Podcast Summary: Hillery Smith Shay on Total Experience and Digital Transformation at Children's Minnesota

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast – February 24, 2026
Guest: Hillery Smith Shay, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer & SVP of Communications, Children’s Minnesota
Host: Chris Sosa

Episode Overview

This episode centers on how Children’s Minnesota is advancing patient experience and digital transformation under the leadership of Hillery Smith Shay. Topics include the creation and operationalization of the "Total Experience" strategy, the implementation of a new EHR system (EPIC), the integration of digital and cultural improvements, challenges facing pediatric healthcare, and long-term visions for organizational growth.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Role & Organization

• [00:24] Hillery introduces herself and Children’s Minnesota as "one of the largest independent pediatric health systems in the United States," serving an exclusively pediatric population from “routine care to the most medically complex conditions."
  • Quote: “Our work is grounded in a simple belief, and that is, kids deserve care designed specifically for them.” (B, 00:38)

2. 2025’s Most Important Initiative: The Total Experience Strategy

• [01:15] Hillery highlights building an “enterprise perspective” experience strategy, termed "Total Experience":
  • Domains include digital, human, clinical, environmental, and brand promise.
  • The goal is to ensure families truly feel what the organization promises.
  • Importance of embedding experience into the culture, not just as external messaging.
  • Prior lack of leader standard work and continuous improvement prompted the new strategy.
  • Directly connects her recent promotion to formalizing and operationalizing this roadmap.
  • Quote: "We need to be able to function as if creating a good experience is what we are actually here for." (B, 03:13)

3. Manifesting Experience Improvements in Daily Operations

• [02:30] Structural changes include blending "continuous improvement and equity and inclusion work" into the culture.
  • Expansion of leader development and direct communication of positive stories and best practices.
  • Focus on making the hospital a place "where [kids] still felt like [they were] growing and thriving.”
  • Quote: "Wouldn't you want it to be someplace where you still felt like your child was growing and thriving?" (B, 03:34)

4. Strategic Priorities & Headwinds for 2026

• [05:35] Hillery discusses the current three-year plan as part of a ten-year strategic aspiration.
  • Main focus: Implementation of EPIC, a leading electronic health record (EHR) system, with launch slated for October.
  • Implementation team is termed "Eclipse" to foster excitement and a future-focused mindset.
  • EPIC chosen for its alignment with both family and clinical workflow, regional collaboration (MyChart synchronicity), and enhanced measurement capabilities.
  • Simultaneously building organizational capability with the Experience Council, a two-year learning cohort made up of experts across all five experience domains.

5. Rationale for EPIC EHR Implementation

• [09:24] Decision based on:
  • Peer benchmarking for innovation.
  • Direct physician and care provider feedback requesting ease of collaboration.
  • National evidence supporting EPIC’s positive impact on patient and family experience.
  • Provides infrastructure for measuring and improving experience outcomes.
  • Quote: "If you don’t build something on a good foundation, it will fall apart. We've all seen that." (B, 10:14)

6. Core Challenges Ahead: Predictability and Environment

• [11:13] Biggest challenge: Unpredictability in healthcare, notably regarding reimbursement and Medicaid funding risks ("we are a Medicaid service provider who... only receive $0.70 on the dollar").
  • Adapting to financial constraints while investing in experience and excellence.
  • Community health trends: Rising acuity among ED (emergency department) patients, likely due to delayed care seeking, resulting in more complex cases.
  • Quote: "The people who were coming to us were much sicker—the children were much sicker and needing more care." (B, 13:19)

7. Long-term Growth & Investment Opportunities

• [14:29] Three focus areas for future growth:
  1. Digital Integration: Successful execution of EPIC and a “digital front door” strategy will "dramatically reduce friction for families and clinicians."
  2. Thought Leadership: Children’s Minnesota can provide a national voice on policy and patient safety.
  3. Experience as Strategic Differentiator: Operationalizing experience at scale, with governance, discipline, and accountability, establishes a competitive edge.
  • Quote: "Pediatric healthcare needs organizations willing to lead with both competence and courage." (B, 15:24)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Kids deserve care designed specifically for them. And that's why we call it we're the Kid Experts.” (B, 00:39)
• "We need to be able to function as if creating a good experience is what we are actually here for." (B, 03:13)
• "Experience becomes a competitive moat, not a marketing slogan." (B, 15:13)
• "To differentiate on experience, that only happens when what we promise and what we say and what people live are intentionally aligned." (B, 15:23)

Important Timestamps

• 00:24: Introduction to Hillery Smith Shay and Children’s Minnesota
• 01:15: Explanation of the Total Experience strategy
• 03:13: Cultural embedding of experience and continuous improvement
• 05:35: 2026 priorities—EPIC EHR implementation and Experience Council
• 09:24: Choosing EPIC and impact on patient/provider experience
• 11:13: Healthcare unpredictability and Medicaid funding discussion
• 13:19: Impact of ED volume drop and higher acuity patients
• 14:29: Opportunities for growth: digital, thought leadership, experience as differentiator

Tone and Language

Hillery’s tone is passionate, strategic, and grounded in both operational realities and aspirational goals. She emphasizes evidence-based decision-making, organizational culture change, and the imperative to operationalize what others merely promise.

Summary Conclusion

Hillery Smith Shay’s episode offers a rich, practical look at how a major pediatric health system is tackling the linked challenges of experience, technology, and sustainability. Through systematic culture change, strategic investments in digital tools like EPIC, and continuous operational improvement, Children’s Minnesota aims to become the region’s “easy button” for pediatric care—delivering on its promise to be truly “the Kid Experts.”