Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Matt Boles, MD, MHA, MSc, Chief Medical Officer at Salem Health Hospitals and Clinics
Transcript
- 0:02The most important health care decisions don't happen
- 0:05in isolation.
- 0:06They happen when leaders come together.
- 0:08Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings together more than
- 0:113,500
- 0:12hospital and health system executives this April in
- 0:15Chicago.
- 0:16With 800 speakers from Ascension,
- 0:18Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit and more, the conversations get
- 0:22real. Leaders will share how their scenario planning
- 0:24for policy shifts, breaking through value based care
- 0:27barriers, and building clinical teams that translate
- 0:46This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
- 0:48podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
- 0:50doctor Matt Boles, chief medical officer at Salem
- 0:53Health Hospitals and Clinics. Doctor Boles, it's a
- 0:55pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- 0:57Great. Thanks, Laura, for having me. Absolutely. Now
- 1:00I'm excited for our conversation because I know
- 1:03health care is changing so much right now.
- 1:04And so I'm looking forward to learning more
- 1:06about what you're doing at Salem Health and
- 1:08how you've been successful over the last couple
- 1:10years and how you're thinking about the future
- 1:12too. But before we dive in, can you
- 1:13tell me a little bit more about yourself
- 1:15and Salem Health?
- 1:17Sure. Absolutely. So,
- 1:19I'm an anesthesiologist,
- 1:20and I'm also the chief medical officer
- 1:23at Salem Health hospitals and clinics. And so
- 1:26I've been in my executive
- 1:28leadership role since about 2018,
- 1:31but recently stepped into that CMO role when
- 1:34my dear friend,
- 1:35doctor Ralph Yates retired.
- 1:38But fun fact, I've actually been at Salem
- 1:40Health for thirty five years. Started my career
- 1:42here when I was 18,
- 1:45only leaving for medical school and residency. So
- 1:47it truly is an honor and a privilege
- 1:50to serve in this role.
- 1:51A little bit about Salem Health.
- 1:54We, a lot of people don't know this.
- 1:56You know, we're in the capital city of
- 1:57Oregon, but we're actually the largest acute care
- 1:59hospital
- 2:01in the state.
- 2:02And Salem Health is a level two trauma
- 2:04center. We have over 600
- 2:07licensed beds, almost 650.
- 2:10A really large catchment area. We go all
- 2:12the way to the coast to the west
- 2:13of us, up the canyon towards
- 2:16the middle of Oregon,
- 2:17to our East. So maybe about half a
- 2:19million or so in our catchment area.
- 2:22And I've been told that we're one of
- 2:23the largest cities in The US with only
- 2:26one health system.
- 2:27And another fun fact about Salem Health is
- 2:29that we have one of the busiest EDs
- 2:33on the West Coast.
- 2:35We saw over a 115,000
- 2:37patients last year,
- 2:38and so a very, very busy level two
- 2:41trauma center. We do have a small critical
- 2:44access hospital to our west about 20 miles.
- 2:48And then also,
- 2:49I think it's important to point out that
- 2:50we are not
- 2:52a teaching hospital. So we have no residents
- 2:54or fellows,
- 2:55at our at our in our health system.
- 3:00That's helpful to understand. You know, great context.
- 3:02I mean, I think it's just so,
- 3:05impressive to see how many different folks that,
- 3:08you
- 3:09you you do serve within,
- 3:11your community and then too, like, to to
- 3:13hear how your career has evolved, you know,
- 3:15from stopping in the hospital in in when
- 3:18you're 18 and now being a physician and
- 3:20then chief medical officer is, truly, truly an
- 3:23amazing journey I can imagine.
- 3:25Yeah. No. Like I said, it's I never
- 3:28thought in a million years I would be
- 3:29in the role I am.
- 3:31I still practice one day a week, so
- 3:33it's great to be on the front lines
- 3:35with,
- 3:36you know, with all our caregivers caring for
- 3:39patients. So but, no, it is. It's It's
- 3:40great to be in the community I was
- 3:42born and raised in. I was born in
- 3:44this hospital system.
- 3:45Both my kids were. So, no. It is
- 3:48an honor and a privilege.
- 3:50Fantastic. And, you know, when you look at
- 3:52the last year or so, what was the
- 3:54most important initiative initiative
- 3:56you led?
- 3:57What did you do, and what were the
- 3:58results? Yeah. No. I think that's a that's
- 4:00a great question. And so let me begin
- 4:02by saying I have an amazing
- 4:03executive team
- 4:05that I work with. And so we
- 4:07we often co lead these initiatives,
- 4:10together, and I would not be successful without
- 4:12them.
- 4:13And, so,
- 4:15looking back on this past year, I I
- 4:18I probably would would,
- 4:20like to reflect on the work we did
- 4:23to employ
- 4:24our anesthesia group. Right? And so when I
- 4:27started my executive journey, I was part of
- 4:29an independent
- 4:31anesthesia group, but I also worked for the
- 4:33hospital in my executive role.
- 4:36And I'd say back in 2022,
- 4:38that's when this work started of moving,
- 4:41our anesthesia group to the employed model.
- 4:45Just to give you some context,
- 4:48the the group I worked for was out
- 4:49of Portland. Great group.
- 4:51Amazing group. One of the largest in the
- 4:53country. But, again, they were struggling just like
- 4:56everyone else's with recruitment
- 4:58and,
- 4:59trying to keep up with the demands of
- 5:01the contract that they had with our health
- 5:03system. And so
- 5:05they let us know, OAG,
- 5:07Oregon Anesthesiology Group, let us know that they
- 5:09were no longer able to honor the contract.
- 5:11And so I was led,
- 5:14to bring our employed
- 5:16excuse me, our our our private group to
- 5:18the employed model.
- 5:20And that was a three year three year
- 5:22journey that just concluded
- 5:24this last, this last fall. And so I
- 5:27learned so much culturally,
- 5:29professionally, personally,
- 5:32just to bring all of them from this,
- 5:34you know, fiercely independent,
- 5:36autonomous model. And what does it look like
- 5:39to be employed in a large health system?
- 5:41And so this was vital, right, to the,
- 5:45just for the care that we provide for
- 5:47our patients. We could not, we meaning Salem
- 5:49Health, could not lose this vital service line.
- 5:52And so it was an honor and a
- 5:54privilege to to bring them over. And as
- 5:56far as results,
- 5:58I think it really speaks well to our
- 6:00culture and to just what we've really,
- 6:03grown here at Salem Health. We had pretty
- 6:06much had everyone except for two of my
- 6:08partners decide to stay.
- 6:11That just really showcases their commitment to our
- 6:14community, to our health system.
- 6:16And also this work just really showcases that,
- 6:19yes, we have metrics, we have goals, we
- 6:21have targets.
- 6:23But this took a lot of
- 6:25those soft skills of, you know, talking
- 6:28these,
- 6:29providers
- 6:30through that journey of becoming employed.
- 6:33So there was hours spent on the on
- 6:36the, you know, the back end
- 6:38of, reassuring them about, what does it look
- 6:41like to be employed.
- 6:43Yes. You you are losing
- 6:45some of those,
- 6:46factors that were in an independent practice, but
- 6:49you're gaining so much more.
- 6:51And so, again, that was probably one of
- 6:53the most,
- 6:55professionally and personal fulfilling,
- 6:58projects that I've led over this past year,
- 7:00which concluded,
- 7:02basically this last summer.
- 7:04And then if I could just talk about
- 7:06one more,
- 7:07strategic initiative that I helped lead or co
- 7:10lead with other executives,
- 7:12was all about procedural capacity. And so,
- 7:16let me give you a little more context.
- 7:18We we have had surgeons over the last
- 7:21several years and other proceduralists say, hey. I
- 7:23cannot get more OR time. I can't get
- 7:26my patients into the OR.
- 7:28And so we did some research and data,
- 7:31and, you know, our baseline data did show
- 7:34that we probably had a backlog of several
- 7:37thousand patients waiting for their surgery.
- 7:39And so,
- 7:41when we first approached this problem, you know,
- 7:43the the easy solution or the solution that
- 7:46we thought was the right answer was just
- 7:48to build
- 7:49more ORs. And as we all know in
- 7:51the financial
- 7:53landscape that we're in, that's hugely expensive.
- 7:56And so,
- 7:58we're a lean organization,
- 8:00and so we use data to drive our
- 8:02problem solving.
- 8:03And so we were able to show that
- 8:06we are actually underutilizing
- 8:08all of our procedural space across the health
- 8:10system.
- 8:11So that started us on a journey of
- 8:14reimagining how we use this procedural space.
- 8:18And so for years,
- 8:20I'd say problem solving in the surgical space
- 8:23really centered on the day of surgery. Meaning,
- 8:26what can we do for, on time starts,
- 8:28turnover times,
- 8:30maximizing our sterile processing or prep, recovery areas,
- 8:34etcetera.
- 8:36But we really just stretched that value stream
- 8:39out for the patient, meaning we went upstream
- 8:43all the way to where that patient was
- 8:44referred into the clinics.
- 8:47And so because we have the luxury of
- 8:50having a lot of our surgical clinics,
- 8:52being employed,
- 8:53we were able to take that problem solving
- 8:55up way upstream,
- 8:57work with,
- 8:59our clinics,
- 9:00and to just really
- 9:02maximize the flow of that patient
- 9:04to our ORs.
- 9:06And here's where we leaned into technology.
- 9:09Epic traditionally had some great metrics around on
- 9:12time starts, turnover times, etcetera, just like I
- 9:15mentioned.
- 9:16But we were able to basically build a
- 9:19procedural
- 9:20traffic control system in Epic.
- 9:23And so we could see wherever that patient
- 9:25was on that value stream, meaning all the
- 9:27way back up in the clinic,
- 9:29the time they were waiting to see the
- 9:31specialist,
- 9:33the time that was needed to optimize the
- 9:35patient for surgery, the time that was needed,
- 9:38for authorizations and referrals. And so we were
- 9:42able to, look at data, how many patients
- 9:44were in each of those buckets,
- 9:47and, also, that helped focus our problem solving.
- 9:50And so we've had some really good results.
- 9:53We haven't built any more ORs. I think
- 9:55that's the that's the number one result to
- 9:58really celebrate because, like I said, they're so
- 9:59expensive.
- 10:01But we've maximized
- 10:02our,
- 10:03block time with these surgeons.
- 10:06We've been able to create a new system
- 10:08called,
- 10:09patient case classification window. We call it CCW.
- 10:13So we put targets on all of our
- 10:15electively
- 10:16scheduled patients.
- 10:18And so,
- 10:19we had an ambitious goal. We we we
- 10:22wanted all of our
- 10:24patients seen in the clinic to be scheduled
- 10:26in surgery in forty five days or less.
- 10:29And there were there, I won't get into
- 10:30all the details, but there are many classifications
- 10:33we can use under that.
- 10:34So globally,
- 10:36we are at about 67, 68%
- 10:39of meeting that target,
- 10:40which is a huge improvement from when we
- 10:42started this work.
- 10:44And, again, we are now starting to see
- 10:46that backlog that I spoke about,
- 10:49being addressed. And so those patients are getting
- 10:52the care that they need,
- 10:54in our procedural system. So, again, those are
- 10:57just a couple of,
- 10:58projects that I can recall, again, that I
- 11:01had the honor and privilege to to leave
- 11:03with my co executives.
- 11:06I love that. I think all of those
- 11:07things you mentioned are are so critical, especially,
- 11:10being able to improve that efficiency, reimagine the
- 11:13way that you're looking at the space, some
- 11:15processes, procedures,
- 11:17and then the data and having the information
- 11:19that can inform whether you're making improvements and
- 11:22and how it impacts quality and outcomes and
- 11:24everything else,
- 11:25you know, is so critical. I'm curious as
- 11:28you were making this transformation
- 11:30and putting all of this in place and
- 11:31integrating it into the the daily functioning at
- 11:34the hospitals,
- 11:36how did you, at the same time, go
- 11:38through the cultural transformation for folks to really,
- 11:41embrace all of these things and then make
- 11:43sure that, you're getting the outcomes that you
- 11:46wanted.
- 11:47Yeah. No. That's great. Right? It's part of
- 11:49that change curve. Right? When we had some
- 11:52you know, surgeons can be,
- 11:55let's say,
- 11:57you know, very,
- 11:59emotional and passionate
- 12:00about, their patients. And so we had to
- 12:02bring them along and it took some time.
- 12:04Absolutely.
- 12:05Like I said, we use our lean management
- 12:08system. And so everything is visible either electronically
- 12:12or,
- 12:13in our what we call our war rooms.
- 12:15And so we would bring our surgeons right
- 12:18along, and they would see,
- 12:20all the problem solving.
- 12:21And,
- 12:23and and also an important element is that
- 12:25we would include them in on the problem
- 12:28solving.
- 12:29And so, again, using our lean fundamentals
- 12:32of taking the work to our frontline,
- 12:34asking them to be a part of
- 12:36the problem solving, helping us set up targets,
- 12:40our process and outcome metrics. I think that
- 12:42was key.
- 12:44And,
- 12:45having several identified
- 12:47anesthesiologists
- 12:48and surgeons
- 12:49kinda champion this work. So it wasn't so
- 12:51much the executive team selling it. It really
- 12:54was the those that are impacted by this
- 12:57work.
- 12:58And so, again, that that to me really
- 13:00helped,
- 13:02you know, help help make this change easier
- 13:05and and also showing them results. Right?
- 13:08Showing them that, yes, you're getting this case
- 13:10in or we heard you. So we opened
- 13:12up this service line. We had a a
- 13:14big bottleneck in robotics, and so we had
- 13:17to, reimagine
- 13:19where we were going to do those surgeries.
- 13:21And so we put put the robot in
- 13:23a in a room, in an OR that
- 13:25may not have been,
- 13:27everyone's first choice, but we did simulations.
- 13:30We did mock ups. And so when we
- 13:32did all those,
- 13:35test of change, we included our surgeons in
- 13:37on that so that they could own it.
- 13:39They could give their feedback,
- 13:40and then they could also turn around and
- 13:42sell it to their section members and practice
- 13:45partners. So
- 13:47it just was critical to get them involved,
- 13:49early on.
- 13:52That's so helpful to understand. Thank you for
- 13:54sharing, and talking through that. Now looking ahead,
- 13:57what are some of your big priorities and
- 13:59headwinds for 2026?
- 14:01Gosh.
- 14:02Where do I begin? Lots of headwinds.
- 14:05I'd say, you know, we're not alone. I
- 14:08think everywhere and everywhere is struggling with the
- 14:10payer mix and reimbursements,
- 14:13and those issues that are coming, especially from
- 14:15our,
- 14:16government,
- 14:17programs such as Medicaid.
- 14:19And so, you know, it's it's just, the
- 14:22shrinking dollar. Right? Especially from the,
- 14:27the Medicaid program. And I know that in
- 14:29our community,
- 14:31you know, we're just not seeing those rates,
- 14:34increase year over year,
- 14:36like they need to to match inflation and
- 14:39match labor, to match all the other costs
- 14:42that are,
- 14:44you know, not just the hospital.
- 14:46You know, we're so big. We can kind
- 14:48of weather some of this a little bit
- 14:50better,
- 14:50but our private group's in town. And so,
- 14:54it is really impacting our private practices. And
- 14:57so to give you a little bit of
- 14:59perspective,
- 15:00we have had several large practices over the
- 15:03last couple of years
- 15:05that simply
- 15:06couldn't make,
- 15:08their books balance,
- 15:09so to speak, and and their businesses were
- 15:11failing.
- 15:12And so despite, you know, very smart people
- 15:15that were running these businesses, they could not
- 15:18keep up with all of those factors I
- 15:20just mentioned, like inflation and especially labor. That
- 15:23has been a huge
- 15:24huge,
- 15:26driver of cost for these practices.
- 15:29And when you couple that with, shrinking reimbursements,
- 15:33it really just made it almost impossible to
- 15:36function. And so we've had,
- 15:38a couple of large groups in our community
- 15:41come to us for employment. And again, that's
- 15:44not Salem Health strategy is to compete in
- 15:47these service lines.
- 15:49But our strategy
- 15:50absolutely
- 15:51is to make sure
- 15:53that
- 15:54these service lines are available to our patients,
- 15:56if that makes sense. We know we need
- 15:58orthopedics
- 16:00in our community. And so when that group
- 16:02approached us for employment, we absolutely worked with
- 16:04them, brought them in board.
- 16:06And, but the, I guess the concerning or
- 16:09the big challenges we're we're seeing more and
- 16:11more groups do this too. We just did
- 16:13this with our urology group.
- 16:15And so, it's not going away, but we're
- 16:18here to, you know, to help the best
- 16:20we can,
- 16:22to, you know, bolster these headwinds like you
- 16:24described in the question. But I really think
- 16:26that's that's our big challenge,
- 16:29facing all of us in our community.
- 16:32I think that's such an excellent point. And,
- 16:34you know, especially looking at how,
- 16:37physicians and physician shortages are impacting
- 16:40communities and hospitals and systems across the country
- 16:42in, you know, bringing
- 16:44those physician groups into employment. I know it's
- 16:46no small task and and then, you know,
- 16:50integrating
- 16:51them financially,
- 16:52culturally, everything else. And so when you're looking
- 16:55at, you know, how you've been able to
- 16:57do this successfully now a couple of different
- 16:59times,
- 17:00you know,
- 17:01what are your kind of, like, business considerations
- 17:04for your your,
- 17:05deciding to do that? And how do you,
- 17:08make sure that, you know, you have everything
- 17:10in place? Or what lessons have you learned,
- 17:11I guess, in,
- 17:12bringing in those types of groups and and
- 17:14making them employed to make sure things go
- 17:16as smoothly as possible?
- 17:18Yeah. No. We've learned a lot. Right? I
- 17:20talked about the anesthesia,
- 17:22model that became employed,
- 17:24several years ago. And so,
- 17:26again, we learn through,
- 17:28all of our problem solving. Like I said,
- 17:30we're a lean organization.
- 17:33But, yes, assimilating into our culture,
- 17:36You know, again, I just wanna make sure,
- 17:38you know, our strategy is not to compete
- 17:40or go after these groups, but we really
- 17:42try to put the patient in the middle
- 17:44of all this.
- 17:45What services do our patients need in our
- 17:48community?
- 17:49And so that's that's really been our approach.
- 17:52They need urology.
- 17:53They absolutely need orthopedics.
- 17:56And so when we take that approach, it
- 17:58makes that work, you know, focused on a
- 18:01a solitary mission or vision.
- 18:04But getting them culturally,
- 18:06you know,
- 18:07into our health system, that's been a challenge.
- 18:10But again, it just takes lots of,
- 18:13conversation,
- 18:14lots of time. Sometimes you have to slow
- 18:16down to go fast.
- 18:18And, just walking through these,
- 18:21numbers, sometimes it's just individually with all of
- 18:23them, keeping everything visible, good communication, follow through,
- 18:27etcetera.
- 18:28Like I said, a lot of those soft
- 18:29skills that you may not have learned so
- 18:31much in in medical school, but,
- 18:34it's just it speaks to that relational side
- 18:36of leadership.
- 18:39Absolutely. Easier said than done, I know, in
- 18:41many ways, but, seems like something that comes
- 18:44naturally to you, or did you have to
- 18:45to acquire skills there too?
- 18:48Oh, I'm always learning. Absolutely.
- 18:50Asking for feedback.
- 18:52But, yes, you know, there there really is
- 18:54there there there are people. There are humans,
- 18:58behind all of these,
- 19:00decisions that we make. And so again,
- 19:03I keep talking about lean. One of our
- 19:05fundamental pillars is respect for people. And so
- 19:08we really do honor that in all that
- 19:10we do.
- 19:11And walking, these people through these changes is
- 19:14is not easy, but it's essential to get
- 19:17them to where they need to be.
- 19:19Absolutely. I I I definitely agree.
- 19:22Now, when you're looking ahead to, what do
- 19:24you think the hardest thing you'll have to
- 19:25do in the coming year will be?
- 19:27Great. Well, I don't wanna be doom and
- 19:29gloom. I do think a lot of health
- 19:31care is is really hard right now.
- 19:34So, you know, there's there's pressures and challenges
- 19:36on all fronts. So I'd say,
- 19:40maybe the hardest thing that we we have
- 19:42in front of us is just to make
- 19:43sure that we stay true to our mission
- 19:45and serving patients
- 19:47and really,
- 19:49kinda getting back to,
- 19:51why we're why we are all doing this.
- 19:54And so,
- 19:55for instance, I love when,
- 19:58young people come and shadow me, in the
- 20:00OR or ask me about my profession. It
- 20:03kinda reminds me of why I even stepped
- 20:05into all of this. So,
- 20:07so I just you know, I think our
- 20:08challenge is, you know, how do we keep
- 20:11this fresh? How do we make this,
- 20:13rewarding?
- 20:14How do we just remind ourselves that our
- 20:17patients are benefiting from what we do?
- 20:20Just earlier today, I was at the nephrology
- 20:23section meeting.
- 20:25And so they're such a great amazing group
- 20:27of individuals. And so it was refreshing
- 20:30to see,
- 20:31them not jaded by all of those challenges
- 20:33I just mentioned. And they were,
- 20:36excited to share with me some innovative and
- 20:39creative ideas they had about
- 20:41certain barriers and problems that they were experiencing.
- 20:44So,
- 20:45so I guess, you know, some of the
- 20:47challenges that I think that we face as
- 20:49leaders is,
- 20:51let's not lose sight of,
- 20:53you know, why we're doing this, and it's
- 20:55for the patient.
- 20:56And so if we kinda keep that in
- 20:58mind, then I think all those other things
- 21:00will follow. And so, you know, how do
- 21:02we care for those who care for the
- 21:04patient? And so it just kind of expands
- 21:07from there.
- 21:08So that that's a challenge. We do get
- 21:10kind of focused on our problems.
- 21:12So how can we keep that,
- 21:14that true north, that positive,
- 21:16mission statement of caring for our our patients?
- 21:20That is such a helpful reminder and especially,
- 21:23you know, today in thinking about all the
- 21:25different pressures and, things that are going on
- 21:27for health care providers,
- 21:30being able to really craft that type of
- 21:32environment, atmosphere, atmosphere, and culture where they feel
- 21:35supported,
- 21:36can be so critical. And I I think
- 21:38when you're looking at, you know,
- 21:41some of those innovations that you've been hearing
- 21:43about, creative ideas and other ways to problem
- 21:46solve, Does anything,
- 21:47rise to the top or come to mind
- 21:49as something that was a particularly unique way
- 21:51that you've been tackling
- 21:53some of these, you know, more physician bonus
- 21:56or or clinician,
- 21:57you know, resilience issues?
- 22:00We are actually learning a lot. And if
- 22:03you wanna talk about innovation and creativity, we're
- 22:05learning so much about virtual
- 22:07care.
- 22:09I know we we did round one of
- 22:11that, right, with COVID.
- 22:13I'd say round two is kinda reimagining
- 22:16virtual care in a new way. And so
- 22:18we launched,
- 22:19I think it was about a year ago,
- 22:21maybe a little longer than that, virtual nursing.
- 22:25And so we have actually seen a lot
- 22:27of success there.
- 22:29Our nurses like it. Our patients like it.
- 22:32Our patient experience scores have grown.
- 22:35And so,
- 22:37I would say from a provider perspective,
- 22:40we are taking a deep lean into that
- 22:43work, and we're looking at what our nurses
- 22:45did to make that successful.
- 22:47And so we're,
- 22:49just scratching the surface on how can we
- 22:51apply that to,
- 22:53provider practices. You know, what does virtual care
- 22:55look like? And
- 22:57again, not necessarily in the way we saw
- 22:59it during COVID, but how do we do
- 23:01it in the acute care setting?
- 23:03So, I'm really excited for that. I think
- 23:06there's some great potential
- 23:08which will,
- 23:10perhaps
- 23:11make care better, more efficient.
- 23:13It might address the financial questions.
- 23:15And so it could be, you know, the
- 23:17triple or quadruple aim type of
- 23:20innovation that we're looking for. So, yeah, more
- 23:22to come on that. I'm really excited about
- 23:24virtual care.
- 23:28I love it. I I think there's so
- 23:29many opportunities there, and, really, it just seems
- 23:32like amazing way to expand access to care
- 23:34and and get you, in the system, you
- 23:36know, into the position it wants to be.
- 23:39Before we wrap up here, are there any
- 23:40other areas that you see as being really
- 23:42primed for organizational growth?
- 23:45I'd say,
- 23:46you know, this is a very small subset
- 23:48of our organization, but an important one is
- 23:50our medical executive committee.
- 23:52And we had a retreat this last fall.
- 23:55It was great to get us all together
- 23:57to have some time off-site,
- 23:59to really have some protected,
- 24:02conversation
- 24:03about the challenges that our medical executive committee,
- 24:07kinda kinda is seeing or experiencing.
- 24:10You know, we talked a lot about APPs,
- 24:13just how grateful we are for them, but
- 24:15also,
- 24:17just recognizing that their presence here in Oregon
- 24:19has exploded. It really has over the last
- 24:22several years and even here at Salem Health.
- 24:25So how can we honor them? How can
- 24:27we support them?
- 24:28How do we balance that independence
- 24:30versus where they fit in the healthcare,
- 24:33continuum?
- 24:35How do we help support them with quality
- 24:37of care, etcetera. So that's been exciting.
- 24:39And then, it was great to hear from
- 24:42my MEC leaders about how
- 24:45they can impact
- 24:47quality, not so much in the
- 24:50traditional sense of, you know, problem solving, all
- 24:53those,
- 24:54you know, important measures such as CAUTIs and
- 24:57CLABSIs, etcetera. But to hear from that that
- 24:59they want to drive the culture
- 25:02of quality. How do they improve that
- 25:05among our medical staff and care team? That
- 25:07was really exciting. So that was refreshing.
- 25:10It was great to have that, opportunity with
- 25:13them. And and so our next step now
- 25:15is just trying to apply that to some
- 25:17tactical,
- 25:19strategy to execute those those goals.
- 25:24I love that. Thank you so much, doctor
- 25:26Boles, for your time today. This has been
- 25:28such a fascinating interview. I think you've shared
- 25:30so many,
- 25:31different ideas
- 25:32in creative ways that you're problem solving today.
- 25:34It's just been very inspiring, and I look
- 25:37forward to seeing you as well at our
- 25:38annual meeting in April. I know you'll be
- 25:40speaking on a panel and covering a lot
- 25:42of these same same themes, and so it'll
- 25:43be great to continue the conversation.
- 25:46Great. Thanks, Laura. Well, like I said, it's
- 25:48an honor and privilege to be here. I'm
- 25:50very grateful.