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This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Armando Chu, chief Officer,
hospital-based care at Lee Health. Armando,
it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
Oh, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.
Now, I'm really looking forward to our conversation.
I know there's a lot happening in healthcare and really just such an exciting
time for organizations to, um, be jumping into different initiatives and, and,
um, doing a lot of great things for the community,
which I know you're doing at Lee Health. But before we dive into my questions,
can you tell me a little bit more about yourself and your background?
Sure. So I serve as the chief officer for hospital-based care. I've got, um,
responsibility over five acute care facilities, um,
1,850 licensed beds,
and really work with an exceptional team of physician, nurse,
and clinical and nonclinical leaders.
We are the primary provider for the Southwest Florida community here in Lee
County,
and really feel blessed to have had an amazing career that has gotten
me to a place where I see the impact of my work touching thousands
of lives on a regular basis.
That's outstanding to hear and and definitely, you know, really, um,
appreciate your efforts. Now, what are some of your top priorities today?
Well, I mean,
it wouldn't be healthcare if we weren't facing some pressures
between cost, labor reimbursement,
and I think those pressures have really been exacerbated over the past couple of
years here in southwest Florida. We also suffered Hurricane Ian,
and in the aftermath of that,
everyone is working hard to try to find efficiencies within our operations,
try to be better financial stewards and really ensure the
solvency and success of the health system for a hundred years to
come.
And so I'd say that the biggest priorities right now is how do we continue to do
great things and produce great outcomes,
but do it in a more cost effective and efficient manner.
Absolutely. I I love that. And, and certainly, you know,
when you look at some of the outcomes and,
and ability to really produce those great outcomes and then like you said,
doing it cost effectively.
Is there anything at Lee Health that you found to be particularly successful in
or initiatives, programs or anything that, uh, you,
you've done that you're really proud of?
Well, I mean, when it comes to efficiency,
we're all looking at technology and where either AI
or other digital enhancements are going to help us shave
minutes, days off of encounters,
really create the most ideal outcomes for patients
and help us get patients home,
which is where patients want to be and where they belong and where the best
healing occurs.
And so I'd say as we really partner with our colleagues
in IT and in h I m and really look at different ways of achieving
the desired outcomes and leveraging technology wherever we can,
I think that's really something that I'm excited about from an innovative and
strategic standpoint and looking forward to the future.
That's great to hear.
And I know artificial intelligence and some of the potential capabilities there
for healthcare is certainly something we're watching very closely,
and I know executives and leaders across the country are,
are definitely trying to figure out what makes the most sense for their
organizations now, you know, elite health.
How do you see growth and evolution over the next two to three years?
What's really top of mind?
You know, it,
it's interesting because I think across the country we're all looking at
hospital at home models.
We're all looking at ways to get patients into the right setting to receive
the right care for the appropriate cost.
I think this really reduces pressure on
employers who are ultimately funding a large portion of the commercially insured
patient population.
I think it also helps patients to heal in the most appropriate
environment where patients are most comfortable,
which is the comfort of their home.
And so I'd say that over the next two to three years,
you'll see Lee Health and most other major health systems across the country
really investing in hospital at home models.
You'll see us working to create access points throughout the community
that are convenient to patients that are staffed during hours when
patients need care.
And the goal being to avoid admissions and avoid ER visits whenever possible.
And so the,
the next two to three years will really be focused on breaking
the paradigm of patients coming to the er, getting admitted to the hospital,
spending five to seven days in the hospital, and if possible,
avoiding that admission through more timely access to care within the community
or care at home.
That makes a lot of sense. You know, and certainly, um,
an area that's fascinating to see how much the hospital to home programs have
grown and, and you know, when you're looking at standing up something like that,
it, it certainly, um, takes a lot of effort and, and energy and resources.
Uh,
so what are you seeing as being kind of the most cost-effective way to go about
that? Is it really, you know,
I guess how do you figure out what patients are right for it and then, um,
making sure they've got the services they need in, in when they are at home?
You know, that's the beauty of,
of Lee Health and the team that I'm blessed to work with every day here.
We have executives that have a wide array of experiences
and really a high level of intellect.
And so I look to my partners who have either worked on projects like this
at times,
we engage external help to learn from
best practices nationally and then, you know,
we partner with the state and we partner with our funders and our regulators
to make sure that the things that we are doing or are planning to do are the
right things for our patients and will yield the outcomes that we're going to
hold ourselves and our teams accountable to.
And so there's no need to necessarily reinvent the wheel,
but to learn from others' best practices and then innovate our own
style and approach to the hospital at home model.
Absolutely. That's great to hear and awesome to have those types of leaders and,
and connections across the industry to really bring the best of what exists and
then build upon it and iterate on it for your community. Now,
before we wrap up our conversation,
I was wondering if you could share one change that you or your team has made
over the last year or so that's really yielded great results.
Yeah, happy to.
One of the areas that falls within my purview is perioperative services for the
health system. And it's a large responsibility with 76 ORs.
And about two years ago or so,
the team and I set out to create a robotic service line.
And at the time we had two robots in two
of our acute care hospitals and we recently acquired
our 29th robot. And we have built an incredibly robust,
safe, effective,
and efficient robotic service line that is creating incredible
access for our patients.
It's serving as a recruitment tool for surgeons coming out of training,
and it really is elevating the care here in southwest Florida.
As I think back over the past couple of years,
beyond managing through the pandemic and beyond managing post
hurricane,
the thing that I'm truly most proud of for myself and for our team is really
what we've done in perioperative services.
Absolutely.
And that's such an important aspect of healthcare in making sure that people
are, are able to get the treatments they need and, and really, um,
being in a space where they're able to cover appropriately. Uh,
thank you so much Armando for joining us on the podcast today.
This has been such a fun and interesting discussion and I look forward to
connecting with you again soon.
Thanks, Laura, I really appreciate it.
I hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for having me on.
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