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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Frances Monroe, Chief Administrative Officer at Triad HealthCare Network with Cone Health
00:13:18
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Transcript14 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hello and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. My name is Chanel Bunger and today I'm thrilled to speak with Frances Monroe, the Chief Administrative Officer at Triad Healthcare Network with Cone Health who joins the podcast today to share insights in her background healthcare trends she's keeping an eye on and more. Frances, thank you so much for joining me. Could you get us started out by introducing yourself and sharing a bit about your background and organization?
- [00:23]
B
Absolutely. Thank you so much for your time, Chanel. Thank you for the opportunity. As Chanel mentioned, I'm Frances Monroe and I've had the honor and opportunity to serve as Child Healthcare Networks Interim Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Operations with Cone Health. We are a regional ACO and strive to seamlessly coordinate and standardize care appropriately as we care for the whole person. We've also strengthened our have a strong strategy and provider collaboration where we empower our health care providers to deliver exceptional care. It sounds a bit cliche, but it's very much true. At Cone Health and with the Triad Healthcare Network, we believe good quality care is accessible care. So we work very hard on integrating that care, whether back into Cone Health or our community member providers and other care sites. I have a strong background in operations strategic planning as well as value based care and population health and so it's been an exciting journey.
- [01:33]
A
Got it, got it. Thank you so much for the introduction and now there's obviously a lot going on in healthcare today, but could you narrow down to like maybe a few trends that you're currently watching neural today?
- [01:45]
B
Oh, absolutely. I think we're all watching CMS decision making closely these days. And for those of us who strongly believe in advancing population health efforts, we're looking at opportunities to expand value based care initiatives. Whether that's through organic operations, strategic partnerships, possible Medicaid expansions or any other forthcoming waiver initiatives. Those are all being considered at this time, I would say. Third also is we can't ignore the power, insights and capabilities of artificial intelligence. And so thinking about how we can strive to make our providers lives easier as well as our patients and community lives easier, how we can seamlessly integrate AI into our operations and also strengthen partnerships utilizing AI resources tools to make us more efficient and effective.
- [02:49]
A
Absolutely. And now Moving into the second half of 2025, what would you say you're most focused on and excited about?
- [02:58]
B
My focus areas have stayed pretty constant throughout the journey of my career. So regardless of it being 2025 and watching kind of those trends that I just recently mentioned, I think in throughout my personal Leadership journey. We have been foundationally, or I have been foundationally focused on how we can advance the Institute of Healthcare Improvements. What was triple aim now can tuple aim and those things still stand true. Those are truths in our healthcare landscape, how we can improve physician and provider well being. It is not an easy time to be in medicine and so it is up to us as administrators to support our physicians and our clinical partners and help to remove those pebbles from their shoes and before they become big boulders as they're serving our communities and our patients. I think it's also critically important at this time that we're supporting our employees and our physicians in their work life, establishing work life harmony and enhancing the patient's experience, seeing how we can make it even more seamless, strengthen how we can make their experience fruitful, make it easy, and then also taking into consideration and acknowledging that social determinants of health are not going away. And we've been talking about this for a very long time, but it's still something we need to continue to focus on as we improve the healthcare of our communities. I believe that the third imperative that the Institute of Healthcare Improvement demands on us as healthcare leaders is to reduce healthcare costs. And that is not a small undertaking. It takes a team of strategic thinking to be able to do that. There's a deep focus needed to be on quality of care systematically and to also remove barriers to access. And so that goes back to the mission that we do have within Cone Health to really make good quality care accessible to every single person that walks in our doors or that we touch and to advance health equity. I think additionally I've been focused on population health and we as a team are focused on population health efforts as we aim to improve the patient outcome experience. And not only that, but emphasize preventative care and early detection of diseases while we manage chronic conditions effectively. And then it's important for us all to, as we're doing this and striving to care for our patients, ensure that we're coordinating the care so that our healthcare providers are working, working. We're working more in a smart way to provide the right care, the right time and avoid unnecessary tests, procedures, hospitalizations and keep our community members healthy while utilizing evidence based practices. That's something that is a pillar that value based care is how are we innovating and advancing evidence based medicine? And then in addition to that, lastly, it would be remiss of me not to mention measuring outcomes. Providers are our providers are accountable for the quality care that we provide as well as the cost of care that we're delivering as a system. So it's imperative that we're not only measuring those outcomes to enhance holistic wellness and well being of the populations that we serve.
- [06:43]
A
Got it, Got it. And now that we've looked into the future a bit, focusing on provider well being, population health, access to care, quality of care outcomes. Looking back into the past six to 18 months, can you talk about an initiative project or something that you or your organization has accomplished that you're most proud of?
- [07:05]
B
I can talk about in health care, we've seen a shift in our landscape. And so while this is not a project or an initiative necessarily, there are certainly multiple value based care initiatives that are coming about as we are partnering with Geisinger and Kaiser in the future. Some of those being how we are providing ambient listening tools to our providers and also value based care guides, which are our quality initiatives that are in clinical guidelines that our team members are able to access to provide better care overall. I would say what I'm most proud of though in healthcare is the shift that we are seeing in the landscape. I think it's been really refreshing to see a stronger engagement from our leaders of all levels to advocate for what they believe is best for the communities that we're serving. It's also been wonderful to see our patients and community members pay closer attention to their health care and educate themselves in a way in which, I don't know that we've seen or haven't seen in a long time. Our patients are asking a ton more questions and they should. We're utilizing AI to gain more knowledge. And so while we're still expecting us to serve with excellence and with high quality care and reduced costs. And so we want to do all of those things in an ethical manner. But I think it's been really great to be able to see the engagement from our community members as well as our team members and leaders here.
- [08:43]
A
Absolutely. And now in the short conversation, I could tell that you're very passionate about what you do. And with that, what advice would you share to evolving leaders maybe looking to have that same impact and success in their careers as you have?
- [08:57]
B
Well, I created a list of about 8 to 10 things and I think that this is helpful in new leaders that are coming up in the healthcare landscape today. It's a different landscape than even when I was in School over 15 years ago. And so I think it's important to, to take into consideration the landscape that we're in. One, I would say is keep your curiosity of all aspects of the healthcare system. Healthcare doesn't only take place in a traditional brick and mortar building anymore. There is a full continuum of care model that exists. Second, we remain committed to continuous learning and that is critically important. Staying well ready, looking at different innovative trends that are out there, and using your own creativity, I think is only brings in a stronger enhancement and curiosity to the health care system. Next, I would say, you know, again, this is not the easiest time to serve in health care. It's not. And so recognizing that, however, our patients and our community members require us as leaders to dig in, to be experts in our respective areas and constantly advocate to keep the well being of our patients at the center of every single thing that we do. This takes hard work. And so that is my number four reminder that this takes hard work. It takes perseverance, it takes persistence to push the envelope and transparently, some days it requires longer hours and it means going the extra mile. And while I say all of that, I also think that as leaders, it's important for us to pace ourselves and not get burnt out and leave the industry that needs us and needs our voice and also needs our passion, our tenacity and courage. Number six, I'd say our minds are our central processing units of our bodies. That is something that is a reminder to all of us. And so I speak life into the minds, our minds, for wisdom, discernment, to embody the same health habits that we encourage our patients to have and also just to look, to look, to enjoy life and enjoy the fruit of our labor as we can be as holistically healthy as possible. Number seven is to encourage others to have grace with one another and to speak well of one another, our colleagues, our community members, to remember that we are here for our patients and we are all well intentioned in wanting to provide the best care for our community. So I think sometimes it's great to question, but I think you first question out of a level of curiosity and let us bring compassion and grace back into our workforce as well as keeping up with excellence in every single thing that we do. For me, number eight is it's important to remember that first impressions still matter. And I remember hearing that when I was in school, I remember hearing that family members and my parents. But it's true, first impressions still matter. So in whatever way that means to you, put that in the back of your mind. And then nine for me would be to be sober, be vigilant, innovate, innovation is being developed alongside disruption. And then lastly, remember who you are, know it confidently know it. Boldly hold on to your values and align them with organizations who understand your deep vibration and those who are my top ten. Thank you.
- [12:46]
A
Absolutely. That's excellent advice. Well, Frances, I've enjoyed our time together today, but before I let you go, is there anything else that listeners should know?
- [12:54]
B
No, I don't think so. Stay curious, stay informed, and continue to hold us accountable as healthcare leaders and providers. We're here to serve our communities.
- [13:07]
A
That's a great note to end on, Frances. I want to thank you once again for your time today and for sharing your insights on the Packers Healthcare podcast. Thank you so much.
- [13:14]
B
You're welcome. Thank you.