Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Chanda Chacón, CEO of Children's Hospital & Medical Center

Transcript

Chanda Chacón, CEO of Children's Hospital & Medical Center · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  This is Chris Os with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Chanda Chak,
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  CEO of Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha. Chanda,
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  thank you for joining us today.
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  Thanks. I'm really excited to be here today.
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  Excellent.
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  Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?
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  Absolutely. I'm Chanda Chaco,
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  I'm the president and c e o here at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in
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  Omaha. And I have always been in pediatric healthcare.
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  I started my healthcare career at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston and
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  was there for 14 years doing a little bit of everything.
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  I started as an administrative fellow.
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  I was in pharmacy ambulatory operations,
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  the fetal center, the heart center, the maternity center. Um,
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  I went out to our West Houston community campus in the end of my career and then
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  headed to Arkansas Children's in Little Rock and was the chief operating officer
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  for the system there. And really was,
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  had a great opportunity to do and use the skills I'd learned at Texas Children's
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  that we had done really in a citywide level because we were 4 million people in
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  Houston, uh, then across the state in Arkansas.
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  So it was a great opportunity to scale, um,
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  my experience to a statewide view and um,
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  in a state that had challenges in child health and also had a lot of
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  rural, um, environments and so learned a ton there. Was there for four years,
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  um, was really a great experience. Learned quite a bit.
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  And then joined the children's team here in Omaha in September of 2020,
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  uh, right during the pandemic.
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  What would you say are the biggest challenges in scaling up as you referred to,
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  and how did you overcome them?
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  Yeah, it's perspective.
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  And so I think the skills that I learned in Houston in an urban
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  environment that was, um,
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  really densely populated gave an a unique perspective of,
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  um, what the tools could be and what the potential solutions were.
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  And then moving to a state and looking at um, you know,
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  rural areas and different, um, components of the community.
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  The same skills really for me, um, stood out. It was the,
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  how that was different.
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  So when you're going into a rural community in say southeast Arkansas,
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  um,
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  it's important to connect with the people and not come in as the big children's
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  hospital to say, here's how we can help you, but really engage the community.
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  And I, I think for me,
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  that focus on people has been something that's been important part of my career
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  from the very beginning.
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  And so it was really looking at all these opportunities we had and what was the
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  community interested in. And so, um,
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  for me it was really a great opportunity to um,
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  really see how solutions in one large urban environment might not
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  exactly be the same thing that is needs to be in a rural um, environment,
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  but certainly gives a place to start to have the conversation. So,
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  um, for me it was just an awesome opportunity to get very focused on building
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  relationships that, um, were across the state versus across the city.
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  I will tell you,
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  Houston takes forever to drive across and so it probably took me the same amount
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  of time to drive across Houston as it did driving from little Rockton,
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  Northwest Arkansas.
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  . Uh,
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  given your perspective now as c e o there for almost three years, uh,
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  what would you say are the biggest issues you're following right now?
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  Gosh, you know,
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  it's issues and opportunities because I certainly think in healthcare we're such
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  a dynamic environment and we have to be nimble.
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  What I've seen happen in the last couple of years since I've been here at
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  Children's is just the,
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  the people market has changed so dramatically where in healthcare,
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  the more than 20 years I've been in healthcare,
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  we've always seen nursing staffing via challenge.
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  What we're seeing now is it's across the entire healthcare system in lots of
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  roles.
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  And so it's really pushed us in healthcare to be more agile and nimble
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  in focusing on our, our people.
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  And that's to me the biggest part of the work we do.
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  And we're more competitive now across other industries where historically,
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  you know, people who wanted to work in healthcare really flock towards that.
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  Were having to use much more unique strategies for retention and wellbeing of
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  our own team members and also to help attract people into healthcare that might
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  not have thought that that is an opportunity for them.
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  And really help people either develop a,
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  why they want to be in healthcare or just be the kind of company that's
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  competitive with the bigger companies that are not healthcare related.
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  And people say, gosh,
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  at Children's they offer really great benefits and they are very focused on
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  wellbeing and it feels like they care about me as an individual and that's what
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  attracts people in. And we've had to be much more agile with, um,
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  that thinking.
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  And I think that's very exciting in looking at how we build teams,
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  how we build models of care and really pushing our thinking around
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  maybe something that's been the same thing we've done forever in healthcare and
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  we have to think about it differently. I find that really energizing. Um,
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  and it's been very energizing for our team to be able to say, there's no box.
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  You have to think within it. Just, just think of the best solution.
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  So I see that the people part of our work, um,
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  as probably the biggest challenge that we're all facing. And it's not just,
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  you know, I don't call it staffing cuz it's more important to me than that.
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  It's really about how we retain great people,
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  how we develop the p the workforce pipeline,
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  the next generation of leaders for the future that are already at our
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  organization. So I think that's pretty exciting.
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  I'm gonna use that right there as a segue.
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  So what else energizes you as far as being competitive or retaining staff and
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  people or connecting with your community and what makes you a little bit
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  nervous?
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  Sure. Um, let's see, what else makes me excited? Innovation,
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  I think you spoke to Ryan Cameron,
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  a executive on our team and it was intentional that we doubled down not only on
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  the people promise that we have for our own team members and the patients and
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  families we serve, but on investing in innovation. And if, um,
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  there's not a lot of dollars on the healthcare innovation pipeline that are
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  invested in pediatric healthcare because we are such a diverse population,
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  right? We're from birth until 19 and sometimes older.
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  And so it's,
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  it is a difficult business proposition to invest in innovation when
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  our population is so diverse just on age size, all those things.
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  And so we knew we would have to be very, um,
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  purposeful in our work around innovation because the patients and families we
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  serve really deserve us to be excellent. And um,
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  so we had to really focus on how we were going to elevate that work.
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  And that for me is kind of exciting and also certainly a little bit in
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  intimidating when you think we're in the same game with really big innovative
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  companies. The difference for me is that we know our population really well.
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  We have a very tight relationship with our team members and they are really
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  smart and have really great ideas of the work we could do to do this work
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  better. Not just from a research side, but a day-to-day work, right?
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  How do we think differently and really expand the horizons of things that may
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  never have been done in healthcare but could propel the work we do,
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  the efficiencies we have.
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  And that for me is really exciting to think about what healthcare will look like
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  five years from now. Uh,
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  we changed a lot during Covid and we're forced into that real digital
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  space. And now like we talk about digital innovation,
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  it's just part of our language now and that feels exciting.
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  We have tons of data and information in healthcare.
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  How do we use that in our organizations to help us be more efficient and
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  effective in the work we do?
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  I think that's not only the right thing to do for the care we provide to
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  patients and families, but it's also right for our employees, right?
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  If I knew my employer was helping intentionally focus on innovation to make
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  my work easier, more effective, that feels pretty exciting.
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  I wanna be a part of that. And so I'm really looking forward to how um,
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  we are gonna,
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  how the industry and how we specifically here at Children's will look five years
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  from now and how we do our work.
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  I love how you said there is no box. So as you look forward in the,
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  to the next 18 months or so,
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  how do you anticipate your roles gonna change and how are your team teams going
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  to have to change?
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  Yeah, I have spent a lot of time in the past year and you know,
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  focusing our team on how important it is to remember that
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  healthcare and healthcare organizations only provide about 20% of health
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  to people. 80% is determined outside of our walls.
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  And so we have really shifted our focus in the work we do to also
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  include that 80% outside of our walls and how do we partner differently more
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  effectively and how do we really refine our work to not not be that sort of big
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  brother idea of coming and saying do it how we want to,
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  but really standing side by side with organizations in the community,
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  with schools, with community partners to say,
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  you're already doing really great work.
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  How do we help you go faster and go bigger and not need to smack our logo
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  on it? Right? For me,
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  doing the right thing in child health and making an impact in child health is
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  the right thing to do regardless of logos.
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  And I think credit comes where partnerships happen and that's how people talk
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  in communities. And so for me, you know, my time is, uh,
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  progressively more spent externally to the organization, um,
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  are still a hundred percent our focus. Our core mission is, uh,
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  providing great healthcare to families,
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  but our mission at Children's is to improve the life of every child,
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  not just the health. And to be able to do both those things,
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  we have to be external.
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  And so our team is spending more time building partnerships,
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  building relationships in the community, in regions and in the national front.
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  And I only anticipate that's gonna increase as we realize how integrated we are,
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  um, here in our community, but just really, uh,
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  further out and those relationships and partnerships help us solve big problems
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  like mental health, right,
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  or child abuse that's not gonna be solved by one organization.
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  It's gonna be solved by us partnering together to do the best thing for kids.
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  As far as building relationships and building a strong community.
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  And you're a part in that.
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  You've advocated for kids and foster care as a support appointed special
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  advocate, which is terrific.
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  So how has that influenced your leadership style first and foremost?
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  Oh gosh, it is, um, probably the most impactful thing I've done in my life.
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  Um, I don't have my own children, uh,
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  biologic children and so this was my way to make an impact personally in
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  kids' lives. And I remember when I was in Houston, everyone would say,
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  I don't know how you have enough time to do that work.
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  And I think you make time for things that are important.
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  And my dad used to tell me as a, as a little kid when, uh,
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  you're really full ice cream always fits in,
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  it fits in the little open places for dessert.
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  And I see child advocates and being a court appointed child advocate as that
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  kind of work for me. Um, I have served over, gosh,
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  over 15 kids that have been in the system and have relationships still with
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  several of them and really feel, uh, personally gosh,
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  honored to have been able to be a part of their journey and to see how
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  successful they've been. And for me, that's the personal part of leadership.
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  It's why I'm in pediatrics is for the impact that we can make early in
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  kids' lives and in families' lives that help change their memories,
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  change their trajectory for the rest of their life. And I just,
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  I feel really honored that I got to be in the journey with these families and
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  these kids who, um,
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  gosh taught me as much as I taught them, if not more. And that's, uh,
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  been real powerful for me to realize that individuals can make a really big
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  impact.
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  And that's a big reason why I came here to Children's in Omaha is because
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  this is the kind of place,
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  this is a size of city where individuals can still make a really big impact.
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  And the community here is very nimble, moves quickly,
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  partners really rapidly.
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  And that for me is an exciting place to be when we can see big work and big
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  shifts happen really rapidly. Cuz if it's the right thing to do,
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  we shouldn't stand in the way of ourselves waiting to be perfect when we're
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  missing the excellence that's just gonna pass us by if we don't move. So, um,
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  I've loved being a court appointed child advocate. It was, as I said,
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  PR really probably one of the pieces of my life where I think I've been the most
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  impactful.
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  Zooming out on that subject a little bit,
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  how connected do you think the healthcare system in your hospital and healthcare
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  system in particular is connected to foster care and where do you see room for
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  improvement?
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  I do think that, um, many children's hospitals as we are here, um,
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  in Omaha are very tied to the state, um,
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  c p s teams, child teams. It's, it has been every place I've been,
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  it has been a really tight partnership,
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  a really close partnership at the state and city level.
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  And that's powerful because healthcare sometimes is one of those pieces that can
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  fall off, um,
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  of the radar in those kind of shifts and transitions.
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  And I see that as a really unique role of children's hospitals to provide care
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  for some of the most vulnerable kids who are in foster care. And we've,
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  every place I've been has done a really great job of, uh,
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  partnering in Lincoln and I think those relationships and partnerships have to
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  be fed and watered, right? They have to be grown to make sure that you,
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  um, shift and modify your work based off the needs of this very vulnerable
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  population. We've seen that shift here and during C O V D of,
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  not surprisingly the increase in need for mental health services in the this
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  patient population.
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  We've seen that across pediatrics and it's no different in our,
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  the kids that we see that are in the foster care system. And so, um,
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  as we've said about many of the things we do, we don't do that in a vacuum,
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  we don't do that alone.
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  We do that through partnerships of the child advocacy centers that are in our
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  community here, um, and work really closely with them to say, how do we partner?
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  How do we do the right thing? And I,
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  I do believe you have to ask those questions because what we believe is
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  important or helpful from the children's hospital side might not actually be
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  what those organizations need to help provide the very best care for children in
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  foster care. And so those conversations in partnerships are powerful. Um,
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  for me, so powerful. I actually serve on the board here of Project Harmony,
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  which is one of our child advocacy centers. Um,
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  for me it's really important that there's that connection between our
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  organizations so that we can be nimble and agile for kids that didn't ask
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  to be in the foster care system. Um, and we should,
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  we should have a responsibility to do the very best work.
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  Last thing I have for you today, Chanda.
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  So what issue in your field do you think deserves a much brighter spotlight than
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  it's getting right now?
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  Oh gosh. I think, I mean,
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  I think both of the things that I would think about are getting a pretty bright
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  spotlight. There's not an easy answer to them.
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  I would say the first one in pediatric healthcare is around behavioral and
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  mental health.
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  And we are shining a very bright light on that here in Omaha and Lincoln
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  in the region here in Nebraska because we know it is so critical to the future
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  of our state to the future, uh,
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  people who are gonna be working across our state. And so we've intentionally,
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  um, really doubled down on that work,
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  working across the community with state and local government, um,
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  with donors in the community, with our team members,
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  with community partners in schools. And we'll be investing, uh,
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  breaking ground actually this August on a facility through the help of the
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  Mental Health Innovation Foundation,
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  which is a foundation started here in Omaha to invest in a facility that will
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  have a full continuum of mental and behavioral health from, um,
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  the very least acute to an urgent care center,
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  to a partial hospitalization to inpatient psychiatric beds,
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  will also embed primary care in this facility.
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  And it's intended to be the hub to create a hub right here in Omaha to
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  then create spokes across the state. As being a rural state,
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  we have to think of creative solutions to help providers and kids stay close to
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  home.
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  And so we're doing a lot of work on education of providers implementing some new
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  really innovative care models through telehealth and through partnerships with
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  primary care providers in, uh, across the state. Also looking at urgent care,
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  mental health centers so that we can help really deescalate as quickly as
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  we can and then also have that spoke back into this highest acute care
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  that we'll uh, be delivering right here in Omaha and our, uh, central campus.
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  And that's,
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  that's really important work because there's so much linkage to
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  long-term outcomes, long-term health, um, with mental health.
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  And we've seen such an increase in, um,
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  kids coming to the emergency department for suicide ideation, uh, depression,
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  anxiety here in Nebraska. We have a higher, uh,
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  rate of suicide than the national average for at teens and adolescents.
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  And that for me is one of those things that keeps you up at night. You know,
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  when when I can sit in, be in a hero walk for a child who,
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  um, has successfully passed from suicide, it makes you think, gosh,
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  I know people on my team know this child and know this family and this is not
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  okay. We have to do better.
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  That shouldn't happen here or anywhere and we gotta get ahead of that curve and
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  we're chasing it, to be honest.
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  And so I would love to shine a brighter spotlight, um, on that.
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  I think there's a pretty big spotlight on it right now, but, um,
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  it is something we're definitely chasing and, um, not yet ahead of that curve.
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  So for me that's, uh, probably the most important work we have ahead of us.
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  Shannon,
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  thank you so much for sharing your insight today and giving us your time.
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  We can't wait to share all your insight with our listeners.
• 18:51
  Awesome. Thanks so much.