This is where health care leadership comes together.
Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
speakers to Chicago
April.
This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas
Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former president George
w Bush. For the agenda and event details,
visit beckershospitalreview.com
and click on the events tab in the
upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
in
Chicago.
This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Tessa
Inouisky,
CEO and president of Loreto Hospital. Tessa, it's
a pleasure to have you on the podcast
today. Thank you, Laura. I'm excited to be
here.
Absolutely. Now I'm looking forward to our conversation
because it's covering a an extremely important topic
today, thinking about health equity, safety net hospitals,
and how they're preparing for some of the
coverage losses that are coming, down the pipe
over the next year or two. So,
I think this will be a very valuable
discussion, and I'm looking forward to digging in.
But before we do, can you tell us
a little bit more about yourself as well
as Loreto Hospital?
Oh, absolutely. Loreto
Hospital is a community safety net,
hospital located on the West Side Of Chicago
in the Austin community.
We serve a very high Medicaid population.
Our current,
status about 84%
Medicaid with another 11%
that struggle with,
self pay or and or charity care.
We've been around for over one hundred years.
We are a full service hospital. We do
not do trauma, but we do
general and acute care at the hospital.
I've been with the organization,
for fifteen and a half years.
In the current capacity, the last three and
a half,
I'm very excited to have,
been home quote, unquote homegrown,
and was able to be elevated into this
role having served a number of roles throughout,
my time here at Loretto Hospital, but very
excited about the current role that I'm in
and all of the,
impacts that we can that I believe that
we can make as an institution in terms
of redefining
and rebranding,
the role and reputation of safety nets, not
just in Chicago, but throughout the country.
Absolutely. I love that. And, you know, clearly,
Loreto Hospital is a,
is a very special place for you.
What do you see as being something that,
you know, has really kept you there for
fifteen years? What about Loretto Hospital is so
important and, you know, how, have you been
able to grow your passion for safety net
hospitals?
Absolutely. Well, I come from a family who,
has been involved in social service for over,
forty five years. And so I think it
just runs through my veins.
But more importantly, I think I've I've had
some personal experiences in terms of the health
care system,
and dealing with some of the social disparities,
that are impacted by vulnerable populations.
I myself in my younger years had
encountered or experienced several challenges and so for
me it is very personal,
very passionate about making sure that
you know, health care inequities
are addressed in at risk and vulnerable communities.
And so,
again, it just it's it I was born
for this.
My family happens to run one of the
largest outreach
homeless agencies in the city of Chicago. And
so,
my mother is an executive director. My both
of my sisters are COOs. My daughter's the
LCSW.
So we we are all heavily embedded in
the space of social service, host social and
human services.
That's amazing to hear. And, you know, what
an important service that all of those things
are in in Loretta Hospital too, to the
Chicago community. And,
just really, really grateful to have you and
your family
having great deep roots here in Chicago.
Now from your perspective, when you think about
safety net hospitals,
how are you preparing for the increased patient
demand in 2026?
I know some of the legislative changes,
will impact
the way, you know, that patients are, finding
access to care, coverage, and more. And so
could you talk to us a little bit
about the things you're watching most closely and
how you're preparing for the next couple of
years?
Absolutely. Well, obviously, the proposed Medicaid cuts would
significantly impact our patient population.
Again, we serve, 84%,
Medicaid population again with another 11%
charity care and self pay. And so one
thing that we're looking very closely at is
is seeing that whether that self pay number
starts to arrive, and and we've actually started
to see that trend. So we're monitoring that
very closely. As a safety net institution,
having that designation means that we serve patients
regardless of their ability to pay.
Anyone who walks through our emergency room door
doors gets service. And so we are, deeply
committed to that mission
to making sure that anyone who needs,
access to care gets the care they need
when they need it most.
And, so we're looking at contrary to what
other people,
are likely talking about is, you know, layoffs
and cuts. That's the first thing that you,
you know, comes to mind when you're talking
about,
resources and dollars being stretched. But on the
other hand, we're looking at it as how
can we reimagine
our service delivery? How can we reimagine health
care in this community so that the twin
ten to twenty year death gap that
these are are well, our communities experience
when you talk about seven miles away
that, you know, people are living at the
80 and and, you know, on the West
Side Of Chicago or on the Southwest Side,
you're looking at a twenty year difference. And
so looking at really growing our service line
and how can we be a better partner
to
other, community based organizations and health care providers
in the community,
and how can we be a better partner
with some of the larger public and private
institutions that
have capacity issues. Currently, we're seeing
upwards of five to six months just to
get a a diagnostic test procedure to,
determine what's wrong with you even before you
can begin treatment. And so I think,
that plays a tremendous burden on on a
person's,
quality of life, their mental well-being,
not knowing what's happening or what's going on
with with their bodies, and,
having to wait long periods of time. And
I think there's an opportunity for,
larger institutions to really partner with their local
safety nets to decrease those capacity issues so
that,
health care inequities and access to care doesn't
continue to diminish.
That makes a lot of sense. It is
helpful to understand. I think, you know, looking
at it and having that mindset shift of
not, you know, hey. How are we cutting?
But, really, what do we need to do
in order to,
continue to provide these services and thinking differently
and creating different models of care. And in
those partnerships that you mentioned,
I think are are so critical. Are there
any that, you know, you've been able to
enter into that have been particularly fruitful or
or something that is kind of in the
works that you can talk a little bit
about, you know, to to dig a little
bit deeper into the ways that you're working
with the community in in really finding solutions,
you know, in different ways than you have
in the past?
Oh, absolutely. So Colorado Hospital is a partner
with two,
HFS,
transformation
collaboratives in the state of Illinois.
One is Wellness West. The other is Collaborative
Bridges.
So we partner with those,
institutions
that bring in a number of community partners
and, again, community based organizations to really enhance
service delivery and access for those in the
community.
So that if we don't have the current
capacity,
then we can do some very warm handoffs
to one of our partners
because I think the we don't want to
lose patients and individuals that need care because
there's no immediate access. And so I think
in times when resources are strained,
we we tend to go into survival mode.
The immediate thing is
competition and not collaboration. And I think when
you're talking about
the lives of human beings and then and
and their health care needs, it has to
always
be collaboration. We cannot
continue to move in terms of putting profit
over people. And so I think we do
a great job of partnering with,
all of our partners in in both of
those collaboratives.
Collaborative Bridges tends to focus more on the
behavior health aspect,
and then Wellness West does, some behavior health,
but, addresses a lot of the primary care
issues that the community and our patients are
faced with. So I think, again, we need
to continue to build on those collaborations
to make sure that we are keeping patients
within our bandwidth.
No one should have to travel
more than a couple miles to get care.
Community,
based hospitals and community based organizations
are critical to that effort.
That makes a lot of sense. And, you
know, it is really important to have those
access points and,
additional support.
I'm curious. When you look at the community
overall, how do you see it shifting and
changing? Who is being most impacted by some
of these coverage losses? And,
where do you anticipate,
you know, needing to,
shift in order to fill some of those
gaps?
Oh goodness. Yes. The reality is clear.
Now more than ever, it's expensive,
to be poor in America.
And we are really looking at how looking
at ways that if these Medicaid cuts go
through
and and those,
requirements that are now needed in terms of
workforce,
the workforce requirement, that we are doing what
we can to partner with our patients to
address those needs. And so we have a
free we will be the first,
hospital based free grocery store in the country.
And we're looking forward to,
partnering with our patients so that they can
volunteer
and fulfill their work requirements in our,
free grocery stores. So we're looking at a
number of ways on how we can partner
with our community to make sure that they
are not impacted, the food insecurities and some
of the other,
things that the community is facing.
That's amazing to hear. And I I love
that idea of the free grocery store and
and providing that type of resource because those
food insecurities are very real and have such
a huge impact on the health of individuals
as well as families,
and how they're,
really wellness journey,
moves forward. So when you think about that,
the free grocery store, can you tell us
a little bit more about that and, how
you set it up and and where you
see it headed and and growing?
Oh my goodness. We are super excited.
We we are now looking at probably early
summer before,
we are able to open our doors and
and launch that initiative. But the West Side
Of Chicago is is impacted with food insecurities.
We're in a health care, well, we're in
a health care desert, but we're in a
food desert,
and a healthy food desert. And so we
want to make sure that based on the
health care,
needs of the communities, a lot of patients
have diabetes
and do deal with cardiovascular
issues. And so we want to make sure
that we not only are providing food, but
we're also providing healthy food alternatives
to the patients in the community. And so
we hope to launch that
initiative
again in the summer, and there'll be an
educational component tied to that. So we just
don't want to supply,
you know, food.
We want to help individuals,
and educate individuals on the importance of eating
healthy to kinda
decrease some of the comorbidities that the community
is faced with.
So we're, you know, super excited about that
effort.
Got it. That's helpful to understand it. You
know, we'll be looking forward to learning more
as we're able to launch in that following
on its success.
I'm curious,
in general, where hospitals are feeling a lot
of strain right now is looking at staffing
pressures.
Some are having to do cutbacks. Others are,
you know, seeing shortages,
just be exacerbated by the increased demand for
care. And so what are you doing internally
at Loretto Hospital, to really make sure, you
know, you've got a a workforce that's stable
and and addressing some of the wellness needs
of the teen too. Oh oh, absolutely. No.
We already deal safety net hospitals already deal
with,
live you know,
working off of and operating off of,
very lean margins.
And we simply don't have the flexibility to
absorb any level of reduction in in Medicaid
funding because,
you know, the it's a it's a greater
conversation. It's not just our entities are not
just vital to the communities because of the
health care access,
but also because of the economic development that
we do we give to the community. So
Loreto Hospital contributes,
approximately $200,000,000
to the local economy.
If our doors were to close, you're talking
about just shy of 500 individuals that could
lose their jobs
or and what does that do to the
unemployment rates, and what does that do to,
you know, the crime and violence that, you
know, the trends tend to see when unemployment
is,
has skyrocketed.
And so,
the greater picture is looking at both the
health care access and and being committed to
addressing the health care inequity,
but also understanding the value,
that the our institutions bring to the communities
that we serve. And so
workforce,
you know, for us, it's about reinvestment.
I think I'm a true testimony and testament
to
having grown up within the organization
and being able to move into this new
leadership role. And so what we wanna do
is we know our we know our team
members are our greatest asset, and we want
them to work at their highest level of
of certifications
and and capability.
And we wanna we we want to invest
in them. A lot of times, we see
our workforce are in positions not, you know,
out of necessity
dream for their lives.
And so we want to support our team,
in that in every effort, in every phase,
so that they can live,
the the life that they dream for themselves
and that they can move and grow within
the organization like myself.
I love that. I I think it's so
critical to have that model, that you are
of growing within the organization and, you know,
achieving now the the highest position within the
hospital, which is so so impressive and a
meaningful journey.
And, you know, when you think about that
pipeline and uplifting your team and and making
sure that, you know, talent continues to grow
and flourish there, is what do you do,
or how do you make sure you've got
a a strong pipeline of leaders around you,
so that, you know, no matter what, the
organization can drive?
Sure. I I think it's important to make
sure that, you know, you you have a
you set out, you know, always first, put
the mission first. Right?
What why are we here, and making sure
that we maintain that several same level of
commitment and dedication.
And then really getting the buy in from
not just your leadership team, but as well
as your team members. Where are we going
as as an organization and
allowing,
them to be a process
to be a part of the process
of us reimagining who we want to be
in the future.
I think that's how you get,
individuals committed to the work,
where you see longevity. We've been fortunate to
have
a number of team members that have been
with our institution. One was here upwards of
fifty years. He started when he was 18
and retired after,
just a little over fifty years. And so
a lot of our employees,
they love to to work where they live.
I think that's important that we,
hire from the community, that we're supporting the
community
in that, f in that vein as well.
And so our workforce is critically important. Our
leadership team is critically important to to the
work that we're doing. And and, again, it's
about being heard.
It's about
being a part of the process.
This cannot happen,
with one individual.
The CEO does not have a wave of
magic wand and everything works. It is the
collective effort and collaboration,
of a leadership team along with all the
team members with the within the organization sharing
that vision
for,
our service delivery
and for our future goals and dreams.
I love that. Thank you so much for
for joining us on the podcast today. It's
been such a fun conversation.
Deysa, one more question for you.
When you look into the future and as
safety net hospitals continue to to grow and
evolve, what advice do you have for other
executives and leaders as they're trying to look
out and and really seeing a lot of
challenges in front of them? What do you,
do to make sure that you are focused
in in the right place? What advice do
you have for them to kind of navigate
these challenging waters?
Oh, I I I think it's time for
us to be intentional and innovative in health
care reform for safety net, systems and community
hospitals.
Not just funding that gets us through the
year, but support that allows us to stabilize
our operations,
to build sustainability
and increase capacity.
Doing some advocacy with your, local
and and elected officials,
making sure that they really understand the
the operational
of how safety nets are are one paid.
We're paid on a very integrated,
funding formula, which I think needs to be
addressed, and we need to do some advocacy
around that. But, again,
doing the advocacy, telling your stories,
sharing the data in terms of the lives
that you've impacted,
and, again, growing your your service lines. If
we continue to cut and chop away,
unfortunately,
those health care disparities
will will continue to grow. And so for
me, I firmly believe that the antidote for
communities in crisis is access and investment.
I think transformative investment
allows us
to to really grow and to create a
sustainability
model that will see us for the next
one hundred years, see us through the next
one hundred years.
I love that. Keesa, thank you so much
for joining us on the podcast today. This
has been such a a fun and inspiring
conversation, and I look forward to connecting with
you again soon. Thank you. Thank you, Laura.
Thank you for having me.