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- Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, made
for the people who power US healthcare.
I'm Molly Gamble with Becker's,
and today I am sitting down with Reid Stefan, vice President
and Chief Information Officer with St.
Luke's Health System to learn more about his role
and his top priorities as of late.
Reid, welcome to the podcast. Thanks
so much for being my guest.
How are you today? And where does the podcast find you?
- Yeah, hi, Molly. Uh, well, it's,
it's a Friday afternoon, so I'm doing great.
I typically work from home on Fridays,
which I'm doing today, so I find myself in the comfort
of my own home office.
- That's terrific. Well, Reid, for for listeners
who might be a little less familiar with St.
Luke's Health System, can you share a few key facts about
the organization just
to help us better reacquaint ourselves?
- Sure. Uh, St.
Luke's Health System, we're based in Boise, Idaho.
Uh, we were founded in 1902.
We serve as Idaho's only, not-for-profit health System.
What that means is we're comprised
of eight medical centers, a children's hospital.
We have over 200 clinics staffed by about 14,000 employees
as part of our system.
We also have a financially
and clinical integrated network that we call St.
Luke's Health Partners. Uh,
we have a health insurance arm that we call St.
Luke's Health Plan. And as a system,
our focus is not just healthcare,
but also the overall wellbeing of, of our patients
and the broader population in the communities that we serve.
Mm-Hmm. ,
- Thanks.
Re and the only nonprofit health system in the state.
I mean, that's, that's a, a distinction to point out.
Um, you know, I, I remember at the start of 2020,
an interesting year, we at Becker has reported
that you were beginning to lead the centralization
of the IT team at St.
Luke's. You, you all were moving into one physical location
after your members had been spread across seven different
buildings for a number of years.
I wanted to check in, you know, about four years later
through the woods of the pandemic.
How's your team today? How many members are part
of the IT team today?
How are you working together today?
Can you share the latest?
- Yeah, you, you have a good memory.
Uh, four years, it's,
and it's been a while, four years, so you're right.
At the start of 2020, we were about ready
to move into a centralized corporate location for IT staff
who were spread across multiple, uh,
various locations across the valley
and the areas where we serve, and then the pandemic hit.
And so that really caused some disruption
and a reassessment of what the approach is going to be.
I would say, you know, as we look back through kind
of the forest as you described,
we've learned a lot on our journey.
Uh, I think early on we intentionally really, uh,
avoided extreme positions.
Uh, we would hear some extreme position of, Hey,
remote work is fake work.
Everyone needs to be in the office. The other extreme would
be, Hey, let's cancel all of our leases, sell our buildings.
Everyone can work remotely. Uh, we just felt both
of those were, were problematic, kind of too wild of a,
of a swing either direction.
And so we were, we were patient, we listened,
we tried small tests of change.
I think where we've landed, we have about 550
folks across our department.
10% of those are dedicated remote.
That means that their primary work location is their home.
They can still come in the office,
but if they do, they sit in a hoteling spot.
And they're predominantly, these folks, uh,
work from home and stay at home.
We have about 10% of our staff
who are required to be on site.
It's just the nature of their work.
They, they can't do remotely.
They have equipment
or services they provide that require them
to be there, uh, present.
And then about 80% of our department are hybrid.
And so as a guide, we ask our leaders of people
to be in the office three days a week,
and then we ask all other staff
to be in the office at least one day a week.
And outside of that, we don't monitor
or prescribe how our teams operate.
We fully embrace the benefits of flexibility,
but I would also say that
because we operate within a defined geographic area, uh,
it's beneficial to have in-person interaction.
And so we try and maintain a culture
and events that pull people into the office
so we can maintain that in-person connection.
That's really key to creating a culture
that I think is our secret sauce. Mm-Hmm.
- , it sounds like you not only avoided those
extreme positions, like you said, of either, you know,
like you said, cancel all the leases,
we're selling the buildings or everyone in every,
you know, five days a week.
But you've also embraced the, the hybrid situation
and then even customized even more by having those bookends
with the 10% fully remote, 10% in person.
Um, and then from there, 80% in the middle somewhere.
Um, how, how has that been at for you as a leader?
You know, that's, that's a lot
of different employees making sure you're being thoughtful
in your communication, reaching people where they are.
A any adjustments you need to made as a top of this team?
- Well, I think you have to be more intentional about
ensuring equity of, of connection and access.
And so I'm mindful of wanting to avoid,
um, presence bias.
So just because I happen to,
I'm in the office usually four days a week,
and for those colleagues that are
in the office at a high percentage as well,
and I have maybe more face time with I, I wanna make sure
that myself and other leaders avoid any
unintentional waiting a a preference of assignment
or opportunity just based on that, uh, higher frequency
of in-person interaction.
And so I'll do, you know, every other week I host, uh,
what I call a CIO small group meeting where it's virtual
and just try and bring together a small number
of folks on the team, usually 15 to 20, just to check in
and have those connections.
Uh, like I mentioned, we try
and do things, whether it's a, an office event
or, uh, just doubling up on a work item
that might have brought people in anyway to the office,
but to make sure when we have those moments
that we really intentionally, uh, try and round
and make sure that we create those connections
as effectively as possible.
Mm-Hmm, , but it is something that you have to,
you have to be intentional about that kind of, um,
mindful connection won't just happen organically.
There has to be some thought
and some level of, of structure around it.
- Mm-Hmm. and those meetings
of CIO small groups means like, it's about 10%
of your team, 15 to 20 people.
Are those a week are weekly, like you said?
- I do about two a month,
and I find when I do it that way, I can work
through the department in about a year.
Oh, wow. And that, that's a pretty good pace.
We started it four years ago,
and it was initially really a reaction
and a response to Covid when the majority
of our staff were full-time remote, as we kind of learned
how to navigate that, that event or that experience.
But we found that beyond the, you know, uh,
immediate need of doing that to stay connected during covid,
there was a lot of utility
and benefit to maintain that long term.
And the feedback from the staff has been positive as well.
It gives them a, a smaller intimate kind of gathering to,
to ask questions that maybe they would be hesitant
to ask in an all hands meeting.
Uh, it lets them connect
and get to know other, uh, members of the department
that maybe they don't work with on a regular basis basis.
So there's been some unintended benefit from that, uh,
that format that,
that really has been powerful, I think. Mm-Hmm, .
- Well, thanks so much Ree for the,
the check-in on your team.
Now. I, I would love to know a little bit more about
your work as of late.
Any initiatives
or areas of your work that are commanding the most
of your attention or energy lately?
- Yeah, I would say, you know, we're, we're fully embracing,
of course, the opportunities
that generative AI are presenting.
I think we've found our path by aligning with our partners
and leveraging their roadmaps.
So for example, we're piloting Epics AI in baskets.
We're using Microsoft Co-pilot,
we're deploying an ambient
listening solution for clinicians.
A lot of things that are, I think,
talked about at a pretty high level of, of frequency
and recurrence in the community.
And, but I would say though that for me, uh,
a more seemingly mundane area has really captured my
attention over the last several months.
And I found myself increasingly trying to advocate for
how do we highlight and celebrate those
who are just being brilliant in the basics.
I I certainly understand the appeal
of showcasing the innovative approaches people are taking
and the new and emerging areas,
but I always, in the back of my mind, I have this
nagging worry that it creates a mindset
where the basics can then be overlooked or even devalued.
Mm-Hmm. . Uh, so I've, I,
I fully embrace this mantra
that excellence in the essentials is the unsung hero
of healthcare transformation.
So right now, my team, we're on a journey
of assessing the basics to really understand
where are we brilliant or where do we think we're brilliant,
but maybe we're not, and where are we just okay,
or maybe where are we not?
Okay? And so on the surface, that kind of work,
it's doesn't seem very exciting.
It's certainly not going to, you know, be a headline
of a LinkedIn post or a podcast episode that grips people,
but I'm convinced that it's, it's critical.
And in our quest for transformation
or innovation, the strongest launchpad is going to be
that solid foundation.
And my, my premise is that if we lose sight of that,
we end up building on a, a sandy foundation
that just can't withstand the natural tides
of our dynamic world.
So we're, we're just really focused on doubling down on,
again, how do we assess
and make sure that we're really brilliant
and efficient at the basics.
- Mm-Hmm. . Well, Reid,
I think you might have gotten the wrong podcast host
because I, I love that topic, .
Um, I would like to do podcasts and LinkedIn posts on it.
Uh, are you a basketball fan by chance?
- I am. - Okay.
Uh, the last dance,
that Bowles documentary that came out Yeah.
In the high, I remember watching that
and it kind of, the way the team was about the
fundamentals of the game.
Um, yeah. I, I found it so inspiring and interesting,
and it reminds me a lot of what you're saying, where
you can have the shiny ball syndrome,
but if you let the fundamentals lag or you lose steam there
and focus, it's tough to do much of anything really,
really well if you know even much less exceptionally well.
So I, I completely understand why you find this
so compelling and interesting.
- Yeah. Are you a football fan?
If we stick with a sports analogy?
- I, I, I'm, I like football.
Not as much as basketball though,
but yes, please, please continue.
- Well, I just think of, um, uh, Vince Lombardi,
the legendary Packers coach.
Mm-Hmm. . And they were so successful,
and every season, even after they won the championship
or their first of their, their Super bowls early on
at the start of the year, he would gather the team
and say, gentlemen, this is a football,
and you'd hold for football, gentlemen,
this is the end zone, gentlemen.
This is the field go post.
Like, just breaking it down to the basics.
And that was the key to their success, is they never got
so carried away with, well, we've got that figured out.
Let's work on something really advanced
and like cutting edge.
And I, I think that same mindset
maps beautifully to what we do.
And I, I'm not, I'm not dismissing
or saying we shouldn't be looking at what's new and emerging
and how can we leverage it,
but all within the context of it only works if, again,
we are brilliant to the basics
and we really understand what we're building on. Mm-Hmm.
- . Mm-Hmm. . Well, Reid,
I wanna wish you continued success in that effort.
I think it's, it's really important and I,
I find it quite interesting to discuss.
So, um, keep us posted at Becker's with how that's going.
I also think there's a lot of different leadership
techniques that are really imperative to that kind of work.
'cause like you said, it can, it can seem mundane,
but if you lead it the right way, uh, it,
it can be really effective.
- Well, I just love what you do then,
and I love that as kindred spirits that does grip you,
because I think, and I have colleagues
who are brilliant at the basics, and as we highlight
and showcase that it creates a rising tide, right?
Where people then don't feel,
and not that they do, these are my words,
but no one should ever feel ashamed
or like, well, I'm just doing that.
Right. I'm not doing some new cutting edge robotic surgery
and there's a place for all of it
and we can celebrate it all.
- Mm-Hmm. . Mm-Hmm. .
That's a great spirit. Reid.
Stefan, vice president and CIO of St. Luke's Health System.
Any closing thoughts for our listeners
or a message you'd like to end on Reid?
- Yeah, I would, you know, if you, let me kind
of wax philosophical for a moment.
I would say as a healthcare CIO community,
we best serve our organizations and our,
and our sector by focusing on the primary questions
and not the secondary questions.
Mm-Hmm. . And what I mean by that, so for me,
a secondary question is something like,
what should my title be?
Should it be Chief Information Officer?
Should it be Chief Digital and Information Officer?
Uh, who should I report to? Should it be the CEO?
Um, do I need to be a member of President's cabinet?
Those are all secondary questions.
Primary questions are things like, do I really know what all
of my mission critical applications are?
And do I really understand their interdependencies?
Or do I really know who all of the third parties are
who have access to our assistance and data
and what their relative level of risk is?
And so the further I get in my career, the more I kind
of double down on this position that
if you focus on answering their primary questions,
the secondary questions take care of themselves.
Mm-Hmm. usually in the form of realizing
that they don't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
- I love that. That's to keep those priorities in check.
And it's not to say,
and I'm, I'm gleaning this from your remarks re,
but it's not to say that people are gonna be hell, Ben,
on secondary versus primary,
but I think sometimes whether it's just you having one
of those weeks or you're kind of looking more toward,
like you said, the structure, the councils, the titles,
it can happen and it takes strong leadership
to help make sure that people are really keeping their eye
on the ball and focusing on those
primary questions, like you said.
- Yeah, exactly. - Yeah.
Reed, it has been a pleasure catching up with you.
Thank you so much for your time, for wrapping up your week
with me and visiting.
I hope we can do so again soon.
- Thanks, Molly.