← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Capacity Strategy and Operational Resilience at U Health with Gina R. Hawley, DrPH, MHA
00:17:57
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- [00:02]
A
Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders together to unpack the most pressing issues facing the industry. And every year, those conversations shift in profound and unexpected ways. This April, more than 3,500 healthcare executives will return to Chicago for Becker's 16th annual meeting. 795 elite speakers will offer new lessons, new case studies, and predictions about what comes next. Join us April 13th through the 16th. For the agenda and event details, visit Beckershospitalview.com and click on the Events tab in the upper right.
- [00:38]
B
This is Laura Dardo with the Beckers Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr. Gina Holley, system Associate Chief Operating Officer at University of Utah Health and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Utah hospitals and clinics. Dr. Holley, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- [00:53]
C
Thank you, Laura, for having me. Really appreciate it.
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B
Absolutely. Now, I'm excited for our conversation because I know healthcare is such a fascinating field, always changing and a lot of innovation right now, but also many challenges ahead too. So I'm looking forward to learning a little bit more about the things you're doing at University of Utah Health, as well as how you're thinking about the future. But before we begin, can you tell me a little bit more about yourself and your background?
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C
Yeah, sure. Thank you. Yeah. I've been at University of Utah Health for about three years. Prior to that I was the Vice president, Professional Support Services and prior to that Senior Director of Neuroscience and Spine at Oregon Health and Science University. I spent about eight years there and the project I was at Johns Hopkins Medicine for nine years, again in neuroscience service lines for most of my time there. Been in hospital operations and strategy for over 20 years. Started my career as a nursing assistant, which is to this day one of the best jobs I've ever had. Got to do baby baths and work, labor delivery, high risk ob. I was pre med when I thought I started a long time ago. That's what I thought I was going to do and discovered I wasn't really good at the sciences but around patients and just a little bit more, the business and administrative aspects really called to me. So I feel I have the best of both worlds that today in my role I am still supporting those that are on the front lines and so forth. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska and been lucky to be at some great places across the country for my background. You know, my bachelor's and master's in healthcare administration, my doctorate in public health and teach part time as well, which I really enjoy. It's been great Hearing sort of from the generations to come and students of what healthcare could be in the future.
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B
Absolutely. That is amazing. And to have that kind of career evolution gives you a really strong background to now, you know, lead through the times that we're going through today. I am curious, when you think about the last year or so, can you tell me about the most important initiative you led? What did you do and what were the results?
- [02:57]
C
Yeah, no, that's a great question. There's been so many great initiatives. So when thinking about this question, it was a little bit hard to just pick one or just really focus. And again we're. The initiatives we have are just with such amazing teams here at U Health. Probably one that I think is really, really near and dear to my heart and something I think will probably be one of the most impactful projects I work on in my career is opening up our new campus in West Valley. West Valley in Utah is the second largest city and there are many healthcare deserts in west valley. It's about 20, 25 minutes from the University of Utah campus. And in certain areas of zip codes in West Valley there is a 10 year difference in life expectancy because of these health deserts that we have. So we have disparities in health outcomes and so forth. And so University of Utah Health is excited to be partnering with the West Valley community to build the first healthcare campus off the University of Utah campus to provide care. So it'll be, we've already breaking ground. It'll be opening up in 2028 for AM services, 2029 for inpatient services. And just when you think about the care that we give University of Utah, by the way, and University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, we are the state's and region's only active medical center. So we take care of the tertiary continary care. And this is just an aspect of just what we feel is such a great partnership and part giving back, part of the community that really is looking for it. And it will be about 140 beds, over 200 outpatient rooms. And when you think about now having those healthcare deserts that it's astonishing. Another fact is that in Utah 9 out of 10 inpatient beds are on the east side of I5 or interstate, whereas only 1 out of 10 beds are on the west side. And so that's where the West Valley side to, to bring this will be huge. So this is, this is exciting time. Why this is important this last year is that because of financial constraints and so a little bit of a stop and go project just given Just how we support it and we're just excited to move ahead.
- [05:09]
B
Absolutely. I love that. And you know, I think it's really cool to be able to expand in this way. I know that, you know, so many hospitals and healthcare organizations are trying to figure out, you know, how they're going to keep the current services of float. But being able to look at how you're then, you know, evolving and changing and continuing to, you know, create some more of those outpatient spaces or cover, you know, services in a larger area, it makes so much sense and is so helpful. I'm curious, you know, when you go through this kind of change and are looking at ways that you want to make a difference in kind of more of the community health side of it, you know, how do you think about your resources? How do you make sure that as you creating more outpatient space or more, you know, service lines and access points that you're getting your resources to the right places that are going to make the most sense not only for the community, but also for the health system Sustainability?
- [06:08]
C
Yeah, it's a really good question and I think here at University of Utah Health we've been really cognizant of just right, the headwinds are coming our way and how to be thoughtful. So while I talked about West Valley, there's initiatives and things we're constantly prioritizing to really think about what's the biggest impact. Right. And this is again in collaboration with the community and our university campus and just great leadership here. But it's great to be talking about new builds. But we all know that we can't do that all the time. And so how do we think about really initiatives that give some high level impact as we continue to grow and support our community? Things such as looking at different ways to have different access within our ambulatory space. Right. Looking at air traffic control models to really the space as best possible. Looking at reducing our referral leakage for radiology, looking at different time slots and weekends for our periop and or services. Looking across our system, we are a five hospital system currently our main campus and our cancer hospital, mental health hospital or orthopedics and rehab hospital. But going past the specialty hospital along with our main hospital and looking at where underutilization is occurring in terms of bed capacity and how can we shift around populations is key. So through our capacity action work, which is led by just amazing folks here and just a lot of thoughtfulness, how do we continue prioritizing the impact? And we've done some really cognizant work of looking at that high impact and maybe, you know, like efforts to really low, medium or high effort to try to get some of those gains.
- [07:44]
B
Now that's really helpful to understand. Thank you so much for digging a little bit deeper and telling us about, you know, your processes there and how things are working at the executive level now. Looking ahead, could you talk a bit deeper on some of the big priorities and headwinds you're focused on for 2026?
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C
Yeah, absolutely. So one thing we're focusing on, we're sort of excited to be thinking differently is about sort of a new care line model. How we look at care lines and how do we look at care lines across geographies and platforms to create a clinically integrated network. So not just thinking about our typical, you know, a patient gets care one site but has a different process to get and another site and not thinking about our usual traditional, you know, no mal intent, but how we've structured in terms of departments and things. But how do we look at episodes of care for those patients and really giving sort of streamlined care across. Across different platforms.
- [08:39]
B
Right.
- [08:40]
C
As we think about not just our hospitals, but partnerships, clinic sites, affiliates, how do we. How do we get the care to the patient that really needs it most for whether it's cardiovascular neurosciences or other areas, how do we be as streamline possible? And this really does include standardizing quality, access, pathway, performance, accountability, but all putting patients at the center of care. So that's a big priority we're focusing on in 2026 at UHealth. Another one I mentioned before was like just the system capacity and growth planning that we talked about. We have some other facility builds, builds that we've had. We've opened up a new crisis care center. We're up in a new cancer location in Vineyard, which is close to Provo, Utah and just continuing to look at where we can expand our AM sites as well. Looking at access differently, how do we look at access throughout all of our areas, whether it's transfer center or patient pathways in a patient stewardship hub is something we're looking at. And then, you know, really other key headwinds and priorities that we talk about a little bit more later if interested. But again, how do we keep our staff, you know, with all the staffing constraints, with the baby boomer population retiring, a lot of expertise going, how do we think innovatively about our staffing through as we continue to grow and continue supporting communities is really a top of mind. And along with that, all the external factors right Payer shifts, regulatory things of that nature, financial constraints. And for us being active, medical center research and educational support and constraints. How do we continue supporting all of our teams doing what we do, given that we do take care of some of the sickest in the area and
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B
that I think it's so helpful to understand what makes a big difference. I think a lot of the policy shifts and changes and trying to figure out access points seems to be top of mind for so many possible systems and organizations. And when you think about how those policies are shifting and changing and from your perspective too, thinking about the geographies as well, which is fascinating, is there anything that you're going to have to do differently in the coming year because of all of this? And yes, kind of different, I guess, ways you're thinking about, you know, roles, hiring, staffing or anything else that you're trying to put in place to make sure that you're evolving as these population and policies and more change.
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C
Yeah, I think, I think there's a lot going on, of course, like sort of the hot topic of AI and digital engagement, like how do we, how do we be more operationally efficient with new solutions that we have not had before is something that is a huge discussion here at you Health and how we could proceed forward. So I think there's a lot of excitement to how do we include things and how do we think of things differently with AI to make lives easier and to really get care to the patients where they need it. Right. That includes things also like virtual care and telehealth and really focusing also with not the patient but also caregivers and in different aspects through all of the ways that patients receive their care. I will also note the other piece I think is Geographies and communities is how we think about hiring staff is really key. Right. Like we have different generations of team members that are coming in and the generations that are coming in now are very different from generations in the past. Right. And so how do we think about even things such as job descriptions and benefits and what the teams of the future are looking for and now how do we react? We look at things that we are really thinking thoughtfully of how to bring in those staff that honestly right now could be burned out and wellness is an issue. How do we think thoughtfully on getting the teams that want to be here, but also giving pathway programs and helping support them through the different priorities that they have that again may not have been of generations of past.
- [12:47]
B
That makes a lot of sense and I love the kind of tag in of Technology and AI too, because it's. It's such a important shift that I know is happening in the healthcare space and can make some things, you know, easier, more efficient, but at the same time, you know, brings new challenges or new ways you have to look at problem solving. So that's really interesting. What do you think the hardest thing you'll have to do in the coming year will be?
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C
Oh, well, you know, there's.
- [13:12]
B
That's a.
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C
That's a great question. And there's a lot of hard things, but they're good. Right. And I think that's where a lot of us in this space with healthcare leadership and just being in the delivery aspects have all these things that we could concentrate on. So it's hard to pick on one. I think for us here at University of Utah Health, we have new leadership under Dr. Bob Carter, who's our new executive vice president for University of Utah Health. That includes all of our missions of research, education, patient care and community. And we're working towards new being a system which is different for some. Some organizations, including University of Utah Health, where we may have acted more as different departments or different missions. And so one of the things that I am thinking will be something that is difficult but exciting as well is how do we continue the system change in a way that keeps us moving quickly ahead, keeps us aligned, but also keeps us sort of thinking about just the operational aspects. Right. It doesn't keel our teams over. It takes a lot of good change management for it and a lot of communication and really thoughtful thinking. Because if we have amazing teams of work that are doing already great work. So how do you take it to that next level is something that I and our teams and leadership have been thinking a lot about as we go into this next phase. And exciting times for uhealth.
- [14:43]
B
Absolutely. That's amazing to hear. And, you know, kind of moving to this new phase, a new transitional and transformation is really cool. And, you know, it brings me to ask about growth too. Where do you see some of the best opportunities for organizational growth? I know we talked a little bit and you mentioned about some of the new things. Your ways are expanding and the organization is growing. But, you know, as a whole, how are you thinking about that and making sure that you're executing on it too?
- [15:10]
C
Yeah, so I've talked a lot about so far. We've, or we've discussed, you know, a lot about growth, expansion right. Within our communities, providing care in different areas, you know, that includes rural health care and getting to areas, you know, being Utah that a lot of our community doesn't necessarily have easy access to care. We've talked about operational efficiencies, we've talked about digital engagement and care lines and partnerships and access. I will also note one opportunity that I would be remiss if I didn't say is how we continue growing with quality and safety in all these aspects. Right. How do we keep on getting better in the care we're delivering to make sure it's safe, it's value based, it's excellent care. University of Utah Health has done some amazing things. We are top tier for vizient in quality and safety across other like actum medical centers. But it's not just the recognition actually is that we really take to heart our processes, our quality and safety and continue to look at ways to improving whether that's patient identification, whether looking at different protocols and so forth. It's, it's super exciting for us but it's also something that we think is, is, should be the standard for communities. So with all the things I've said, how do we keep that baseline of quality and safety and patient experience right. We talked a lot about our teams but wanting to make sure that our patients and how they, they receive their care is really at the forefront because it's daunting to get care especially nowadays and for especially those that are not familiar with healthcare. How do we utilizing new resources like AI or like, you know, some of the things that we have coming our way to better deliver care is something that I think is a really great opportunity. So really think about things that may for some systems come as a natural point but you can't, you always have to keep on striving for better. And I think we, we've, our teams have done a really nice job of just thinking, trying to continually think ahead of what is some of the things that we can continually work to improve on because we all know we have our opportunities to improve and take that responsibility to heart.
- [17:17]
B
I love that. Dr. Holley, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This has been such a fun conversation to have and really informative to know how you're working with your teams and really continuing to grow and develop for the future. So thank you for your time today and I'm excited to see you as well. In April. I know you'll be speaking on a panel at our annual meeting and talking through. I can imagine many of the same things we talked about today, but just a little bit more depth and you know, as we're looking at how truly healthcare is transforming. So thank you so much for your time and you. Look forward to seeing you in April.
- [17:51]
C
Thank you so much, Laura. Really appreciate it. I had a great time talking with you.