Dr. Jose Lopez, Chief Medical Officer at Holy Cross Health

Summary

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast Summary Episode: Dr. Jose Lopez, Chief Medical Officer at Holy Cross Health
Release Date: June 15, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast, host Scott Becker engages in an insightful conversation with Dr. Jose Lopez, the Chief Medical Officer at Holy Cross Health, the sole Trinity Health hospital in Florida. Dr. Lopez brings a wealth of experience from both clinical and leadership roles, providing listeners with valuable perspectives on healthcare management and emerging industry trends.

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Dr. Lopez’s Professional Journey

[00:00 – 02:34]

Dr. Lopez begins by introducing himself and his role at Holy Cross Health, a substantial institution boasting a top-line revenue of approximately $650 million and a dedicated workforce of around 3,200 employees. He highlights a distinguishing feature of their system: a medical group comprising about 200 physicians, which sets Holy Cross Health apart from its competitors.

Expanding on his career trajectory, Dr. Lopez recounts his beginnings as an emergency medicine physician with MedStar Health in Baltimore. His proactive involvement in quality initiatives, such as chart reviews and monitoring 72-hour return visits, led him to pursue formal training and earn an MBA. This foundation paved the way for a significant opportunity with the Cleveland Clinic, where he spearheaded the establishment of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi as the Chief of Emergency Medicine. This role allowed him to cultivate a robust emergency department from the ground up, fostering the desired processes and culture before returning to Trinity Health.

Notable Quote:
"From facilities to equipment to staffing models, it was very much US centric." [03:37]

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International Experience: Building Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

[02:34 – 03:37]

Dr. Lopez elaborates on his decade-long tenure in Abu Dhabi, describing it as both a professionally enriching and personally fulfilling experience. Living in a multicultural environment, he collaborated with healthcare professionals from diverse backgrounds, gaining insights into global medical practices. Despite the multinational setting, the healthcare quality mirrored that of typical US hospitals, emphasizing advanced facilities, state-of-the-art equipment, and comprehensive staffing models. This blend of international collaboration with US-centric healthcare standards provided a unique foundation for his leadership at Holy Cross Health.

Notable Quote:
"We sometimes assume that US Medicine is the best, but when you blend it across the spectrum, you learn tidbits from many different countries." [02:41]

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Current Healthcare Trends and Challenges

[03:37 – 07:48]

Dr. Lopez identifies several pressing trends and challenges within the healthcare landscape:

1. Reimbursement and Sustainability
   Ensuring appropriate reimbursement remains a critical focus to maintain the institution's sustainability. Dr. Lopez emphasizes the importance of securing adequate financial support for their services.

2. Staffing Shortages
   Particularly in South Florida, the high cost of living poses significant recruitment and retention challenges for nurses, technicians, and physical therapists. This issue is exacerbated by an exodus of healthcare professionals seeking more affordable living conditions in other regions.

   Notable Quote:
   "We have been seeing some exodus from this area to either northern Florida or other parts of the country where living is a little bit cheaper." [04:05]

3. Radiology Workforce Shortage
   Contrary to early expectations that advancements like telehealth and AI would alleviate radiology staffing issues, Dr. Lopez observes a persistent shortage of radiologists. Night shift roles, in particular, remain challenging to fill due to limited availability and radiologists' preferences to avoid overnight hours.

   Notable Quote:
   "The night services for radiology these days are pretty tough to get because I believe they're having difficulty with staffing, with availability of radiologists." [05:28]

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Integration
   While AI holds promise for enhancing clinical and operational processes, Dr. Lopez notes that its impact has not yet sufficed to address the physician shortfall. Nonetheless, Holy Cross Health is actively exploring ways to incorporate AI to streamline operations and support clinical decision-making.

   Notable Quote:
   "We're always trying to figure out how to best incorporate [AI] into both clinical and operational processes." [06:19]

Additional Insight:
Dr. Lopez reflects on the unintended consequences of consolidations within medical specialties, such as radiology and anesthesiology, which have contributed to the difficulties in staffing multiple surgical sites.

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Strategic Focus and Community Engagement

[07:37 – 08:53]

Dr. Lopez underscores Holy Cross Health's commitment to addressing local community needs. The institution continually strives to meet the high demand for healthcare services efficiently and patient-friendly. Key priorities include:

• Reducing Administrative Burden: Simplifying administrative processes to enhance patient experience.
• Convenient Access to Care: Ensuring patients can receive timely and accessible medical attention, despite personnel shortages.

Notable Quote:
"Trying to get there is not always easy when there's shortfalls of personnel. But that's what we focus on all the time, trying to make sure that we can meet those needs in a convenient way because that's what our patients expect." [08:38]

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Leadership Philosophy and Advice for Emerging Leaders

[08:53 – 10:35]

Dr. Lopez shares valuable leadership insights drawn from his extensive career:

1. Live Your Values
   Maintaining unwavering commitment to personal and organizational values is paramount. Leaders should ensure that their actions consistently reflect these core principles.

   Notable Quote:
   "Make sure that your values are clear to you and don't deviate from them." [08:53]

2. Effective Conflict Management
   Emphasizing the importance of active listening and humility in resolving conflicts, Dr. Lopez advises leaders to acknowledge multiple perspectives and seek common ground.

   Notable Quote:
   "Always walk into a conflict ready to listen and also ready to acknowledge that you may be wrong, that the other point of view may be better." [09:21]

3. Comprehensive Understanding Before Judging
   Leaders should strive to obtain a full picture before making judgments, recognizing that they may only be privy to part of the story.

   Notable Quote:
   "You don't know everything. You may only know half the story." [10:12]

Dr. Lopez's approach emphasizes integrity, empathy, and a collaborative mindset, fostering a positive and effective leadership environment.

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Interactive Segment: Word Association Game

[10:35 – 11:36]

In a light-hearted conclusion, Scott Becker engages Dr. Lopez in a word association game, illustrating the personable and approachable nature of their professional relationship. Although the segment is brief, it showcases Dr. Lopez’s quick thinking and camaraderie.

Notable Quote:
"As you know, I went to Tufts University, so I'm a modder, so." [11:12]

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Conclusion

Dr. Jose Lopez's conversation on the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast offers a comprehensive look into the complexities of healthcare leadership, the challenges of staffing and technological integration, and the unwavering focus on community-centered care. His experiences, both domestically and internationally, provide valuable lessons for current and aspiring healthcare leaders aiming to navigate and thrive in a dynamic and demanding industry.

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Key Takeaways:

• Leadership Integrity: Upholding clear values is essential for effective leadership.
• Staffing Challenges: Addressing recruitment and retention is critical, especially in high-cost areas.
• AI’s Role: While promising, AI is not yet a panacea for workforce shortages.
• Community Focus: Delivering patient-centered care remains a top priority despite operational hurdles.

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For those interested in healthcare leadership and industry trends, this episode of the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast offers invaluable insights from a seasoned professional committed to excellence and compassionate care.

Transcript

[A]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. Thrilled today to be joined by Dr. Jose Lopez from one of the most remarkable systems in the country. Dr. Lopez, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your system? Sure.

[B]

Thank you, Scott. My name is Jose Lopez. I'm a physician, emergency medicine by training. I serve as a chief medical officer at Holy Cross Health, which is the only Trinity Health hospital in Florida. We are about $650 million top line institution with about 3200 colleagues working for us. A big part of our program is a medical group of about 200 physicians. And I believe that sets us apart down here among some of our competitors.

[A]

Thank you. For people that are not familiar, you ought to be familiar. Trinity Health is one of the great face based systems in the country. No one does the commitment to empathy, to safety nets, to great excellence in clinical treatment better than Trinity Health. Magnificent leadership and Mike Slubowski and the entire team. And Dr. Lopez is an important part of that leadership. Jose, Tell us a little bit about your career, Dr. Lopez, and how you evolved from practicing in the ER to leadership and just a little bit about your background.

[B]

Yeah, Scott, thank you. As an emergency physician, I joined a group, MedStar Health in Baltimore, and at that time they were expanding. So I was part of a small group taking over a new emergency department. And as such they were looking for people to get involved. And so I raised my hand. Early on I got involved in a lot of quality initiatives, reviewing charts, 72 hour return visits. And from there I got some formal training, did an MBA and eventually was asked by Cleveland Clinic to go overseas and open Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi as a Chief of Emergency medicine. And I can tell you, Scott, that was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to work with Cleveland Clinic, to go abroad, build greenfield project and be able to set up my own emergency department or our own emergency department with our staff, set up the processes and the culture that we wanted and came back to be part of another great institution with Trinity Health.

[A]

Just fantastic. What was it like working overseas in the Middle East? Give us some thoughts on that. How was that?

[B]

To be honest, it was a great professional and a great personal experience. We lived in Abu Dhabi. My wife and my daughters, they graduate, they went through elementary, middle school and high school there. We were there for 10 years. Again, being in a very multinational setting, learning from people from all over the world on how they do medicine. We sometimes assume that US Medicine is the best, but when you blend it across the spectrum, you learn Tidbits from many different countries. So it was fascinating. Very multinational. English was a common language, but when it came to quality, it was US type healthcare. What you would expect in a normal US Hospital, from facilities to equipment to staffing models, it was very much US centric.

[A]

It's absolutely fascinating. I think so much of this is the truth and we don't realize it until we see it. We had a sick who had a horrendous type of cancer. She ended up going to Germany for care. It's gone extremely well. Sometimes we think that everything is US centric, but often there are different parts of the world where they do specific things better than we do it. And it is a fascinating lesson to be learned. Dr. Lopez, talk about a couple of the trends that you're watching in healthcare currently. Anything that you particularly are watching that you have your eyes on?

[B]

Well, a couple of things that come to mind as of late, obviously getting appropriate reimbursement for the work we do is something that we should never take for granted. That is clearly top of mind to make sure that we're sustainable moving forward. I would say staffing is another one, Scott, that we look at very closely, specifically in South Florida. The cost of living down here can sometimes make it difficult to recruit and to be honest, retain. We have been seeing some exodus from this area to either northern Florida or other parts of the country where living is a little bit cheaper when it comes to nurses, techs. PT is sometimes difficult to attract from other parts of the country, but also to retain once they're here, obviously physician availability. I can tell you that the consolidation that we're seeing in some areas, and the one that comes to mind is radiology has made it pretty difficult to staff some of those areas. You know, the night services for radiology these days are pretty tough to get because I believe they're having difficulty with staffing, with availability of radiologists. There seem to be not enough of them.

[A]

And Dr. Obas, can we learn something from that? Because if you looked at any specialty, everybody thought that radiology, between telehealth, virtual AI was going to be solved. I mean, maybe not interventional radiology, but all the other radiology, everybody thought this isn't going to be a problem, you could do it all remotely. And this has turned out to be just completely backwards. And we're short of radiologists to every place. We're sort of ER doctors every place. How much of this has to do with the explosion in the number of sites we have or just miscalculation and how Many doctors we need. You know, I've never been a fan of the con type concept but. But it seems like we've got so many different surgical sites that we can't staff them with anesthesiologists. We've got so many different locations that we don't know about a radiologist. Are there any lessons from this or any surprises in this?

[B]

I don't know if I can. I. I haven't been involved in, in that space as much until recently, to be honest, Scott. And I wonder if people were afraid of the AI wave that was coming and maybe being put out of, out of business. But I can tell you that I don't think AI has disrupted that, that space potentially enough to make up for the shortfall of physicians that we're seeing. That a lot of people are interested in working from home, especially the radiologists I refer to. They don't necessarily maybe don't want to work overnight and maybe that's part of the problem as well. We're having a difficult time getting them to be here present at this time. AI is the other trend that I was following, Scott. And we're always looking to see how we can incorporate that. I feel like that's the sexy word of the day, but we're always trying to figure out how to best incorporate it into both clinical and, and operational processes. Is I like to tell people we're always looking to make it easy for people to do the right thing and make it hard for them to do the wrong thing. And I think AI can, can support us in that.

[A]

Fantastic. And Dr. Lopez, talk a little bit about you've got that great system there, you're part of a great national system. What are you most focused on and excited about this year?

[B]

Our focus is pretty local, I would say always trying to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our community. We are blessed with a significant amount of demand and we're always looking to make sure that we can meet that demand as quickly as possible in a patient friendly way. Try to remove administrative burden from our patients whenever possible. Again, the expectations from patients is they want to be seen where they want to be seen in a convenient way. Trying to get there is not always easy when there's shortfalls of personnel. But that's what we focus on all the time, trying to make sure that we can meet those needs in a convenient way because that's what our patients expect.

[A]

Thank you very, very much and take a moment. Dr. Lopez. You've had this great leadership career. Tell us a Little bit more about your leadership, care about the early part of your career, and then any advice that you would give to emerging leaders.

[B]

I would say that one of the, the lessons that some of my mentors have instilled in me is live your values. Make sure that your values are clear to you and don't deviate from them. Sometimes we're tempted to do things that may be against those values, and I try to make sure that, that, that I'm living those values at all times. Make sure you listen to, to people whenever, whenever you're encountering either a change management issue or a conflict. One of my favorite classes in business school was conflict management, and I learned a lot from some of those professors. Always walk into a conflict ready to listen and also ready to acknowledge that you may be wrong, that the other point of view may be better. And as often as I like to say what the real truth is, it's probably somewhere in the middle. You may not be 100% right. The other person may not be 100% right. And if you listen, you could probably figure out a common ground in the middle. And I think that when you are dealing with conflicts, either with patients in the emergency department, when you have to establish trust and convey difficult point of view or discuss options, I think that's a great place. But also when you're negotiating with contracts with others, or when you're trying to discuss difficult conversations with physicians in this current role, it's always important to remember that you don't know everything. You may only know half the story. So always look to make sure that you have the full picture before you pass any judgment.

[A]

And I'm going to ask you a question, Dr. Lopez, and I know you served as CEO in Abu Dhabi, you serve as chief Medical officer here. But I will tell you, this is a question that may stump you, and it's a word association game. And let me know if you're up for the challenge.

[B]

Go for it.

[A]

Okay, so here is the challenge. I'm going to say a word, and you're going to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. Are you ready?

[B]

I will. I will try to do my best, yes.

[A]

So the word is jumbos. Jumbos is the word of the day.

[B]

As you know, I went to Tufts University, so I'm a modder, so.

[A]

Good, good, good, good. He won again. I want to thank you for playing that game. Dr. Lopez. What a fantastic chance to visit with you. A great pleasure. Thank you for joining us on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, a terrific pleasure. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[B]

Thank you, Scott. Pleasure is mine. Have a great day.