Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Rebecca Napier, Vice President of Finance and Administration at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center

Transcript

Rebecca Napier, Vice President of Finance and Administration at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  The most important health care decisions don't happen
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  in isolation.
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  They happen when leaders come together.
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  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings together more than
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  3,500
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  hospital and health system executives this April in
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  Chicago.
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  With 800 speakers from Ascension,
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  Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit and more, the conversations get
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  real. Leaders will share how their scenario planning
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  for policy shifts, breaking through value based care
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  barriers, and building clinical teams that translate new
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  ideas into real world care.
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  Join top decision makers in the room April
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  13 through the sixteenth.
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  For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right.
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  This is Laura Dierdahl with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  Rebecca Napier, vice president of finance and administration
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  at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences
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  Center. Rebecca, it's a pleasure to have you
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  on the podcast today. Thank you, Laura. It's
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  exciting to be here.
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  Absolutely. Well, I'm looking forward to our conversation
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  because I know it's such a unique time
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  in health care today, and particularly looking at
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  some of the interesting things that are going
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  on across the board of the health care
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  industry and then, you know, how you're able
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  to provide for your unique and important community
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  there in New Mexico. So I'm looking forward
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  to our conversation. But before we dive in,
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  can you introduce yourself and tell us just
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  a little bit about the University of New
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  Mexico Health Sciences Center? Sure. I'm happy to
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  introduce myself. I've been in academic health care
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  for a little over thirty years,
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  spanning across the tripartite mission,
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  school of medicine, medical group,
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  system level, and so,
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  very fortunate to have a broad base and
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  experience.
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  Here at the University of New Mexico, I,
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  at the system level,
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  am the vice president for finance and administration.
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  The University of New Mexico is the,
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  health science center for the state,
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  and,
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  we provide
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  the allopathic education
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  for,
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  medical students as well as our residency programs.
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  And, in addition to that, have,
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  a college of nursing, college of population health,
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  and college of pharmacy. So,
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  we span far more than just the school
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  of medicine,
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  and then we have our health care delivery
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  system as well.
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  That's amazing to hear. And, you know, it
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  it's great that you've got such a great
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  coverage area with so many services underneath the
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  same, same umbrella there at the university.
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  Now I'm curious. What trends are you watching
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  currently? What's top of mind for you?
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  So I think top of mind,
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  for all of us are, you know, what
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  are some of the regulatory changes and how
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  are they gonna affect
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  our institutions,
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  you know, from from the funding sources.
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  I think it's also important to keep, an
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  eye on the trends when it comes to
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  health care access.
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  You know, when we look at the HRSA
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  data, I think we all recognize
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  that,
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  we're,
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  experiencing
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  a shortage in health care workers, not just
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  in the physician component, but really across the
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  spectrum.
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  And as an academic institution, making sure that
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  we're doing our part
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  to,
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  address this challenge for our state and beyond,
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  is incredibly important. Ideally, the individuals that we
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  train, you know, stay here in New Mexico
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  and provide coverage and and support
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  to our local communities.
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  However, we recognize we pull from other areas
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  and that individuals may also recruit, you know,
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  our graduates too.
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  But I think it's really important that as
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  we build these educational programs that we do
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  so in a way that's really mindful of
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  the needs, not just for today and tomorrow,
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  but when we look at the ten and
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  twenty year data.
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  That makes a lot of sense. And I,
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  you know, I really feel,
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  that,
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  your when you bring up access and having
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  access to care, that's such a, universal problem.
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  I know so many hospitals and health systems
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  are trying to,
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  expand their access to their communities in different
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  and unique ways,
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  while they're also
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  working looking on those, health care worker shortages
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  as well. And so when you're thinking about
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  access, what are some of the things that
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  you've done in the past
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  year or or or so that have worked
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  well to expand the access, or or what
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  are you planning in the future?
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  You know, I think it's important to recognize
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  that,
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  health care itself is,
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  changing constantly with the engagement of, you know,
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  technology
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  and, you know, how can we create efficiency.
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  I also think the more that we can
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  move outside the acute environment becomes incredibly helpful
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  to to decompress that very limited resource.
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  Managing patients in, an outpatient setting tends to
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  be less,
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  resource intensive.
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  And so it allows us to be able
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  to do more.
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  But I think, you know, at the end
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  of the day, we're all still faced with
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  the challenge of,
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  you know, that access. We we currently run
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  at about a 130%
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  occupancy
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  in our acute care,
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  delivery system, which is, you know, quite a
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  challenge and a burden to,
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  our organization, our providers, but it's really important
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  that we continue to deliver outstanding care to
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  the state of New Mexico. And so,
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  you know, we we really strive to,
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  address those problems in a way that impacts
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  the the access to our patients in a
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  positive way.
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  Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
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  You know, and it's really helpful to understand.
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  Now what are you most proud of in
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  the last six to twelve months? What's made
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  you excited, and what have you been focused
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  on?
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  So as we've looked to expand,
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  our health care,
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  workers in the state, you know, we have
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  the challenge of being able to have the
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  physical plant in order to be able to
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  train those individuals. And so,
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  from the perspective of our medical school, in
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  order to be able to double the graduate
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  size over the next ten years,
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  we've gotta have the facility in which to
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  do that. And so we've undertaken,
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  a very robust business plan
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  that gave us sort of the framework of
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  how to go about achieving this.
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  You know, from that perspective, we've also,
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  worked to
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  to provide the programming and the information about,
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  you know, what is it that needs to
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  go into this new school of medicine building
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  that will allow us to educate not just
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  today, but as technology changes and as learning
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  opportunities
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  change for students in the future.
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  You know, how does this building have that
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  flexibility?
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  And then, you know, how do we align
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  all of our stakeholders
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  in, you know, supporting
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  and making sure that this is the direction
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  that we need to go?
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  Absolutely. That makes a ton of sense. And,
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  you know, I can imagine it's easier said
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  than done building that alignment.
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  How do you work with your executive team
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  and really make sure that you've got a
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  strong plan in place, that everyone is ready
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  to move forward, in a united front towards
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  this,
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  shared plan and perspective?
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  You know, we're really fortunate that we have
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  a strong,
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  EVP,
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  that's leading our health system.
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  We also have an amazing
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  state to support
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  these initiatives. Their guidance,
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  their investment,
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  their,
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  really ownership of this has just been tremendous.
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  I can't say you know, I've been I've
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  lived in multiple states, and I can't say
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  that I've seen the level
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  of,
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  interest engagement
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  and drive that,
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  our state has shown
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  for a project of this of this type.
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  And so that's just, you know, such an
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  absolutely refreshing
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  perspective
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  to have, and I think that's really what's
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  allowed us to achieve this in such a
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  short time period. We really were just conceptually
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  thinking of this eighteen to twenty four months
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  ago, and, you know, we're already in the
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  design phase and have an idea of when
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  we would like to break ground. And so
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  I think,
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  you know, having,
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  you asked specifically about our executive team within
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  our organization,
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  but I think it goes so far beyond
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  that,
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  in order to be able to do this
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  type of a large scale
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  project in an area
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  like this at such a a fast pace
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  has become incredibly important to not just have
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  that alignment internally, but also externally as well.
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  That's great to hear, and it's really exciting
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  to have all of, you know, the state
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  as well as the leadership of the organization,
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  you know, all coming together to fight for
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  the same mission.
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  Now before we wrap up here, I wanted
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  to ask, what advice would you give evolving
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  leaders today, especially those facing such a unique
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  time in health care as we have right
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  now?
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  So I think it's really easy to get
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  bogged down in all the things that don't
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  work right or the challenges that we're faced
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  with,
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  but I I I am a firm believer
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  in really reframing that,
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  to
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  the,
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  the narrative. This is an opportunity for us
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  to reconfigure or retool. This is an opportunity
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  for us to do different, to do better.
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  And so,
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  you know, it's it's not always smooth sailing,
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  but there's an adage that I'll get wrong.
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  But, basically, that, a skilled sailor isn't made
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  through smooth seas. It's the actually, it's the
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  difficult seas that make the skilled sailor. So
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  I think we have to look at these
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  these occasional difficult seas as as really honing
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  our skills
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  and helping us,
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  create that
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  that muscle memory to be able to to
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  continue to navigate through challenging times.
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  Becca, thank you so much for joining us
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  on the podcast today. What a positive and
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  optimistic,
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  message to leave us on. You know, I
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  think that's so critical right now in health
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  care, just to have that strong leadership, strong
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  focus, and ability to get through any challenges
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  that come our way. I appreciate your time
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  today, and I look forward to continuing this
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  conversation.
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  Well, likewise, Laura. Thank you so much.