← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Dan Hackner, MD, Chief Clinical and Academic Officer, Southcoast Health
00:22:23
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- [00:02]
A
This is where healthcare leadership comes together. Becker's 16th annual meeting brings more than 3,500 hospital and health system executives and nearly 800 speakers to Chicago, April 13th through the 16th. This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former President George W. Bush. For the agenda and event details, visit Beckershospitalreview.com and click on the Events tab in the upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you in Chicago.
- [00:33]
B
This is Laura Deardo with the Beckers Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr. Dan Hackner, Chief clinical and Academic Officer at South Coast Health. Dr. Hackner, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- [00:44]
C
Oh, it's a pleasure to join you, Laura.
- [00:47]
B
Absolutely. Well, thank you again for your time. I think it's always great to have you on the line and speak with you about what's happening at South Coast Health. But before we dive into our broader conversation, I'm curious, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself health, the organization? What is, you know, kind of the state of the union for South Coast Health?
- [01:06]
C
Sure. I'm Dan Hackner, Chief clinical and Academic Officer at South Coast Health. South coast is a not for profit health system in Southeastern Mass In Rhode Island. We serve a catchment of about 700,000 patients. We operate in three Massachusetts Hospital along picturesque Buzzards Bay in the surrounding areas between Cape Cod and Newport. In the center is New Bedford. It's the busiest fishing port on the east coast and you may have seen Fall river, one of the other cities featured in the Amazon commercials. We're an integrated CMS four star health system with two cancer centers, level two trauma center, a brain and spine center, memory clinic, robotic center of excellence and a really strong heart center with high performing STS3s surgical programs and interventional programs. The system is also one of only about 2 dozen College of Healthcare Information Management, Executive Chime Level 10 most wired systems in the country and we also have an ACR AI center of Excellence. So it's a little bit unusual as a community system. I'm in my seventh year at south coast and I oversee clinical excellence and I'm a clinically active board certified internist, pulmonologist and critical care physician. My interests over the years have been in physician performance management and I published on that as well as population health care management. I went to school at UC Berkeley at Stanford and the Marshall School of Business at usc and I trained at UCLA and Cedars for medicine and pulmonary and critical care. I also Did a health Services fellowship at Cedars for a number of years. I also co edited the popular ACMA Compass program for physician Advisors and was one of the original editors of the Care Management Physician Certification Examination. I regularly teach on resilience at sites like Harvard Chan School of Public Health and UMass Chan Medical School. And I have an appointment as an Associate Professor @umass chan. So that's a little bit about me and South Coast.
- [03:25]
B
That's amazing to hear. And you know, what incredible experience. I was curious what initiative has been most important that you led this last year? What did you do and what were the results?
- [03:39]
C
So this past year culminated a multi year effort on performance and reporting. It resulted in the second star rating upgrade in the past two, three years and as well as our 2025 NRC Award for Excellence in Patient experience. And we're so proud of all the folks that have worked multi years to achieve these results this past year. The work is data driven, employs robust process improvement approaches familiar to most organizations. And for us it requires that balance between hardwiring technology, but also a deep attention to human factors work. So whether you're wandering from a digital whiteboard that transparently maps patients, throughput and progression of care huddles that occur every day at 11 in every unit, or you come across our daily safety huddles every morning, or where staff physically gather and share the good and the bad, celebrate harm avoidance, report issues without any fear or any worry, or you go to one of our recognition programs for excellence in compassionate care. All of these elements share a common thread, concurrent data, engaged discussions and empowerment to lead. So we're really proud of landing the results this past year. But it, you know, it's a multi, multi year effort in the coming year. We're also proud that over a third of our board scorecard will be quality and experience metrics. So the board really supports these initiatives.
- [05:37]
B
That's amazing to hear. And you know, certainly I'm just impressive to think about that turnaround and the ability to use the data, gather it and then incorporate it into everyday workflows so that you can really improve that process of care and the outcomes at the same time. What was it like for you to, you know, build up this new capability? Was the team pretty accepting of the technology and new processes or did it take some time to really get the place where you wanted to be?
- [06:09]
C
Yeah, I'll be very honest. Early on there were some folks who were worried about this deeply data driven approach. Were folks ready to accept concurrent data? Were they able to, you know, were board members prepared and were leaders going to accept, you know, some hard data that is tough to, to face. And it's really been a joy seeing the organization people grow, the data readiness and literacy improve. When we have a board quality and safety committee and we put up a cause and effect diagram, a fishbone diagram, this is not a surprise. This is something that's expected by board members using debriefings and validated approaches to safety improvement. These are embraced by our staff and our leaders in the field. And it really is a joy to see say a professional practice nurse lead one of these debriefings and expanding the number of folks who can run RCA initiatives. So it's, it requires trust, it requires working through our, our comfort or discomfort and, and a commitment to, you know, psychological safety, a culture of safety. But in the end, you know, for folks who enjoy this delayed gratification there, there is definitely gratification and in the end and seeing these community teams advance the mission.
- [08:05]
B
I love that. That's so helpful to hear and thank you for digging a little bit deeper there. Now, looking ahead, what are some of the big priorities and headwinds you're focused on for 2026?
- [08:16]
C
So in the coming year, you know, we're excited about some important growth, research and innovation initiatives. South coast will embark on an ambitious capital enhancement program in core areas such as heart and vascular, oncology, brain and spine, along with investments in our primary care providers in our heart and vascular and oncology. We do anticipate ongoing double digit growth in clinical research and so those are very exciting. In the coming year, we're also looking at growth of our innovation hub, Compodio. You know, we'll be bringing to market exciting applications and data management. Built on our over 10 years experience with EPIC and recognized excellence in digital management. Compodio will also launch products with partners such as Advicare on topics such as cognitive dysfunction and dementia, support for caregivers. And we'll be featuring our ability to integrate applications and education within EPIC Mychart so that other organizations can easily adopt affordable solutions. The Compodio hub really taps into, you know, differentiating abilities at south coast and recognized strength in analytics as well. But it's all advancing the mission of community care. Our tagline is advanced medicine, more care in the community.
- [10:11]
B
I love that. And what a great example of the different ways you can create partnerships and find solutions to some really, really tough challenges within the healthcare landscape today. I think especially when you look at research and innovation initiatives, those are two things that aren't necessarily black and white all the time. And being in that space right now in healthcare, where you can be innovative and focus on your research too, I think is incredible. So I'm curious, what are some of the things that you know when you're looking at these partnerships, how do you see those, the outcomes coming through, whether it's with EPIC or some of the others, what outcomes do you expect and how do you really see those initiatives playing out?
- [10:57]
C
So, you know, we're an interesting organization is where we're a community system or not a traditional academic system, but it gives us that perspective and also an understanding of what other community systems may lack. And so, for instance, many community systems are migrating their legacy data systems to either go on to EPIC or some other dominant ehr. And south coast has developed tools to do that and being able to share that in the marketplace and also fund additional innovation to support our mission, it's an important endeavor. It's also true that we've seen a gap in clinical areas. You know, we are a guide program through CMS providing dementia support and it's based in our brain and spine center. But we recognize that there was a real gap in educating and supporting caregivers. There was lots of information on the web, very little vetted, and a lot of information that was potentially harmful. And so we partnered with a provider of educational content to develop an app that's not only freestanding, but embedded into our MyChart EPIC patient facing portal. It also is available to, you know, care companions who may not have access to the EPIC portal because, you know, they're, they're not a proxy and they don't need to seek clinical information. And so doing that is filled an important gap. We have a number of folks who speak different languages, the South Coast, a lot of Portuguese speakers, a lot of Spanish speakers. And we made, you know, the content available multilingually and also developed an affordable way with a very robust translation service on site to do that for other applications. And so those are just some examples of how we've taken our understanding of the community and gaps, married it with some capability on our side or in partners, and then, and then worked to innovate. And we're looking forward to additional innovations in the coming years with Cambodia.
- [13:50]
B
That's fantastic. Amazing to think about and look at all those different capabilities, especially as a community system, as you mentioned, is certainly a unique place to be in. I wanted to ask too, as we're talking about the future, I know there's a lot of uncertainties within health care Currently. So what do you think will be the hardest thing that you'll have to do in the coming year?
- [14:13]
C
So we anticipate large headwinds in affordability and eligibility for health insurance in the coming year. You know, even in Massachusetts, which has been a leader in access to coverage, we anticipate this is going to be very challenging. You know, as other providers and many patients experience strains and even reduce services, we anticipate ongoing growth in volume, including patients who are new to South Coast. Seeing us for the first time, we're committed to clinical excellence. And the hardest thing will be maintaining access to patients early to avoid progression of disease and being left out in the cold by an increasingly cold market. We're committed to this community mission, but we're clear eyed about how tough it may be in the coming year.
- [15:12]
B
Absolutely. I think that idea of access, and especially as you mentioned, seeing a potential increase in patient demand and need for patient services, while at the same time struggling to figure out how you can reach those folks and provide the needed care, I think is something that a lot of organizations are thinking about in trying to troubleshoot and understand what they're going to need to do in the next year. Is there anything new you're going to try or is that still something you're working on with your executive leadership team?
- [15:46]
C
So, you know, south coast recently released its economic analysis of the impact to the community, but also joined with community partners to look at additional areas of collaboration. There are areas where we can be a site of delivery of clinical excellence, but there are other areas where we can either convene or we can coordinate or we can navigate. And we're looking for those opportunities with community partners. It's really important to recognize this as a community mission. And while we're dominant in the market, we are not the entire market. And we recognize the capabilities of many excellent community based organizations. So our challenge is going to be finding those areas of common effort.
- [16:53]
B
Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. Now, before we wrap up here, I wanted to ask about growth as well. Where are some of the best opportunities that you're seeing for organizational growth?
- [17:04]
C
So, you know, we expect organic growth of 5 to 10% in, in our core areas. However, we see the best opportunities in those collaborations with health partners. And that I mentioned. Some may be AMCs, some may be community based organizations such as FQHCs and colleges. Some may be companies and chambers of commerce like our South Coast One Chamber of Commerce, and in some cases even state and local governments. You know, we've been able to Partner with the City of New Bedford, for instance, on innovative recovery coaching programs and with a number of organizations on neonatal abstinence syndrome and getting babies home with families when there's been exposure to substance use. So there are a number of areas we see opportunity for grows and we're looking very carefully where we have complementary services, whether they be clinical navigation, education or research, because we recognize we can't do it all by ourselves. We're looking for trusted, open and collaborative partners and we want to be that trusted, open and collaborative partner that's easy to work with. So a great example is our multi year partnership with Boston Children's Hospital, including on site faculty and emergency medicine hospital medicine family centered unit care. And that keeps families children in the area and also allows us access to highly specialized tertiary services should we need to transport children to Boston Children's facilities. It's been incredibly fruitful and we meet quarterly to review our progress. That's one of my favorite meetings. Other examples include our primary stroke care partnering with an LVOT center in the region. We have really excellent services now available, timely throughout the region. And it's that recognition that you can do more together, even sometimes with competitors. Definitely our clinical trials, we're seeing gains. We're not an amc, we don't do early phase trials. But by partnering with an amc we get access to high quality early phase trials. And then on the education front, you know, building the pipeline of our workforce, we educate over 300 physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and nurses in collaboration with medical schools, colleges, nursing programs and other programs. And those collaborations are really essential for the health of the, you know, the workforce in the future. You know, we're seeing very low avoidable turnover in, in our system, but it requires work both on the experience side, but also these collaborations which enhance, you know, the experience of the workforce.
- [20:47]
B
That's amazing to hear. Dr. Heckner, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This is been such an inspiring conversation and I look forward to seeing you as well in April for our annual meeting. I know you're going to be speaking there and it'll be such a great opportunity to connect and learn from one another and really dig deeper into some of the challenges as well as solutions that you've been talking about today. So I look forward to that.
- [21:09]
C
Yeah, I'm looking forward to learning from others at the meeting. It's, it's a really rich meeting and, and I always come away with something able to bring back to the health system. A good example of that is our electron whiteboards, which came out of a chance encounter and being able to test some of the technology. So really encourage folks to attend the conference. It's a wonderful conference.