← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
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- [00:02]
A
This is where healthcare leadership comes together. Becker's 16th annual meeting brings more than 3,500 hospital and health system executives and nearly 800 speakers to Chicago, April 13th through the 16th. This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former President George W. Bush. For the agenda and event details, visit Beckershospitalreview.com and click on the Events tab in the upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you in Chicago.
- [00:33]
B
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Healthcare Podcast with a special episode that will also go into Becker's behavioral healthcare podcast. We're talking today with a brilliant leader, John Meyer. John's the CEO, Chief Executive Officer of Aurora Charter Oak Hospital. We're going to talk to John about the issues he's watching about his career and a lot more. I noticed I was looking him up this morning. He's also an Indiana University graduate, so we will talk for a moment about Indiana Hoosier football as well. John, let me ask you to take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up in the behavioral health field. I know you worked at Crow for a period of time, a great, great consulting firm that we've got close colleagues at. Talk a bit about your career and how you ended up in leadership in behavioral health.
- [01:26]
C
Thanks for having me on. My career in behavioral health is a bit of a circuitous one. I grew up in a family where my parents work in healthcare. My mom's a nurse, my father's a physician, my oldest sister's a nurse. My other sister, she's a psychologist and just grew up at the dinner table having a lot of conversations, you know, either directly related or tangentially related to the healthcare space. So I always knew I was going into this field. My career path to behavioral health is one that is really dictated and built upon relationships. When I was an undergrad at Indiana University, one of my professors, Dean Scallon, was an adjunct professor, a CEO in Bloomington of a behavioral health facility. I was lucky enough to intern with her and that was really my initial foray into healthcare administration in general, but specifically in the behavioral space. I worked in management consulting before moving into administration but was presented with an opportunity in San Antonio at San Antonio Behavioral Healthcare Hospital as their chief operating officer. And the attractive thing about that position was their services that they provide for active duty service members and veterans. My brother in law did three tours, three of my uncles served in Vietnam, both of my grandfathers in World War II. So that holds a Very special place in my heart and was a big selling point for me. Fast forward a few years and I was presented with an opportunity to move out here to California. And that arrives us where we're at today in leading Charter Oak Hospital, which is one of the largest privately held psychiatric hospitals in Southern California.
- [03:25]
B
Well, thank you and tell us about Charter Oak Hospital and about the core trends that you're watching right now in behavioral health.
- [03:33]
C
Charter Oak, I had mentioned for a psychiatric facility or behavioral healthcare provider is quite large. We operate 134 inpatient beds. We have an on campus residential treatment center and we also offer multiple levels of outpatient treatment on campus. In behavioral healthcare and healthcare in general, it's an extremely dynamic environment and California is at an interesting inflection point and some, you know, some trends or you know, hot ticket items that I and our entire organization is watching is, you know, one, what's the role of technology in the delivery of healthcare? You know, just today OpenAI announced ChatGPT Health, which I think, you know, has the potential to be monumental for the consumer. But how does technology get integrated into the delivery of healthcare is a really interesting future proposition. I think the second topic for us specifically are the dynamic and changing clinical challenges of our patients and how do we as a provider adapt with the recruitment of expertise, with the changing of the physical environment, with the structuring of teams, with the delivery of services. And the third topic that's really top of mind for me and our entire leadership team right now, most notably is the impact of regulation and legislation that's impacting the entire industry. Your publication has done a great job of covering the most recent regulatory change which is the imposition of new nursing staffing ratios for acute psychiatric hospitals, which is going to have a massive widespread effect. And it's a really monumental sort of inflection point for the entire behavioral healthcare industry across California.
- [05:41]
B
Thank you very, very much. And talk about that, the nurse staffing ratios at a time when people are trying to change and have flexibility in how they develop, deliver care and workflows. Talk about the challenges of that kind of legislation, if you don't mind and you don't have to if you don't want to.
- [05:59]
C
No, I'd be happy to. And I think that we could probably spend the next 20 minutes talking about this because it's a really complicated. The stated goals of our of elected officials in California are to improve access and outcomes and safety. I think that those are all goals that every single person working in healthcare agrees with. The challenge with the Nursing ratios is it does not factor in the nuanced differences of the delivery of care in a psychiatric setting, which is very much reliant on a multidisciplinary team. And that, you know, very simplistically is the biggest dichotomy between psychiatry and the way in which our staff composition looks versus medical surgical settings. And in a psychiatric setting, what the impact for us is going to be in, you know, complying with new nursing ratios. Number one, most notably, this was not published until December 23rd. Right. Just a few days before Christmas with an implementation date of January 31, giving us roughly five and a half to six weeks to implement this. Now, because we have not been subject to historically to these type of stringent nursing ratios that requires a very rapid, accelerated ramp up period or process to get in compliance. The challenge with that being is the hiring, the recruiting, the onboarding, the orientation, the training process takes longer than just the implementation window we've been given. So the immediate impact, and in one of the articles that Beckers had published, it referenced Peggy Minick's commentary with the CDPH call that we had two weeks ago or last week are spot on. Where it calls into question the viability of this and the ramification for emergency rooms and other healthcare providers that are not necessarily in the psychiatric space, at least in the short term.
- [08:29]
B
Thank you. And talk about as you head into 2026 and we're there, what are you most focused on and excited about this year? John?
- [08:39]
C
Well, most focused right now on the staffing ratios just because of the immediacy of that, but zooming out a little bit. I'm still very excited about the behavioral healthcare industry in general. I think there is the possibility of a positive byproduct of these staffing ratios because it's drawing attention to the fact that we need greater access, we need more resources, More people in our state and across the country need more quality behavioral healthcare services. And I think that just in conversations we've had this week and last week, there is a groundswell and a large coalition of people who agree with me. And I think that that's been evidenced by the leadership team at the LA County Department of Mental Health and the State assembly and from local clinics all the way up to the governor's office, there's a recognition that behavioral health needs to be a priority in the state of California. California. I'm excited about the team and what we do here at charter oak. In 2025, we alone serve 7,500 patients. And what's interesting about us because there's a lot of new providers in the space, which is great. What's different about Charter Oak is our history dates back to the 1940s. The building that I'm sitting in right now has operated as some form or fashion of a behavioral healthcare provider for many, many decades. And that's exciting. And the role that we play here. You know, I had mentioned we served almost 8,000 patients in 2025 alone. The reality of behavioral health is that when our patients are afflicted with these challenges with the symptomology of psychiatric disorders is it affects many of their loved ones around them. It's friends, it's families, it's mothers, it's partners, it's coworkers. And treating 8,000 patients a year has a magnifying effect in the sense that we're providing a positive impact orders of magnitude larger than that. And I'm excited to continue to try and expand our ability to do so and to make a difference in our community.
- [11:15]
B
John, you're having an incredible leadership career. I want to do two things. I want to be able to ask you for advice that you would give to emerging leaders. You're having just this remarkable career. I'm so impressed with what you're doing. It's literally fantastic. And I want you to use that opportunity to talk about leadership, to also lean in if you'd like to. Any comments you want to make about sort of Kurt Signetti's leadership at Indiana University, because I know you're a fan of. So any thoughts, advice you'd give to emerging leaders in any editorial or comments you want to make about Indiana football. Any thoughts?
- [11:49]
C
I think every leader, I cannot stress the importance enough of being dynamic. I think that rigidity of thought is extremely dangerous. You hear the adage of being lifelong learners. Well, if you want to be a leader, that is a requirement, not a nice to have. I think that individuals, leaders, organizations need to constantly learn and adapt in our fast paced and ever changing environment. I had mentioned, you know, rigidity of thought is dangerous because when you are closed off to oppositional thought or different ways of thinking or different ways of working, then your organization or you yourself run the fear of becoming stagnant. I think the second thing, and sort of, you know, the segue into what I find most remarkable about what Kurt Signetti has done at Indiana and sort of bringing that into the context of leadership in general is the importance of, you know, toughness and grit. I think that he has had a very interesting path to Indiana University, from Alabama to IUPUI to James Madison to now operating, you know, a football program that is on the cusp of playing in a national championship game. Right. We have been the historical losingest program in the history of college football. And what he has done is nothing short of a miracle, quite honestly. But that doesn't happen by accident. Right. I think that Kurt Signetti is extremely organized. I think that he has ability to get the best out of the people around him. And it starts at the top. It starts at the way in which he conducts himself, the way he goes about his own business and the way that he has been able to, you know, especially in the port, the nil and era of portal transfers. And each year he is exhibiting the dynamic qualities that I talked about previously. Right. We're in the process right now of doing an entire roster deconstruction and construction. And he's balancing. Preparing to play Oregon, you know, in 24 hours. I think that that is incredible the way he's able to balance competing demands on his time, the way he's able to delegate and get the most out of both his staff and his players. And I really admire him and I think he's a wonderful leader.
- [14:28]
B
Really fantastic. John, I'm so impressed with your leadership career. I'm an Illinois fan, so it's so hard for me to cheer for Indiana, even though it's a fellow Big Ten school. But it's so hard to see when we've been so friendly, okay, Indiana's been so permanently okay in football to see Indiana take a big leap above us. I think there's this concept of misery loving company. And now that Indiana is thriving, they may be like. They may be thought of like the Wolverines are thought of in Illinois territory, but we'll see. In any event, congratulations on your career. Congratulations on Indiana. I am so impressed with Kurt Signetti and what he's done. It's impossible not to, but. But I'm more impressed with what you're doing at Charter Oak in Aurora. Health care. Just fantastic what you guys are all doing.
- [15:14]
C
I really appreciate it, Scott, and it's my pleasure. And I really appreciate all that you guys do at Beckers and all of the support that your publication has given and advocacy towards behavioral healthcare in the past and in covering these key issues. And I hope that we can do this again.
- [15:30]
B
Looking forward to it. Thank you so much for joining us.