← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
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- [00:01]
A
This is Laura Dearda with the Beckers Healthcare podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Marty Bonick, President and Chief Executive Officer at Ardent Health. Marty, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- [00:11]
B
Great to be here with you today. Thank you.
- [00:14]
A
Now, I'm really excited for our conversation because I know there's so much happening in healthcare, particularly some cool things that you're doing at Ardent Health that will zero in on as well as talk about your perspective on the future. But before we dive in, I'm wondering, can you introduce yourself and just tell us a little bit more about Ardent Health?
- [00:30]
B
Sure. I'm Marty Monik, the CEO of Ardent Health. I've been with the company for just. This is my 5th year anniversary this month and so it's great to be here. And Ardent is a leading provider of healthcare. We operate in mid sized urban communities across the United States and we're committed to delivering high quality patient centered care through a growing network of hospitals, clinics and ambulatory centers.
- [00:55]
A
That's fantastic. And really important patient population that you're serving. From your perspective, what's the biggest win or success story that you have from the last year?
- [01:06]
B
Yeah, well, 2024 was certainly a transformational year for Ardent. After decades of being a private company, our successful IPO launched in July of 2024 and really helped strengthen our balance sheet and position us for continued acceleration of growth. We cared for over 1.2 million unique patients last year and we expanded our ambulatory footprint, growing into 11 new urgent care centers. And at the same time, we saw a return of demand for services across all of our key volume metrics, our inpatients, our surgeries, our emergency visits, and you know, it was just a great year to sort of just come back to the new normal after, you know, years of challenge with the COVID pandemic and recovery from there. But all of the hard, hard work and effort our team did to to get the organization ready and launch a successful IPO certainly was that capstone event.
- [02:04]
A
That's great. And you know, that's cool to hear. You've gotten so many different Unique patients coming in, new urgent care centers and the ability to just attract more folks. I think there's so many health systems across the country that are trying to figure out how to troubleshoot their access issues and quite frankly, reach those new patients. And so what do you see as being really core to your success there? How are you able to get all this done in the last year or so?
- [02:31]
B
Well, like anything, the work on the outside may look easy, but there's lots of hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make that possible. Everything from just reorganizing our leadership teams in terms of our focus and structure, both in maintaining and sustaining great hospitals and growing them alongside our health services initiatives, which is everything that we see outside of the four walls of the hospital. So it's the clinics, the ambulatory environment, the growing virtual care environment in terms really taking care of patients on their terms and creating an ecosystem that allows them to get the care when and how they need it most and in the most effective, affordable and accessible way. So those are the things that are really going on in the background to make that happen. Our ardent resource team members, which are, you know, our corporate services, if you would, really focusing on streamlining our operations and making sure our frontline clinicians can do their job effectively. And so all of those things have to work in harmony in order for us to be the best company we can be and meet that purpose of caring for people in each of one of our communities.
- [03:42]
A
Fantastic. That makes a lot of sense and it is great to have that type of organization that can strongly back up your efforts and initiatives and streamline things to get everything done effectively. Now I know there's a lot happening in healthcare, especially right now. So what are the top two to three issues that you're focused on and what's top of mind?
- [04:01]
B
Yeah, I mean there's definitely a few things that are top of mind. You know, if we put the regulatory environment aside for the moment, you know, our, our purpose for going public was to be a catalyst for growth. And so market share, growth and expansion is the number one thing that we're focused on. We know that there are systems out there that are, are struggling to grow, challenge to have the operating systems or the efficiencies that scale can bring. And so, you know, we really saw going public as that currency for future growth. And so we want to continue to grow inside of our markets first and foremost. And so we really have focused on growing access points so we can care for more unique patients in our communities. Because we know that once we bring somebody into the health system, they're going to need further care and further follow up visits elsewhere. So this year we added 18 additional urgent care centers in the early part of 2025. We're focusing on scaling those access points and deepening engagement with, with our patient populations in the community we serve. And we also brought on a new Chief Development Officer with the intention of continuing to find new markets to enter into. And so market share, growth and expansion is one key issue that we're focused on. The second, and this does tie into the growing regulatory environment, is just operational excellence. How do we continue to drive efficiencies across the enterprise, including reducing supply cost, dealing with contract labor, improving our transfer center operations, surgical throughput and efficiencies, and then just looking at our business processes and how do we infuse AI and other technologies through there to make it easier to do the things that we have to be done so that we can really redirect our energy and focus into the front line and caring for patients. The third area I'd highlight is really just leaning into that technology driven innovation, not for innovation's sake, but really to drive meaningful impact. How do we make healthcare better and easier for patients to experience, patients to access, and easier for patients to receive that care? At the same time, we want to make it easier for our caregivers to deliver that care. We're investing in things like virtual nursing, remote patient monitoring, AI powered scribe technology to enhance workflows and reduce burnout and improve the patient outcomes and efficiency. Technology to drive impact is that third leg that we're really focused on at moment.
- [06:29]
A
That makes a lot of sense and I really appreciate all three of those areas because it's just fascinating to look at growth, look at how you've been able to engage with patients and bring them in in a meaningful way. And then especially thinking about technology, it seems like the tech, whether it's AI or other types of automation, have really evolved so quickly in the last couple of years. It's hard to keep up in some ways. But definitely it seems that there are a ton of applications that are beneficial not only for the clinical side of things, but also the operational efficiencies and how organizations can leverage technology in the smartest way possible, to do more, in some ways with less.
- [07:10]
B
Yeah, no, I think we're really at the early innings of this. And you're right, it's moving very fast. You know, just the amount of advances that have happened in the past couple of years have just been mind boggling. And healthcare's a ripe industry for this type of improvement. We've got great clinicians and caregivers that want to do their best for patients. Patients want it to be easier. They want it like their, you know, their retail purchase experience with Amazon. And the technology is finally starting to come around in a quick way that I think we're going to see some major advances in healthcare in the coming years.
- [07:45]
A
Absolutely. I love that and thank you so much for digging deeper in that space. And speaking of growth in the future, where do you see some of the big opportunities for you and Ardent Health in the next few years? Where are you planning to double down on it? And do you really see a space where you can expand in a meaningful way?
- [08:03]
B
Well, like many health systems, we're really focused on truly becoming a consumer centric care experience and so expanding our ecosystem of care, particularly outside the four walls of the hospital, urgent care, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, and more and more digital health platforms. I think we'll continue to drive both volumes and patient loyalty and making that experience a lot easier for patients to, to encounter when they're working with a health system. I think, you know, I've been in this industry for almost 30 years and I've said this. We've, we've had sort of this field of dreams. We have built it and you must come, you know, mentality. We built these big buildings and towers and healthcare systems, but what patients want is easy, fast and convenient. And that's not always going to be coming to the hospital. You know, out of the 1.2 million patients we cared for last year, only about 157,000 of them ended up being patients in our hospital. The other million plus we're seeing in our outpatient environment, in our virtual environment. And that's where most people access their healthcare in a day to day basis. And so for us, I think we have to have that consumer centric mindset grow to where the patients need us, not where we would prefer to have them. At the same time, I think going back to the regulatory front, that is going to cause a decent amount of consolidation, inorganic growth. And so as I mentioned earlier, we are evaluating strategic acquisitions and joint ventures that will align with our mission and offer additional opportunities for us to go into new territories and markets and help other systems through our partnerships to be the best that they can be and continue to grow in their regions. And so I do think that that is something that will be a trend that we see in the next few years. And then as we were just talking about, I think the technology and data, again, we're in the early innings of that. But leveraging AI, predictive analytics and digital tools that are going to help to personalize care, optimize operations and improve quality, all of those are going to be major drivers that I think that we're going to see in the coming years as consumers want and expect more and payers and employers want more value for the dollars that they're investing. And so all of these are opportunities for us to grow and improve across the industry.
- [10:27]
A
It's amazing to think about just what will be possible over the next three to five years, especially in technology and leveraging that in addition to what patients are demanding and desiring for how they want to interact with their healthcare journeys. It's just really cool to see those two things converge and really transform the way we think about clinical care.
- [10:47]
B
Absolutely, absolutely.
- [10:49]
A
And to that point when you look at leadership of healthcare organizations, it's changing rapidly as well. What do you think of all take in order to lead a great system and a great organization in healthcare for the next five years, considering all the technology, the changes that are happening and really true transformation that we're going through right now?
- [11:09]
B
Yeah, well we're a people based industry. That's our purpose at Ardent is caring for people and it's, it's our patients, our communities and one another. And it starts with that internal talent so that the culture and the talent that we have is going to be key. Healthcare as you said, is changing and so building a resilient and inclusive culture that's going to allow us to attract and retain that top talent is going to be critical as well as bringing in new mindsets and ideas and ways of thinking. Again, we've had an industry that has been relatively slow to adapt over the years. We have certainly evolved but we can do better at keeping up with the pace of change. And so having the right minded leaders that are going to help take advantage and harness the potential of the technology that's in front of us versus sort of shining that away is going to be, you know, first and foremost coupled with that, I think, you know, agility and innovation, you know, embracing change rather than trying to long for the status quo or the way it used to be. The old days aren't coming back. People want more from us, they expect more from us. And it's going to, the payer environment is going to get more challenging in terms of, of how we do things. And so embracing change and investing in scalable tech enabled solutions is going to be key. We have to imagine a better future and then execute on delivering that. Which also leads to I think strategic discipline. How do we maintain a strong financial foundation while pursuing growth and purpose in the work that we do. So it's a strong balance between having that future mindset and embracing that with the discipline of being rooted in the reality of where we're at today. And then, you know, last thing I would say, is just never forgetting, you know, who it is we're here to serve for, you know, and that goes back to that consumer centric mindset in terms of meeting our patients needs, where they're at, what they expect, and doing it with great quality, great safety and great efficacy. You know, we want to continue to elevate the standards of care that we have, you know, whether that's inside of our hospitals and, you know, our Joint Commission accreditations, our CMS star ratings, our leapfrog safety grades. We're proud at Ardent that all of those things are operating well above the national averages. 81% of our hospitals earn an A or B leapfrog safety grade this last cycle. And so we're proud of that and always striving to do better. But we also have to strive beyond the hospital. And again, look at, you know, those other million patients that we served in our communities and, and how do we give them the accessibility and the quality outcomes that they need, deserve and expect from those experiences? So again, never, while we're advancing the industry, while we're growing and preparing for that future, never losing sight of who it is that we're here to serve at the end of the day.
- [14:00]
A
I love that. Marty, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This has been a really fantastic conversation and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
- [14:10]
B
So great to be here with you today. Appreciate you having me. Thank you.