1 00:00:05,105 --> 00:00:07,155 - This is the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, created 2 00:00:07,155 --> 00:00:08,315 by the team of Becker's Healthcare, 3 00:00:08,475 --> 00:00:10,195 a multimedia company devoted to the people 4 00:00:10,215 --> 00:00:11,515 who power us healthcare. 5 00:00:11,785 --> 00:00:14,595 Four new 15 minute episodes are released daily containing 6 00:00:14,795 --> 00:00:16,555 industry news analysis and thought leadership. 7 00:00:16,555 --> 00:00:19,435 From powerful healthcare decision makers Support our show 8 00:00:19,575 --> 00:00:22,395 by leaving it a five star rating and review on Apple Podcast 9 00:00:22,615 --> 00:00:23,875 or other platforms you use. 10 00:00:24,025 --> 00:00:25,835 It's a chance to tell us what you like about the show 11 00:00:25,895 --> 00:00:27,115 and act on your feedback. 12 00:00:27,115 --> 00:00:29,075 Thanks for listening. Now here's the episode. 13 00:00:30,745 --> 00:00:31,835 - Welcome everyone, 14 00:00:31,835 --> 00:00:33,555 to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series. 15 00:00:33,695 --> 00:00:34,915 I'm Maria Mohammed, writer 16 00:00:34,915 --> 00:00:36,595 and moderator with Becker's Healthcare. 17 00:00:37,135 --> 00:00:39,395 I'm absolutely thrilled to have with me today Dr. 18 00:00:39,855 --> 00:00:42,755 Vender Carr, chief Medical Officer at Vinta Health 19 00:00:42,755 --> 00:00:43,915 Central Valley Network. 20 00:00:44,415 --> 00:00:45,955 Dr. Carr, it's very nice to have you on the 21 00:00:45,955 --> 00:00:46,995 podcast today. How are you? 22 00:00:47,705 --> 00:00:48,755 - Good, thank you, Maria. 23 00:00:49,015 --> 00:00:52,555 And, um, I appreciate you taking, uh, my, uh, voice up 24 00:00:52,555 --> 00:00:55,195 to your audience on this podcast. Yeah, 25 00:00:55,635 --> 00:00:56,635 - Absolutely. 26 00:00:56,635 --> 00:00:59,955 I cannot wait to ask you these, uh, these questions today. 27 00:01:00,455 --> 00:01:02,835 Im sure you're gonna give some great insight into what's 28 00:01:02,835 --> 00:01:03,995 happening right now in healthcare. 29 00:01:04,495 --> 00:01:07,195 Um, but to begin, would you mind please introducing yourself 30 00:01:07,375 --> 00:01:08,955 and telling us a bit about your background? 31 00:01:09,955 --> 00:01:11,555 - Absolutely. I'm good weather, Carr. 32 00:01:11,695 --> 00:01:14,715 Um, I'm an internal medicine physician by training. 33 00:01:15,745 --> 00:01:18,395 I've been, um, you know, out of med school 34 00:01:18,415 --> 00:01:19,635 for 20 plus years now, 35 00:01:19,695 --> 00:01:21,435 so I've been a doctor for all that time. 36 00:01:21,795 --> 00:01:26,075 I did do some, um, um, I have some background in master's 37 00:01:26,075 --> 00:01:27,675 with a master's in health administration. 38 00:01:27,895 --> 00:01:29,075 And then I went ahead 39 00:01:29,075 --> 00:01:30,675 and, um, you know, 40 00:01:30,675 --> 00:01:33,235 started working here in the Central Valley quite some time 41 00:01:33,235 --> 00:01:35,035 back, uh, in California 42 00:01:35,535 --> 00:01:40,355 and really have, uh, evolved through my journey, uh, 43 00:01:40,375 --> 00:01:43,075 as a physician leader, both with a physician medical group 44 00:01:43,415 --> 00:01:45,195 as well as, uh, through 45 00:01:45,785 --> 00:01:47,675 Adventist health physician leadership, 46 00:01:48,615 --> 00:01:51,435 and have been in this role as a Chief Medical officer 47 00:01:51,615 --> 00:01:53,395 for about close to three years now. 48 00:01:54,465 --> 00:01:56,915 - Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving us that insight. 49 00:01:57,055 --> 00:01:59,555 So to begin with the questions of the podcast, 50 00:01:59,975 --> 00:02:01,515 the first thing I wanted to ask you is, 51 00:02:01,855 --> 00:02:03,835 can you tell me about your most successful project 52 00:02:03,975 --> 00:02:05,675 or initiative from the last year? 53 00:02:05,985 --> 00:02:07,355 What issues were you trying to solve 54 00:02:07,355 --> 00:02:08,635 and also what drove the success? 55 00:02:10,735 --> 00:02:12,755 - Uh, some of the key projects 56 00:02:12,755 --> 00:02:14,955 that we have worked on in this past, uh, year 57 00:02:14,955 --> 00:02:19,595 or so have been a really, uh, top decal patient safety, um, 58 00:02:19,985 --> 00:02:23,755 also, uh, top decal inpatient quality when it comes to, 59 00:02:24,015 --> 00:02:28,275 you know, mortality, readmission care progression, which is, 60 00:02:28,575 --> 00:02:31,515 um, how efficiently we drive the patient's care while 61 00:02:31,515 --> 00:02:34,675 they're in the hospital and patient experience. 62 00:02:35,065 --> 00:02:38,155 They're, um, you know, now that's a broad, broad, um, 63 00:02:38,845 --> 00:02:42,475 topic here, but I think if we narrow down to, um, 64 00:02:42,535 --> 00:02:46,115 it comes down to having a culture of clinicians 65 00:02:46,115 --> 00:02:48,635 that care about doing their best 66 00:02:49,015 --> 00:02:52,555 and making our organization high performing 67 00:02:53,295 --> 00:02:57,915 and ability to drive performance through, uh, learning, 68 00:02:58,135 --> 00:03:01,245 you know, continuous learning process, identifying 69 00:03:01,245 --> 00:03:04,285 where the issues are and improving upon them when we know 70 00:03:04,285 --> 00:03:05,885 that there, uh, there are processes 71 00:03:05,885 --> 00:03:07,005 that we need to improve on. 72 00:03:07,835 --> 00:03:09,045 - Wonderful. Thank you so much 73 00:03:09,045 --> 00:03:10,245 for giving us that background. 74 00:03:10,545 --> 00:03:11,685 And as you know, 75 00:03:11,685 --> 00:03:14,045 the clinical workforce has changed a lot in the last few 76 00:03:14,045 --> 00:03:15,645 years for obvious reasons. 77 00:03:16,385 --> 00:03:18,485 Um, what challenges are you still facing 78 00:03:18,705 --> 00:03:20,645 and how do you see the clinical workforce evolving? 79 00:03:22,115 --> 00:03:26,165 - Yeah, we continue to have issues around, um, being able 80 00:03:26,165 --> 00:03:30,285 to recruit, uh, high good talent, being able to bring in, 81 00:03:30,705 --> 00:03:33,285 uh, folks that are highly, uh, trained 82 00:03:33,345 --> 00:03:37,125 and talented in their different workforce, in clinical, uh, 83 00:03:37,125 --> 00:03:39,445 workforce in the Central Valley in California. 84 00:03:40,425 --> 00:03:42,485 And we're not much worse than other places. 85 00:03:42,965 --> 00:03:44,565 I realize that, um, you know, 86 00:03:44,565 --> 00:03:47,045 every different area has its own challenges, 87 00:03:47,045 --> 00:03:49,765 whether it's related to competition for that same workforce 88 00:03:49,785 --> 00:03:51,205 or whether it's related to the demand. 89 00:03:51,945 --> 00:03:53,485 And so understanding that, 90 00:03:53,885 --> 00:03:56,325 I think this trend is likely going 91 00:03:56,325 --> 00:03:58,485 to continue over the next several years 92 00:03:58,955 --> 00:04:01,565 because we're not seeing that many higher number 93 00:04:01,565 --> 00:04:03,125 of graduates from nursing schools 94 00:04:03,385 --> 00:04:05,405 or from um, medical schools. 95 00:04:05,625 --> 00:04:08,245 Uh, we do see that, uh, radiology is one 96 00:04:08,245 --> 00:04:11,525 of the key challenges from physicians, um, that continues 97 00:04:11,525 --> 00:04:13,645 to be an issue that is, um, 98 00:04:13,645 --> 00:04:16,445 really affecting us across the board, uh, 99 00:04:16,475 --> 00:04:18,405 from just about every CIS hospital in 100 00:04:18,405 --> 00:04:19,485 the Adventist health system. 101 00:04:19,985 --> 00:04:22,205 We know that we, uh, want to do 102 00:04:22,745 --> 00:04:26,005 better in attracting talent when it comes to radiology. 103 00:04:26,145 --> 00:04:29,845 We also have issues around O-B-G-Y-N, um, being able 104 00:04:29,865 --> 00:04:34,165 to attract and keep good OB physicians in our communities 105 00:04:34,165 --> 00:04:37,445 because patients want to deliver close to home. 106 00:04:37,785 --> 00:04:41,285 And if we're not able to provide high quality OB services, 107 00:04:41,895 --> 00:04:43,565 we're gonna have a challenge being able 108 00:04:43,565 --> 00:04:45,845 to get the patients maternity care 109 00:04:46,525 --> 00:04:48,045 delivery care right close to their homes. 110 00:04:49,185 --> 00:04:50,805 Um, cost of keeping labor 111 00:04:50,825 --> 00:04:53,525 and delivery, uh, units open is very high, 112 00:04:54,265 --> 00:04:55,325 and being able 113 00:04:55,325 --> 00:04:58,805 to recruit OBS has become extremely challenging in these 114 00:04:58,805 --> 00:05:00,525 past, uh, several years. 115 00:05:01,805 --> 00:05:03,885 I don't see that letting up anytime soon. 116 00:05:03,935 --> 00:05:05,085 We're not increasing the number 117 00:05:05,085 --> 00:05:07,365 of graduates from OB residencies either. 118 00:05:07,705 --> 00:05:12,525 Um, we do feel like that is one area to explore, is to, um, 119 00:05:12,905 --> 00:05:17,045 uh, identify how we can train more, uh, OB 120 00:05:17,045 --> 00:05:19,725 and those hard to recruit, uh, specialties 121 00:05:20,305 --> 00:05:21,565 for gi We're having a lot 122 00:05:21,565 --> 00:05:24,365 of difficulty getting GI just about in all our markets, 123 00:05:24,545 --> 00:05:28,605 but definitely here in the Central Valley, um, this is a, 124 00:05:28,605 --> 00:05:30,565 um, challenging area mostly 125 00:05:30,565 --> 00:05:32,245 because the, the kind of work it is, 126 00:05:32,305 --> 00:05:33,925 it is high intensity work 127 00:05:34,625 --> 00:05:37,285 and it takes a long time to train a GI physician. 128 00:05:38,375 --> 00:05:41,725 We're looking at extending, uh, the, those kind 129 00:05:41,725 --> 00:05:46,685 of specialties with advanced providers, both in their, um, 130 00:05:46,835 --> 00:05:49,965 clinics as well as, you know, for, as for ob gyn, 131 00:05:49,965 --> 00:05:54,445 adding midwife programs, helping make this a team approach. 132 00:05:54,785 --> 00:05:58,045 And I think that's where really healthcare is going is we're 133 00:05:58,045 --> 00:05:59,965 gonna have a team approach, um, 134 00:06:00,225 --> 00:06:03,045 and we will have to develop algorithms where 135 00:06:03,585 --> 00:06:07,125 we know there's, there's a spectrum of disease process, 136 00:06:07,195 --> 00:06:09,525 there's a spectrum of, uh, healthcare delivery. 137 00:06:10,345 --> 00:06:13,965 How do we best use our resources in a team-based approach, 138 00:06:13,995 --> 00:06:15,285 whether it's virtual 139 00:06:15,865 --> 00:06:19,445 and physical in person, whether it's, um, you know, 140 00:06:19,565 --> 00:06:22,805 high-end, highly trained, high end specialty, 141 00:06:22,985 --> 00:06:26,045 or there's advanced providers to support that specialty. 142 00:06:26,505 --> 00:06:28,085 All of those things will come down to 143 00:06:28,145 --> 00:06:29,965 how we best use team approaches 144 00:06:30,425 --> 00:06:33,005 for delivering good quality care at bedside. 145 00:06:36,245 --> 00:06:38,645 - Absolutely. Thank you so much for giving us that insight 146 00:06:38,645 --> 00:06:41,565 and background to how you're trying to solve this issue 147 00:06:41,835 --> 00:06:43,045 that many people are having. 148 00:06:43,585 --> 00:06:46,165 Um, but before I let you go, doctor, the last thing I wanted 149 00:06:46,165 --> 00:06:48,165 to ask you is, what is your best advice 150 00:06:48,225 --> 00:06:50,205 for aspiring physician nurse leaders? 151 00:06:54,005 --> 00:06:56,825 - Uh, I, my main advice would be 152 00:06:58,605 --> 00:06:59,785 Invest in your workforce. 153 00:07:00,765 --> 00:07:03,105 Um, build trust within your workforce 154 00:07:04,405 --> 00:07:09,385 and really identify processes that help improve the ability 155 00:07:09,645 --> 00:07:11,145 for people to perform better. 156 00:07:11,565 --> 00:07:14,785 You know, when we look at our systems and our processes 157 00:07:15,325 --> 00:07:18,745 and we make things efficient for people to come back to work 158 00:07:18,805 --> 00:07:21,905 and be able to do what they are passionate for, what they, 159 00:07:22,085 --> 00:07:23,145 uh, signed up for, 160 00:07:23,255 --> 00:07:26,385 then we make everybody's lives, uh, so much better. 161 00:07:26,605 --> 00:07:29,065 We improve our retention, we improve our culture, 162 00:07:29,685 --> 00:07:31,865 and that's really what our main, uh, 163 00:07:32,475 --> 00:07:34,065 focus has been here in the past, 164 00:07:34,285 --> 00:07:37,865 in my role in these three years, is to help drive a culture 165 00:07:38,055 --> 00:07:41,665 that improves people's ability to do what they do best. 166 00:07:42,205 --> 00:07:44,705 And that's by driving the processes around them 167 00:07:45,085 --> 00:07:48,025 and helping them overcome those obstacles much more 168 00:07:48,265 --> 00:07:49,345 faster and smoother. 169 00:07:52,335 --> 00:07:53,625 - Wonderful. Thank you so much 170 00:07:53,645 --> 00:07:54,825 for those final thoughts, doctor. 171 00:07:54,935 --> 00:07:58,425 This has been a very amazing and informative discussion. 172 00:07:58,425 --> 00:07:59,625 So again, I wanna thank you so much 173 00:07:59,625 --> 00:08:00,785 for coming on Becker's Healthcare. 174 00:08:00,805 --> 00:08:01,945 We really do appreciate it. 175 00:08:02,225 --> 00:08:03,625 I look forward to connecting with you again soon. 176 00:08:04,095 --> 00:08:06,225 - Alright, thank you. I appreciate your, uh, 177 00:08:06,225 --> 00:08:07,425 time from with me today. 178 00:08:07,765 --> 00:08:11,905 - Of course, - It's so important for leaders at the top 179 00:08:11,905 --> 00:08:14,145 of organizations to keep learning, stay sharp, 180 00:08:14,295 --> 00:08:17,425 grow their networks, help our audience better do this in a 181 00:08:17,425 --> 00:08:19,785 more simplified, personalized, and meaningful way. 182 00:08:20,305 --> 00:08:22,545 Becker's Healthcare has launched my BHC, 183 00:08:23,015 --> 00:08:25,265 it's your trusted Becker's healthcare experience 184 00:08:25,345 --> 00:08:27,505 and more with content, connections, events 185 00:08:27,565 --> 00:08:28,585 and learning opportunities. 186 00:08:29,295 --> 00:08:30,385 Join the community free 187 00:08:30,385 --> 00:08:35,185 of charge@www.my dot becker's hospital review.com 188 00:08:35,285 --> 00:08:36,105 and we'll see you there.