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- Welcome back to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, vote
of the people who power us healthcare.
I'm Molly Gamble, Becker's
and delight to have you join us for another episode filled
of insights from healthcare leaders today, from Dr.
Febby Abraham, executive Vice President and Chief Strategy
and Innovations officer with Memorial Herman Health System.
Dr. Abraham, welcome. Thanks so much for joining me today.
How are you? And where does the podcast find you?
- Hi, Molly. This is very, uh,
very glad to be talking to you.
Uh, I am in Houston and today
and, uh, we just wrapped up a very amazing rodeo season.
It was one of the most attended rodeo seasons in Houston
after the pandemic, and we saw record visits
of people visiting the rodeo.
And personally, I just came back from, um,
a time in the slopes, uh, right after spring break.
Uh, good to be speaking with you today.
- Likewise, thank you so much.
That's a dynamic update rodeo
season and time with the slopes.
But outta curiosity, when is the typical rodeo season?
Like, when does it start and, and end?
- It typically starts with the third week of February
and goes on till about the second, third week of March.
- March. Okay. Got it.
Well, I'm, I'm happy to hear that for Houston
and the area that it was a robust one.
Um, Dr. Abraham, you know, at Memorial Hermann,
can you get us up to speed on what you are spending most
of your time and energy on as of late?
What's commanding most of your attention lately?
- Yeah, as you know, the healthcare environment nationally
and within Houston is evolving quite rapidly.
We have, um, going, we are going through an environment
where we're spending almost four
and a half trillion dollars on healthcare expenditures.
And as you know, the outcomes
that we have in the United States are not among the best.
In fact, if you stack us against the top OECD nations,
we lag on pretty much most of the critical metrics.
So we spend more, we don't get a whole lot
of outcomes in relation to that.
That said, we are investing a whole lot in innovations,
patient experience, and, um,
and generally the satisfaction have areas of opportunity
as we all can attest to.
So those are some of the things that dovetail into
where I'm spending most of my time.
Uh, and specifically what that means is I'm focused on, uh,
for the system and, and to shape its strategy,
building healthy, healthier communities for now
and generations to come, which is Memorial Hermann's vision.
And in support of that vision, uh, we really are sort
of focused on a improving access for all the Houstonians
and the communities we serve.
B, how do we sort of improve our value proposition to, uh,
generate the next generation outcomes
that the communities have expected of us
and we've been doing for several years.
But on top of that to, as I was mentioning earlier,
to reduce the total cost of care
and keep people healthy as opposed
to just offering sick care.
So expanding the remit of our mandate to go
beyond, uh, really awesome clinical care and,
and hospitals to have more access points into the community
where people can rely on our expertise to take care of them
and their health needs, uh,
not only when they require, uh, sick care.
Mm-Hmm. . Third area that I'm focused on is
to really improve digitization and the use of technology
and AI in the industry.
That can come in many ways, right?
One, it can improve, uh, the productivity of our workforce,
whether it's a clinical workforce, uh, that is a doctor
or a nurse, an administrative workforce,
somebody who's working in billing or collections
or, uh, you know, in the call center, um,
or somebody who's actually doing in the operational
workforce, which is, you know, uh, taking care of the, the,
the facilities, whether they are clinics or our hospitals.
And we can attest that AI technology
and digitization can not only improve the productivity
of all of that and, and, uh,
provide a seamless workforce experience,
which can help reduce burnout challenges,
which we know is right from the, uh, industry.
And as we learn through the pandemic was a big topic
that we all as health system leaders have been working on.
But at the same time, it can also help improve, uh,
the patient experience
and their navigation of the, their healthcare journey,
both in terms of keeping their health,
but also in how they engage with health systems.
So we've been making, at Memorial Hermann a lot
of investments and partnerships
and innovation bets in the leveraging
how technology is further integrated across our workflows so
that we can improve both our productivity as well as, um,
the, the patient experience.
Uh, and then the fourth area I'm spending a lot
of time on is how do we sort of provide a community health,
uh, focus that can improve the health of all, uh,
all Houstonians, not just the ones who can come
and access to it through a insurance product,
but who are underserved, who maybe don't have an, uh,
insurance today and are not taking
appropriate care of their health.
How do we better support them, uh,
but through the right tools so
that they can take care of their health more?
And in order to do all of these things, um, we have defined,
you know, what are some of those big
priorities that we want to do?
How do we do that? And we've, uh, really expanded the range
of how we work with, uh, external partners as well
as invest in internal capabilities to provide some of these,
um, these things I mentioned, uh,
we've launched something called an innovation hub where I'm,
which I'm truly passionate about in trying to, uh, test some
of these solutions, uh, in a small scale
and understanding better how they work
before we sort of expand them across
the platform in a large scale.
And we've also launched
and, um, really rapidly scaled up a direct investments
platform where we support many of these innovation
companies, uh, uh, innovative companies in their remit
to build products and solutions
that solve some of these pain points.
- I mean, Dr. Abraham, there's, there's a lot there.
And I'm, I'm gonna dig into a few of these things in,
in greater detail in just a moment,
but I, I should also remind listeners and,
and check in with you on the fact
that you joined Memorial Hermann
and are now heading up innovations and strategy
after more than a decade with McKinsey.
And I, I was curious too,
before we dig into some of the points you raised about
where you're spending time, you know, what did you find
to be the most noticeable differences
about healthcare strategy moving from the consulting
or advisor side of the aisle to actually being in the game
at a large integrated health system like Memorial Hermann?
- I think you, uh, touched on a very, um,
critical component of that answer.
It's a great question, Molly, in terms of, uh,
being in the game, but I, I, I, I fundamentally believe
that in my role here relative to, um,
an awesome career I had at McKinsey, um,
it's really about the skin in the game
and sort of being the ability to, um, see end to end,
to work with our leaders, our clinicians, our our operators,
to understand some of their real unmet needs
and pain points, understand the community's needs, um,
concept ideas, uh, design programs that will solve some
of those, um, challenges or unmet needs and pain points.
See how they're working, see which ones we want to scale,
um, and which ones are, are working well, that, uh,
really we could sort of drive up more focus on which ones
perhaps were bets
that didn't quite pan out the way we wanted,
therefore, we may want to alter, uh, the way we wanna work.
That's a, that whole end-to-end journey from soup
to nuts is something I'm really passionate about
in my current role.
Um, at McKinsey, we, we will work with clients a lot, um,
in sort of shaping that end-to-end journey and advise them,
but there is a lot more ownership in this role that I,
that I have, have had to experience.
The second, um, thing I would call out is, uh,
the change management aspect of it.
A lot of what works
and does not work in healthcare, as we can all attest
among your listener group.
And, and Brad, what I personally experience is about
the adoption of great ideas
and to truly understand, uh, what drives adoption,
what are some of the barriers to adoption, how do you work
through that, um, is, uh, something
that I've truly relished in this role.
Um, and it really comes down
to setting up the flywheel of innovation.
How do you sort of start with some few wins that rally
the focus and inspiration
and inspire, um, the work, the, the workforce
and the, the patients to try out some of these innovations
that then creates more momentum for us to sort
of scale a further set of ideas that flywheel of innovation
and sort of trying to sort of foster that as a mechanism
to drive change management, um,
is another aspect I've enjoyed in this role, uh, versus
what I had in McKinsey.
Some of the core components of
otherwise thinking about the big value, creative ideas,
thinking about what really moves the needle,
thinking about a objective
and highly critical thinking based analytical, uh, approach
to how we come to make decisions, are all those things
that I've continued
to quote from my prior experience at McKinsey.
Um, and which has been, uh, hugely helpful, uh, foundation
for me as I've, uh, transitioned into this role.
Mm-Hmm, .
- And you had also mentioned, I mean,
you're touching a lot of different things.
You mentioned improving digitization
and ai, improving workforce product productivity
and new innovation hub, this community health focus,
improving the health of all his houstonians.
What is your team like behind these efforts?
Do you have a distinct team for strategy innovation?
Is there one combined unit?
Can you, can you talk more about the people
around these efforts and then also
how you lead them a a glimpse into your leadership
style, if you'll let us?
- Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
So, um, along the way, we've, uh, built a team of, um, uh,
just under a dozen practitioners.
Uh, they cut across all of those pillars,
which are strategy, strategic planning, which defines the
what is it that the business is gonna focus on.
Um, then when it comes to the, uh, the how, um,
and the why, we've got, uh, uh, a few execution arms.
One of them is a, uh, corporate development umbrella,
which includes, uh, joint ventures, m
and a strategic partnerships, working with external parties
to bring some of those capabilities on, on the,
the work that I defined.
Um, second is an innovation hub where we sort of take some
of those unmet needs and pain points
and sort of really map, um, solutions
that solve those unmet needs and pain points.
Test them in a small contained capacity,
whether it's one hospital or a handful of clinics.
Learn from how those, uh, design phases are going
to understand or how best to scale them across the platform,
and what value do they create, how do they, uh,
achieve the objectives that we are seeking.
We have a direct investment arm, which is the third arm,
which think of it as a venture
or a growth equity vehicle that supports great businesses
that are creating solutions that are aligned
with our core philosophy
and how healthcare in the future needs to be, uh,
experienced, accessed, and delivered.
And from that perspective, we've, um, we've created a,
a focus on, uh, not only working with some
of those companies to bring those innovations to our market,
but also thinking about, you know,
how do we support the growth, uh, growth strategic journey
as investors and shape the products that we like.
So we are having that dual alignment of shaping the strategy
for the products that we then eventually
bring into the market.
Uh, and we also have a focus on strategic market insights,
which takes a granular database approach
to understanding the various value pools in health
and healthcare, how those are evolving, uh,
what's shrinking, what's, what's growing,
and where best the system needs
to be positioned to drive that growth.
So these are some of the areas.
These are the five areas, the, the strategy
and strategic planning at the vanguard of it,
the three execution arms
and strategic market insights that the team is focused on.
Uh, there is an expanded member base of the team as well,
which, uh, uh, includes members of our service lines,
our operating teams, um, and, uh,
and other functional teams who provide a lot of input
and passion and energy into a strategic focus area.
So it's very much as is any strategy team,
a collaborative effort that brings together a range
of practitioners, some that are dedicated
and some that are brought in, uh, from, uh,
various functional groups.
And we work collaboratively to shape some of these,
um, objectives.
As it pertains to the team itself, it's a,
it's a diverse team with a range of experience.
Some are deep healthcare practitioners with lots
of experience, um, in life sciences.
And, um, even on the clinical side,
we have a physician in the team.
Um, some have got very new experiences in healthcare.
They, they, they spend their careers in other industries
like oil and gas, which we like
because we, we like the diversity
and fresh eyes that the range of our team members bring.
Um, uh, some are relatively early in their journey as,
as in their fewer years from college
and are sort of starting their journey in healthcare
and shaping their long-term aspirations.
Some have been in the industry for, uh, long, uh,
and they come from diverse range of backgrounds as well.
That includes working at health systems,
working at in management, consulting firms
and investment banking firms.
And as I mentioned, even the clinician background
as it pertains to my leadership style.
Um, for me, the fundamental, uh, uh,
way in which I lead is to start with vision
and big, hairy audacious goals.
It's very important for me
and my team to clearly ask, uh, aspire
and define what we define as the North star for why,
why we are doing what we are doing,
and what great looks like.
Um, and, uh, it's, it's something that I hold myself
and my team accountable for in laying that north star.
How are we gonna make a difference in
how healthcare is accessed, experienced, and delivered?
What are some of those critical objectives that we will fund
that will fundamentally change, um,
that healthcare experience of the future?
Uh, and so start with that vision,
which creates a very aspirational
and inspirational mindset for the team members
that we can then take into, um, you know, defining a,
uh, implementation, uh, pathway.
And from that implementation pathway, I really want there
to be transformative change.
So every year we want to look back
and say, Hey, what is the major difference?
We have not only done in terms of the, the goals and vision,
but in terms of actual achieved objectives, how we focusing
and prioritizing our, our time in terms of achieving some
of those big rocks, um,
and how we sort
of meaningfully making a difference into
those, those objectives.
The third area that I, I really sort
of focus on is the focus on innovation.
Um, we should sort of be willing to lean forward
and take risks, make bets, um,
and not chase incrementalism in, in the spirit
of those big, very audacious goals.
So we need to try to come up with an alternative solution
and not always be limited by the, uh, by what is available
and think beyond and our art of the possible as I,
as I frame it to them and, and to myself.
And finally, we should do this in a, uh,
highly collaborative, uh, way where we are able
to challenge each other, challenge all the assumptions.
One of the narratives, I, I often go to them
and turn to my team and, and, and really want to live by
and live by that is around this notion of, uh, you know,
the devil's advocate.
You always have to think about what are the core assumptions
that you're making when you're trying to make a decision?
What are those assumptions are most sensitive to?
Um, a a a potentially a different type of answer.
And understanding how you can critique those assumptions and
therefore, uh, you know, really understand the range
of possible outcomes and be very
deliberate in the path you take.
Uh, and as you do that, um, do that in a way
that is work hard and play hard, so have fun.
Uh, you want to make this, uh, a journey of high impact,
but also a journey of, uh, lots of joy and joy and fun.
Mm-Hmm, .
- Well, I mean, it sounds like, I,
I can hear from your response initially, the BHAGs
and the vision are very much intact.
It sounds like your team is a masterful one, also with a
collaborative and then focused on innovation, a leader.
But you know, Dr. Abraham,
I also just wanna check in with you in closing here.
One other question. I had lots of focus on AI,
as we've heard lots of focus on virtual capabilities,
meeting more people where they are,
but I also wanted to see
what Memorial Hermann might have planned
or in the works around capacity, um,
with its facilities in coming years.
Are there any current plans of note related
to capital investments
or expansions that our listeners should know about?
- Yeah, as our, and great question.
As our communities are growing, as our population is aging,
and then here in Texas we are, we are, we're blessed with
a good weather, great business,
and, um, living environments with the diverse bank
of people, we're starting to see, uh,
or continuing to see lots
of growth in the populations we serve
and to support that growing population, um, both in the,
the central Houston area and in our suburbs.
We are continuing to expand our, our footprint to support
that growing, um, population and,
and really expanding the access to meet the consumer
where they are for critical services.
We want to be closer to where they live and where they work.
Uh, and for things that are more differentiated,
we have options for them to come to, um, you know, uh,
a higher level of care, for example,
an academic medical center level of care as is required
for some of these procedures.
So we are really expanding our capacity across the markets
we serve when it comes to hospitals.
But I'll also add that we are doing the same as it pertains
to improving access from all those mechanisms
that I was describing.
We've, um, tripled our urgent care footprint in
the last couple of years.
We've created, alongside with one of our partners, one
of the largest home health and hospice
franchises in south Texas,
we've created a very novel population genomics program.
So we are trying to meet the consumer
and send the right patient to the right side of care, uh,
and provide an access point that includes virtual retail,
um, uh, urgent care, uh, home-based care, lot
of home-based options,
and then facility-based care, ambulatory surgical centers,
um, a lot of outpatient infrastructure.
Um, so you'll see when you see Memorial Hermann's presence
in the communities, we, we have 17 hospitals,
which are continuing to grow to your question.
But we also have, um, you know, just under 300 K locations
and over 6,000 physicians practicing as part
of our clinically integrated network to support
that growing, uh, population base, leveraging the assets.
I referred to
- Dr.
Fabe Abraham, executive vice President, chief Strategy
and Innovations officer with Memorial Hermann Health System.
I wanna thank you so much for being our guest today,
for getting me up to speed on the big, hairy audacious work.
You're leading at the system, which, like you said,
17 hospitals, more than 300 locations.
Dr. Abraham, any closing thoughts
or parting thoughts you'd like
to share with our listeners today?
- We covered a range of it,
and one of the things that I'm starting to sort of, um,
spend a lot of time on, and I'm sure my peers
and colleagues will find it equally, uh,
illuminating and illustrating.
We talked about ai,
but there is another dimension I'm pretty passionate about,
which is around this notion of integration of medical care
with other aspects of how health is gonna be delivered.
So think about life sciences and the pharmacy side.
Think about food as medicine, think about transportation,
access, various social determinants of health
that are required to keep the, the patient's healthy.
And as you sort of peel the layers
of the onion across each one of those buckets,
there are lots of innovations
and trends that we
as leaders at health system will need to integrate.
And particularly for me this year, the focus is um, uh,
and um, and uh, uh, uh, inspiration is drawn
through the life sciences vertical.
We're seeing a lot of innovation coming in the, uh, on the,
on the product side with new drugs
that are solving specific problems like
what we've heard the GLP one, uh, drugs when it comes
to obesity, but there's also a lot of great innovations
and cell and gene therapies
and drugs that solve, uh, the Alzheimer's challenge.
And how do we sort of stay at the forefront of bringing
so those innovations
and looking at the entirety of the, uh,
medical experience is important.
And so we are trying to, uh, understand that space better
and linking the two as well
as in the pharmacy benefit management space.
In order we sort of create a holistic, uh,
medical plus non-medical IE pharmacy and, and, uh, food
and other factors that I mentioned to sort of drive
that total health, uh, narrative.
- Mm-hmm, a forward looking
thought for all of us to keep in mind.
I think if the GLP one is any indicator of
what can be unlocked through advancements, like you said,
with gene therapies and other drugs around neuro,
uh, generative disease.
And, um, we're in for a really interesting decade
ahead of us, Dr.
Abraham. So again, thank you so much for being our guest.
I hope we can do this again soon
and check back in with you, uh, again in a year ahead.
- No, it was a pleasure talking to you,
and thanks to everyone who tuned in.