- There's a small circle of people who truly
- understand what it takes to lead a health
- system right now. The decisions are enormous.
- The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
- of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
- That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
- And it's why the most effective c suite
- leaders are deliberate about where they go to
- pressure test their thinking.
- Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
- brings together more than 1,500
- executive level attendees
- and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
- around growth, financial sustainability,
- workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
- have easy answers.
- Join us November second through the fifth in
- Chicago.
- For the agenda and event details,
- visit beckershospitalreview.com
- and click on the events tab in the
- upper right.
- This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
- Podcast.
- Thrilled today to visit with a brilliant orthopedic
- surgeon,
- went to University of Wisconsin,
- trained at Rush, also trained at University of
- Utah,
- and has built a great practice in Wisconsin,
- and also an entrepreneur.
- He's built a company called Streamed. And we'll
- talk about both the entrepreneurial journey, the journey
- as a surgeon.
- We'll ask him who the brightest
- sort of sibling is in his family,
- about the Packers beer rivalry, and a lot
- more. Doctor Campbell, can you take a moment
- to introduce yourself and tell us a little
- bit about yourself and about streams?
- Yeah. Thank you very much, Scott. Certainly appreciate
- the opportunity to be on today.
- I sort of wear two hats.
- I'm an orthopedic surgeon.
- As you mentioned, did my residency at Rush
- and then a fellowship in hip and knee
- replacement at the University of Utah in Salt
- Lake City, and now I'm back as a
- private practice orthopedic surgeon
- in Wisconsin where, I would say most of
- my, orthopedic work is in the ambulatory
- care center. We, we do a lot of
- outpatient knee and hip replacement,
- and so really that's, that's the type of
- work I do. I'm president of our orthopedic
- group
- and, you know, certainly take that responsibility
- very seriously.
- In addition to that full time clinical practice,
- you know, I'm also the CEO and, cofounder
- of Streamed, which is our health care technology
- application,
- that we funded in 2016.
- You know, Streamed itself, kinda was born out
- of this
- intention to help patients prepare and recover from
- surgery in an easier way. At the time,
- we were resident doctors and, you know, we
- just noticed that patients were having trouble remembering
- the right things to do as they prepared
- and recovered.
- And we kinda thought, you know, is there
- a better way to get the information
- rather than just sort of handing them a
- set of of paper instructions?
- And sort of in this, like, minimalistic
- viewpoint, we said, you know, what would it
- would it be good for patients to get
- text messages kinda that just arrived onto their
- phone? Now I'm talking like a traditional text
- message that you exchange with their
- friends, not like a message that you get
- through downloading a portal or logging into an
- an application.
- And we sort of took the path of
- least resistance moving forward because we wanted all
- patients, no matter their background, to have access
- to that information.
- And so, really, that that idea was formalized
- into our company, Streamed. And, you know, we've
- sort of pulled the technology levers
- that existed,
- throughout the inception ten years ago till now
- to to create what what the product is
- today.
- And and take a moment as to how
- do you break down your time between being
- a practical orthopedic physician with a great, great
- practice
- and also being an entrepreneur.
- And is that,
- you know, accretive to your life balance versus
- not? Or does it help you sort of
- stay energized and excited?
- Talk about both how you manage both
- and
- how it keeps you fresh
- versus burnt doing a couple different things.
- Yeah. I think that they complement each other
- quite well.
- Certainly, they're busy weeks,
- where you kinda fit it in. Of course,
- clinical care is typically per performed, you know,
- I I don't know, seven till 04:30.
- And then there's just opportunities
- either throughout the day, mornings, late nights, weekends,
- where you can kinda augment that with with
- my responsibilities with with Stream. And and so
- I think it's a nice balance. One certainly
- helps and leverages off the other. Being a
- surgeon, you get the perspective of, like, what
- it is to to live and work in
- in clinical medicine and and what the real
- challenges are, and it's it's not this hyperbole
- of, like, what what would a physician want.
- We actually know what they want. We know
- what the clinics want. They want a well
- functioning clinic with least amount of overhead, and
- I think that that carries through to all
- systems. And so we take that that lens
- of which we see clinical medicine and we
- apply it to Streamed. And then Streamed is
- just really a collection of features
- that help physicians and patients kinda meet meet
- the mission of of getting through, getting through
- a surgical journey,
- in the best possible way.
- Thank you. And let me ask you this
- question.
- So many
- surgeons,
- orthopods,
- physicians
- have this entrepreneurial bent.
- Give us a couple of the lessons that
- you've learned
- in in both being an orthopedic surgeon, but
- also in this entrepreneurial
- journey.
- A couple thoughts, couple lessons from that perspective.
- Well, I think traditionally,
- maybe some health care innovations on the digital
- side have come through
- either mandates that are pushed down from from
- the government or,
- ways to increase revenue or or or some
- other kind of level. And I think physicians
- themselves are are are in great positions
- to tackle problems that affect the themselves
- and then, rightfully so,
- affect the system at large. So I think
- physicians are in a great spot to leverage
- their unique experience to work on some of
- these technical solutions and probably put forth
- the best in class solution
- because of of just that experience, that training,
- and then, you know, ultimately being the the
- solely responsible for how a patient does as
- as they go through some of these procedures.
- I think
- advice would be anyone who's interested, you know,
- just get started. Identify a problem that that
- truly is something that affects you. It affects
- you on an everyday basis and then make
- small iterative changes kinda every day. And I
- think ultimately, you know, just like anything that
- we do, you gotta start somewhere. And if
- you and if you sort of apply these,
- like, you know, small iterative processes over time,
- it it can create something, you know, really
- of value and,
- don't get caught up by the sense that
- it's too big of a mountain to climb,
- because I think that the gratification that comes
- out of working something you're really interested in
- solving
- is worth it.
- And, doctor Campbell, let me ask you this
- question,
- and you don't have to answer this if
- you're not comfortable with it. Okay? Let me
- know if you're ready.
- I'm ready.
- Alright. So here here's the deal. I know
- that your parents raised, at least I know
- of, a brilliant lawyer and a brilliant doctor.
- The lawyer, of course,
- is a lawyer helps to hold democracy
- together.
- Do your parents ever think, oh my god,
- we're so proud we raised a lawyer
- and all our son does is fix knees
- and hips while she's holding democracy together.
- Is that ever a challenging situation
- in the household
- that she is, you know, so important to
- democracy
- and you're an orthopedic
- surgeon? You know, is that hard? Is that
- or how does that work out in the
- family?
- Yeah. I think, I think we have some
- very interesting discussions and, the, the the acumen
- that Alyssa has in terms of her ability
- to,
- maintain a positional argument,
- and and maintain maintain a a viewpoint, I
- think, is extremely strong, and I think, that
- that carries a lot of value.
- I I definitely think we know who made
- the intelligent choice of of becoming a, you
- know, sort of a a significantly
- more successful
- attorney than maybe her
- carpentry brother. But, you know, I try to
- hold my own, and,
- my my parents are very receptive to each
- of us kinda continuing to pursue the things
- that are that are interesting to us. But
- but there's no doubt about it. There's much
- more intellectual prowess
- in in in the work that Alyssa does
- versus, you know, I'm I'm kinda this,
- a carpenter for for knee and hips. Yes.
- That's absolutely right.
- We we we don't want you to downplay
- what you do at all. We just didn't
- know if it was challenging in the family.
- But let me ask this question. She raves
- about you. Was she always a nice sister
- or was she tough on you younger? Who's
- the older? Who's younger?
- And and what was that like? Would was
- she argumentative?
- Did that lead her to become a lawyer?
- Or were you guys always pretty close? Because
- she raves about you. Do you rave about
- her equally, or are you a tougher older
- brother or younger brother? Yeah. So we're, we're
- eighteen months apart. I'm the older brother, so
- we're close in age. I think growing up,
- we had a really good relationship. Our parents,
- really instilled that type of,
- sort of value in us. You know, certainly,
- just being, eighteen months older, she's always been
- a very smart person. Went into kindergarten probably,
- you know, a a grade earlier than than
- than maybe her birth date,
- would suggest. And so she's just been one
- year behind me, which meant that, you know,
- we did high school together.
- We both went to Madison for undergrad, and
- so she was there just a year later.
- And, you know, there there there were times
- where it's like, you know, don't tell me
- what to do, those sorts of things. And
- I I think that's totally normal. And I
- think it did set her up for such
- a successful career as an attorney because she
- was really standing up for herself, which which
- I encourage her to do. But,
- yeah, she's she's fantastic. I'm I'm so happy
- she says those things about me. I I
- say the same things about her. You know,
- our family vacations are still including her and,
- we, you know, we all get together, I
- would say, at least monthly, if not faster,
- or or more more quickly than that. So
- it it's just been great. I mean, she's
- just done so well for herself at at
- your firm, and and it's just it's just
- great.
- That's fantastic. Let me bring you back to
- Orthopedics for a moment. One of the most
- interesting things that you're watching Orthopedics,
- one of the most interesting trends, and and
- what are you most focused on and excited
- about currently
- as you balance both practice and entrepreneurial efforts?
- Where are you most focused and excited? And
- what trends are you watching in orthopedics?
- I mean, I I I definitely have a
- a focus on anything AI related in medicine
- and orthopedics. So I'll file things like,
- AI scribes in the clinical setting. I'll look
- at AI in revenue cycle management. I'll look
- at AI in in just the operating room
- and what's available to us for for technologies.
- So those are things I'm always I'm always
- interested in. You know, on the on the
- orthopedic side, you know, certainly I get energized
- about anything clinical, but, you know, you have
- to wear this this this business owner hat
- as well. And so I'm following things like
- site neutral payments,
- the push towards outpatient
- orthopedic care, specifically knee and hip replacement and
- and redos or revisions,
- and then also just
- the reimbursement
- cycle that's in place. There's obviously been this
- migration of physicians out of private practice towards
- hospital employment. I think we're at a little
- bit of a turnaround where there are there
- are opportunities to move physicians back to to
- private practice if it's if it's set up
- in a in a good way. And so
- those are kind of the things that I'm
- just naturally,
- interested in following as, as I kinda wear
- these two hats both as an orthopedic surgeon
- and then, the the the CEO of a
- of a health care technology company.
- Kevin, I'm gonna ask you a few thirty
- to forty second questions, and and I just
- wanna get your responses to each of these
- if that's okay.
- Yeah. Okay. So so first, I'm gonna ask
- you
- any sort of thoughts or insights on either
- Charles Busch, Joseph, or Greg Shannon?
- Any thoughts there?
- Well, what immediately comes to mind is doctor
- Bush Joseph has had a great career. He's
- achieved, you know, the penultimate,
- accomplishments as just an orthopedic surgeon.
- He's done everything in in the the surgical
- sports medicine practice, becoming
- a president of all the prestigious organizations, including
- being managing partner at Midwest Orthopedics for, you
- know, his tenure, at least ten years there,
- and he's just done a fantastic job. And
- and and and Rush would not be what
- it is today without him and the orthopedics
- division.
- Greg Shannon is equally powerful just in a
- different way. He's a Michigan grad, did a
- fantastic job there,
- followed his wife, Monica, out to her first
- job in, San Francisco where he got his
- MBA from Stanford Business School. He's extremely well
- connected. He does his own independent consulting now
- and just does a lot of great things
- for early to mid stage companies, and he
- he and he and, doctor Busch Joseph are
- kinda developing a little bit of a one
- two punch, and, I I I wish they've
- done a lot of great things for me
- individually and for our company, Streamed, and and
- I think that they'll just do great things
- together too.
- Both brilliant and really good people.
- Couldn't agree more. Next question.
- I take it growing up in Wisconsin. One,
- I'm disappointed to hear you say nice things
- such nice things about the University of Michigan,
- but it's okay. But but growing up in
- Wisconsin,
- Green Bay Packer fan, there there's two things.
- Packers versus beers this year, and I've heard
- this phrase from Wisconsin people, and I don't
- know what it means.
- It it was something that they used to
- call a fib, and I didn't know what
- a fib was. I I was wondering if
- you had any insight
- on Packers beers this year and this phrase
- fib, which I can't quite make make out
- what that means when Wisconsin people call Illinois
- people fibs.
- Yeah. I mean, the the the Packers bears
- rivalry is something that has always been,
- interesting to follow.
- Recently, it's become so intense that it's it's
- it's almost a little bit uncomfortable watching them
- play each other, but obviously,
- you know, green and yellow all the way.
- And, and so we just gotta make sure
- that my my kids stay aligned. We're we
- live in Green Bay, and and so the
- the kids and everybody were at training camp
- yesterday. And and, I mean, what the Packers
- have done for our organization, our community has
- been outstanding,
- way more than I think the the Bears
- have done potentially on the ground. But Titletown
- District has been fantastic,
- and,
- I'm really proud of of of the Packers.
- I I've never heard, the word fib. I
- don't know what you're what you're alluding to
- there. You you you may have to, you
- know, get on get it online and and
- Google it, but I I've never heard that
- term.
- Fair enough. Fair enough. Do you, do you
- live in Green Bay itself or De Pere,
- or where do people live in Green Bay?
- Yeah. You know,
- Green Bay has changed over time. We do
- live in Green Bay. We live in a
- a neighborhood called Allouais, a historically progressive neighborhood,
- and, that's their kinda tagline. And and and
- we love it. We have a great, support
- system, a lot of great neighbors with young
- families.
- And so, it's been great for us. De
- Pere, right alongside Green Bay,
- equally,
- enjoyable.
- I think there's a lot of great things
- about about De Pere too, and and we're
- we're we we share our border with De
- Pere. So our family likes to spend time
- here. We're water skiers. We'll get out on
- the Fox River and and slalom, and then,
- you know, Door County is just about an
- hour from us, and that's where we grew
- up, Alyssa and I, in Sturgeon Bay. And
- we go we go up to, Door County
- each the weekends that we can to recreate
- up there, whether that's camping or sailing. We're
- big we're big sailors, and so,
- that that's what we do.
- Green Bay is actually a fantastic town. I
- spent so much time up there. It almost
- should be like it's like an unsung jewel
- in our country. It's a wonderful, wonderful community
- in town.
- Doctor Campbell, what a pleasure to visit with
- you. Amazing what you've done with Streamed. Congratulations.
- Amazing what you've done with an orthopedic practice.
- People regard you really, really highly as an
- orthopedic surgeon
- and and just as well as an entrepreneur.
- So congratulations on your success, and thank you
- so much for taking the time with us
- on the Beckers HealthCare podcast.
- Yeah. My pleasure. And thank you to you
- for all you're doing. You're a strong advocate
- for for the health care system, and, thanks
- for having me.