- This is the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, created
by the team of Becker's Healthcare,
a multimedia company devoted to the people
who power us healthcare.
Four new 15 minute episodes are released daily containing
industry news analysis and thought leadership from powerful
healthcare decision makers Support our show
by leaving it a five star rating and review on Apple Podcast
or other platforms you use.
It's a chance to tell us what you like about the show
and act on your feedback.
Thanks for listening. Now here's the episode.
- This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr.
Ritu Singh, I, senior vice president
and system chief Medical Officer at St.
Francis Health System. Dr.
Singh, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- Thank you, Laura. Thanks for having me.
- No, I, I'm really looking forward to our conversation.
I know there's a lot happening in healthcare
and certainly, um, a lot from the clinical perspective
that I am excited to hear
more about what you're doing at St.
Francis. But before we dive into the broader discussion,
can you tell me a little bit more
about yourself and your background?
- Uh, absolutely. So reusing Chief Medical Officer
for the health system in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
We are the largest health system in northeastern Oklahoma,
locally founded, govern and operated,
and we have over 10,000 employees,
five acute acute care hospitals,
multiple ambulatory settings.
I'm an internist by training.
I've been in this role for close to 18 months now.
Uh, my background, I was Chief Medical Information Officer,
uh, before, and, uh, led clinical documentation, integrity,
uh, some of the other initiatives
with a larger health system.
I am an immigrant.
I'm a first generation immigrant, born and raised in India,
and I've been in US for 18 years.
- Got it. That's great to hear.
And definitely, um, you know, uh, awesome
that you've had such great experiences, um,
to bring into your current role at St.
Francis. Now, could you tell me about your most successful
project or initiative from the last year?
What issues were you trying to solve and what drove success?
- Sure. So Laura, it's really hard to pinpoint
to one project, but, you know, post covid world,
as things are rapidly changing, one of our top
priorities is to establish a comprehensive clinical strategy
for the next one to three years.
And at the core of that strategy, you know,
first is stabilizing our workforce to really brainstorm
and think of ways how we can proactively
engage our physicians, not only recruiting,
but how do we grow them with us to retain
and to be better leaders, empower them at bedside
to make better clinical decisions.
And really, uh, investing in that physician leadership.
We are partnering with our local teaching institutions, uh,
Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma University,
to bring in learners
and grow our own as we work towards what's the future
of workforce for us.
And, you know, second focus
of the clinical strategy is our path moving forward,
not only in terms of clinical quality,
but really from operations
and from being, uh, you know,
good financial stewards of our resources.
What does the success look like for each service line,
whether it's a destination metric, you know, center
of excellence or really creating access in Oklahoma,
we have rural hospitals that we struggle in providing access
and we know our community needs it.
So what is that path moving forward for service lines?
And, you know, third in
that comprehensive clinical strategy is
population health initiatives.
How do we ensure we provide the right
care in the right setting?
And, you know, putting emphasis on preventative care
and ensuring we provide care
to our patients across the continuum.
You know, collaborating with our primary care physicians,
hospital medicine physicians, really looking at ways
to improve the throughput
and then expanding on our post-acute presence
and ensuring that we wrap our patients
with the care they need no matter what setting, uh,
they come to us in.
And, and it's a comprehensive approach.
So that's sort of high level of what, uh,
we've been working on, uh, for the last one year.
And it's a continuous journey.
You know, it's, it's what we are focusing on for next two
to three years, and there's several moving parts to it, lots
of tactics and initiatives underneath.
And, um, you know, we are just glad to be blessed
with an organization that's locally founded
and governed that we can take decisions
and turn them around really quickly.
Our CEO, Dr.
Cliff Robertson is a physician,
and I think there is, there is something
to be said about when there's a clinician
running the health system.
You know, we have that comprehensive approach
to our leadership and our decisions,
so pretty excited about that.
- That's fantastic to hear.
And certainly when you look at
that movement towards more population health
and connecting, partnering with community organizations
and figuring out how you can better serve patients
and create access to care, it seems like there's a lot
of opportunities there,
but it, it is certainly not easy to make those connections
and then, you know, develop a team
that's really strong there.
I know the clinical workforce has changed
a lot in the last few years.
Could you talk about some of the challenges
that you're still facing and how you see
that workforce evolving, especially given some of the things
that you're just mentioning in, in thinking
through population health, um, and,
and really treating patients in in a more
specific and personalized way?
- Absolutely, Laura. So, you know, healthcare has changed
so rapidly post covid,
there is clearly workplace a workforce shortage and burnout.
There is tremendous stress on the existing resources and,
and, you know, there's just
so much people we have with us can do.
So we really need to look at strategies
to address the burnout and,
and prioritize the employee wellbeing.
And as we do that, it's super critical to address
the accelerated technological advancement that we have.
You know, how do we ensure that we use technology
to expand the role of the workforce we have, uh,
whether it's apps or physicians provide tele
and virtual services.
And, and then as we continue to do that,
how can we provide more preventative services from
population health perspective?
And, you know, 20%, I I believe personally, 20% of,
of a patient's healthcare happens with health systems.
80% of the care is really in the community at their homes
with their families and people around.
How do we make sure that we improve the health literacy
and provide them with the resources
and do that extra work that needs
to be done in the community.
You know, whether it's through community health workers
having, um, health fairs, uh, going to schools, uh,
partnering with, uh, you know, different, uh, uh,
organizations within the community.
And, and that's been at the forefront for us.
And, you know, how do we make sure we do that extra
that's needed once these patients leave our hospitals
and our primary cares offices
and whatever setting we encounter them in.
And, and as we look through all of that, you know, um, AI
is the buzz word in healthcare today.
We need to know, ensure that we educate our clinicians
and we provide them the training
and resource they need to be successful with the technology.
We have five generations in healthcare
and, you know, you, we need to meet people
wherever they are in their, uh, technology journey
and their adoption of that technology.
So, um, lots of challenges.
I'm sure we are not unique,
but, uh, I'm excited, uh, for the work we are doing.
- That's fantastic to hear
and certainly great to know that the workforce is evolving
and growing in a way that's gonna be meaningful
for the community and patients.
Now finally, before we wrap up our conversation,
I was wondering if you could share your best advice
for aspiring, aspiring physician and nurse leaders.
Uh, what really do you see as being important for them
as they're building and growing their career right now?
- Wow. It's, it's hard to give one.
Um, but if I could just think of couple.
I think first would be never stop learning
and seeking knowledge.
I think it's so important for us as clinical leaders
to be connected with what's happening at bedside
and what's the latest and greatest in healthcare.
And, you know, as a leader, collaborate with your team,
with your peers, people who, your nurses, your RTSs,
your other ancillary staff
and intentionally grow your team to be a diverse team.
There is, there is power to
the decisions you make when your team is diverse.
And, you know, as, as leaders, it's not just managing task
and responsibilities, it's our responsibility.
We inspire and motivate others to, to be in healthcare.
And I think today, uh, in my humble opinion,
we are not doing the greatest job
of recruiting people in healthcare.
- That's so interesting to hear and,
and definitely, um, just a fascinating challenge,
but also huge opportunity to do better.
You know, when you look at, um,
that recruiting people into healthcare and,
and making it an attractive profession, um, certainly to,
to make sure you've got all the patient care needs filled.
Is there anything that you're doing at St.
Francis to, um, you know, recruit more or,
or really reflect some of those efforts in
how rewarding a career in healthcare could be?
- Uh, sure. So, you know, we are
actively engaged in our diversity equity
and, uh, DEI initiatives
and, um, several
branches under that initiative.
But one of the things is we are actively
educating our frontline to all the way
to our senior leadership on, you know, what is, uh,
diversity in healthcare look like.
And we need to have a diverse workforce for someone from
outside to really want to come engage with us.
And, and when we have that diverse workforce,
we provide better patient care
and, you know, our patients feel more connected with us.
We are going and, uh, into several schools.
We are partnering with, uh, several local nursing schools,
uh, to, to help educate open our facilities
for their learning.
So we are able to eventually, uh, hopefully retain them.
Same with, uh, physician training, you know,
opening our grounds for students and residents
and fellows, um, to really
have them see our culture from the point they really stepped
into healthcare and,
and hopefully champion it for them, be, uh, good leaders
that they can follow and inspire them
to actually have a career long term.
- Amazing. Dr. Singh, thank you so much
for joining us on the podcast today.
This is more a really fun, interesting conversation,
and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
- Thank you, Laura. Thanks a lot.
- It's so important for leaders at the top of organizations
to keep learning, stay sharp, grow their networks,
help our audience better do this in a more simplified,
personalized, and meaningful way.
Becker's Healthcare has launched my BHC,
it's your trusted Becker's healthcare experience
and more with content, connections, events
and learning opportunities.
Join the community free
of charge@www.my dot becker's hospital review.com
and we'll see you there.