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Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast series. I am Maria Mohammed,
she her pronouns with Becker's Healthcare,
and I am absolutely thrilled to have with me today Dr. Davin Lundquist,
family physician at Common Spirit Health. Dr. So nice to talk with you today.
How are you?
I'm doing great. It's nice to be here.
Yeah, of course. Well, to begin,
would you mind please introducing yourself and telling us a bit about your
background?
Well, my name is Davin Quist, and you know, maybe I'll just start with,
uh, you know, sort of the college level. Uh, I,
I ended up in Los Angeles going to OC Dental College, uh,
mostly because I wanted to continue my,
my small limited football career at a small school. Um,
and that was a good match, and they had a good pre-med program.
So I majored in kinesiology and minored in Spanish. Uh, then, you know,
moved on to uscs Keck School of Medicine, also in Los Angeles.
During that time at usc, the, you know, the sticker shock of a private, uh,
tuition, uh, got me interested in the Navy. So I joined the,
the Navy at that time, and they helped, uh, pay for my medical school.
And then I went on to a Navy residency up in Bremerton, Washington. This was,
uh, prior to sort of the EMRs really taking hold. Um,
and so at that time I kind of got my first foray into,
um, thinking of ways to solve problems in healthcare.
And I designed a, a little database to track high risk OB patients.
Um, and I guess, uh, even before, uh, you know,
informatics existed as a, as a field, I was,
I was sort of dabbling in that a little bit. Um, you know, years later,
um, after finishing my time with the Navy, which was awesome, um, you know,
I got into, uh, you know, the private sector and,
and was working for different health systems. And I, I, in 2012,
I became the first ambulatory C M I O for what was then Catholic Healthcare
West, um, their, you know, California division. And, uh,
about a year later they became Dignity Health.
And then seven or eight years after that, they became Common Spirit. And,
uh, I know when that was formed, that merger, they,
they were the largest nonprofit in the country. I don't know if that's the case.
Uh, could be. Um, but I think it's, you know, been in,
it's been a great interesting time to be part of healthcare to kind of see,
you know, the consolidation and, and the way that, um, you know,
healthcare has evolved to adapt to, uh, the,
the new challenges that we're facing. Um, so back in 2013,
um, as in that role as, uh, C M I O,
I began using a tech-enabled solution called Doc Medics.
I sort of became known as the Google Glass Doctor amongst my colleagues at
Dignity. And you know, that, that technology helps connect, uh,
you know, documentation specialists with,
with providers to help with their notes. And as we all know, with the emr,
that's a, a challenge. And then in the beginning of 2000, I, uh, I,
I left sort of my administrative roles with Common Spirit and, and, or 2020,
sorry, joined, uh, OG medics as their first cmo. Uh,
cause that was right before the pandemic, so it's been an interesting few years.
Um, so today I still see patients part-time, uh, in,
as in a clinic here in Camillo, California as part of Common Spirit.
And then the other part of my time is split, uh, as model vach medics.
Perfect.
Thank you so much for giving us that background and with all your experience.
The first question I wanted to ask you is,
what opportunities in headwinds do you have your eye on right now?
You know, I'll start with headwinds. Um, I think, you know,
there are some common themes in healthcare right now. Staffing shortages,
I think is the, is maybe top of mind for a lot of organizations. And,
and honestly that's from, you know,
the front lines all the way up to our physicians.
We've known that, you know,
physic there would be a physician shortage at some point, um, as the, you know,
the population was growing, et cetera. Um, but I think, uh,
the economic situation has really surprised, I think, uh,
a lot of industries including healthcare with, you know, the lack of, uh,
you know, available, uh, you know, people to staff our,
our offices and our hospitals and and whatnot. And so I think people are,
are adapting to that. Um, obviously, you know, everyone hears about the nurses,
um, you know, and the need for those, for them. And, uh,
what's interesting is, you know,
you think about our ability to kind of replace both physicians and nurses
and these licensed professionals and, um, you know,
you can't just tap into some, you know, temp marketplace. You know,
there's a, there's a, there's a runway, right? To get these people trained.
There's bottlenecks in terms of, you know, mentoring and like people, you know,
they need to have their clinical rotations. Those happen at hospitals that are,
you know, using existing people where there's already shortages. So it's a,
it's a unique challenge. I'm sure we'll figure it out. But right now,
I think that's one of the biggest headwinds along with just the, the,
the other sort of economic challenges that exist, um,
related to inflation and sort of the global, um, you know,
stagnation around, you know, infrastructure and, you know, supply chains and,
and whatnot. Um, and I think, uh,
all of that sort of feeds into this big problem of burnout,
clinician burnout, both, you know, physicians, nurses, you know, at all levels.
People are, are really being asked to do more with less. Um, and,
and I, I think that's our biggest challenge right now. Um,
so the opportunity is sort of related to that as well. I think that, uh,
you know, technology is,
is taking off in ways we haven't seen before with the advent of, you know,
artificial intelligence and, you know, we're seeing, you know, these things in,
in the news today. And the ability to handle large,
complex amounts of data very quickly and, and create an, you know,
repetitive type task, um, I think can help, you know, offset,
uh, some of this burnout, right? Um,
obviously in healthcare we have to be very strategic and smart about where we
introduce these things. Um, it's not, you know, like booking a reservation for,
for dinner, right? Like, like people's lives and health is,
is that is on the line.
So we have to be very thoughtful and careful about the way that we introduce
these technologies, but I think that they can really help, you know,
in areas to, you know, offset the, the shortage of,
and hopefully decrease the burnout and increase the quality of life of the
people that are out there, you know, saving lives.
Yeah, definitely. Thank you so much for that insight.
You definitely made some great points. And the next question I want to ask you,
doctor,
is how are you thinking about growth and adding value to your organization?
I think the pandemic has created a lot of demand for healthcare services.
You know, a lot of the elective stuff has, you know, backed up.
I also think that, um, you know,
our planet is evolving in a way where there's an increased interest in health
and wellness, and so you kind of have this interesting sort of dual,
you know, uh, dichotomy of demand for healthcare, which is, you know,
you have people that are almost getting sicker, um, because you know,
the stress, uh, that either covid or, you know,
all these new vaccines and, and just, you know,
upending life and changing in such a way, um, that, you know,
I think stress has created a really demand in some of the areas that I've seen
in my own practices, you know, neurological services,
gastroenterology and GI and, and cardiac where, you know,
and I think that's kind of makes sense to me because I feel like when people
are stressed either, you know, emotionally, psychologically, or just with,
you know, what they're consuming in terms of diet and,
and lack of good lifestyle choices,
I feel like those are the systems that sort of are, are hit by the stress that,
you know, maybe the quickest. Um,
it also feels like there's been an uptake of cancers. Again,
I don't have any numbers here, but this is just in my personal practice,
which has really been interesting to see where that stress is,
is manifesting in people's health.
And so I think if healthcare can step up and meet the demand for these
services,
I think they'll add a lot of value to their patient base and hopefully get
people kind of back on track. And then the other area, I think is, you know,
which is, um, maybe there's being a little more proactive, right?
And sort of partnering with companies that, um,
are focused on health and wellness. And I,
I think people really want to feel their best and have energy and vitality
so that they can accomplish the things that they wanna accomplish.
And so I think it's just a great time to be in healthcare.
Yeah, absolutely.
I've spoken to a lot of healthcare executives who feel the same way about
being in healthcare right now. And the next thing I wanted to ask you is,
what is one risk or investment worth making this year?
Well, again, I, I talked a little bit about this.
I think we're kind of seeing a little divergent economy forming.
There's a challenge at the infrastructure level, right? We're seeing inflation,
we're seeing empty real estate because of this new world that we live in, right?
And because of the, the stresses on the, on the planet,
people are coming up with, you know, amazing new science and technology and,
and biotech and artificial intelligence, et cetera, right?
And so there's gonna be tremendous growth, I think, in those areas,
but the infrastructure side, it's gonna be a challenge, right?
And healthcare has always struggled with, you know, very low narrow margins,
you know, single digits to some extent. And, uh,
and I think healthcare is particularly challenging because unlike
other industries where you can just adapt to supply and demand, uh,
it's harder to do that in healthcare. You know, you can't, um,
you don't know what's gonna walk through your emergency room doors, right?
Like you can't exactly, you know, predict, um, you know,
when you're gonna have a rush of people. And so you,
there's a minimal level of staffing that healthcare system you need to have in
order to sort of be available to do the right thing, right?
Which is to keep our population as healthy as possible and to save lives.
And so, um, I think it creates a, a challenging dynamic.
So hopefully healthcare systems that they sort of keep the trains running and
keep the lights on and make sure that we can take care of our population, um,
can also take advantage maybe partnering with some of these companies in biotech
and, and artificial intelligence and,
and other things so that they can benefit where the growth is happening,
you know,
from a economic standpoint while we sort of weather the other side of the storm,
you know, whether the storm on the other side of the economy,
which is more on the infrastructure and inflation side. Um,
and so I think hopefully people at those levels are,
are willing to take those risks.
Yeah, definitely. And Doctor, before I let you go,
the last thing that I wanted to ask you is,
where do you see the best opportunities for growth in the future?
Well, for many years now, people have been talking about value-based care,
moving to more of a population health model. You know, we're seeing, you know,
at the highest level with C M S and others making, you know,
incremental changes to move us in that direction. Uh,
there's even some medical groups that are like, that's all they focus on, right?
Is, you know, Medicare advantage or something along those lines.
And so we're seeing pockets of that, you know, pop up. But, you know,
by and large, I think, um, healthcare, uh, is such a big shift,
if you will, that needs to turn that it's gonna take time for us to get there.
But I think the underpinnings of that current are taking us in the direction of
value-based care.
And so I think to the extent that we can begin to put stuff in place now
to be ready for that, when we're really like all in that direction,
uh, will make sense. Um, but I also think that um, you know,
being smart by implementing, you know,
the right kinds of technologies to help us sort of navigate that and, and,
and help with the change management that will need to take place as people adapt
to this sort of new world in healthcare. But also I think,
um, you know, outcomes gets talked about a lot, right? And I think,
um, tying, you know, value to outcomes is important,
but I think we shouldn't put too much weight on that.
I think also, you know,
figuring out a way to reward our people, you know,
from physicians on down for the right kinds of behavior that we know is
impactful and that they have control over.
Cuz we don't always have control over the outcomes, you know, depending on,
you know, patient behavior, whether they follow, you know,
the recommendations or the guidelines. Um,
but I think organizations that have great culture and can sort of reward
people for the right kinds of behaviors and can really incentivize them to,
to behave in a way that we know aligns with the right values, uh,
would help, uh, you know,
really promote growth in healthcare in a way that would keep everybody getting
value out of the system.
Absolutely. Thank you so much for those final thoughts. Doctor,
this has been an amazing discussion.
So I wanna thank you so much for coming on Beck's Healthcare and I look forward
to connecting with you again soon.
Thanks. It was my pleasure. Appreciate you having me.
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