1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,760 Hello everyone. I am Ryan Mohammed, a writer for Becker's Healthcare. 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,720 Thank you so much for joining me today on Becker's Cardiology and Heart Surgery 3 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:10,320 podcast to speak with Gordon Wesley, 4 00:00:10,510 --> 00:00:14,760 Vice President of Advance Health, Heart, 5 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:18,800 Lung and Vascular Institute. Gordon, it's so nice to meet you today. 6 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:19,633 How are you? 7 00:00:20,020 --> 00:00:23,320 I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me on. I'm excited to. 8 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,040 Talk. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, to jump in, 9 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,120 could you please introduce yourself, um, 10 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:29,880 and tell us a little bit more about your background? 11 00:00:30,660 --> 00:00:34,550 Absolutely. I'm the Vice President at the Heart Lung Vascular Institute. 12 00:00:35,020 --> 00:00:39,270 I've been with Advent Health for three years. Previously I was with Ascension. 13 00:00:39,270 --> 00:00:42,930 I was actually one of the national cardiovascular service line administrative 14 00:00:42,930 --> 00:00:45,410 administrative leaders with, uh, Dr. Edra, 15 00:00:45,410 --> 00:00:49,650 who's coincidentally the president of the American College of Cardiology. Now, 16 00:00:50,830 --> 00:00:54,880 I've had a extensive background in, uh, the medical field, 17 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,800 including every one of my families. Been in the medical field, and, uh, 18 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:02,620 one time I was in pre-med, believe it or not. And, um, ultimately I joined the, 19 00:01:02,620 --> 00:01:07,340 the military of the Army and through that schooling was a radiology specialist 20 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:09,500 and had my, uh, uh, 21 00:01:09,500 --> 00:01:14,020 fun and entertainment in Iraq and got into leadership, uh, 22 00:01:14,020 --> 00:01:16,420 shortly after that, not only within the military itself, 23 00:01:16,420 --> 00:01:19,760 but shortly after that and moved over to the, uh, 24 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:24,040 the fun side of cardiology and cath labs, special procedures. 25 00:01:24,580 --> 00:01:26,320 And, uh, just moved, uh, 26 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,480 progressively moved up and through leadership management. And, um, 27 00:01:31,060 --> 00:01:32,480 now I find myself in a, 28 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:37,360 a good spot and I just have the greatest enthusiasm and passion for, uh, 29 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:41,040 cardiovascular, uh, pulmonary long, all all that good stuff, uh, 30 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,800 relative to the, an institute and service lines that we build, uh, 31 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,070 within a health. So that's just a short snapshot. 32 00:01:49,220 --> 00:01:52,550 Yeah. Well, you've had an interesting life already. Well, , 33 00:01:52,590 --> 00:01:55,030 thank you so much for sharing that. Um, 34 00:01:55,700 --> 00:01:59,070 move into the topic for today's discussion. Uh, 35 00:01:59,070 --> 00:02:02,990 what are the top three biggest issues in cardiology today that you're seeing? 36 00:02:04,130 --> 00:02:07,950 The biggest ones that I don't think it's unique to Advent Health, 37 00:02:07,950 --> 00:02:11,790 but to our cardiovascular service lines nationally, is really around access. 38 00:02:12,700 --> 00:02:16,370 As we look at heart failure or atrial fibrillation, uh, 39 00:02:16,370 --> 00:02:19,570 we just know those things are gonna increase. So the complexity and the, the, 40 00:02:19,570 --> 00:02:24,330 the incidents of those chronic disease are really gonna bo down our clinicians, 41 00:02:24,780 --> 00:02:29,260 um, our clinics, our inpatient beds, and, um, 42 00:02:29,260 --> 00:02:33,940 as we look at different ways on how do we have the experts that take care of 43 00:02:33,940 --> 00:02:37,340 those chronic diseases versus maybe proceduralists or other general 44 00:02:37,340 --> 00:02:39,500 cardiologists, for example, taking care of those diseases. 45 00:02:39,670 --> 00:02:41,100 We just gotta be smart about that. 46 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,420 And then just the complexity of the different diseases and how we build 47 00:02:45,420 --> 00:02:47,460 subspecialty service lines around that. 48 00:02:47,860 --> 00:02:51,440 And then I think very importantly is the, uh, disparities of care. 49 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,280 There's a lot of studies going on now just on the gaps of care, uh, 50 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,800 whether it's accessibility to it, um, 51 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:02,520 or just the incidence of disease and different, um, uh, socioeconomic, um, 52 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,610 genders. And so just be keeping a keen eye on that in ears and, 53 00:03:06,610 --> 00:03:09,130 and making sure that we're doing the right thing for the communities and 54 00:03:09,130 --> 00:03:10,880 individuals. Um, 55 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:15,910 probably secondly is really regulatory and just reframing 56 00:03:15,910 --> 00:03:19,830 what success looks like for a cardiovascular service line. There's a lot, 57 00:03:19,830 --> 00:03:21,910 a lot of payer dynamics that are occurring, 58 00:03:22,290 --> 00:03:25,670 and whether it's incentivizing or, uh, 59 00:03:25,790 --> 00:03:30,230 enhancing parity between sites of care, we have to be in the ready, 60 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:31,590 uh, for those shifts. 61 00:03:31,590 --> 00:03:34,910 And also what happens when you move volume out of a hospital? 62 00:03:34,910 --> 00:03:38,310 What happens in that backfill uh, strategy in those tactics? 63 00:03:38,310 --> 00:03:42,430 And what takes its place really is you have a lot of investments 64 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,230 in, uh, traditional hospitals and, you know, multi, multi-level, 65 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:49,110 um, facilities. 66 00:03:49,170 --> 00:03:53,190 And so just making sure that we're able to have sustainable organizations and, 67 00:03:53,190 --> 00:03:56,790 uh, maybe the complexity to care, it looks different there as well, um, 68 00:03:56,790 --> 00:04:00,910 along with the differentiation of that as well. So also, uh, 69 00:04:00,910 --> 00:04:04,030 we have individuals coming out, uh, you know, 70 00:04:04,030 --> 00:04:08,470 fellowship and they come into a market where, um, PCI is kind of on the decline, 71 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,630 uh, for most individuals. 72 00:04:10,630 --> 00:04:15,150 And so making sure that experts are able to do what they do best and be able be 73 00:04:15,150 --> 00:04:19,830 in those fields and, uh, operate, uh, with what they went to school for and, 74 00:04:20,110 --> 00:04:22,950 uh, where their expertise lies. And then, um, 75 00:04:23,380 --> 00:04:27,390 a lot of the employment versus the community physician dynamics depends what 76 00:04:27,390 --> 00:04:31,750 part or geography of the, of the world or the nation you're in. Uh, but those, 77 00:04:31,750 --> 00:04:34,550 that climate looks a lot different. And so making sure that we have, you know, 78 00:04:34,550 --> 00:04:38,270 strong affiliations of partnerships, don't need to employ everybody. Um, 79 00:04:38,270 --> 00:04:41,670 and that's strong with organization and, uh, what's the best, 80 00:04:41,670 --> 00:04:45,630 best foot forward for, uh, both, um, you know, to have a win-win, uh, 81 00:04:45,860 --> 00:04:49,530 design and a relationship. And then probably, uh, 82 00:04:49,530 --> 00:04:51,170 I think that second one was a long winded one, 83 00:04:51,170 --> 00:04:54,250 but the third one really is about integration and kind of goes, uh, 84 00:04:54,250 --> 00:04:57,770 to the tail end of what I was just talking about. Uh, we have these episodic, 85 00:04:57,770 --> 00:05:00,650 uh, chasms in our care continuity, 86 00:05:01,700 --> 00:05:05,640 and whether it's pre-hospital or in the hospital or post or all the, 87 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,750 all the transitions in between that we gotta make sure that individuals, uh, 88 00:05:09,750 --> 00:05:13,270 and our community members and patients are suited for a success, uh, 89 00:05:13,270 --> 00:05:15,630 to navigate through all that. So, you know, 90 00:05:15,630 --> 00:05:18,790 integrated EMR can only do some US but it definitely helps, uh, for sure. 91 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:22,390 So those are like the biggest issues. I see. 92 00:05:22,390 --> 00:05:25,430 If I kind of step back and we're talking about cardiology or heart care, uh, 93 00:05:25,430 --> 00:05:27,150 in general as of today. 94 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,040 Thank you so much for sharing your top three issues. Um, 95 00:05:31,070 --> 00:05:34,720 I've also kind of heard the same thing talking to other people, um, 96 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:36,800 and I think of it more broadly. 97 00:05:37,260 --> 00:05:41,880 How do you see heart care evolving over the next 18 months? If you could say. 98 00:05:43,340 --> 00:05:47,410 We just got out of a long period of a worldwide pandemic, 99 00:05:48,470 --> 00:05:52,650 and a lot of organizations are in that stabilization mode or, or recouping, 100 00:05:52,900 --> 00:05:56,850 whether it's, uh, procedural losses or, uh, just getting back to, 101 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:01,080 to business and getting back to caring for individuals and communities so 102 00:06:01,770 --> 00:06:06,500 that, that stabilization work, whether it's now or into the short future, 103 00:06:06,790 --> 00:06:09,460 uh, or as we're framing this question, the 18 months, 104 00:06:09,830 --> 00:06:11,720 what does that standard of care look like? 105 00:06:12,310 --> 00:06:15,980 We talked about having those meaningful relationships with physicians, 106 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,020 and I think the pandemic really showed, 107 00:06:19,020 --> 00:06:23,500 especially those that are not tied to an organization, uh, or, or, or, um, 108 00:06:23,500 --> 00:06:26,500 financially tied to an organization, whether through employment or others, 109 00:06:26,900 --> 00:06:29,900 maybe, uh, uh, cardiologists and surgeons, they're, 110 00:06:29,900 --> 00:06:33,020 they're thinking differently now as they kind of seen firsthand what pandemic 111 00:06:33,020 --> 00:06:36,740 does to a practice and how hard it is, you know, to navigate through that. 112 00:06:36,740 --> 00:06:39,620 So I think the federal and state governments can only do so much, 113 00:06:39,620 --> 00:06:43,660 but I think it's, it's also, as we kind of talked about coming back into that, 114 00:06:43,660 --> 00:06:48,130 that stabilization is how do you reestablish the competition that you're in? 115 00:06:48,230 --> 00:06:51,610 And, um, you know, a lot of us we're kind of focusing internally and, 116 00:06:51,830 --> 00:06:53,930 and even externally to take care of the communities, 117 00:06:53,930 --> 00:06:58,170 but now we're back into that competitive spirit and, um, that, you know, 118 00:06:58,170 --> 00:06:59,170 before it was about survival, 119 00:06:59,170 --> 00:07:03,650 now it's back to differentiating ourselves from our competitors and, uh, um, 120 00:07:03,650 --> 00:07:04,090 all those, 121 00:07:04,090 --> 00:07:08,330 all those sub service lines and those specialties like imaging and the 122 00:07:08,330 --> 00:07:12,730 artificial intelligence on that, or CCTs or wellness prevention, uh, 123 00:07:12,730 --> 00:07:15,810 moving further into the critical car care, cardiology models, 124 00:07:16,250 --> 00:07:20,930 geriatric cardiology, Um, you can think about virtual and the digital platforms, 125 00:07:21,660 --> 00:07:24,450 um, for, for some of the acute sites, the interventional heart failure, 126 00:07:24,730 --> 00:07:29,050 maybe the niceties like sports, cardiology, you know, all, all these are, 127 00:07:29,470 --> 00:07:30,970 you know, well underdeveloped. They, 128 00:07:30,970 --> 00:07:34,530 they kind of got to a point and then covid happened and they were kind of nice 129 00:07:34,530 --> 00:07:34,850 to have. 130 00:07:34,850 --> 00:07:38,130 And now it's really how do you differentiate yourselves from your competitors. 131 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:40,290 Yeah, absolutely. 132 00:07:40,550 --> 00:07:45,490 And to kinda end our discussion with a 133 00:07:45,490 --> 00:07:48,970 two part question, what are you excited about today? 134 00:07:48,970 --> 00:07:51,010 And also what does makes you nervous? 135 00:07:52,140 --> 00:07:53,940 Sometimes it's a mixture of both, 136 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:59,180 but I am extremely excited about the opportunities to 137 00:07:59,180 --> 00:08:04,050 deliver care and new and innovative ways leveraging 138 00:08:04,050 --> 00:08:06,370 technology. Technology's cool innovation's. Cool. 139 00:08:07,180 --> 00:08:11,960 So sometimes there's a organizational nervousness or anxiety about the adoption 140 00:08:12,370 --> 00:08:12,920 of that. 141 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,120 Is this gonna disrupt the fast quo or is this our fee for service model? 142 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:17,600 And now it doesn't look like that. 143 00:08:18,050 --> 00:08:21,680 So making sure that you can navigate the organization, um, 144 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,880 influence the organization to move into ways that are gonna be extremely 145 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:30,040 beneficial, Uh, setting yourselves up for the future and delivering care, uh, 146 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:32,000 where consumers, where patients are, 147 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,120 and not necessarily where our parking garage is. Uh, 148 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:39,900 and our campuses are also, what do our partnerships look like and our future, 149 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:44,220 our partnerships with individuals that have a lot of expertise, 150 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:46,660 subspecialty expertise in heart care, 151 00:08:47,660 --> 00:08:51,400 and how do we get into the wellness? 152 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:53,400 How do we get into the prevention space? I mean, I, 153 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:57,360 I talked about that earlier about things that even ourselves at Advent Health 154 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:58,960 we're working on, um, in a, 155 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,280 in a good fashion is how do we take care of that primorial, 156 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:06,830 that genetic genomic, uh, heart disease patient, family members, 157 00:09:06,970 --> 00:09:10,990 How do we get into primary prevention for before folks are ever on a cath lab 158 00:09:10,990 --> 00:09:12,270 table or, or table? 159 00:09:12,270 --> 00:09:17,230 And then what do we do when those individuals are ready to go home and they 160 00:09:17,230 --> 00:09:19,230 had an event? So that secondary prevention, 161 00:09:19,700 --> 00:09:23,600 how do we take care of our community? 365 24 7, 162 00:09:24,140 --> 00:09:27,840 How do we talk about our underserved populations? We talked about that, um, 163 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:30,400 you know, quickly in the beginning. And then, uh, 164 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,920 there's so many new frontiers and electrophysiology, uh, with, uh, 165 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:38,320 pulse field ablation. Um, there's new frontiers and structural heart, 166 00:09:38,820 --> 00:09:42,880 and I mean, every week there's new technologies coming out in research studies. 167 00:09:43,490 --> 00:09:48,080 Uh, just really, really excited about that. But I'm also, uh, temper that down. 168 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:49,360 Just, I'm not gonna say nervous, 169 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:54,320 but just cautious and anxious about def frantic changes to a lot of our 170 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:59,160 experts, high, high level end experts. So if you have, uh, folks, 171 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,300 you know, in the, in their prime of their career or, you know, wind it down, 172 00:10:03,300 --> 00:10:05,980 how do we take care of those individuals? And, uh, 173 00:10:05,980 --> 00:10:07,860 also how do we have succession planning, uh, 174 00:10:07,860 --> 00:10:11,340 to make sure that they can leave on a high note and we can continue on our high 175 00:10:11,340 --> 00:10:15,740 notes. So just be smart about transition and such. Uh, give 'em good avenues. 176 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:17,340 And then, um, 177 00:10:17,340 --> 00:10:21,900 we talked about a little bit of those sites of care nuances causes the 178 00:10:21,900 --> 00:10:24,620 traditional CEO of a hospital, a little bit of anxiety. 179 00:10:25,210 --> 00:10:29,100 I think in our organizations, we've, we've had a very open mind about that and, 180 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:30,580 and a very proactive, 181 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:35,390 but how do we continue high standards at these ASEs or, 182 00:10:35,390 --> 00:10:39,190 or the practice cath labs? How do we keep those high standards? So those things, 183 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:41,630 um, add a little bit of anxiety in our, 184 00:10:41,630 --> 00:10:43,950 in our workflow and our kind of clinical thoughts about things. 185 00:10:44,890 --> 00:10:48,180 Absolutely. I will definitely agree with you on, you know, 186 00:10:48,180 --> 00:10:51,380 what things you are excited about today. And Gordon, 187 00:10:51,380 --> 00:10:53,100 that's all I have for you today. 188 00:10:53,100 --> 00:10:56,740 So I wanna thank you for taking time outta your busy schedule to come and speak 189 00:10:56,740 --> 00:11:00,740 to me. I really appreciate it. And to hear more about Becker's Healthcare, 190 00:11:00,770 --> 00:11:05,300 please visit our website, becker's hospital review.com. Thank you again, Gordon. 191 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:08,520 Thank you very much for having me.