Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
I'm Elizabeth Gregerson, a reporter here at Becker's,
and I'm thrilled to be joined by Corey
Jones,
AVP of oncology services at Banner Health on
the podcast today.
Thank you so much for joining me. I'm
so grateful to share your insights with our
podcast audience.
Before I dive into my questions,
could I ask you to introduce yourself and
just tell us a bit about Banner Health
and your role with the oncology line specifically?
Thank you, Elizabeth. I appreciate the opportunity and
and having me today. I am, again, as
you indicated, Corey Jones. I'm the ABP of
the oncology service line at Banner Health.
So we're one of the largest nonprofit
health care systems in the country.
We have a provider sponsored health insurance program
that we serve over three and a half
million,
people. We have 33 hospitals
and over 450
care
services across the the states of Arizona,
Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, and Nebraska.
That includes physician groups,
imaging services, retail pharmacy,
rehabilitation
physical therapy, so the whole gamut of services
that are provided here.
As part of my role, I actually oversee
the oncology services that are related to the
BannerMD Anderson Cancer Center program, which falls under
Banner.
And it is among,
it is located across 10 different sites.
Again, we focus on specifically services
in Arizona
and,
Colorado.
We are partnered with MD Anderson, which is
one of the leading cancer centers
across the country
where we really are sharing and providing best
practices and protocols and delivering cancer care services.
It's been a relationship that we're very excited
to be a part of with that partnership
over the last ten plus years.
Perfect. Thank you. Yeah. I I think that
partnership is such a a wonderful one to
highlight, so I thank you for sharing that
and kind of cluing our listeners in on
what that relationship looks like. You know, our
audience
might
be specialized in oncology, but they might come
from a different background, be more administrative or,
you know, across all the other service lines
at health systems across The US.
Zooming in on oncology, I'd love to hear
from your perspective
what major trends or innovations
are you following right now in the oncology
space?
Yeah. I think it's really exciting what's happening
within the therapeutic innovations, specifically about how care
is being or how cancer is being treated,
specifically with new drugs and obviously new technologies.
I think it's really giving, our
physicians an opportunity to really kind of fight
this
these diseases
with new kind of tools and obviously ways
of of dealing with this, disease. And I
think the therapeutic specifically as we look about
targeted therapies and immunotherapies
and how those are being leveraged to support,
the care delivery is obviously changing the landscape.
Of course, there's a lot of different indirect,
impacts of that related to costs, of course,
that obviously have an influence on that and
how we actually are receiving that or providing
that care. But that's clearly an area of
great opportunity and excitement, I think, that, is
changing the landscape.
Of course, we also know, like, how people
are actually
receiving care or how care is managed specifically,
when we think about closer to home, when
we think about virtual telemedicine,
how that's applying to not only,
providing or monitoring care,
but also how to provide care closer to
patients where they actually live. So I think
that technology
associated with that is obviously very exciting, and
then we we track that and figure out
how we can apply that appropriately.
And then, of course, AI continues to be
a big part of the conversation we have,
and we know that just as a national
or even a world,
phenomenon as to what AI is doing. And,
clearly, that trend, and innovation of how that's
going to be applied is still being evaluated.
At Banner, we're very much focused on how
to kind of take advantage of that, but
being very cautious about how to apply it
to how care is being delivered, not only
in the cancer space, but overall.
And then the other part of is it
specifically around how diagnostics
patients are being,
detected for cancer. We know that we have
a large focus program on prevention.
And so how do we use
technologies
and other types of means to
reach out to populations that don't necessarily have
access to,
screening and diagnostic capabilities. But how do we
leverage
the imaging services that are coming out and
how imaging is obviously a critical part? You
know, precision medicine and genetic testing all play
an extremely important part in this. A lot
of advancements in that space, especially when you
start to think about blood testings
and and how that kind of applies. So
those are some of the really major four
things. I mean, there's a a whole gamut
of different types of trends that we're focusing
on, but those those stand out to me
today.
Perfect.
As someone who covers, you know, oncology news
for Becker's, I'm always, you know, amazed and
surprised at how fast this these innovations
come up, and, you know, and how quickly
things change and are implemented and,
like you said, all the discoveries that are
being made when it comes to cancer treatment
and therapeutics.
Have there been any specific achievements or specific
progress made within the past six to
eighteen months maybe that stand out most to
you?
Specifically,
the BannerMD Anderson of Banner, you know, the
achievements in the therapeutic is obviously how are
we applying and and integrating
a lot of these advancements is is, you
know, these are achievements that we're constantly kind
of pursuing
specifically on how we kind of scale them
across different locations that we provide. We obviously
have a very large hub of cancer care
delivery that we have within our, system, but
we obviously distribute that care. And so how
are we distributing that and integrating that within
the care delivery at different sites is obviously
something that we're very focused on and but
done a very exceptional job. Our experts, our
physician
experts obviously integrate their conversations in multidisciplinary
fashion of doing that. So how we do
that and how seamlessly we do that is
such a great focus. And I think we've
achieved quite a bit in that space
given the fact that Arizona and Northern Colorado
and the other areas that we serve,
can be very expansive. And so our achievements
is really creating that integrative team amongst our
caregivers and our our experts, our physicians, subspecialists,
and so forth has been really kind of
an achievement that I think a lot of
programs probably envy just given the fact that
we really have that,
that model that really kinda supports that that
kind of conversation
and care delivery capability.
So that's kind of a critical part of
that. We also know that our research capabilities
within the arm of oncology is such an
important piece, and so we really kinda look
at how we are scaling that. I think
there's a great achievement that we've done exceptional,
things within that space as well as we
continue to grow that out. We have a
very good relationship with
the University of Arizona,
which we are, as part of Banner Health,
we obviously work very closely with our partner
of MD Anderson in expanding that piece as
well. So, obviously, continuing to build that and
strengthen that across the sites that we care
for has been,
a great achievement, not just over the last
six to eighteen months, but over the the
time that we've been around. So, we're very
fortunate in that space. And then I would
probably say the other part of that is
such a critical part to,
our
our ability to serve our
our our communities and so forth is really
having the right physician expertise.
And we do,
we feel like we have recruited over the
last six to eighteen months some exceptional physicians
that really provide that care and that we've
been fortunate to have part of the team.
So we continue to push on that, but
we are very excited about what we've been
able to to achieve through recruiting the right
people,
for the right care.
And you you touched on recruitment here, and
then
also
just the expanse of the different Banner Health
sites, right, across state lines and and integrating
care.
I'd love to know, you know, what advice
do you give to
physicians or emerging leaders in the oncology space
when it comes to, you know, making an
impact in care or innovation,
like research?
You know, as you're recruiting, what kind of,
tips and tricks and mindsets do you advise
them on taking
through their career? Yeah. No. It's a great
question, and and I appreciate the question. I've
been in on the oncology world for over
twenty years, and
and,
I've recognized that the oncology ecosystem is very
complex. But but the value of that complexity
is that there is
there are individuals
and care team members and,
alike
that really care for what they do. And
and coming together from an inter interdisciplinary
standpoint, a multidisciplinary
standpoint
is so important. So as a leader,
I have felt like the most important thing
is to understand
the dynamics of that ecosystem
intimately in the sense of understanding where everybody
sees how things are connected, how they work,
how they need to be supported in that.
So really diving into understanding all the different
parts of that ecosystem,
I think, is very critical. And, obviously, we
don't know all the details. I know my
lane specifically as a as a administrative leader.
I but I also know how I can
potentially fit in supporting physicians and caregivers and
providing the care. So
building those relationships, asking,
questions that really kinda push the thinking,
trying to understand how and the services that
they need and support they need, I think,
is an important part of the leadership role.
So you can help make those decisions. You
can help make sure that you're partnering and
you know the right people to
to to bring along with you in the
sport of building a program or strengthening what
the capabilities of it may look like. So
I think clearly getting into the weeds a
little bit more, and understanding all the different
parts is gonna be a critical part for
any of the leaders
and recognizing where you fit within that ecosystem
is such an important part.
And then I would also say that understanding
how care is delivered and the innovations that
we talked about a little bit earlier, like
understanding how changes in therapeutic and technologies may
influence that.
Again, knowing and kind of recognizing how to
have those conversations within this space is is
has served me well. Again, just enough to
ask questions that don't seem like I don't
understand, but knowing that there's a limit to
how much I can actually
understand of that. I didn't go to that
school, obviously. But I think those are critical
parts for any leader within this space to
understand both sides of it. If it's the
physician, understand the administrative side, understand the finances,
and and the HR can can needs and
and and capabilities that support that from an
administrative side. Again, understanding the clinical space as
much as possible so you can make kind
of a a collaborative discussion,
or informed decisions that way.
Thank you. Yeah. And I feel like that's
such great advice, you know, for a leader
in any specialty or any part of the
health care industry. Right? Kind of balancing that
administrative clinical mindset,
and being there for your team. So appreciate
you sharing
your viewpoint on that.
Whenever I speak to leaders in the oncology
field, you know, I'm just so excited to
hear about what's coming down the pipeline and
and all the innovation that's being made. I
always like to ask them what gives them
hope, you know, about the future of cancer
care,
and
what specific areas
maybe are you focused on and excited about
today?
Well, as I mentioned a little bit about
the trends, I I think the advancements in
the types of therapeutics are being,
designed and obviously researched and and developed
offer a lot of hope
to those fighting the diseases. It obviously helps
our physicians and caregivers,
offer new opportunities that never would was there
in the past. So I'm I'm very excited
about, obviously, what's happening with immunotherapies. And, again,
as I mentioned, targeted therapies and just the
advancements and new technologies of for surgical interventions
and so forth have really kind of helped
create opportunities
to fight this disease and provide others that
maybe in the past have not had that
opportunity. So I think that's exciting.
Of course, that comes with how do we
leverage all that and how do we incorporate
that
in in an environment that obviously has a
lot of payer,
reimbursement challenges and cost issues. But I think
it's exciting to be able to figure out
how do we deploy those and and
offer those within the ecosystem that I designed.
So that's a very important part. I also
feel like what's exciting is the amount of
data that continues to be produced and developed.
Obviously, AI is going to play an extremely
important part, maybe breaking down that data in
more,
usable fashions that can really kinda help support
decisions with not only clinically, but,
operationally
as well as, functionally. So I think those
are really exciting things that we focus on
quite heavily And, of course, how to provide
coordinated care,
is really exciting to me about how we
can do that better, how we can advance
that, especially with new technologies to to be
supportive of care to patients in in the
homes or in different sites
that are very difficult for patients to receive
really the optimal care. So I think those
are exciting how we figure that out at
Banner and how we continue to push that
and deploy those types of capabilities,
really kind of excite me every day.
Awesome. Yeah. I love, you know, speaking to
health care leaders and and hearing those consistent
themes about what's exciting them, what the future
looks like. So I appreciate you, you know,
cluing us in on on the oncology space.
And thank you for joining me on the
podcast. It's, you know, been a really amazing
and informative discussion. So thank you for your
time.
Well, thank you, Elizabeth. I appreciate it, and
I appreciate Becker just inviting me.
Absolutely. And I invite our listeners to tune
in to more podcasts from Becker's Health Care
by visiting our podcast page at beckershospitalreview.com.
Thank you again. I hope you all have
a wonderful rest of your day.