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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Leading Enterprise Transformation and Integration at Jefferson Health with Mark Whalen
00:17:25
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- [00:00]
A
This is Laura Dardo with the Beckers Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Mark Whalen, Executive Vice President and Enterprise Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Jefferson Health. Marc, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- [00:12]
B
Great to be here and thanks for having me.
- [00:14]
A
Absolutely. No, I'm excited for our conversation. I know you all are doing a ton of Jefferson to really be transformative to bring the care delivery process into the modern era of health care. And so I'm looking forward to our discussion today in spotlighting some of those cool things that you're doing. But before we begin, can you tell me a little bit more about yourself and Jefferson Health?
- [00:33]
B
Yeah, happy to. Thanks, Laura. So, as you said, service Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Jefferson been with the organization over three years and Jefferson is a large enterprise that spans 33 hospitals, thousands of physicians and hundreds of ambulatory sites. It also includes a university and a medical school. And then we have a insurance plan that's principally government focused. So we serve in the Exchange or ACA segment, Medicare Advantage, and are a statewide Medicaid provider in the insurance plan. And on the delivery side, our footprints extends from Southern Jersey to through Philadelphia and up into the Lehigh Valley. Jefferson's mission is very simple. It's to improve lives. And the way that we do that is through our strategy as an academic integrated delivery and financing system. So bringing together the academic, the research, clinical and financing components of healthcare, this is really essential to our mission and impacting the communities we serve. And this focus on the community and impacting positively is really a differentiator for Jefferson. So it starts with $1.8 billion in community benefits annually. We have programs that impact the community in a number of ways. A good example is the Healthy Communities frame. So we partner with community benefit organizations and others throughout the region to provide food security, housing, access and economic mobility. And at the same time, we invest in programs like the nationally accredited Community Health Workers Academy. And this is where people from the communities that we serve get hired and paid training to serve as resource navigators to help residents across healthcare. So long history and a lot of focus, as you can see, on the on positively impacting the community.
- [02:35]
A
I think it's so critical to have those types of partnerships and resources for the community across the board because, as you know, it's not just when somebody gets sick that they need service, but throughout their lives and healthcare journeys. So it's really cool to see that, you know, on the community side as well as for the healthcare workers too. And Just continuing to strengthen the pipeline there. Now I want to just zero in on the most important initiative that you've led in the last year or so. What did you do and what were the results?
- [03:03]
B
So this. This is work that actually took. Really started, you know, more than a year ago. We. We got into discussions with Lehigh Valley Health Network about combining. And so I served as the chief integration officer for that combination. And that was really even before the deal definitively closed was starting to line out how we're going to work together. And I partnered closely with, at the time, Lehigh Valley's CFO to build a really comprehensive integration plan. And the way that we did this was identifying leaders from both organizations and the areas that we wanted to work on together and challenging those leaders to really build the path forward. So we created as an example of a kind of a unique way to drive the integration, a physician integration committee that physician leaders got together and said, what do we think are the biggest opportunities that we want to work on together? And they really, very quickly, under the leadership of our physicians, charted up a number of ways to improve access, improve our quality, and really was sort of charter and let them run. And so it went very rapidly and very quickly. And one of the things that was really important for all of our leadership was ensuring that we understood the culture that we're integrating. So we engage in a baselining activity to say, what are the strengths and differences in each organization and how do we co create a common one that honors the legacy of both organizations, but really focuses on creating a shared set of values and behaviors as a combined organization to serve all of the communities? And it's a very diverse set of communities that we serve. And so that. That has been really wonderful work. And, you know, we. We instigated it, but all of our leadership is really charged with that, and it's gone very well. And so that work over the past, you know, year and a half, two years, has gone well enough. I've actually transitioned out of the chief integration role, and much of that work is led by the chief administrative officer now. And so I've transitioned to take on the chief transformation officer role in addition to my strategy duties.
- [05:20]
A
That's amazing to hear. You know, really great to understand that the integration, the planning and preparation that you put into it then really paid dividends and actually coming to fruition and being able to come together as one organization throughout that process. Was there anything that you learned or had to pivot just a bit in order to kind of meet the needs of the day? I Think there's so many organizations that are going through this, that are trying to manage what does it look like when two strong leadership teams come together. So I'm curious, what did you learn throughout that process and how did you make pivots in order to really make sure it was successful in the time period that you mentioned?
- [05:59]
B
Yeah, great question, Laura. We learned a lot. It was a constant iterative process. And I think the core of what we did was stay in discussion with the leaders that were charged in their functional areas, who know their area, those that they serve, how they the best practices in their respective areas, and challenge folks not to pick one way or another to do it, but really focus on what needs to be done, what is the opportunity, what are the strengths in each organization and how do we develop a new way to do things that is going to meet the needs of the combined organization as opposed to holding on however things have done in the past. And I think that iterative sort of collaborative approach really positioned us well so that we did get out, you know, committed to something and then have to pivot. It was really led by those that are closest to the services that we were impacting and changing and so forth. And so I think deference to those leaders was critical for us.
- [07:01]
A
That's so helpful to know and understand and you know, really makes a ton of sense being able to have that type of open door communication, transparency and really that information flowing both ways throughout the process. Now looking ahead out of that integration role and now into Chief Transformation Officer in building upon that success, what are those big priorities and headwinds for 2026?
- [07:26]
B
Yeah, great question. I think sort of the foundation of collaboration and trust is critical for what we look forward to, which is to one degree or another, healthcare, education, insurance are at sort of a crossroad moment in their respective areas. And so in the university we're facing the demographic cliff in terms of the number of students that are enrolling in undergraduate programs. Insurers are facing in many ways unprecedented challenges in that there are headwinds in every segment virtually across the insurance services. And then healthcare systems continue to face persistent rising costs without the matching reimbursement increases. And so you have this deficit every year that you got to overcome. And so those, those headwinds we're facing with what we're terming a dual transformation strategy. So we, we must, you know, firstly continue to strengthen our operations to function as a unified enterprise and build longer term organizational resilience. I think a prime example of initiative in this part of the Transformation is ensuring that Jefferson Health is the most accessible health system in the country. And so there's a lot of wiring and infrastructure that has to change to ensure that we achieve that accessibility and behavior change in the clinical organization. And so that is continuously ongoing, something we've been working on for a long time. And we'll continue to stay ahead of that and meet consumers and those seeking access where they are. And then secondly is a longer term component of transformation, which is really positioning Jefferson for the future. And this includes developing new businesses, pursuing different strategic partnerships, and ultimately advancing initiatives that may take years to fully materialize. And so some examples in this realm that we're looking at are assessing our delivery footprint. You know, the demographics of the region and the consumer expectations are evolving. And so we need to evolve to meet those needs and provide care where folks are in the community and in their neighborhoods and where they expect to receive care. Exploring ways to change the model for how care is financed and delivered, and looking at how we directly or more directly relate to those that are purchasing healthcare, as opposed to being heavy intermediary in all cases. I think ensuring the full promise of AI is really important. And so the approach we're taking is to really zero in on the areas where we think there's the biggest opportunity, prospectively find solutions and ways that AI can help us. And oftentimes that's much bigger than a technology deployment. It's a workflow and resource and work change to achieve that and then ultimately continuing to bring those capabilities. We have as a unique organization with sort of three legs to the stool to bear in each other area in a way that makes a difference. And so an example of this integration across the organization is looking at the evolving workforce needs in delivery, but also in insurance, and developing academic programs to meet those needs that are not necessarily present in the workforce. And so we need to change what's learned in school in their educational components to meet the needs that are arising in delivery and insurance. And we've stood up programs and evolved programs in both areas very successfully to meet those needs.
- [11:01]
A
Absolutely. That's amazing to hear. And you know, being an organization with both the academic side, healthcare delivery and health plan too, seeing all that from the inside and out, and the dynamics of all of those areas and how you're meeting the challenges of today, I think you brought up some really real things when you're talking about some of the costs associated with healthcare delivery, you know, reimbursement rates and really the workforce challenges that so many organizations and systems are facing. So you know, it's cool to see that you've done a lot to address all of those things and then finding that full promise of AI too is huge. And I think will make a big difference between, it seems like the organizations that are most successful in the transformation and those that may struggle a bit more, you know, and could even, you know, need serious, serious help in the future. So it seems like a very, very important thing to thinking about. And you know, when you look at the future too, what do you think the hardest thing you'll have to do in the coming year will be?
- [12:01]
B
I think honoring a 200 year old legacy as Jefferson has and ensuring that we're making the right decisions and the right priorities and resource commitments for the long term. And where Jefferson needs to continue to be to improve the lives of those that we serve is the balance and the challenge that I think Jefferson has and likely a lot of other organizations. And so as we've approached these crossroads moments in our different units, it's paramount that we really stay focused on the long term and our mission, embracing each of our roles and shaping what might be a different enterprise down the road to continue to advance our mission. And you know, that doesn't mean that components of the enterprise haven't had great contributions. It just means that how we have to serve needs to evolve. And that managing that change and understanding the progression that's happening in the areas that we serve and the needs of those that we serve, and staying very close to that to meet and evolve our own services and capabilities is really the critical component of it. And managing that change and moving it at the right time and bringing the organization along, I think will be the hardest challenge in the coming years, that
- [13:20]
A
makes a lot of sense. And I appreciate you talking through these different challenges because I know especially when you're talking about how your role in healthcare, healthcare delivery, and what that looks like is transformational, that change isn't easy. Regardless of what tools you have or technology or the leadership in, an inspiration coming from above. It's still so, so hard to actually make that happen and really transform care. So I'd like to ask before we wrap up, where are some of those areas where you see some potential for growth, some potential for really being transformational? I know you talked a little bit about the ambulatory growth overall in finding ways to deliver care outside of the hospital, closer to home, and I can imagine virtual care as well. So where are some of those things and what are you doing today to set yourself up for success there?
- [14:10]
B
Yeah, there's we're very fortunate at Jefferson to have really a significant amount of growth opportunities across our portfolio. Through the integration work, you start to see pockets of capability that can be brought to bear to grow. And really the growth opportunities are across the enterprise, including expanding academic programs. As I mentioned, the workforce needs are evolving and we are really a professions focused university and so we want to continue to grow those programs that are going to be most needed in the workforce. As the future evolves and the workforce changes, we have the opportunity to scale our clinical research organization. We serve a very wide and diverse set of population from urban to rural to suburban. And so that is a really great laboratory, learning laboratory to partner with organizations that are doing research. And then of course growing our clinical services and our priority service lines. We've been able to draw and integrate a really unbelievable level of talented physicians across our enterprise over the years and so ensuring that we're continuing to move forward and grow those and we have many contiguous geographies where there's populations that don't have access to the kind of care that we deliver as an academic and we want to continue to afford that and expand that access and then I think really strong capability to grow in terms of how we deliver value and leveraging our enterprise capabilities. So we obviously have the insurance plan which has a number of capabilities to help manage total cost of care. We also are fortunate to have a high performing population health set of capabilities and a school of population health. And so to compete on value and outcomes as a means to grow, to reduce the friction between the insurer and the provider. So that if somebody has a good experience with a Jefferson physician and they want to use the Jefferson health plan for their ACA plan as an example, we want to create a really great experience around that. And so we think we have the opportunity to grow where we serve in one area and can bring other services to bear for those same individuals who have had a great experience. And so we think in total these capabilities and unlocking them or bringing them to bear in other areas will equip us to grow and better serve and reach more of those in the communities that we do have footprint in. I love it.
- [16:56]
A
Mark, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This has been such a great conversation. It's inspiring to think about all you've accomplished and then exciting to look ahead in the future. So thank you for your time today and I look forward to seeing you as well at our annual meeting. I know you'll be speaking on a panel there and really digging deeper into many of the themes that we talked about today. So looking forward to that and we'll be seeing you soon.
- [17:16]
B
Thank you, Laura. I really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you next month in the conference.