William A. Wertheim, Executive Vice President at Stony Brook Medicine

Summary

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Episode Overview

Theme:
This episode of Becker’s Healthcare Podcast features a conversation between host Scott King and Dr. William A. Wertheim, Executive Vice President at Stony Brook Medicine. The discussion centers on the biggest trends, challenges, and opportunities facing healthcare organizations today, with a special focus on organizational alignment, leadership, technology adoption, and community-based care. Dr. Wertheim shares insights from Stony Brook's recent initiatives and offers advice for emerging leaders in the sector.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction to Stony Brook Medicine

• Background: Dr. William Wertheim introduces himself as a general internist, still in clinical practice, and describes Stony Brook Medicine as Suffolk County’s sole academic medical center.
• System Scale:
  • Hospitals and Reach: 4 hospitals, over 200 ambulatory sites, and 5 health science schools
  • Population Served: 1.5 million people
  • Employees: About 14,000
  • Specializations: Level 1 trauma, advanced heart, neuroscience, and cancer centers
  • Mission: Combining education, research, and care for optimal patient outcomes
• Quote:

  "We are the county’s only academic medical center... We really try to blend education and research into everything that we do so that our patients can get the best possible care." (01:11 - 02:20)

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2. Current Healthcare Trends

Emerging pressures and responses:

• Financial Pressures:
  • Impact of government regulations at both federal and state levels
• Workforce Shortages:
  • High competition for staff and workforce across all roles
• Organizational Strategies:
  • Focus on unification, integration, and alignment across clinical and business arms
• Technology Adoption:
  • Use of AI-powered apps for clinical documentation
  • Financial software to improve revenue cycle efficiency
• Quote:

  "There is so much financial pressure on health systems... We have a lot of workforce shortages in the industry... I'm watching how people respond to that: whether they are trying to be more unified... and the degree to which they are trying to utilize technology..." (02:48 - 04:30)

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3. Community Engagement and Recent Initiatives

Focus on localized and responsive care:

• Meeting Community Needs:
  • Commitment to providing for the full range of health needs (primary, specialty, education)
  • Example: Opened a freestanding emergency department in East Hampton in May; critical due to geographic distance and summer influx
• Organizational Alignment:
  • Significant structural transformation at Stony Brook
  • Shared governance and integrated decision-making processes
  • Alignment of clinical and academic missions
• Quote:

  "A great example of that is last May we opened up a freestanding emergency department in East Hampton... It was really, really very important to have another emergency facility there because particularly in the summer months... it can take two to three hours to get to the nearest pre-existing emergency facility..." (04:51 - 06:40)

• Quote:

  "We've undertaken a fair amount of structural transformation, shared governance, a shared approach to business decision making, and a way to align both the clinical and the academic needs of our organization." (06:30 - 07:00)

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4. Leadership and Organizational Alignment

How Stony Brook ensures vision and reality match:

• Open Communication:
  • Frequent governance meetings with leadership
  • Sharing information about ongoing initiatives and challenges
• Visible Leadership:
  • Site visits, “red sneaker rounds” (leaders wear Stony Brook's colored sneakers to engage with staff on-site)
  • Active problem-solving and reinforcing organizational values
  • Leadership’s role balances close engagement (“on the dance floor”) and the broader perspective (“on the balcony”)
• Quote:

  "You can never communicate too much... for example, we do this thing called red sneaker rounds in the hospital... We go and talk to staff members... and fixing any problems or removing any barriers that they have..." (07:10 - 08:39)

• Quote:

  "Sometimes you have to be dancing and showing people that you know how to dance. And sometimes you have to stand on the balcony and look at the pattern of what people are doing..." (08:48 - 09:12)

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5. Advice for Evolving Healthcare Leaders

Core values, self-leadership, and accountability:

• Keep the Mission Central:
  • Leaders should align actions with organizational mission and personal values
• Balanced Critical Evaluation:
  • Combine high-level strategy with ground-level engagement
• Customer-Oriented Mindset:
  • Importance of seeing patients as allies, not adversaries (“if the customer becomes the enemy, you must rethink what you’re doing”)
• Quote:

  "If you can keep focused in on what your core values are, what your mission is, why you're doing this, then it's a lot easier to withstand some of the pressures and vicissitudes of the job." (09:40 - 10:16)

• Notable Mentor’s Lesson:

  "The fundamental pathology of a bureaucracy is that the customer becomes the enemy. And anytime in healthcare... that you are thinking to yourself that the people that you're trying to serve are somehow in the opposite court as you... then you have to rethink what you're doing." (10:50 - 11:31)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On organizational alignment:

  “We can't just say we want to be doing what's important for our communities and we want to be providing the best possible care, unless you are ensuring that the structure and the way the organization is organized really mirrors that and supports that.” (06:46 - 07:05)

• On leadership visibility:

  “Being visible, you know, just being, being seen can mean a lot to team members...” — Scott King (09:14 – 09:19)

• On living the mission:

  “At the end of the day, satisfaction in the work that we do is knowing that we have been true to our values and we've worked to make the world a little bit of a better place, at least our corner of it.” (10:10 - 10:25)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:11] Introduction to Stony Brook Medicine and System Overview
• [02:48] Financial Pressures, Workforce Shortages, and Tech Trends
• [04:40] Community Engagement and Emergency Department Case Study
• [06:30] Structural Organizational Changes
• [07:10] Organizational Alignment: Communication and Red Sneaker Rounds
• [09:40] Leadership Advice and Personal Philosophy

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Conclusion

This episode offered a clear, practical look at how a major academic health system is navigating ongoing industry headwinds, embracing technology, prioritizing community needs, and fostering alignment between vision and day-to-day reality. Dr. Wertheim’s emphasis on visible, values-driven leadership and open communication provides a roadmap for emerging leaders facing similar challenges. The memorable moments and actionable advice throughout the conversation make this a valuable listen for anyone involved in healthcare administration or organizational leadership.

Transcript

[Podcast Announcer]

The most important healthcare decisions don't happen in isolation. They happen when leaders come together. Becker's 16th annual meeting brings together more than 3,500 hospital and health system executives this April in Chicago. With 800 speakers from Ascension, Cleveland Clinic, Common Spirit, and more, the conversations get real. Leaders will share how their scenario, planning for policy shifts brief, breaking through value based care barriers and building clinical teams that translate new ideas into real world care. Join top decision makers in the room April 13th through the 16th. For the agenda and event details, visit BeckersHospitalReview.com and click on the Events tab in the upper right.

[Scott King]

Hello everyone, and welcome to Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm Scott King, thrilled today to be joined by a very special guest, William Wertheim, executive vice president over at Stony Brook Medicine. William, how are you doing today? Thanks so much for joining us on the podcast.

[William Wertheim]

Thank you so much for having me, Scott.

[Scott King]

You know, we have a lot of big topics to get to in healthcare, but before I do that, I was wondering if you could just please kind of introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background and your system.

[William Wertheim]

Sure, of course. I am a general internist by training. I do still see patients, actually, and I oversee Stony Brook Medicine, which is a four hospital system. It also has over 200ambulatory sites around Suffolk county, predominantly, which is the easternmost county in Long Island. And we have five health science schools that also I oversee. We are a $3 billion enterprise and we employ about 14,000 people. Suffolk county, which has a population of 1.5 million people, is. Suffolk county is the county's only. We are the county's only academic medical center. We have a level one trauma center. We have a very advanced heart center, neurosciences center, cancer center. We do an enormous amount of specialized care as well as primary care and everything in between. And we really try to blend education and research into everything that we do so that our patients can get best possible care.

[Scott King]

Yeah, appreciate you sharing all that information. It's great to hear about all the resources that Stony Brook has to offer. You know, the first topic I wanted to ask about, William, is, you know, obviously there's always so much going on in healthcare, but you know, kind of still towards the beginning of the new year, things with emerging technology and government regulations, it feels like there's a lot going on still right now. So what trends are you watching currently?

[William Wertheim]

Well, there is so much financial pressure on health systems and hospitals and practices. A lot of it is related to what you alluded to about the changes going on in Washington, as well as things that are occurring on a state level. And at the same time, we have a lot of workforce shortages in the industry. There's a lot of competition for healthcare workers of all stripes. And so that puts a lot of pressure on hospitals. So I think some of what I'm watching is I'm watching how people respond to that. Whether they are trying to be more unified and more consolidated, more integrated in their business strategies and their clinical operations, more aligned from one branch to another. And that's certainly the approach that we are taking. And at the same time, the degree to which they are trying to utilize technology to perhaps offset, you know, offset some of their costs. And that could be everything from using AI powered listening apps to help people write notes, be they nurses or physicians, so that they can be more efficient and see a couple more patients in a session, or a shift to financial software that really helps improve their revenue cycle. Those are really the kinds of things that I'm particularly paying close attention to.

[Scott King]

What do you think you're most focused on and excited about with your work with Stony Brook right now?

[William Wertheim]

Well, there's a few things I'm very excited about. You know, we. We view ourselves as the provider for all the communities in our county. And to me, that's extremely important. Trying to make sure that we are meeting the county's needs when it comes to kinds of care that's needed, whether it is primary care, health education, specialty care, and really embedding that care in the communities. A great example of that is last May we opened up a freestanding emergency department in East Hampton, which is on the south fork of Long Island. The Hamptons are sort of a skinny little peninsula that, you know, that jut out on the east end of Long island like the tail of a fish. And it was really, really very important to have another emergency facility there because particularly in the summer months, because it's a narrow strip, it can take two to three hours to get to the nearest pre existing emergency facility in Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. So that's just sort of an example of meeting a community's need and really changing the dynamic in the community. I've worked hard also to really try to align our organization. We've undertaken a fair amount of structural transformation, shared governance, a shared approach to business decision making, and a way to align both the clinical and and the academic needs of our organization. And, you know, I think that's actually very important because when you are looking at managing a big organization, you really do need to make sure that the vision Aligns with the reality. And, you know, we can't just say we want to be doing what's important for our communities and we want to be providing the best possible care, unless you are ensuring that the structure and the way the organization is organized really mirrors that and supports that in everything that we do. So I'm really very proud of that.

[Scott King]

How do you make sure that that visual. I think it's a wonderful thing you said, making sure that vision aligns. How do you do that? Is it just through regular communication with team members?

[William Wertheim]

Yeah, I mean, that's part of it. You can never communicate too much. And so we have sort of regular governance meetings of. With a lot of my leadership team. And, you know, I try to bring that information out to people about some of the things that are going on as well as some of the pressures we're facing. You know, there are, you know, the same financial headwinds or government regulation headwinds that. That all of us face in this industry. And I think it's important to be upfront about that and how we are managing. Managing that with all of the people who work here. But it also means going out and talking to them and meeting them where they are, whether it's a lunch meeting or a town hall or just a site visit or walking around. You know, for example, we do this thing called red sneaker rounds in the hospital where we go and we talk to staff members. We are wearing red sneakers. That's the Stony Brook color. That's why it's called red sneaker rounds. And we talk to them about some of the problems that they're facing and are they able to get the work done. And they see us helping them and answering any questions that they have and fixing any problems or removing any barriers that they have and making sure they know what their resources are. When people see you doing that, being out there in the organization, I think that really underscores the fact that you're living the values that you are talking about. So it's a combination of communication and actually being there. You know, I think if you imagine our organization as a big, you know, a big dance floor, sometimes you have to be dancing and you have to be showing people that you know what. You know how to dance. And sometimes you have to stand on the balcony and look at the pattern of what people are doing and make sure that you know what to. What changes to make to make sure that the party can continue.

[Scott King]

Yeah, I think it's another great point you made there in regards to leadership. William is Just that obviously communication and in depth communication and consistent communication can go a long way. But sometimes a leader, just being visible, you know, just being, being seen can mean a lot to team members and kind of staying on leadership here. I was just curious, what advice would you give to evolving leaders in healthcare right now?

[William Wertheim]

Well, a couple things. One, I would say, you know, keeping that mission at the center. You know, it's not only about making sure that your organization thrives. It's about making sure that you, yourself, as a leader thrive. If you can keep focused in on what your core values are, what your mission is, why you're doing this, then it's a lot, it's a lot easier to withstand some of the pressures and vicissitudes of the job. And I think that's really important. You know, what gives us, at the end of the day, satisfaction in the work that we do is knowing that we have been true to our values and we've worked to make the world a little bit of a better place, at least our corner of it. So that's one thing. And then the second thing is you really, I think it's really important to balance that, you know, that ability to look critically at what we're doing, what any organization is doing, and think about ways, you know, gathering your leadership team and discussing ways to make it better, as well as talking to people who are doing the work every day, you know, that I think is really important. You know, the last thing I'll say, and I say this a lot because was a very influential person in my life, but I had a mentor and professor who told me that with a whole class, you know, said this in class, that the fundamental pathology of a bureaucracy is that the customer becomes the enemy. And anytime in health care or any business, you know that you are thinking to yourself that the people that you're trying to serve are somehow in the opposite court as you and not on the same side, then you have to rethink what you're doing. And it's really, actually helped me kind of overcome a lot of barriers, I think, in, in managing big organization.

[Scott King]

Yeah, I think that's a wonderful lesson on, you know, accountability there to close on. William, and thank you so much for a great conversation and for joining the podcast. Look forward to working with you again soon.

[William Wertheim]

I look forward to it too. And again, thank you so much for having me on.

[Scott King]

Thank you.