Becker’s Healthcare Podcast Summary

Episode: Elevating Workforce and Patient Experience with Keisha Mullings Smith of UChicago Medicine
Release Date: July 22, 2025
Host: Chanel Bunger
Guest: Keisha Mullings Smith, Vice President and Chief Consumer Experience Officer at UChicago Medicine

Introduction and Background

In this engaging episode of the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, host Chanel Bunger welcomes Keisha Mullings Smith, the Vice President and Chief Consumer Experience Officer at UChicago Medicine. Keisha provides an insightful introduction to her role and the mission of UChicago Medicine. She shares her extensive background in academic medicine, emphasizing her dedication to enhancing both patient and caregiver experiences. Keisha highlights her passion for integrating workforce experience into patient care, aiming to transform how employees and clinicians are trained and supported to serve their communities effectively.

Keisha Mullings Smith [00:22]: "I’m transforming the way our employees, our clinicians are trained, deliver care, experience care, caring for them as whole people and individuals serving our community."

Current Healthcare Trends

Keisha delves into the key trends influencing UChicago Medicine’s strategies. She emphasizes the importance of workforce development, focusing on retention and cultivating a robust talent pipeline from within the organization while attracting top-tier professionals. Additionally, she discusses the critical role of innovation and technology in reducing clinician burdens, particularly regarding load management for those directly interacting with patients and families.

Keisha Mullings Smith [02:37]: "We’re watching trends around our workforce development trends specifically around retention, ensuring that we can grow our talent pipeline from within the organization."

She also mentions UChicago Medicine’s plans to expand its footprint beyond Hyde Park, notably through the development of a new cancer pavilion set to open in 2027, designed as a smart hospital to cater to evolving patient and community needs.

Future Focus and Excitements

Looking ahead to the second half of 2025, Keisha shares her excitement about integrating the voices of both the workforce and patients into the organizational strategy. She explains that UChicago Medicine is merging the workforce and patient experience tracks to build a unified culture that supports employees’ well-being, which in turn enhances patient care. This integration includes redesigning benefits to accommodate the personal lives of employees, such as caregiving responsibilities, ensuring they can perform optimally at work.

Keisha Mullings Smith [04:02]: "We are focused on more integration at the University of Chicago, pulling in more of the voice from our different entities across the campus… ensuring that those voices are represented and the work that we do."

This holistic approach aims to create a supportive environment that empowers both caregivers and patients, positioning UChicago Medicine as a leading health system.

Proud Initiatives and Projects

Reflecting on the past 6 to 18 months, Keisha highlights a significant initiative focused on designing care sites that prioritize workforce well-being. This project aims to eliminate barriers for employees and clinicians to access care, ensuring they receive high-quality services from the clinicians they work alongside. A key aspect of this initiative is addressing clinician burnout by enhancing organizational fitness and integrating ambient AI technologies to streamline workflows, allowing clinicians to be more present with patients.

Keisha Mullings Smith [06:12]: "We are designing care sites that allow us to ensure that we are keeping the workforce well, eliminating barriers for our employees and our clinicians and faculty to get care… integrating ambient AI to allow our clinicians to be more present with our patients and families."

She proudly notes that these efforts have contributed to UChicago Medicine maintaining its status as a top hospital for patient safety, celebrating its 27th consecutive "A" rating from the Leapfrog Foundation. The collaborative spirit across the entire enterprise has been instrumental in achieving these successes.

Actionable Advice for Evolving Leaders

When asked to share advice for emerging leaders, Keisha emphasizes the importance of being deeply involved and knowledgeable about operational workflows. She advocates for leaders to partner closely with frontline staff who interact directly with patients, ensuring that leaders gain firsthand insights into patient and employee experiences. This approach enables the design of effective processes and systems that proactively address current and future needs.

Keisha Mullings Smith [08:26]: "Be very in the know in how the work happens. Be close to the work and alongside your efforts… you are better in tune and you have an opportunity to design processes and systems that meet their needs."

Keisha believes that maintaining a close connection with both workforce and patient sentiments is crucial for creating a supportive and efficient healthcare environment.

Final Thoughts

Before concluding the podcast, Keisha reinforces the necessity of integrating workforce and patient voices in managing organizational changes. She stresses that understanding and acting upon real-time feedback is essential to meet the demands of an aging population and the dynamic nature of healthcare needs.

Keisha Mullings Smith [09:34]: "We can’t do this work and meet the demands of the future without hearing their voices and putting them right at the center."

Keisha’s commitment to placing both employees and patients at the heart of UChicago Medicine’s strategies underscores the organization's dedication to excellence in healthcare delivery.

Conclusion

Chanel Bunger wraps up the conversation by thanking Keisha Mullings Smith for her valuable insights and contributions. Listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of how UChicago Medicine is pioneering workforce and patient experience initiatives to lead the healthcare industry forward.

This episode of Becker’s Healthcare Podcast offers a deep dive into the innovative strategies employed by Keisha Mullings Smith at UChicago Medicine, providing valuable lessons for healthcare leaders committed to enhancing both workforce satisfaction and patient care.