← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
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- [00:00]
A
This is Laura Deardow with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Aidan Hetler, Chief Executive Officer at Sedgwick County Health Center. Aiden, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- [00:10]
B
Yeah, thank you so much, Laura. It's a pleasure to be here.
- [00:13]
A
Absolutely. Now, I'm excited for our conversation because I know there's so much happening in healthcare today and particularly looking at some of the big challenges as well as opportunities for growth ahead. So we'll talk through some of those things and then some of the cool things that you're doing at Sedgwick County Health center as well. But before we dive in, wondering, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and the organization?
- [00:32]
B
Yeah, absolutely. So I'm Aiden Hetler and I serve as the Chief Exec at Sedgwick County Health center, based in Julesburg, Colorado. We are a critical access hospital and integrated health system that is focused on serving frontier populations in our northeastern corner of Colorado and also southwestern Nebraska. And in total, our Footprint includes a 15 bed critical access hospital, three rural health clinics, nursing home, and assisted living, all with a mission to deliver exceptional care close to home. And with that, it keeps our entire team pretty busy. So it's a good, good role to be in and great place to work.
- [01:13]
A
Absolutely. That makes sense. And you know, a really important service that you're providing to the community as well. Now, I'm curious, what's your biggest win or success story from the last year or so?
- [01:24]
B
That's a loaded question. We have done a lot of really big things in the last year and have a lot to be proud of. And I have just an exceptional team that helps carry us and create the environment of care that we have here. But one of our biggest wins over the past year was the successful implementation of a new electronic medical record system. And it wasn't just the implementation of the emr. We took it so much further than, you know, the surface level implementation implementation of a system, which obviously any EMR implementation is a huge lift. But our team went about it with some really great intentionality. So we didn't just swap technology or softwares. We used the implementation as an opportunity for us to have a full process transformation project kind of kicked off and completed across our acute settings, ambulatory and outpatient care. We also leveraged it to standardize some of our workflows, improve communication across many of our teams, and ultimately we built a foundation for better clinical and financial outcomes and for a small rural health System like us achieving this level of transformation with the limited resources we have is something we're really proud of.
- [02:43]
A
Absolutely. I think that's amazing here and of course critical. The technology component, you know, is changing so quickly and to be able to have access to that and leverage it for an organization of your size is so important. And you know, when you look at the technology and trying to figure out what it makes sense to invest in as well as have that digital transformation and then bringing your team on board, what does that take to do from a leadership perspective, you know, to keep everybody focused and make those right investments and then, you know, have that change management in place as well?
- [03:18]
B
Absolutely. So we had a lot of incredible buy in from our staff. Ultimately that helped create the success. Everyone understood that it wasn't just implementing the emr, but that we needed to essentially shred all of our current processes and practices and we took it as the opportunity to rebuild everything that we knew. So however you worked before, we kind of threw it out the window or saved the very best pieces of it and figured out how we would work in a new environment and ultimately use that to deliver better patient experiences and outcomes and also help many of our team members. Specifically on the clinical side, we'd come from a previous EHR environment that was disjointed and had disparate systems. So this was a huge opportunity for us to modernize and overhaul not just what we do, but how we do it and improve the outcomes that come with that.
- [04:21]
A
Absolutely. That's helpful to know and thank you so much for providing extra insight there. Now, in thinking about just everything happening today, what are the top two to three issues that you're focused on? What comes top of mind as you're trying to make big decisions for the future?
- [04:35]
B
Absolutely. So right now we are in our strategic planning and budgeting time frame for 2026 and it's obviously no new information to either one of us or anybody else who operates in the healthc industry that we've got a lot of changes ahead with the new administration. There's lots of shifting priorities with funding and all kinds of different things. And how we respond to that is really going to be important in terms of ensuring our long, long term success and viability. Because a lot of the impacts that are felt at a macro scale in the industry end up being very large impacts. One, trickle down to the rural health sphere. So specifically, some of the things that we're working on are really just fortifying our revenue cycle and emphasizing revenue cycle readiness to kind of ride the waves of what is to come. So we're focused on strengthening our revenue cycle processes, especially as we prepare for the upcoming 2026 payment and compliance changes at the federal level, which makes up a large amount of our payer mix. Medicare and then Medicaid dollars that are distributed at the state level and of course are funded through the federal level as well. And as a rural facility, we don't have the luxury of margin for error. So we need air type processes to keep the organization financially stable and viable as we go through all of these changes. So that's one of the things, the second issue or you know, project that we have as an area of focus is our workforce resourcing and critical infrastructure rules. So we're really making sure that our teams are appropriately resourced in high leverage areas like our revenue cycle. Informatics has become so influential as we are in the post DMR implementation era and then it as well. We want to make sure that we have the right skill sets in each of these functions, just which we view as just as important as bedside staffing because it ensures sustainability and really harmonizes the overall care process so that our frontline teams can do their best work. So those are the first two and then the third thing that we're going to be really looking at is our long term care service arms. So we're examining the long term viability of our long term care services. We are currently grappling with some aging infrastructure compounded by reimbursement challenges. And right now it's really critical for us to determine what role these services are going to play in our future and how we can continue to meet community needs responsibly while balancing everything else that we have happening. So we'll be doing a pretty comprehensive assessment about what strategies we may be able to leverage to make sure that we have facilities that get modernized, meet the needs of modern patients and their uses, while also responding to the needs of the community and the wants of the community, whether that be services that are different than the traditional long term care things that we've been offering.
- [08:04]
A
That makes a lot of sense and you know, it is really important. I hear more and more now leaders talking about that sustainability element, trying to understand what it will mean for their own organizations, whether it's the infrastructure, as you mentioned, technology, workforce teams and just way that they've been thinking about healthcare delivery. So this just fascinating to hear on your side too. And you know, when you look at going through some of these modernization efforts, what are the top priorities for you what are you planning on doing in the next year or so?
- [08:38]
B
Yeah, so I completely agree with the point that you said about sustainability. Kind of in all those facets between, you know, systems, processes, workforce, care delivery, it really is something that has to be a well thought out approach for sustainability. And it can't just be one piece of the puzzle at any given time. It has to be kind of all of them working in tandem. And with that, we view our opportunities for growth in the upcoming year a few different ways. So part of our strategic pivot heading into 2026 is focusing on our centers of Excellence models. So we are viewing our biggest opportunities as a P towards our natural centers of excellence. So the things that we have always offered, their core offerings and things that we just really want to buckle down and make sure that we are doing them at the highest caliber that we can. So that includes primary care, emergency care, rehabilitative care, and generating access to specialty service lines. And that distinction on the last one for specialty service is rather important. We had previously been working on, you know, increasing services, like having surgical services here and things of the like, but we've taken a moment to really reflect this year and say, you know, it may not be the most important thing that we provide the surgical service itself here, but if we're able to do the consult and create access for our community to get to that specialty care here and then they receive it somewhere close in the region, that's going to be our best combination of offerings in terms of keeping the company financially sustainable while meeting the needs of patients where they are. And on that same line, the specialty access close to home concept is really just focused on creating that reliable access to specialty care. In a frontier region like ours, patients want that care close to home. We know that. And if we can bring the specialists into our community through strategic partnerships, technology and other avenues, we can meet that demand. So that's one of our big things. And then of course, we're always looking towards community driven expansion. So all of this growth is intended to tie back to serving our community better. And we don't want to grow just for growth's sake. We want to reduce the barriers to care in rural America and in our region.
- [11:16]
A
That makes a lot of sense. You know, it is incredible to think about that type of growth prospect, you know, looking into the future, because, as you mentioned, you know, it's not always easy to keep growing and developing in some of these rural healthcare settings. I know we hear oftentimes about just a lot of the challenges that, you know, Hospitals and health systems across the board have, which are amplified then in the rural setting too. So it's just great that you have the ability to kind of think about that on a strategic level and start implementing it as well. You know, when you're preparing for a change is coming down the pipe too, as you mentioned.
- [11:56]
B
Yeah, absolutely. We, we try to view everything as an opportunity. You know, there are perpetual challenges. So our mantra we try to always carry with us, as you know, these are the set of circumstances that we exist and operate in and, you know, what opportunities can we create out of it for the people that we serve. Right. I mean, that's the reason why we're here. So we try to just keep that kind of mindset towards growth and abundance and not scarcity. So it's part of our ethos.
- [12:32]
A
Absolutely. I think that's so important, especially these days, to build that into the broader mission and vision and ethos of the organization. Now, when you look ahead over the next five years or so, what else do you think it will take in order to lead a thriving organization?
- [12:49]
B
So we've been doing a lot of work in terms of our organizational culture and really a complete overhaul since I started here three years ago. But that work just continues to get better and more exciting with the discussions that we have about what's possible. So we're focusing on our cultural transformation. That work continues. I personally believe, as a servant leader, that thriving in rural healthcare really comes down to culture, and not just in rural healthcare, but any industry. So we're intentionally building a patient's come second culture. And it's important to emphasize that this is in no way meant to devalue patients, but it's to reinforce that if we take care of our staff, they can give their very best to our patients. And it's funny, I brought that up a few different times in a few different settings like this one. And it usually catches people off guard because, you know, it's always the patient comes first. And that's true. We care about those outcomes and those experiences, but we can't deliver on anything like that if we're not taking care of our team members who are the caregivers. And then another facet of our drive for a thriving organization in the next few years is becoming the true employer of choice in our region. So we're on a relentless pursuit to become the premier employer in the region. And that includes the overhauling of our benefits, introducing things like mental wellness, time off, exploring programs like sabbatical programs, and providing appreciation that just ultimately goes beyond base compensation and mere dollars. We want to create a culture of true value for people who join our team and are part of our mission here and in frontier communities, the recruitment and retention efforts are really make or break. So if we win on our culture, we'll win on care. That's the whole philosophy behind it. Then we're also making sure that we're building out resilient leadership, not just in our formal leadership ranks, but for everyone who views themselves in their role as a leader, because it takes all of us to achieve this mission over the next five years. A lot of rural health leaders, in order to be successful in our view, have to combine operational excellence with bold cultural leadership, which is what we're trying to blend here. Through the cultural leadership, technology changes in payment models and care delivery models, and with demographics also shifting, we want to invest in our people and align around our mission so that we remain resilient and people are equipped with the tools that they need to succeed in an ever changing environment.
- [15:43]
A
I love that. Aidan, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This has been a really fun conversation. I think it's inspiring to think about everything you've accomplished and then your outlook for the future too is, is a really important one. And I'm looking forward to meeting you as well at our CEO CFO Roundtable in November. I know you'll be speaking on a variety of topics and it'll just be great to meet you there and continue the conversation.
- [16:07]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for taking the time to have me today and I look forward to meeting you at the conference as well.