← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
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- [00:00]
A
This is Laura Deardle with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Bob Searing, Chief Executive Officer at OSF Healthcare, and Michelle Conger, who is the current president and future CEO of OSF Bob, Michelle, thank you so much for being here today.
- [00:15]
B
Thank you so much for having us.
- [00:17]
C
Yeah, thank you.
- [00:18]
A
Now, I'm excited for our conversation because I know there's a lot happening in healthcare, but in particular, you know, you're doing some really innovative things at OSF Healthcare, and I'm excited to learn more about them, as well as your perspective on the future. But before we dive in, I'm wondering if you could both just briefly, briefly introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the health system, what makes it unique, and what have your biggest wins or success stories been from the last year?
- [00:41]
B
Sure. I'll start. And hey, I'll probably look a little bit more backward than Michelle, as we're in the midst of a transition and it's going extraordinarily well. And I think Michelle is fantastically positioned to take the organization forward, which is outstanding because these are certainly turbulent times, and they have been for the last few years, and I really don't see that changing the upcoming decade or two. But certainly just a little bit about osf. And I know Michelle love to speak a little bit to the innovation side. So just in broad strokes, the organization has certainly grown over the last years. We're now 16 hospitals spread mostly in Illinois from the northern part of Rockford all the way to the south in Alton, which is outside of St. Louis, and then from east to west from the Indiana border to the Iowa border. And covering a large bit of geography there, we do have one hospital up in Michigan, up in the Upper Peninsula, but as I said, the bulk of our activities are here in Illinois. We also have a lot of other pieces to the puzzle. Those are the hospitals. But most importantly, I would look at all of the clinical support in those facilities from physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, respiratory text. You can go down the list. And so it is big and broad. And then outside the home, it's things like home care and hospital at home. So lots of different activities that really make up 25, almost 26,000 mission partners. And so, as I said, that represents quite a bit of growth over the last years. Now, some of the things that we look back upon and really what drives us, I say first and foremost is how do we think about ensuring that we have a resilient and sustainable organization again, I'd go back to Covid and that really started much of that thinking. But then it just really carries through with all of the other aspects, whether it's aspects of the governmental and funding and the one big beautiful bill or other aspects of how do we really reimagine health care. All of that goes into really creating the health care of the future. I'd say some of our most daunting challenges come in and around staffing and financial sustainability. And so with those pieces, we clearly want to build on the success we've had, but we know we can't just do it the same as we've always done it. And so as Michelle is stepping into the role of CEO going forward again, she's extraordinarily well positioned, especially in the space of innovation. And so, Michelle, I don't know if you want to chat a little bit about some of that work that has positioned us so well for the future.
- [03:29]
C
Sure, Happy to do that, Bob. You know, we really started our foray into innovation, actually about 10 years ago. We, you know, really put it as part of our organizational strategy, exploring what that would look like. And now it's really just become part of how the health system operates that we do have. While we have a physical innovation hub here in Peoria, really it's cultural. And so we've worked on getting ideas from our mission partners about what things might look like differently. We've spun out to new businesses that have been started from ideas that have come from mission partners about how to make care better. So that's one element of it. Another focus we've had is on how do you embed digital health and create new care models? I know in the past year, we've launched a new care model focused on people who have chronic disease over the age of 55. And that's called complete care 55 plus. And I'm really excited about that because it's a digital first model, but it really focuses on care navigation, really recognizing that as being, I think, a key for the future. Part of the issue is people struggle a lot to navigate the complexities of health systems. So really focusing on that and expanding those types of care models, I think the next foray that we're going to have to tackle is artificial intelligence and the application of that to our core processes. You know, how do we really apply that to everything from things that we don't see, like our revenue cycle, to things that touch our patients in a very safe manner? But really looking at how we augment the clinical capabilities that we have across.
- [05:18]
A
The system, that's amazing. To hear, you know, and truly impressive to see all the different ways that you've been able to respond to the changes in the industry and ensure that you're continuing to provide great care for a broad community as well as your team at OSF Healthcare as well. I'm curious, what are the top two to three issues you're focused on right now? What's top of mind for you as you're going into the big discussions and thinking about the rest of the year?
- [05:45]
B
Certainly you got to start first and foremost with the changes that we're looking at. And again, driven in no small part by the one big beautiful bill, the impact that has on funding going forward. There are other things in addition to or in inclusion of the one big beautiful bill, but finances is a big part of it. So again, it's looking at that, it's looking at the opportunities moving forward. And how do we ensure that we're providing the care in all the communities that we were called to serve. But it's the right care at the right place at the right time and in recognizing how that connects to staffing, you know, health care in general and certainly OSF Healthcare is no different. The greatest expense that we have, the greatest also resource that we have is our people. It represents over half of the cost of running the health care system. And so how do we ensure that we are providing that very precious resource in the right places? Because we all know we can't provide it in every place. How do we think about the delivery of care in a way that gets the right care as close to home as possible? In some cases, that's right in their own backyard. In other cases, as we think about the highest levels of care, how do we continue to bring those together in a distribution model that says we're going to be regionally located, which is important for us? Again, we cover a broad geography, but how do we locate those resources so that it can meet the needs of the broadest group of folks who will come to those centers for care? And then in particular, and maybe a good place for Michelle to touch on because she's really leading the effort in and around destination center. And so what does that mean, destination osf? Well, again, we've got regional hubs, very important in meeting the needs in a lot of those places. We also recognize that patients, as their level of acuity continues to increase, as their challenges continue to heighten, how do we bring together some of the best, the highest quality, the most well trained people, along with the high technology that's needed to Provide that very highest level of care. And again, recognizing we can't do it everywhere, what are we looking at here in Peoria to create that destination center especially focused in and around those services that are most needed. So cardiovascular neurosciences, oncology and then children's really, we believe are the highest need. Of course we treat all, but in those areas we certainly see the need of being the highest. So, Michelle, your thoughts around a destination OSF strength?
- [08:28]
C
Sure, yeah. I think it's really interesting because I think this has been happening for, I don't know, several years, really, the restructuring of healthcare, really the centralization of high acuity care into a destination center, while at the same time you're finding access and decentralization of things such as hospital at home, things that used to be, have to be done at acute care center now can be done in your home. So it presents, I think, a really unique opportunity and OSF's focus on innovation that we recognize that we have to create access for rural health care in a very different way. And that means in some instances, creating hubs in some of our smaller hospitals, you know, building the acute care capabilities in a different fashion. So care that perhaps used to be transferred to a higher acuity center like Peoria can now stay in that community. And at the same time building access to digital health. We have, for instance, a mobile program that really is focused around ob. We never would have thought about that a decade ago, but really now we're able to go to moms and help them do some of those visits, triage them, provide them remote patient monitoring continuously, and then get them to the right place to deliver their baby. So, you know, I think it's really OSF is uniquely positioned, as Bob, I think really articulated. If you think about those types of care that are becoming more acute, more intensive, those are really centralizing at a destination center, which really for us will, will be Peoria. In terms of those four areas. That's already happened with children. I mean, if you really think about over the last decade, a lot of facilities have really struggled to find the subspecialists that you need to treat those people in a community hospital. But we have those at our destination center. But we're connecting our entire community through digital health so that wherever you walk into our organization, you have access to that level of care. But it's an exciting time to really build out those kind of capabilities in the future.
- [10:41]
B
That's great, Michelle. And piece that I'd add, and again, as we both have talked about people and how important that is, And I think about staffing the organization going forward. And we are blessed and a little challenged at the same time, but certainly blessed to be serving these communities throughout small urban areas, rural areas of Illinois. But as you think about the staffing necessary, as we continue to move forward to meet those needs, whether it's at our destination center or in any of our facilities or ambulatory offices. And so we must constantly be thinking about how do we develop people, how do we bring people into the organization, provide them opportunities to continue to grow and expand. And so you may join our organization in one of those first jobs that you've had in dietary or housekeeping or a whole host of different places, but you have a multitude of career paths that you can pursue. How do I think about radiology techs? How do I think about patient care tech in our hospital? Or maybe an ambulatory office with a medical office assistant? How do I go beyond that? And maybe it's a nurse, maybe it's a nurse practitioner, maybe it's somebody who gets the bug and says, no, I want to go to med school. And, you know, we are blessed with so many folks that we can provide those opportunities to continue to see them grow so that we can be assured that there is a constant stream of folks joining osf, growing at osf, because the needs are great. The opportunities are great as well, but the needs are great. And we need to continue to build that pipeline for our most precious resource. Again, those who are joining osf, those who are going to be providing care, or those who are supporting those who provide care.
- [12:30]
C
I think too, what Bob's talking about, really, he's, I mean, under his leadership and leadership of our sisters, really focused on the culture that's necessary to be able to create this kind of change. And change is never easy. I mean, recognizing a lot of the healthcare, the pace of change, and so really building that pipeline, growing our people, creating the cultures so that people can see the future of health care and understand that they're part of shaping that future.
- [13:00]
A
Absolutely. I think that makes a lot of sense. You know, looking at the different ways you're delivering health care and really transforming what that means to cover a community, to access health care in a different way, and then to build an organization that truly is transformative and able to be nimble and change with the times, that's really helpful and extremely impressive to hear. Now, looking into the future, where do you see some of those big growth opportunities, opportunities for the next few years? What do you see yourselves doubling down on and continuing to focus on as we move ahead.
- [13:33]
B
Wow. Yeah. There's so many different areas, but I'd say in broad strokes, it's really, as I mentioned before, it's reimagining the delivery of healthcare. And I'll add a word in front of that. It's constantly reimagining the delivery of healthcare. How we're organized, how we're structured, how we create those opportunities out in the communities to receive that care locally, whether in person, at their home, in an office, or virtually. And so how do we constantly think about new and better opportunities to connect with people, to meet them where they are and ensure that they receive the care that they need and that we can follow through with them? So I'd say that's overall and then underneath, certainly with my background, and I'm going to think about costs and financials and how we continue to create this sustainable organization moving forward. And again, a lot of things feed into that. One is that reimagining healthcare, it is, of course, around providing high quality, outstanding care, but it's also thinking about, are we doing it in the most effective and efficient manner? And then back office, what can we do to take out the friction, the noise, all that activity that may happen in the back office that quite frankly, benefits little to the patient, to their family, and frankly, even to us as an organization. So how do we identify those, how do we streamline those, how do we take them out, whether it's with AI or frankly, just stopping doing some things that does not provide that benefit? So I'd say those are the two pieces that come to mind. Michelle?
- [15:19]
C
Yeah, I agree, Bob. I think it's going to continue to be sort of that relentless pursuit of, you know, new care models and really augmenting those with the appropriate technology. A lot of industries have seen cost reductions come from technology. Healthcare struggled with that. I think with the expansion and uses of AI, we'll be able to see that in a different light, particularly when we're dealing with, you know, staff or can be difficult, you know, to attain. And I think if we look at this as really augmenting people, you know, always keeping a human in the loop, you know, this is. We have to be cognizant of that. The burden for health care in terms of the use of AI and assuring that that is done ethically is. Is higher. But at the same time, I think the promise of what we can do, as Bob articulated, in terms of new care models that are sustainable from a cost standpoint, they're affordable for the people using Them as well as those paying for them, that that will be significant focus for health care in the future.
- [16:28]
A
That makes a lot of sense. You know, really hits a lot of the different areas that I know all health care leaders are thinking about and really trying to troubleshoot right now in these very, very unique times, especially with so many changes, whether it's technology, whether it's the legislation and other issues that are making, you know, truly driving transformation healthcare space. Before I wrap up here, I'm curious. I wanted to get both of your thoughts on what it will take in order to lead a thriving organization over the next five years or so, especially given some of the things we've talked about today.
- [17:03]
B
Well, I'll talk about them, but frankly, it'll sound a lot like Michelle, but that's great. And so again, I think you start with innovation. You start with having to come at it and say, this is not how we've always done it, so let's how we're going to do it going forward. It's really being able to think outside the box, think with that innovative spirit. I love the word Michelle, because it was better than mine. And that is relentless. You have to be relentless in the pursuit of innovation and constantly reimagining how we can do things better. And I don't think that, again, we've gotten through the pandemic and there was the great resignation. Then there were financial challenges. Now again, ongoing issues, whether it's tariffs or thinking about changes to Medicaid and Medicare. But those are just today's challenges. I don't know what the challenges will be three years from now, but they will be, I'm sure, equal and challenging. And it is about having that ability, that resilience, to be able to face those challenges and lead an organization. So, as I said in the beginning, I think Michelle is extraordinarily well positioned to do that with her broad background for the system, both having led us as chief strategy officer, chief innovation, and really being responsible so much for that work, and now being well positioned to continue this, hopefully not just for the next five years, but the next 15 years.
- [18:37]
C
Well, honestly, I'm very fortunate to really be working so closely with Bob because I think he's done such a great job with helping build the cost management discipline that I think is going to be necessary to enable us to innovate. I mean, that has to be part of your culture. And he's also, I think that for systems to be successful in the future, you cannot take your eye off of culture. I think you have to continuously be focused on why you're there, the communities you're serving. And as you're thinking about how you provide care differently, it becomes clearer because you really don't lose focus on what your culture is.
- [19:21]
A
I love that. Bob Michelle, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This has been such a fun conversation and a really unique opportunity to get a window into your thought process and your leadership, especially during this time, to transition and really transformative changes. I appreciate it and definitely look forward to connecting with you both again soon.
- [19:40]
B
It was a pleasure. Have a great day.