- Prepare to dive into the forefront
of healthcare innovation at our 14th annual meeting coming
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through 11th at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, with thousands
of industry leaders converging over four dynamic days
of discussions on crucial topics from health IT
to executive leadership.
It's where the future of healthcare takes shape.
We can't wait to connect with you in person
and engage in these important conversations.
- This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr.
Alexa Kimball, CEO of the Harvard Medical Faculty,
physicians and Board member of Beth Israel Lehe Health.
Dr. Kim Melissa, it's a pleasure
to have you on the podcast today.
- Thanks so much for having me
- Now, I know we've got a lot to talk about
and I'm certainly really excited to learn more about
what you're doing at Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians.
I think there's just so much happening in healthcare
and things are changing so quickly.
But before we dive into our discussion,
can you tell me a little bit more about
yourself and your background?
- Uh, thanks so much. So I have been, uh, president
and CEO of this amazing organization for about eight years.
We're a a specialty academic faculty practice plan
of about 2000 providers
and 2200 employees here in Eastern Massachusetts.
Uh, I'm proud to say about two thirds of our faculty
are Harvard, uh, medical school faculty members,
and the rest are amazing Clinicians
who work in our community are a critical part
of everything we do every day
to take great care of patients.
I am also a dermatologist by training,
and I continue to see patients
and manage them with complex dermatologic diseases.
Uh, while it's sometimes hard to squeeze it all in it,
I think makes me much better at my job in understanding
what it is our physicians are trying to do every day,
what our patients are experiencing,
and how we put it all together in a way
that is really holistic to take the best care
of people. Well,
- That's great to hear and certainly so exciting
that you've got a great vantage point in terms of
so many physicians within the organization.
And then too, as you continue to practice
and bring that knowledge
and expertise to your role, what are some
of the biggest issues that you're
following in healthcare today?
- Well, of course, as a leader of a physician group,
my biggest concern is about the welfare
and wellbeing of our physicians.
And we've talked a lot about burnout over the past several
years, and, and I think we've made some good progress in
understanding what's affecting people, what we can, um,
change for them, where we can address some issues.
But we're entering another very dynamic period
as we've seen physicians continue to move into employment,
uh, largely because of both the administrative issues,
but also the tremendous financial pressures.
Uh, we are seeing, um, lots
of changes in certain specialties due
to private equity acquisitions
and an astounding number of physicians in some fields
who are changing their jobs with rapidity.
Some of the most dramatic data I've seen recently is in both
dermatology and ophthalmology, where 50%
and about 35% respectively
of those physicians had changed their sight
of practice over a five year period.
So it's a very dynamic time.
The financial pressures are real,
and until we finish advocating for more, um,
uh, increases for Medicare, for example,
I think these trends are inevitable to continue.
- Oh, that's fascinating to hear, you know, and,
and certainly, um, just really critical
as you were talking about, to look at that, um,
not only the physician wellness
and how they're doing combating burnout is clear, um,
but then to some of these other dynamics
and forces coming into the healthcare space,
whether it's private equity
or other, um,
non-traditional healthcare companies coming in.
And then too, you talked about dermatology
and ophthalmology changing the site of practice.
Are are they going more outpatient, inpatient?
What are you seeing?
- What I think we're seeing for some
of the specialties like dermatology
and ophthalmology, is
that their practices are being acquired.
Um, and so they are being rolled up into
larger organizations.
So while some of those physicians stay in those practices
and continue to practice there, um, both the locations
where they're practicing and the ownership
of those practices are changing.
And so that's where we're seeing, if you look at,
for example, the Medicare databases that their practice, um,
affiliations have been adjusted.
Uh, you know, it didn't used to be that way, right?
You used to go into private practice
and you stayed there for 20 or 30 years.
So we're seeing a lot of changes there.
The other groups that are being affected very dramatically
are things like anesthesia and hospitalist medicine
and emergency department medicine, um, as well
what we see there, again, sometimes the aggregation
of these physician groups
and more of a turn to almost a gig economy
where physicians can travel around the United States
and pick up employment temporarily in some places
where there are are needs,
but it's leading to a very unpredictable
physician, uh, landscape.
- It is really fascinating,
is something we're certainly watching very closely as well.
Now, when you're looking ahead,
what makes you excited and what makes you nervous?
- Well, I'll start with the nervous, which I think, uh,
you know, is synergistic with what I just talked about is,
is that we have been projecting
physician shortages for some time.
But I think all the changes
that we are seeing in the physician workforce right now, uh,
including physicians reducing their overall hours,
particularly their patient facing hours, will continue
the concept that people are gonna retire early has
never really panned out.
But we definitely see overall in the trends
that physician hours are down.
And so access to physicians,
which is already a major problem in most places,
uh, is only gonna continue.
Now, that said, uh, I am incredibly excited about what, uh,
medicine has to offer patients
and, uh, you know, even just over the past few days,
it's an amazing feeling when you have, um, a sick child
or a sick adult
and you get them to the right expert
who can just look at the problem and say, I know what to do.
I know how to help you all. I'm not confused by this.
Uh, and I have experience in this,
and we make people so much better when we make
that connection of, of that experience.
Um, and it's incredibly gratifying.
We do so many things so well in medicine.
We just have to figure out how to organize the system better
to get the the right care to the right people.
I know that sounds a little bit trite,
but again, that feeling of getting the right patient
to the right expert in the moment that they need,
it makes such a difference.
- I can imagine. You know, as you mentioned, it is just, um,
so, uh, broad of a task to do that
with every single patient, but certainly exciting
that the possibility is there.
And now, especially as you were talking through, is some
of the different technology
and ability to connect with patients on different levels.
Um, it'll be interesting to see how
that continues to play out.
- Uh, and I think, you know, while there's a lot of hype
around AI that probably exceeds its, um,
reality in many levels, um, one of the areas
where I do think there can be some real health isn't
reducing some of the administrative burden for physicians.
Um, and that's where I'm excited about seeing some
of the applications really emerge.
- That makes sense. That makes sense.
So, you know, given the, these trends,
whether we're looking at, um, you know,
the physician workforce
or some of the, the different ways
that specialties are changing, um, the,
the really whole field is changing, what do you see
as being most effective, um, for he healthcare leaders?
What do they need in order to be successful over the next
two to three years or so?
- Uh, healthcare leaders have better be able
to hang on a tight, it's gonna be a little bit
of a rollercoaster ride.
I think, uh, as we get to the next few years,
there's a lot of things on the horizon.
Uh, the fiscal pressures as we talked about,
the regulatory changes, um,
and I think some of the oversight
that is now being discussed in a lot
of different areas, uh, ahead.
So I think it's about maintaining your compass in the middle
of all of this and being able to adapt to changes that
that are coming,
but also be thinking proactively about the changes
that are likely to happen, uh,
and be a little bit ahead of the game where you can, um, it,
uh, be aware, make sure you're talking to your colleagues.
Everyone is experiencing many of the same problems,
but everyone's solving them a little bit differently.
Uh, and I think the more that we have conversations about
how to address these things, the better off we're gonna be.
- That makes a lot of sense. Dr.
Kimball, thank you so much for joining
us on the podcast today.
This has been such a fun conversation
and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
- Great. Thanks so much for having me today.