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- This is Laura Dedo with the
Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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I'm thrilled today to be
joined by Matt McCambridge,

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chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer

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at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

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

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- Thank you so much for having me.

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It's really an honor to be here.

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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 right now,

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and certainly, you know,
from Lehigh Valley,

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just such a great, uh,
program you have there.

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So I'm excited to learn
more about what you're doing

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and and where things are headed.

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But before we dive into my questions,

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can you tell me a little bit more

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about yourself and your background?

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- Sure. Thank you. Um, I'd be happy to.

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So I'm a pulmonary and
critical care physician.

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I still practice medicine
about one day a week.

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As a matter of fact, I just
finished seeing patients, uh,

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about a half hour ago, uh, mostly, uh, uh,

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office practice now rather
than ICU Medicine anymore.

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I started my career.

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I'm a little different than most people.

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I started my career off
in the United States Army.

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I went to college

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and medical school in
the Washington DC area,

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and then I went to Walter
Reeve for all of my training,

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internal medicine,
pulmonary and critical care.

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And then after that, uh,
the Army, uh, sent me down

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to Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

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Um, and I served at Womack
Army Medical Center.

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I ran the ICUs there,

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and I was also a battalion aid surgeon in

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the 82nd Airborne Division.

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So at that point, after
about five years, I was, uh,

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I had fulfilled my army commitment.

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And at that point it was 2003,

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and I came home, I came back
home to civilian life, uh,

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back here to Allentown,
Pennsylvania, where I'm,

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I'm sitting right now in
Delia Valley Health Network.

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And I started off as a staff position.

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I had a number of leadership
positions, um, president

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of the medical staff,
chairman of Critical Care.

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And then about seven years ago, um,

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after two years of graduate
school, I went back

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to grad school and got a
master's in healthcare quality

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and patient safety at Northwestern.

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And then, um, about seven years
ago, I got, I got this job

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that I'm in now, um, chief
Quality Patient Safety Officer.

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And then about a year ago,

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I got something added to my title.

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I have a very long title.
I have, um, chief Quality,

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patient Safety and Acute
Care Continuum Officer.

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And that has a lot to do with, um, our,

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our interest in value-based care.

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Uh, so, and right now my
areas of responsibility

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are quality, patient safety.

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I have infection control
and infection prevention.

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I have regulatory and accreditation.

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Interestingly, I have radiation

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safety that comes up through me.

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Um, and then inpatient and
transitional value-based care,

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and then all other duties as assigned.

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There's so many cheap quality
officers have out there.

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That's, uh, that's a big

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category for me, that last category.

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- Absolutely. That's fascinating to hear.

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And certainly, you know, great, um, career

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and experiences that you
had growing up the ladder

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and from a, a physician

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and then having so many
leadership roles as well.

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And now I'm just continuing
to expand your role

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as healthcare evolves and
changes, which is great.

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What are some of the biggest issues

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that you're following
in healthcare right now?

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- Well, there is so much going
on in healthcare right now.

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I have to say, one of the
things that has my attention

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very much, um, particularly
with respect to quality

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and safety, is the healthcare
workforce challenges we're

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having right now with
nurses and physicians

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and all the other staff,
uh, PTOT x-ray Techs, uh,

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surgical technicians everywhere.

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Still, the challenges we're having

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with the HE healthcare workforce

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and how that impacts hospital finances

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and then how all of that impacts quality

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and safety, you know, and investment

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into quality and safety.

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And I think for me, over
the last couple years,

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that's probably the top
thing, um, is the interaction

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between all those factors,
the workforce, the finances,

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and then how that impacts,
uh, quality and safety.

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So that would be, I would
say probably the, one

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of the top things on my mind.

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Another thing on my mind is, um, probably

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what everybody else has
been experiencing is the,

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the mental health crisis in
America, in our communities

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and how that's impacting
our hospitals, um,

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and the, our mental health
resources that we have

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to help our communities.

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And I think the last one that,
uh, I've been impressed on

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with this over this past year

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or so is healthcare affordability, uh,

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and people putting off care
with potentially poor outcomes.

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I think that's a, a big issue.

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Those, those three
things that the workforce

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and how that impacts
quality and safety, finances

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and quality and safety,
the mental health crisis,

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which is an everyday thing,
at least where we are here.

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And then healthcare, affordability,
the, the larger concept

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of healthcare affordability

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and, um, how that's impacting outcomes.

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- That's really fascinating to hear,

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and I appreciate you
touching on all those factors

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because I can imagine so many
healthcare executives across

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the country are, are really
seeing similar things

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and, um, trying to work
through those challenges.

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As you mentioned, thinking about finances

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and how, you know, um, the workforce

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redesigning certain aspects
of the workforce, clinical

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as well as an administrative,

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and then, you know, how

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that can impact the organization
financially, mental health

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as well as huge for so
many different communities.

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I know, particularly for
you as well in Pennsylvania.

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And then finally the
affordability of healthcare, um,

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really makes a big difference
when you look at all

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of those things together.

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Um, is there anything

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that you've been doing at Lehigh
Valley Health Network, um,

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to really address any of these issues

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that's had some great results?

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- Well, uh, will do so many things in all

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of those different areas that, um,

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that I think is probably
not all that unique to us.

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I think the one thing that
was particularly excited about

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is, um, virtual nursing

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and how virtual nursing can
support the bedside nurses.

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Um, we opened up, uh, the ninth

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tele ICU in the country way back in 2004,

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and we've been very heavily interested

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and heavily invested in telemedicine.

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I saw nine patients today,

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and three of them were video visits.

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And that video platform has
been transformative to us

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through COID and we're
really starting to leverage

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that in our virtual nursing space.

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Uh, there's, uh,

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some health systems out there
like Houston Methodist that

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are, are really setting, uh,

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setting the tone for the rest of us.

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And we're trying to, uh, we're
trying to do that same thing

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and, and, um, take some of
these more seasoned nurses

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that may be closer to retirement

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or other nurses that are,

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are interested in getting away
from the bedside, um, and,

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and having them work in virtual nursing.

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And another thing that we're doing here

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is at our health system,
we have 21,000 employees,

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and we have, um, many nurses

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that work in administrative roles.

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And those nurses are also
working part-time in virtual

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nursing, so maybe spending 5%

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of their week as virtual nurses.

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And, and that's something that, um,

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that we're doing here as well.

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So really excited ab about that

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and how that's gonna potentially
help this larger problem.

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- It's so fascinating to hear about

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and definitely great that, you know,

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it seems like you were
early in terms of some

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of your virtual care,
um, you know, pursuing

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that in in virtual nursing too.

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Is there anything else
that you're looking at

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that you're excited about or
what also makes you nervous?

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- Yeah, so I'm, uh,

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I'm really excited about
some of the things.

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I, I just saw a bunch of patients today,

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and I, I was thinking as I
was seeing one of my patients

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that, um, over the last 25
years as a pulmonary doctor,

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there's been such dramatic changes.

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It used to be that the
patients would come to me with

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x-rays, uh, in a middle, you
know, in a, in a, in a folder,

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and it would hardly be
tracked on everything.

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And I had really
complicated patients today,

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and you can just, it's
all right there in front

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of me in the electronic medical record.

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And it's just really amazing.

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And some of the advancements
that I'm really excited about

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are in medical technology,
uh, what we're doing

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and what the rest of the country is

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doing in robotic surgery.

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I already mentioned telemedicine,
wearable health devices,

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personalized medicine,

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and how all of that ultimately,

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hopefully we'll have positive
outcomes, uh, for patients.

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So that's one area I'm
really excited about.

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I would say another area that
has really got my intention

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and we're really excited
about here is, um,

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the innovative treatments and
therapies, um, particularly,

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and I'm sure you've been following this

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with the, the weight loss drugs.

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Um, medications for
congestive heart failure seem

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to be coming a, have
really come a long way.

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The gene and cell therapies

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for certain diseases like
spinal muscle atrophy, um,

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leukemia, uh, the CAR T
cell therapies for leukemia

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and lymphomas, gene editing, the and,

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and CRISPR Cas nine therapies.

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There's just so much happening
now that's really exciting,

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uh, immunotherapies,
regenerative medicine.

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There's just so much to be positive about

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and be excited about, and
that's what I'm excited about.

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I have to say, the thing that
makes me nervous about all

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that is, uh, the rising
cost of healthcare.

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Um, many of those things
I just mentioned are

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so unbelievably expensive

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and, um, you know, um,
we're already spending,

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we're already spending
$1.7 trillion a year, uh,

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at least on Medicare and Medicaid, um, 4.3

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or so trillion dollars in healthcare

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and these new therapies
while they're, you know,

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potentially wonderful and lifesaving.

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The thing that concerns me
is, um, the rise in costs

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of, of, of healthcare.

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And the other thing
that concerns me is, uh,

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healthcare access and
disparities, um, leading

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to unequal health comes
that's very important.

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And I would say, um, you know, um,

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provider shortages and
burnout is of course, on,

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on our list here and on my
list, health system complexity.

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And then of course, data
security, um, something

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that we have to, all
healthcare administrators,

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I think right now are,
are very keenly aware of.

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And so there you go.

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I think another thing that's,

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that's interesting is we've made a lot

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of progress in patient safety.

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Um, but I, I think there's
a lot of progress that needs

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to be made yet with
regard to patient safety.

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And I think we've, we've,

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we've made a good start in patient safety,

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but there's a lot more, a lot

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more progress that needs to be made.

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- Absolutely. I think
that's such a great point.

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You know, definitely look back

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and see how much, uh, you've grown and,

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and like you said, progress
has been made, been able

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to do more to keep patients safe,

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but then still, you know,
there, there's so much, um, left

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to be done and, and certainly, um, a lot

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of room for innovation.

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Where do you see as, um,
being important for leaders

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to become the most effective
healthcare leaders possible

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over the next two to three years or so?

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What will help leaders
be successful, especially

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as healthcare changes, as we see some

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of the different dynamics
in the field change

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as technology improves and
all those kinds of things?

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What should leaders be thinking about?

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- Yeah, so I read this wonderful
book a few years ago, um,

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by Elizabeth Rosenthal.

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She's a Harvard trained ed doctor

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who writes in the New York
Times from time to time.

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And she also wrote a book
called An American Sickness,

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uh, excellent book.

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And there's one thing
she said in that book

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that really resonates with me.

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And I think, um, healthcare
right now, healthcare leaders,

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uh, people like me are
trying to find that balance

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between the Mother
Theresa side of healthcare

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and the Goldman Sachs side of healthcare

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and trying to find that perfect balance.

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And I think that effective
leaders moving forward,

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um, I just would submit
this to you that, uh,

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potentially should be thinking
about doubling down on the

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quote unquote the softer stuff.

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Things like, um, awareness

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and empathy, um, humility, you know, um,

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uh, authenticity, those types of things.

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And I think, I think, um, you know,

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it's gonna be a little funny to say,

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but I think just kind of
getting back to the basics

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with respect to our patients

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and, um, making sure that
on the Mother Teresa side

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of healthcare that we're,
we're, um, making sure

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that we surround our patients with love

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and protecting our patients
when they need to be protected,

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um, from the patient safety
standpoint, advocating

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and fighting for our patients
when they need to be advocated

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and fought for, particularly patients

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that don't look like me, you
know, um, patients that, um,

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that need us to, to be fought for.

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And then comfort patients when they need

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to be comfort comforted.

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And I think healthcare leaders
doubling down on things like

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love and respect, respect for our workers,

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respect for our patients.

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I think that will, will be
really, really important.

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And I think one other thing
is, so that's all good, um,

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talking about that software stuff,

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but I think the healthcare
leaders also have to get results.

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Um, and I think the results
that healthcare leaders need

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to be getting in the next few years

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with the way healthcare finances
are right now is in areas

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of, um, efficiency and waste is one area.

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And another area is, is is patient safety.

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So efficiency and waste.

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Um, I think there's an awful
lot of opportunity, uh,

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within our health systems
to become more efficient

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for our patients so that
the patients, uh, are moving

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through the system better,
there's less waste.

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Um, and I think that's a
really important concept.

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And then for patient safety,
I think it's important

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for healthcare leaders
to be, I think leapfrog a

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and CMS star ratings, all of
those are wonderful things.

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They've gotten us a good start,

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but I do believe there's another level

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of patient safety we can get to.

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Um, making sure like your
hospital has a, a, a, a good

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and well-functioning things
like an anticoagulation clinic.

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How do you do preoperative,
um, surgical assessment?

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How does your blood bank function?

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Does it function safely
and is it efficient?

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And then in areas like surgery,

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doubling down on things
like wrong side surgeries,

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retained foreign bodies,
lost specimens, um, you know,

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injuries that can happen with surgeries.

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And then so many other categories.

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And, and thinking about
patient safety a little bit

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differently, um, when it comes

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to like maybe GI adenoma
detection rates, nursing

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with telemetry and falls
and pressure injuries.

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I think all of these areas, there's a kind

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of an entry level patient safety,

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but then there's another level
we can get to when it comes

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to, to patient safety.

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So I think as far as leadership
goes, um, focusing on,

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um, some of the softer stuff

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and then at the same time, um, really,

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really focusing on getting
results and I think challenging,

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but I think that's gonna be,

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I think that's gonna be the future.

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- Absolutely. I, I think that's
such a fine line to walk,

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but certainly being able to
have that dual focus and,

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and doing it well, um, it
really seems like it would be,

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be a quality of successful leaders.

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I know, easier said
than done in many cases,

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but, um, certainly so,
so important to, uh,

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drive healthcare in the future.

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Matt, thank you so much for
joining us on the podcast today.

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This has been such a fun
and interesting discussion.

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I, I have like <laugh> a
couple of pages of notes here,

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just looking through everything
you talked about, um, seems

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so relevant and so important to, um,

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the healthcare space today.

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So we appreciate your time

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00:15:15,255 --> 00:15:16,275
and definitely look forward

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00:15:16,275 --> 00:15:17,555
to connecting with you again soon.

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00:15:18,645 --> 00:15:19,735
- Well, thanks so much, Laura.

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It's really been an honor to to be here

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and I appreciate the conversation.

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00:15:25,165 --> 00:15:27,655
- It's so important for leaders
at the top of organizations

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00:15:27,655 --> 00:15:30,415
to keep learning, stay
sharp, grow their networks

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00:15:30,755 --> 00:15:33,295
to help our audience better
do this in a more simplified,

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00:15:33,295 --> 00:15:34,975
personalized, and meaningful way.

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00:15:35,535 --> 00:15:38,015
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00:15:38,485 --> 00:15:40,495
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00:15:40,495 --> 00:15:42,215
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00:15:42,215 --> 00:15:43,535
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00:15:44,285 --> 00:15:46,255
Join the community free of charge at

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00:15:47,035 --> 00:15:51,295
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