Becker’s Healthcare Podcast: Dr. Lindsay Mazzotti, Chief Medical Officer of Medical Education and Science at Sutter Health

Date: September 29, 2025
Host: Paige Twenter
Guest: Dr. Lindsay Mazzotti

Overview

This episode features Dr. Lindsay Mazzotti, Chief Medical Officer of Medical Education and Science at Sutter Health, a major health system in California. Dr. Mazzotti shares her background and delves into Sutter’s ambitious physician training expansion, strategies for workforce development, and insights into fostering strong partnerships and learning environments. The discussion underscores Sutter’s proactive approach in addressing physician shortages, advancing digital care, and ensuring physician and patient wellbeing.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Dr. Lindsay Mazzotti’s Background

• Hospital medicine physician; board-certified in palliative care
• Experience in medical education at Kaiser Permanente and UCSF
• Helped found the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
• At Sutter Health for two years, leading major expansion in physician training
  • “I knew early on that I loved medical education and really fell into a role of being a teacher of physicians.” (00:37)

Sutter Health’s Residency Expansion Plan

• Traditional education programs in SF, Santa Rosa, Sacramento
• Response to anticipated physician shortages:
  • Plan: 52 residency and fellowship programs by 2035 (up from 13)
  • Target: ~1,000 residents and fellows annually
  • Strategy: Not just facilities, but “deliberately grow more physicians”
• “We're quadrupling our GME footprint... to have roughly 1,000 residents towards the end of this journey every year.” (02:20)
• Focus: Mission-aligned, locally rooted physicians to address underserved communities
• Five new programs launched in the current year, “hundreds of new residents” joined in July

Infrastructure & Resource Planning

• Fast, deliberate rollout; excitement in the building phase
• Each new program involves developing applications, recruiting and developing faculty, appointing new program directors, and substantial support staff:
  • “I call it the care and feeding of residents. It’s a daily task and journey and it's a huge commitment.” (04:13)
• Emphasis on both program and physician wellbeing during rapid expansion

Advice to Other Healthcare Systems (GME Growth)

• Funding sources: California HCAI, Song Brown grants, Medicare reimbursement
• Encourages strategic thinking; start-up phase not always as costly as feared
  • “It’s a heavy lift, but it's sometimes not as fiscally resource intensive as one would imagine.” (05:38)
• Maximizing opportunity during the five-year funding window for new programs
• Advocate for starting bigger programs quickly, considering transitional year programs that can later be converted to subspecialty fellowships:
  • “You have to begin with the end in mind and think deliberately about starting bigger than you might otherwise start.” (06:37)

Broader Sutter Health Priorities for 2025

• Expanding access: beyond workforce, includes opening new care centers and building local talent pipelines
• Creating supportive learning environments where learners and physicians thrive
  • Strong organizational-physician partnerships attributed to leadership’s communication efforts
• Enhancing patient experience: Seamless, digital, personalized care
  • Train physicians for evolving environments, including AI and virtual care
  • “We want to make sure we're teaching our residents and fellows... how to practice medicine in this ever-changing environment.” (08:15)

Undergraduate Medical Education Efforts

• Affiliations with nine medical schools, focus on going “upstream” to reach earlier learners
• Deep partnership with Charles R. Drew University, supporting clinical training and research for students from the first historically Black medical school west of the Mississippi
  • “We've been committed to helping their students pursue research and scholarship and then their clinical training with us.” (08:43)

Future-Focused Training & Technology Integration

• Adapting to rising patient acuity and shrinking workforce:
  • Technology: on-demand video visits, two-way texting, digital health tools
  • Support teams and rebalancing physician roles; delegation to nurses/APCs
  • Digital population health with wearables and data-driven interventions
• “We want care to be easier for our patients to access... even personally, year over year, I’m seeing it so much easier to get help.” (09:58)
• “Our physicians are doing their best, most critical work, and having support... through nursing or advanced practice clinicians.” (10:36)
• Training current and future doctors for digital transformation and new workflows

Building Strong Physician-Organization Relationships

• Sutter’s deliberate approach modeled by CEO Warner Thomas: consistent communication, regular gatherings, strategic transparency
  • “Bringing people together on a regular cadence and listening and also providing information and updates and communicating strategy.” (12:11)
• Breaking down silos, prioritizing physician voices at the table
• Service line expansions: dyad leadership model pairing physician and administrative leaders (e.g., cancer, heart/vascular, neuroscience)
  • “Making sure that as a business in healthcare, you have physicians at the table is crucial.” (12:54)

Closing Thoughts & Commitment to Education

• Medical education as a strategic lever for system growth and patient experience
  • “Education is part of our strategy for both growth and for patient experience.” (13:50)
• Focused on preparing the next generation for tomorrow’s healthcare challenges

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Quadrupling Residency Programs:
  “We’re quadrupling our GME footprint... to have roughly 1,000 residents towards the end of this journey every year.” — Dr. Mazzotti (02:20)

• On the Scale of the Commitment:
  “I call it the care and feeding of residents. It’s a daily task and journey and it's a huge commitment.” — Dr. Mazzotti (04:13)

• On Leadership and Communication:
  “Bringing people together on a regular cadence and listening and also providing information and updates and communicating strategy.” — Dr. Mazzotti on Sutter’s CEO, Warner Thomas (12:11)

• On the Role of Technology:
  “We want care to be easier for our patients to access... in your pocket.” — Dr. Mazzotti (09:58)

• On Education as Strategy:
  “Education is part of our strategy for both growth and for patient experience.” — Dr. Mazzotti (13:50)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:28 – Dr. Mazzotti introduces herself, background in med ed and palliative care
• 01:44 – Origin and scope of Sutter’s physician residency expansion
• 03:53 – Infrastructure planning for rapid GME growth
• 05:03 – Advice for other health systems considering expansion
• 07:23 – Sutter’s broader priorities: access, learning environments, partnerships
• 08:42 – Undergraduate medical education and diversity partnerships
• 09:49 – How Sutter is preparing for future care delivery and tech integration
• 11:41 – Building strong physician-organization relationships
• 13:49 – Final thoughts on education and future physician workforce

Tone & Language

Dr. Mazzotti’s tone is energetic, optimistic, and strategic, balancing excitement about building new programs with realism regarding the effort involved. She’s candid about the challenges and the need for deliberate planning, but also radiates passion for medical education, diversity, and innovation in healthcare delivery.

End of Summary