovation through
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  that lens? Are you
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  the incumbent who's getting it done on your
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  own? Are you do you see yourself as
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  an insurgent, or are you using some disruptive
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  new startups and new technologies?
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  Well, I think it has to be a
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  combination of both of those. I think you
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  have to work with the teams that that
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  you have
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  and with the technology partners that are the
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  large technology partners that are already
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  well
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  entrenched in your organization.
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  And then also be willing
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  to look at some of the newer
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  technologies that come about that are maybe from
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  smaller
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  companies
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  that really potentially help to augment, not eliminate,
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  but augment what you're doing on a larger
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  scale. Mhmm. So I think you have to
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  have an innovative mindset. You have to be
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  willing to look at things in a different
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  way,
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  but you have to look at them completely.
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  You can't just
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  pick the the new shiny toy every time
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  it comes out. You have to really spend
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  time
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  looking into it and really doing your
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  research into how is this gonna help us
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  and how does it work and how can
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  we utilize this. How can we make it
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  better? A lot of times, it's helping the
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  companies to create these, give them insights from
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  a clinical standpoint so that we can clinically
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  be better.
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  And you're trying to create a sort of
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  system, right, a system view,
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  a systematic approach, right, as you think about
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  the perioperative
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  experience, I would I would imagine. Right? Absolutely.
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  Yeah. Tell us about tell us about that
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  then, and tell us about how technology is
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  helping that that experience.
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  Well, the perioperative experience really starts when the
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  patient sees the surgeon in the office and
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  they make the decision to have surgery.
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  And from that point forward, we need to
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  really work in an efficient manner to prepare
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  the patient to make sure we put them
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  in the we schedule their surgery in the
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  right pavilion.
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  So for example, at Ohio State, we have
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  ambulatory surgery centers. We have hospital outpatient departments,
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  and we have multiple hospitals.
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  And if we
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  can have patients scheduled in the appropriate pavilion
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  that provides the best level of care for
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  them, makes it the most convenient that we
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  can make it for them, but also then
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  reserves the highest acuity
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  locations for the patients who need that higher
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  level of care,
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  then we can provide better access and better
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  overall care for everybody.
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  And using technology is really important in that
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  because when a patient decides
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  and and with their surgeon that they need
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  to have surgery, they don't wanna wait
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  weeks to figure out what do I where
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  am I gonna have my surgery? Now in
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  some instances, they need to have some preoperative
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  testing done that may take a little bit
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  of time, but those are more of the
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  rare instances. Most often,
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  we can get patients in within twenty four
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  to forty eight hours, have them have get
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  all their information,
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  go through all that information, and then make
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  sure that we can
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  have their surgery scheduled in the most appropriate
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  location.
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  Sometimes that can be done on the spot
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  Mhmm. When they see the surgeon if they
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  don't have a lot
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  of comorbidities
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  that we need to consider or if the
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  surgery itself lends itself to one particular
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  type of surgical
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  location.
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  But on many other instances, we have to
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  go through all of those
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  other
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  parts of their medical history and the type
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  of procedure they're having, and having
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  technology to help us do that to really
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  go through, comb through everything that's available in
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  the chart
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  Right. And condense all of that so that
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  we can make decisions based on all the
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  information
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  and then
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  provide that information to the patient in a
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  meaningful way so that the patient understands. Here
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  are the things that I need to do.
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  Here's how I need to do it. And
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  those are people that that
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  person to person first
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  contact needs to be
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  preserved
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  so that
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  patients get that contact, that information
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  from another person. Now gathering the information
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  to give to them first can be done
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  by the computer by technology and then sending
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  reminders
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  after that
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  person to person contact
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  that those are things that really make it
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  better for the patient,
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  reduce
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  delays, cancellations,
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  inconveniences
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  for the patient, and that's where technology can
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  really help us to be more efficient in
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  doing that. How about after the surgical
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  experience, after the after the encounter, how do
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  you continue to use technology there?
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  Absolutely. Getting information
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  as patients are seen postoperatively
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  as they report,
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  giving them easier ways to report, I had
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  this happen, that people don't wanna sit on
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  a phone waiting for somebody
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  to answer a phone listening to the the
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  comfortable music that and they're on hold for
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  a while. We need to make that
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  easier for them to do and then be
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  able to gather all that information together
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  to treat them and then keep that information
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  in a database that will allow us to
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  determine are there things we could be doing
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  differently to improve outcomes and reduce some of
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  those things that occur postoperatively.
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  So, again, technology helps us to do all
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  of of that. If you can use technology
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  to smooth that clinician and that, that patient
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  experience, then there should be some knock on
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  administrative benefits as well. Is that right? Can
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  you talk about those? Absolutely. I I think
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  that, clearly, the
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  other side of this is the administrative side
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  and helping to
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  make sure that we can do billing in
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  an efficient manner and make sure we're billing
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  accurately
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  because we wanna make sure that we are
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  being compensated
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  for the things and be reimbursed for the
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  things we're doing, but reimbursed accurately.
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  And by using that technology, that administrative side
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  of it and, again, it allows us to
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  to also
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  give
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  our health care workers the tools that they
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  need so that they can function within the,
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  policies and boundaries that we've created in our
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  organization.
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  So both from an HR standpoint and from
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  a financial
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  standpoint, these technologies can help us again to
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  be more efficient. Mhmm. And we are using
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  those now.
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  But I think as these technologies continue to
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  evolve
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  and companies do come along with new ways
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  of utilizing this technology,
• 14:30
  and, again, they learn from the things that
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  we help them to learn. We can give
• 14:34
  them insights and here's the things that we
• 14:36
  see, and then they can develop. So, again,
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  it's a team approach with the
• 14:41
  developers of this technology to help them to
• 14:43
  provide what we need and what can best
• 14:46
  serve our patients and the people caring for
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  our patients.
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  So technology is playing a
• 14:51
  much more significant role in the provision of
• 14:54
  care, the administration of the health system, the
• 14:56
  patient experience.
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  What does that mean in terms of your
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  responsibilities
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  in developing the next generation
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  of leaders, and how are you preparing them
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  for this more technology first,
• 15:09
  environment?
• 15:10
  Well, one of the things that I have
• 15:12
  been very fortunate
• 15:13
  to do, I
• 15:15
  in 2019,
• 15:16
  I became the director of leadership development in
• 15:19
  the College of Medicine.
• 15:21
  It is a center
• 15:22
  called faculty advancement
• 15:24
  mentoring engagement, FAIM.
• 15:27
  And in FAME, we have a leadership development,
• 15:30
  and I have been able to, run that,
• 15:32
  direct that
• 15:34
  for many years now. We had the faculty
• 15:37
  leadership institute, and what I did was really
• 15:40
  focus that on developing relational skills. There was
• 15:42
  a very good article in Harvard Business Review
• 15:45
  a number of years ago that talked about
• 15:47
  what are the skills that health care leaders,
• 15:49
  physicians,
• 15:50
  and other health care clinicians really need to
• 15:53
  be successful as they advance in leadership.
• 15:56
  And relational skills are the things that are
• 15:58
  really important because
• 16:00
  you can be the smartest person in the
• 16:02
  room, but if you can't communicate and relate
• 16:04
  to other people, they'll never learn from your
• 16:07
  intelligence and from all the things you can
• 16:08
  bring. So you need to be able to
• 16:09
  relate to people in an effective way, the
• 16:12
  members on your team. So that leadership, those
• 16:14
  relational skills are very important.
• 16:16
  And now we have also created
• 16:19
  a new program that focuses more on the
• 16:22
  technical leadership and administrative skills that leaders need.
• 16:26
  And when I started the when I took
• 16:28
  over the I didn't start the program. When
• 16:29
  I took it over in 2019,
• 16:32
  we had
• 16:33
  30 faculty in the College of Medicine, and
• 16:36
  now we have over 70 faculty,
• 16:39
  and we've included over the years all seven
• 16:41
  of the health sciences at Ohio State. So
• 16:44
  we've really and that creates really that network
• 16:47
  of people because people bring different perspectives, and
• 16:49
  they work together in different areas. And developing
• 16:52
  leaders who can work across the spectrum of
• 16:54
  other health care providers
• 16:57
  in the organization
• 16:59
  really helps to create a culture of collaboration
• 17:02
  and development
• 17:04
  that is important
• 17:05
  in a large place like Ohio State. So
• 17:08
  those things have been very important.
• 17:10
  Wonderful. Okay.
• 17:11
  Mike, it's been been great talking to you.
• 17:13
  Are there any concluding thoughts that you want
• 17:16
  to to share with our listeners?
• 17:18
  You know, I the one last thing I
• 17:20
  wanna share is that
• 17:22
  Becker's meetings are always really wonderful
• 17:25
  because we really develop that network more, and
• 17:28
  we get insights from people from other or
• 17:30
  institutions across the country.
• 17:33
  And that really does help, I think, to
• 17:34
  grow
• 17:35
  the
• 17:37
  industry
• 17:38
  in a very meaningful way because we learn
• 17:40
  from each other, and we all develop better.
• 17:43
  So I think this these are always really
• 17:46
  very meaningful meetings, and thank you for allowing
• 17:48
  me to give some of my thoughts on
• 17:50
  on what I get from all of this.
• 17:52
  Yeah. Totally. Mike, it's been lovely talking to
• 17:54
  you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank
• 17:56
  you. Thanks, Will.