- This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Matt McCambridge,
chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer
at Lehigh Valley Health Network.
Matt, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- Thank you so much for having me.
It's really an honor to be here.
- Now, I know we've got a lot to talk about.
There's so much happening in healthcare right now,
and certainly, you know, from Lehigh Valley,
just such a great, uh, program you have there.
So I'm excited to learn more about what you're doing
and and where things are headed.
But before we dive into my questions,
can you tell me a little bit more
about yourself and your background?
- Sure. Thank you. Um, I'd be happy to.
So I'm a pulmonary and critical care physician.
I still practice medicine about one day a week.
As a matter of fact, I just finished seeing patients, uh,
about a half hour ago, uh, mostly, uh, uh,
office practice now rather than ICU Medicine anymore.
I started my career.
I'm a little different than most people.
I started my career off in the United States Army.
I went to college
and medical school in the Washington DC area,
and then I went to Walter Reeve for all of my training,
internal medicine, pulmonary and critical care.
And then after that, uh, the Army, uh, sent me down
to Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
Um, and I served at Womack Army Medical Center.
I ran the ICUs there,
and I was also a battalion aid surgeon in
the 82nd Airborne Division.
So at that point, after about five years, I was, uh,
I had fulfilled my army commitment.
And at that point it was 2003,
and I came home, I came back home to civilian life, uh,
back here to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where I'm,
I'm sitting right now in Delia Valley Health Network.
And I started off as a staff position.
I had a number of leadership positions, um, president
of the medical staff, chairman of Critical Care.
And then about seven years ago, um,
after two years of graduate school, I went back
to grad school and got a master's in healthcare quality
and patient safety at Northwestern.
And then, um, about seven years ago, I got, I got this job
that I'm in now, um, chief Quality Patient Safety Officer.
And then about a year ago,
I got something added to my title.
I have a very long title. I have, um, chief Quality,
patient Safety and Acute Care Continuum Officer.
And that has a lot to do with, um, our,
our interest in value-based care.
Uh, so, and right now my areas of responsibility
are quality, patient safety.
I have infection control and infection prevention.
I have regulatory and accreditation.
Interestingly, I have radiation
safety that comes up through me.
Um, and then inpatient and transitional value-based care,
and then all other duties as assigned.
There's so many cheap quality officers have out there.
That's, uh, that's a big
category for me, that last category.
- Absolutely. That's fascinating to hear.
And certainly, you know, great, um, career
and experiences that you had growing up the ladder
and from a, a physician
and then having so many leadership roles as well.
And now I'm just continuing to expand your role
as healthcare evolves and changes, which is great.
What are some of the biggest issues
that you're following in healthcare right now?
- Well, there is so much going on in healthcare right now.
I have to say, one of the things that has my attention
very much, um, particularly with respect to quality
and safety, is the healthcare workforce challenges we're
having right now with nurses and physicians
and all the other staff, uh, PTOT x-ray Techs, uh,
surgical technicians everywhere.
Still, the challenges we're having
with the HE healthcare workforce
and how that impacts hospital finances
and then how all of that impacts quality
and safety, you know, and investment
into quality and safety.
And I think for me, over the last couple years,
that's probably the top thing, um, is the interaction
between all those factors, the workforce, the finances,
and then how that impacts, uh, quality and safety.
So that would be, I would say probably the, one
of the top things on my mind.
Another thing on my mind is, um, probably
what everybody else has been experiencing is the,
the mental health crisis in America, in our communities
and how that's impacting our hospitals, um,
and the, our mental health resources that we have
to help our communities.
And I think the last one that, uh, I've been impressed on
with this over this past year
or so is healthcare affordability, uh,
and people putting off care with potentially poor outcomes.
I think that's a, a big issue.
Those, those three things that the workforce
and how that impacts quality and safety, finances
and quality and safety, the mental health crisis,
which is an everyday thing, at least where we are here.
And then healthcare, affordability, the, the larger concept
of healthcare affordability
and, um, how that's impacting outcomes.
- That's really fascinating to hear,
and I appreciate you touching on all those factors
because I can imagine so many healthcare executives across
the country are, are really seeing similar things
and, um, trying to work through those challenges.
As you mentioned, thinking about finances
and how, you know, um, the workforce
redesigning certain aspects of the workforce, clinical
as well as an administrative,
and then, you know, how
that can impact the organization financially, mental health
as well as huge for so many different communities.
I know, particularly for you as well in Pennsylvania.
And then finally the affordability of healthcare, um,
really makes a big difference when you look at all
of those things together.
Um, is there anything
that you've been doing at Lehigh Valley Health Network, um,
to really address any of these issues
that's had some great results?
- Well, uh, will do so many things in all
of those different areas that, um,
that I think is probably not all that unique to us.
I think the one thing that was particularly excited about
is, um, virtual nursing
and how virtual nursing can support the bedside nurses.
Um, we opened up, uh, the ninth
tele ICU in the country way back in 2004,
and we've been very heavily interested
and heavily invested in telemedicine.
I saw nine patients today,
and three of them were video visits.
And that video platform has been transformative to us
through COID and we're really starting to leverage
that in our virtual nursing space.
Uh, there's, uh,
some health systems out there like Houston Methodist that
are, are really setting, uh,
setting the tone for the rest of us.
And we're trying to, uh, we're trying to do that same thing
and, and, um, take some of these more seasoned nurses
that may be closer to retirement
or other nurses that are,
are interested in getting away from the bedside, um, and,
and having them work in virtual nursing.
And another thing that we're doing here
is at our health system, we have 21,000 employees,
and we have, um, many nurses
that work in administrative roles.
And those nurses are also working part-time in virtual
nursing, so maybe spending 5%
of their week as virtual nurses.
And, and that's something that, um,
that we're doing here as well.
So really excited ab about that
and how that's gonna potentially help this larger problem.
- It's so fascinating to hear about
and definitely great that, you know,
it seems like you were early in terms of some
of your virtual care, um, you know, pursuing
that in in virtual nursing too.
Is there anything else that you're looking at
that you're excited about or what also makes you nervous?
- Yeah, so I'm, uh,
I'm really excited about some of the things.
I, I just saw a bunch of patients today,
and I, I was thinking as I was seeing one of my patients
that, um, over the last 25 years as a pulmonary doctor,
there's been such dramatic changes.
It used to be that the patients would come to me with
x-rays, uh, in a middle, you know, in a, in a, in a folder,
and it would hardly be tracked on everything.
And I had really complicated patients today,
and you can just, it's all right there in front
of me in the electronic medical record.
And it's just really amazing.
And some of the advancements that I'm really excited about
are in medical technology, uh, what we're doing
and what the rest of the country is
doing in robotic surgery.
I already mentioned telemedicine, wearable health devices,
personalized medicine,
and how all of that ultimately,
hopefully we'll have positive outcomes, uh, for patients.
So that's one area I'm really excited about.
I would say another area that has really got my intention
and we're really excited about here is, um,
the innovative treatments and therapies, um, particularly,
and I'm sure you've been following this
with the, the weight loss drugs.
Um, medications for congestive heart failure seem
to be coming a, have really come a long way.
The gene and cell therapies
for certain diseases like spinal muscle atrophy, um,
leukemia, uh, the CAR T cell therapies for leukemia
and lymphomas, gene editing, the and,
and CRISPR Cas nine therapies.
There's just so much happening now that's really exciting,
uh, immunotherapies, regenerative medicine.
There's just so much to be positive about
and be excited about, and that's what I'm excited about.
I have to say, the thing that makes me nervous about all
that is, uh, the rising cost of healthcare.
Um, many of those things I just mentioned are
so unbelievably expensive
and, um, you know, um, we're already spending,
we're already spending $1.7 trillion a year, uh,
at least on Medicare and Medicaid, um, 4.3
or so trillion dollars in healthcare
and these new therapies while they're, you know,
potentially wonderful and lifesaving.
The thing that concerns me is, um, the rise in costs
of, of, of healthcare.
And the other thing that concerns me is, uh,
healthcare access and disparities, um, leading
to unequal health comes that's very important.
And I would say, um, you know, um,
provider shortages and burnout is of course, on,
on our list here and on my list, health system complexity.
And then of course, data security, um, something
that we have to, all healthcare administrators,
I think right now are, are very keenly aware of.
And so there you go.
I think another thing that's,
that's interesting is we've made a lot
of progress in patient safety.
Um, but I, I think there's a lot of progress that needs
to be made yet with regard to patient safety.
And I think we've, we've,
we've made a good start in patient safety,
but there's a lot more, a lot
more progress that needs to be made.
- Absolutely. I think that's such a great point.
You know, definitely look back
and see how much, uh, you've grown and,
and like you said, progress has been made, been able
to do more to keep patients safe,
but then still, you know, there, there's so much, um, left
to be done and, and certainly, um, a lot
of room for innovation.
Where do you see as, um, being important for leaders
to become the most effective healthcare leaders possible
over the next two to three years or so?
What will help leaders be successful, especially
as healthcare changes, as we see some
of the different dynamics in the field change
as technology improves and all those kinds of things?
What should leaders be thinking about?
- Yeah, so I read this wonderful book a few years ago, um,
by Elizabeth Rosenthal.
She's a Harvard trained ed doctor
who writes in the New York Times from time to time.
And she also wrote a book called An American Sickness,
uh, excellent book.
And there's one thing she said in that book
that really resonates with me.
And I think, um, healthcare right now, healthcare leaders,
uh, people like me are trying to find that balance
between the Mother Theresa side of healthcare
and the Goldman Sachs side of healthcare
and trying to find that perfect balance.
And I think that effective leaders moving forward,
um, I just would submit this to you that, uh,
potentially should be thinking about doubling down on the
quote unquote the softer stuff.
Things like, um, awareness
and empathy, um, humility, you know, um,
uh, authenticity, those types of things.
And I think, I think, um, you know,
it's gonna be a little funny to say,
but I think just kind of getting back to the basics
with respect to our patients
and, um, making sure that on the Mother Teresa side
of healthcare that we're, we're, um, making sure
that we surround our patients with love
and protecting our patients when they need to be protected,
um, from the patient safety standpoint, advocating
and fighting for our patients when they need to be advocated
and fought for, particularly patients
that don't look like me, you know, um, patients that, um,
that need us to, to be fought for.
And then comfort patients when they need
to be comfort comforted.
And I think healthcare leaders doubling down on things like
love and respect, respect for our workers,
respect for our patients.
I think that will, will be really, really important.
And I think one other thing is, so that's all good, um,
talking about that software stuff,
but I think the healthcare leaders also have to get results.
Um, and I think the results that healthcare leaders need
to be getting in the next few years
with the way healthcare finances are right now is in areas
of, um, efficiency and waste is one area.
And another area is, is is patient safety.
So efficiency and waste.
Um, I think there's an awful lot of opportunity, uh,
within our health systems to become more efficient
for our patients so that the patients, uh, are moving
through the system better, there's less waste.
Um, and I think that's a really important concept.
And then for patient safety, I think it's important
for healthcare leaders to be, I think leapfrog a
and CMS star ratings, all of those are wonderful things.
They've gotten us a good start,
but I do believe there's another level
of patient safety we can get to.
Um, making sure like your hospital has a, a, a, a good
and well-functioning things like an anticoagulation clinic.
How do you do preoperative, um, surgical assessment?
How does your blood bank function?
Does it function safely and is it efficient?
And then in areas like surgery,
doubling down on things like wrong side surgeries,
retained foreign bodies, lost specimens, um, you know,
injuries that can happen with surgeries.
And then so many other categories.
And, and thinking about patient safety a little bit
differently, um, when it comes
to like maybe GI adenoma detection rates, nursing
with telemetry and falls and pressure injuries.
I think all of these areas, there's a kind
of an entry level patient safety,
but then there's another level we can get to when it comes
to, to patient safety.
So I think as far as leadership goes, um, focusing on,
um, some of the softer stuff
and then at the same time, um, really,
really focusing on getting results and I think challenging,
but I think that's gonna be,
I think that's gonna be the future.
- Absolutely. I, I think that's such a fine line to walk,
but certainly being able to have that dual focus and,
and doing it well, um, it really seems like it would be,
be a quality of successful leaders.
I know, easier said than done in many cases,
but, um, certainly so, so important to, uh,
drive healthcare in the future.
Matt, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
This has been such a fun and interesting discussion.
I, I have like a couple of pages of notes here,
just looking through everything you talked about, um, seems
so relevant and so important to, um,
the healthcare space today.
So we appreciate your time
and definitely look forward
to connecting with you again soon.
- Well, thanks so much, Laura.
It's really been an honor to to be here
and I appreciate the conversation.
- It's so important for leaders at the top of organizations
to keep learning, stay sharp, grow their networks
to help our audience better do this in a more simplified,
personalized, and meaningful way.
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