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This is the Becker's Healthcare Podcast,

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created by the team of
Becker's Healthcare,

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a multimedia company devoted to
the people who power us healthcare.

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Four new 15 minute episodes are released
daily containing industry news analysis

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and thought leadership.

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From powerful healthcare decision makers
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Thanks for listening.
Now here's the episode.

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This is Laura Dearer with the
Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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I'm thrilled today to be
joined by Dr. John Bar,

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who's the Chief Medical Officer in Vice
President of Ambulatory Services at

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Bergen New Bridge Medical
Center. Dr. Barbara,

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it's a pleasure to have
you on the podcast today.

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It's a pleasure to be here,
Laura. Thanks for having me.

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Now, I know we've got a lot to talk about.

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There's so much happening in healthcare
and really some exciting things that

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you're doing in, um, new Bridge. But
before we dive into my questions,

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can you tell us a little bit more
about yourself and your background?

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Sure. So, uh, you mentioned I'm a doctor.
I'm an internal medicine physician.

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I've been practicing, uh,
for over 20 years now. Um,

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I spent most of my career as a
hospitalist, but I al but in recent years,

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I've also, uh, started
doing more primary care. Um,

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I've been a chief medical
officer for over eight years now.

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The last almost six years of them I've
been at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center

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in Paramus, New Jersey. And about
a year ago I took on also the, uh,

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the duties of the vice president
of ambulatory services.

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Absolutely. And, you know,

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I know that it's becoming an increasingly
important aspect of the healthcare

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strategy, is that ambulatory
side of things. Mm-Hmm.

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<affirmative> and what's going outpatient.

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And so to become the vice president of
ambulatory services, what does that mean?

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How are you thinking about that and, um,

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developing the strategy on
where ambulatory is headed?

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So, I mean, I think that ambulatory
services is where healthcare is going.

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I think it's the future of it. So, uh,
when, when the opportunity presented, I,

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I, I actually really wanted
it. Um, but, um, I, that's,

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I think that ambulatory, if,

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if you really look at what's
happening in healthcare in general,

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and I listen to the podcast, so I hear
all the news briefs all the time too. Uh,

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you know, you,

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you see all these things where people are
going into ambulatory services. Right.

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And it's been a trend over the
last, even before I started, I,

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I give a lecture to medical students
sometimes where I show a picture of my

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grandmother, my mother, and me.
And I talk about how in 1980,

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my grandmother had a gallbladder surgery
and she stayed in the hospital for two

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weeks in 89. My mom had one, and she
stayed in the hospital for three days.

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And in 91, I had my gallbladder
taken United State for six hours.

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And that's because as
healthcare has evolved,

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we've learned more what has to be in the
hospital and what has to be outside of

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it. And sicker patients
are in the hospital.

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But it means we do more and
more stuff ambulatory wise.

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And if you look at what's happening,
you see Amazon and, and, uh, you know,

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and CVS and all these companies are
buying things like one Medical on Oak

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Street. And there was news the other day
that Walmart's trying to buy Chen Med.

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They're all going into the ambulatory
space because that's where the future is.

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That's what's going to be driving
healthcare in the future. Um,

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it's not just good, uh, ambulatory care,

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but it's good comprehensive integrated
care. And that's really what,

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where we need to go. I think
that's the future of healthcare.

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And in a hospital like Bergen Newbridge,
which is a, uh, public hospital,

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it's really imperative for us to kind
of be ahead of the curve because we're

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always kind of, you know, fighting to
stay ahead or, or, or to keep open.

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'cause we're a safety net. We take
on, you know, the, the patients who,

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who are the, the most vulnerable.

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So that means we also have to protect
ourselves from being vulnerable.

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So we kind of have to be
ahead of stuff. So it,

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it's actually very exciting to be able
to think of what healthcare's going to

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look like in the future and
how we can move it forward.

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I love that. I think it's
so important, as you said,

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to just really have that mindset and
idea and be forward thinking about how

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healthcare is, um, being delivered, where
it's headed and, and what really, um,

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is going to be impactful for the
community. And, you know, given that,

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given that you're a public hospital
safety net and just such an important

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resource, what are some of
your top priorities right now?

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What do you really see yourself
spending most of your time on and,

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and energy in?

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So I do think it's, it's related to
both the, uh, ambulatory site and,

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and digital health in
general. Um, you know,

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we actually did pretty well last
year in 2022 from a financial

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standpoint. And, you know, but like
everybody else, we got hit with, you know,

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the increased labor costs and everything
else this year. So we're, we're okay.

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We're doing fine
financially. Um, you know,

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compared to other hospitals in the state,
we're doing very well. Um, but for us,

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I think what we're really
focusing on, or, or what I,

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what I see coming is the need to again,

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just build out that ambulatory
side and, and quite frankly,

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to integrate the service and make
'em easier for patients to use,

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I think is really the key point.
So I'll give you an example. Um,

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we already did, you know,
we already did this on,

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in a couple of service lines
for, for years, decades,

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I've been going to healthcare conferences
and everybody talks about integrative

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care and population health. Now,

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the most recent buzzword is
AI and that kind of stuff,

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but I don't know that everybody
really does it. You know, they say it,

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but it's kind of a name only. People do
things that are kind of, uh, you know,

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they check the box, but I don't know
that it has depth or meaning to it.

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But on our, in our
addiction medicine service,

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we actually created a real integrated
health system for our patients. So,

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you know, we deliver every
level of can. Obviously,

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addiction medicine is a huge
problem in the country right now,

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and particularly for
Safety Net Hospital. Um,

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but we provide every level
of care we, what we do.

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I would put up against any
hospital in the country,

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even the big academic centers. You know,

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a patient can come to us and we follow
up with them through telemedicine

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afterwards. We give them bridge clinics,
we get 'em into the most cutting edge,

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uh, medication assisted treatment. We
provide social, uh, support for them.

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We have every level of inpatient care,
long-term care, psychiatric care.

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We provide all the medical services fully
because we're a full medical surgical,

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uh, facility as well. So we can really
take care of the entire patient.

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And we use, uh,

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primary care providers as the frontline
to that who can provide most of

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those services. So you
don't have, you know,

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medicines become more
and more specialized,

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which is good because we have
more and more medical knowledge,

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but it also is harder and
harder for patients to navigate.

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So we employ navigators and
they help the patients out,

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and patients can call in and we
help them through the system,

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and we get 'em on with a, a primary
care provider, usually initially,

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who can do a lot of the stuff because
a good primary care doctor, and I,

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you know, when I was
trained in, in medicine, um,

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it was kind of a point
of pride that, you know,

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you could handle most of
the problems, you know,

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and you only sent to a specialist
when it was really complicated. And,

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and we've gone away from that
a little bit over the years,

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but I think it's coming back.

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So really focusing on getting that system
set up so that it's easy for patients.

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We can handle most of the stuff up front,

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and then get 'em quickly
into the specializations
that they need or the other

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services that they need. Um, you know,

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the other place we've done
this is already is in our lgbtq

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plus health program. Again, I
hear everybody talking about DEI,

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and then I ask them what they're doing,
and it's just like a, a statement,

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you know, a non-discriminatory statement.

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We have an actual LGBTQ plus
program here that is comprehensive.

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Um,

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it's run by two phenomenal people who
are both members of the community,

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but it's, it's very patient
facing. It's not just, you know,

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the check boxes of hormone
therapy or, or sexual health. We,

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we do all of those things,

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but it's pretty much any issue that a
patient can have that might be specific to

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them. And we can guide patients
through the whole system,

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and they have their own phone
line they can call into,

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they can reach a provider.

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There's a primary care provider who
provides their services every day.

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And then we offer those services to
other patients outside of L-G-B-T-Q

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patients. But we've particularly made
it an inclusive, uh, patient, uh, uh,

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an inclusive system to provide access,
because again, we're a safety net.

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That means access is one of our
pillars of, of, of who we are.

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But access does not just mean access
when there's a, a difficulty in paying,

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it means access for patients who have
difficulty getting access to health

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appropriate healthcare for all
kinds of reasons. So that includes,

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I mentioned addictions and
mentions any, uh, DEI related or,

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or any discriminatory reasons. It includes
psychiatric care. We do all of it.

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And I think that's,
that's where I'm focused,

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is trying to see how we can take what
we've done in those niche areas and expand

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it to everything. I'm sorry
that was a long answer, but.

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No, that was fantastic. And you know,

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it's so impressive to hear some of the
different things that you're doing there

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both in addiction medicine as
well as the LGBTQ plus, um,

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programming that you have. Because,
you know, as you were saying,

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you can really, um, stand
up the bare minimum in,

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in service patients in the community, but
to be able to go above and beyond and,

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and really, um, have the different
services, the navigators,

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the those who are gonna make it easy for
patients to access care, um, and, and,

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um, improve their health and, and
really get the services that they need,

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like that's next level,
um, type of situation and,

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and really something that I think a lot
of organizations strive for, um, today.

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So it's great to hear
that you're doing that,

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and thank you so much for describing the
processes that you've gone through in

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order to get there, because
I know it's not easy.

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No, it wasn't. And you know,
I, I have to say I'm lucky.

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I had ACEO who let me do whatever crazy
thing I had to came to mind. You know,

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um, I've worked in the big academic
centers over the years and, and uh,

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one of the things is that, you
know, I think in the big centers,

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you know, we got very comfortable in
healthcare because things were easy.

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We could kind of continue doing the
same stuff, um, over and over again.

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It was successful and there was no
reason not to, not to change it.

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But I think that, you know, and there's,

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I think one of the other times I was on,

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we talked about that change has
been constant my whole career.

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I've constantly been hearing about
health, healthcare is changing, but I,

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I think that now it's particularly
accelerated and I think that everybody's

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feeling the stress.
And oddly us, you know,

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us at the safety nets
in the smaller places,

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we've had to kind of move and change
more quickly because we had to,

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to keep our heads above water. So oddly,
we're in some ways better positioned,

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uh, than some of the big places who have
a lot to lose by changing what they're

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doing. Whereas I don't, you know,

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I can kind of experiment
and it's been a real, uh,

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pleasure to be able to
build these programs.

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But I think actually it's
kind of interesting, you know,

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typically everybody's a copycat
in healthcare. You know,

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somebody does something
successful and everybody copies,

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and that usually comes from the
big places. But I think, you know,

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the big places that could
probably look to us or,

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or to other places like
us who found success, um,

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doing things because we've
had to, to stay alive and the,

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the environment we were already in
this environment for a long time.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I know it comes out of necessity a
lot of times that innovation and,

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and really nimbleness to be able to
change and evolve. And, you know,

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speaking of that, when you're looking
into the next two to three years or so,

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mm-hmm, <affirmative>,
what do you see as, um,

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the organizational changes
coming up? You know, I,

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I know there's a lot of different factors
out there driving change within the

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healthcare space, and especially
given, you know, your unique role,

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I guess within the community.

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What do you see as being most
impactful in the way that, um,

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the hospital is evolving.

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Uh,

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in addition to this kind of integrative
care and the ambulatory side I've been

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talking about? I think it
really, um, I think it really,

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I think that digital health is
a huge part of it. 'cause again,

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that comes back to access
for patients. And again,

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making it easier for patients
to use us. Um, you know,

218
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we can provide the best services
and, and the big systems,

219
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but we have to make it easy for
patients to do it. You know,

220
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we do everything to make
it difficult. So, you know,

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one of the things the pandemic taught us
was that telemedicine worked very well

222
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for certain things, not for
everything, but for certain things.

223
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And that there's opportunities to do
things even more innovative there to make

224
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things easier for patients or make it
easy for them to get information or get in

225
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touch with their providers. Um,

226
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and so really building
out that infrastructure,

227
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I think is probably our number one
priority, at least from my standpoint. Um,

228
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because I, I think that that's going
to be the next driver. And again,

229
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if you look at the people who've been
successful on that ambulatory side,

230
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the Chen meds and the Oak Streets and
those places that everybody's buying up

231
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now, what they've done is this really
hands-on approach with patients. You know,

232
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they've made it easy for the
patients to come to them.

233
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They give them very frequent
visits. They see them. They,

234
00:12:11,635 --> 00:12:14,405
they provide a strong primary
care base. They've done all that,

235
00:12:14,405 --> 00:12:18,405
and that's how they've been
successful. Um, and in a big system,

236
00:12:18,485 --> 00:12:22,485
I have even more resources than they
do, even as a safety net, but I can,

237
00:12:22,705 --> 00:12:24,885
but I need to make it so that
the patients can get to them.

238
00:12:24,945 --> 00:12:28,045
And I think digital health is a
huge part of that because, you know,

239
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especially me as it is safety net,

240
00:12:30,845 --> 00:12:33,325
I have a patient who needs
to come in and see, you know,

241
00:12:33,385 --> 00:12:35,725
six different specialists. They
have to take off from work,

242
00:12:36,065 --> 00:12:37,605
and those patients can't
take off from work.

243
00:12:38,305 --> 00:12:40,285
And that's not just true of my safety net.

244
00:12:40,345 --> 00:12:42,405
And that's true of patients in
general. It's very difficult.

245
00:12:42,665 --> 00:12:46,805
But if I can make it that they can go on
a break and go on 15 minutes on their,

246
00:12:46,805 --> 00:12:51,205
their smartphone and everybody
has a smartphone and see
the provider and get 90%

247
00:12:51,205 --> 00:12:52,045
of what they need done,

248
00:12:53,195 --> 00:12:55,525
then I'm gonna provide better
healthcare for the patients.

249
00:12:55,525 --> 00:12:57,445
And I can see them more
frequently in shorter visits,

250
00:12:57,495 --> 00:13:00,005
which has a much better
impact on the patient, right?

251
00:13:00,095 --> 00:13:03,645
We've traditionally in healthcare, done
this thing where we see patients every,

252
00:13:04,305 --> 00:13:06,165
you know, three months,
six months every year,

253
00:13:06,785 --> 00:13:10,765
and they come in with a laundry list
and we give 'em 12 things to do. Uh,

254
00:13:11,145 --> 00:13:15,485
and who's going to do that? Like, we
make it so hard for the patients to,

255
00:13:15,625 --> 00:13:18,125
to actually take care of
themselves. You know, we're,

256
00:13:18,545 --> 00:13:21,125
and sometimes then we blame the
patients and it's not their fault.

257
00:13:21,125 --> 00:13:25,365
We make it hard for them, and we
really, I think, need to make it easier.

258
00:13:25,585 --> 00:13:28,445
And so by splitting things up
and doing the smaller visits,

259
00:13:28,625 --> 00:13:32,725
but allowing them to do it where they
are so they don't have to rearrange their

260
00:13:32,885 --> 00:13:34,805
schedule, I think is really important.

261
00:13:34,985 --> 00:13:38,005
And I think that's what we're going
to be focusing on. You know, maybe,

262
00:13:38,415 --> 00:13:40,725
maybe other people will focus on other
things, but that's kind of where,

263
00:13:40,855 --> 00:13:42,205
where our headspace is here.

264
00:13:43,855 --> 00:13:45,425
That makes a lot of sense. And, you know,

265
00:13:45,425 --> 00:13:48,385
definitely is awesome to see how you're
piloting some of these things with

266
00:13:48,385 --> 00:13:50,585
digital health and, and
definitely, um, you know,

267
00:13:50,655 --> 00:13:53,905
jumping in and figuring out what works
for your patients in your community.

268
00:13:53,925 --> 00:13:57,665
And I love the idea of having the more
frequent visits, but shorter visits too,

269
00:13:58,245 --> 00:14:03,185
um, from just kind of
purely the perspective of
operationally. And then, um,

270
00:14:03,325 --> 00:14:06,705
you know, I know sometimes it
can become a challenge, um,

271
00:14:06,705 --> 00:14:09,945
when dealing with payers and all those
kinds of things to try to figure out

272
00:14:09,945 --> 00:14:11,985
mm-hmm, <affirmative> how to
make these transitions. Um,

273
00:14:12,365 --> 00:14:13,905
how have you been able
to do it effectively?

274
00:14:13,965 --> 00:14:16,785
Is it just having that patient first in
mind and we'll figure everything else

275
00:14:16,845 --> 00:14:21,185
out later? Or, you know, what do you
do to, um, kind of get the, the, um,

276
00:14:22,215 --> 00:14:26,065
make sure that that business and
operations side of this makes sense? Um,

277
00:14:26,365 --> 00:14:27,665
as you're making these transitions?

278
00:14:28,015 --> 00:14:32,265
It's such a phenomenal question, right?
I'm, I'm a physician, so, you know, my,

279
00:14:32,365 --> 00:14:34,305
my initial instinct is what you said,

280
00:14:34,305 --> 00:14:36,425
I'll do the good care first and
everything else will come later,

281
00:14:36,445 --> 00:14:37,945
but that's naive. Uh,

282
00:14:37,985 --> 00:14:41,985
I also have an MBA and I
did that intentionally when
I was moving up through the

283
00:14:41,985 --> 00:14:45,985
ladder because I, you know, I, I
was talking doctor to everybody and,

284
00:14:45,985 --> 00:14:47,865
and you kind of had to
see the other sides to it.

285
00:14:47,865 --> 00:14:50,825
So we do make sure that we
have the, the business, um,

286
00:14:51,195 --> 00:14:54,485
site set up in the building systems
before we launch any of these things.

287
00:14:54,905 --> 00:14:57,565
You know, obviously there's things
you need pre-authorizations for.

288
00:14:57,565 --> 00:15:00,445
There's thing, you know,
with telemedicine, you do
have to follow the rules,

289
00:15:00,445 --> 00:15:03,965
otherwise you won't get paid
for them. Um, so, you know, we,

290
00:15:04,465 --> 00:15:07,845
we make sure that we have everything
structured first. So, you know,

291
00:15:07,845 --> 00:15:10,005
that's why we didn't just blow out and,

292
00:15:10,025 --> 00:15:13,525
and introduce every system all at once
because we're very carefully building

293
00:15:13,635 --> 00:15:16,965
each part as we add it on. So in
the addiction medicine program,

294
00:15:16,985 --> 00:15:18,605
we built all of the building codes,

295
00:15:18,605 --> 00:15:22,445
we built all the documentation correctly
so that we know that when we're doing

296
00:15:22,445 --> 00:15:24,965
something that's appropriate, we'll
get paid appropriately for it.

297
00:15:24,965 --> 00:15:29,685
And we've already checked with the payers
so that we're, we're set up for it.

298
00:15:29,685 --> 00:15:33,285
And for the payers, it's a boon,
right? I mean, the payers, you know,

299
00:15:33,625 --> 00:15:36,965
longer term would rather pay. You know, I,

300
00:15:37,045 --> 00:15:40,445
I always say this is like,
again, I think what some of, uh,

301
00:15:40,555 --> 00:15:44,925
some of the bigger systems have a are
gonna have a problem with is, you know,

302
00:15:44,925 --> 00:15:47,405
as a payer, I'd rather spend, you know,

303
00:15:47,505 --> 00:15:51,805
$10,000 in ambulatory visits than
$80,000 on an inpatient visit.

304
00:15:51,945 --> 00:15:56,245
I'm obviously exaggerating numbers,
but you get my, my drift. Um, you know,

305
00:15:56,245 --> 00:16:00,085
obviously there's less inpatient
visits when, you know, per patient,

306
00:16:00,185 --> 00:16:02,165
but it's still, it adds up
your preventing a lot of stuff.

307
00:16:02,665 --> 00:16:06,245
So for them it's a boon. So if
we make it again, easy for them,

308
00:16:06,585 --> 00:16:09,805
and we make sure we're following
everything regulatory wise, you know, it,

309
00:16:09,825 --> 00:16:12,965
it behooves them to,
to, to pay for that. Um,

310
00:16:13,105 --> 00:16:17,925
and they understand that they're not
stupid. Um, so it, it really though,

311
00:16:17,925 --> 00:16:22,125
we, we always first make sure we
have everything built because we,

312
00:16:23,085 --> 00:16:26,025
we learn the hard way. And
we've had, uh, you know, we've,

313
00:16:26,025 --> 00:16:28,425
some of my colleagues have kind of
rushed head into some of these things and

314
00:16:28,425 --> 00:16:32,995
not, then we haven't gotten paid for
things. Um, and I think, you know, we,

315
00:16:33,015 --> 00:16:36,035
we have a, a mantra of like, we wanna
provide the highest level of care,

316
00:16:36,055 --> 00:16:40,875
but we also wanna be financially
stable because if we are bleeding

317
00:16:40,885 --> 00:16:44,915
money, we do, and we're not able to keep
our doors open, we do nobody any good.

318
00:16:45,175 --> 00:16:48,875
So we have to really make sure that
that's all in place before we start.

319
00:16:50,075 --> 00:16:53,255
That's such a great point. And definitely,
you know, to have that business case,

320
00:16:53,435 --> 00:16:57,495
um, in mind and, and said, and, and all,
uh, everything, um, in the background,

321
00:16:57,635 --> 00:17:01,455
you know, I guess all worked out before
you jump into some of these things,

322
00:17:01,615 --> 00:17:04,895
I can imagine is really helpful. And
having that business background, you know,

323
00:17:04,895 --> 00:17:07,055
definitely seems like it's
been helpful in your end.

324
00:17:08,095 --> 00:17:11,155
Uh, hopefully <laugh>,
hopefully. So I, I, you know,

325
00:17:11,195 --> 00:17:13,115
I think that the people
I train with at think so.

326
00:17:13,545 --> 00:17:16,795
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um, well,
before we wrap up our conversation,

327
00:17:16,915 --> 00:17:20,435
I was wondering if you could talk through
what is one change you or your team

328
00:17:20,515 --> 00:17:22,795
has made in the last year
that yielded great results?

329
00:17:23,075 --> 00:17:26,155
I know we've touched on many
different things already, but, um,

330
00:17:26,155 --> 00:17:27,155
we just love your thoughts.

331
00:17:27,335 --> 00:17:29,315
If there's any other examples
you'd like to share with us.

332
00:17:30,515 --> 00:17:32,635
I mean, I mentioned the two
biggest ones, which are the,

333
00:17:32,855 --> 00:17:35,395
the Addiction Medicine and
the L-G-B-T-Q program and the,

334
00:17:35,775 --> 00:17:39,755
and we're working on the expansion of
our navigation and our digital health.

335
00:17:40,255 --> 00:17:41,555
The other one is, um,

336
00:17:41,755 --> 00:17:44,915
I mentioned earlier I took over as the
vice president of ambulatory services

337
00:17:44,925 --> 00:17:45,795
about a year ago.

338
00:17:46,335 --> 00:17:51,205
And there was just a lot of operational
opportunity on that side where we were

339
00:17:51,205 --> 00:17:55,765
really inefficient in a lot of ways
in how we were deploying our providers

340
00:17:56,185 --> 00:17:59,045
and how we were registering and
getting patients in and out of rooms.

341
00:17:59,385 --> 00:18:00,925
And this is really basic stuff,

342
00:18:01,265 --> 00:18:06,125
but it has such a high impact on
what you're able to do. Uh, you know,

343
00:18:06,705 --> 00:18:09,165
you know, because we were
always short staffed on stuff,

344
00:18:09,705 --> 00:18:13,005
we were having our providers do a lot
of things that, that somebody, you know,

345
00:18:13,145 --> 00:18:17,405
at a lower level of training
could do. And that, you know,

346
00:18:17,755 --> 00:18:20,245
sometimes you're pennywise and
pound foolish, like, you know,

347
00:18:20,245 --> 00:18:23,165
you're short staffed, you know, somebody
thinks, oh, we're short staffed,

348
00:18:23,165 --> 00:18:24,365
so we're keeping our cost down,

349
00:18:24,385 --> 00:18:27,445
but you're also cutting
your productivity way more.

350
00:18:27,585 --> 00:18:30,285
So by actually investing
intelligently, you know,

351
00:18:30,285 --> 00:18:33,325
you don't just throw money at
things, but investing intelligently,

352
00:18:33,325 --> 00:18:36,445
we've been able to really
ramp up our volume, um,

353
00:18:36,585 --> 00:18:39,365
on the ambulatory side and our,
actually on our surgical side too,

354
00:18:39,365 --> 00:18:42,885
because things flow down from
that and procedures. So, you know,

355
00:18:42,885 --> 00:18:46,125
we've been able to make money in
the traditional ways too, and again,

356
00:18:46,125 --> 00:18:48,365
provide better care for the
patient. That's ultimately the,

357
00:18:48,545 --> 00:18:50,405
the big goal for all
of this. You know, the,

358
00:18:50,425 --> 00:18:54,485
the finances allow us to provide
better care for the patients,

359
00:18:54,485 --> 00:18:56,965
and that's ultimately the
goal. Uh, that's why I,

360
00:18:57,125 --> 00:19:01,965
I think most people in healthcare
are in it. So by improving our,

361
00:19:02,145 --> 00:19:05,245
our efficiencies and our
operations on that side,

362
00:19:05,485 --> 00:19:07,525
I think we've seen a real huge impact.

363
00:19:07,935 --> 00:19:10,605
We've also done a lot on
our behavioral health side.

364
00:19:11,635 --> 00:19:15,825
We've launched a whole bunch of innovative
programs there as well. Um, you know,

365
00:19:15,825 --> 00:19:19,825
there was a huge need post pandemic for
mental health services for children,

366
00:19:20,125 --> 00:19:23,305
and we had some, but we, we
expand and created this, uh,

367
00:19:23,305 --> 00:19:26,305
intensive outpatient program for
children, which has been a huge success.

368
00:19:26,305 --> 00:19:29,505
And again, we have a phenomenal
physician running it. Um,

369
00:19:29,845 --> 00:19:31,665
and that's a big part of
the success, you know,

370
00:19:31,665 --> 00:19:36,025
is when you recruit the right people, it,
it, it has a big impact. Um, but it's,

371
00:19:36,025 --> 00:19:39,625
we've made a big impact in the community
and we've provided something that

372
00:19:39,625 --> 00:19:42,825
everybody really needed,
and at the same time, uh,

373
00:19:43,295 --> 00:19:46,185
done ourselves well on the
bottom line by doing it.

374
00:19:46,245 --> 00:19:48,625
So that's another one that
I, I'm really proud of.

375
00:19:50,455 --> 00:19:54,455
I love that. I, I think it's just so
helpful to see and understand, you know,

376
00:19:54,455 --> 00:19:57,615
you can make these ambulatory strategies
work and really, um, you know,

377
00:19:57,965 --> 00:20:02,735
have on the business side of things,
like be more efficient, effective and,

378
00:20:02,755 --> 00:20:05,135
and still have your operations
go. Well. And then, as you said,

379
00:20:05,135 --> 00:20:08,455
making an impact with more of the
behavioral health programming, um,

380
00:20:08,455 --> 00:20:11,615
more specific programming, especially
for children, as you said. I know it's,

381
00:20:11,635 --> 00:20:13,535
uh, constantly coming out
with the numbers and the,

382
00:20:13,535 --> 00:20:15,575
just the challenges a lot of kids
are going through these days.

383
00:20:15,715 --> 00:20:19,535
And so it's awesome to hear that that's
been a priority for you as well, um,

384
00:20:19,675 --> 00:20:22,455
in really taking care of
those who are most needing it.

385
00:20:22,995 --> 00:20:26,775
Oh, no, absolutely. And, you know, I'm
a father of three myself, so, you know,

386
00:20:26,935 --> 00:20:31,135
I, it's very easy to put yourself in the
place of the, of the parents, you know,

387
00:20:31,235 --> 00:20:33,735
who are struggling or having
other issues with their children.

388
00:20:33,875 --> 00:20:38,735
You just wanna help them. So I, it's
really, it's impactful that, uh, I,

389
00:20:38,815 --> 00:20:39,775
I gotta hold myself together.

390
00:20:39,835 --> 00:20:42,575
I'm gonna get emotional talking about
it because it, it really is, it's,

391
00:20:42,605 --> 00:20:44,855
it's among the most rewarding things I've,

392
00:20:44,855 --> 00:20:47,125
I've had an opportunity to
do in my career is, you know,

393
00:20:47,125 --> 00:20:50,925
these programs like this where you
really get to change people's lives is,

394
00:20:50,985 --> 00:20:55,925
is why you do it. And, um, and, and it
just really, it's, uh, it's impactful,

395
00:20:56,025 --> 00:20:57,765
but it's also very satisfying.

396
00:20:59,565 --> 00:21:02,065
Dr. Berro, thank you so much for
joining us on the podcast today.

397
00:21:02,155 --> 00:21:04,905
We'll definitely have to jump on again
and talk more about some of the work

398
00:21:04,905 --> 00:21:08,105
you're doing with the behavioral
health side as well. But, um,

399
00:21:08,435 --> 00:21:09,865
thank you again for your time today,

400
00:21:09,865 --> 00:21:12,025
and I look forward to
connecting with you again soon.

401
00:21:12,865 --> 00:21:14,465
Absolutely. Thank you
so much for having me.

402
00:21:17,215 --> 00:21:20,425
It's so important for leaders at the
top of organizations to keep learning,

403
00:21:20,535 --> 00:21:22,145
stay sharp, grow their networks,

404
00:21:22,615 --> 00:21:25,945
help our audience better do this
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405
00:21:25,965 --> 00:21:29,905
and meaningful way. Becker's
Healthcare has launched my BHC,

406
00:21:30,375 --> 00:21:33,385
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407
00:21:33,455 --> 00:21:35,665
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408
00:21:36,375 --> 00:21:41,105
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409
00:21:41,105 --> 00:21:43,265
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