This is Chris Os with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Chanda Chak,
CEO of Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha. Chanda,
thank you for joining us today.
Thanks. I'm really excited to be here today.
Excellent.
Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?
Absolutely. I'm Chanda Chaco,
I'm the president and c e o here at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in
Omaha. And I have always been in pediatric healthcare.
I started my healthcare career at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston and
was there for 14 years doing a little bit of everything.
I started as an administrative fellow.
I was in pharmacy ambulatory operations,
the fetal center, the heart center, the maternity center. Um,
I went out to our West Houston community campus in the end of my career and then
headed to Arkansas Children's in Little Rock and was the chief operating officer
for the system there. And really was,
had a great opportunity to do and use the skills I'd learned at Texas Children's
that we had done really in a citywide level because we were 4 million people in
Houston, uh, then across the state in Arkansas.
So it was a great opportunity to scale, um,
my experience to a statewide view and um,
in a state that had challenges in child health and also had a lot of
rural, um, environments and so learned a ton there. Was there for four years,
um, was really a great experience. Learned quite a bit.
And then joined the children's team here in Omaha in September of 2020,
uh, right during the pandemic.
What would you say are the biggest challenges in scaling up as you referred to,
and how did you overcome them?
Yeah, it's perspective.
And so I think the skills that I learned in Houston in an urban
environment that was, um,
really densely populated gave an a unique perspective of,
um, what the tools could be and what the potential solutions were.
And then moving to a state and looking at um, you know,
rural areas and different, um, components of the community.
The same skills really for me, um, stood out. It was the,
how that was different.
So when you're going into a rural community in say southeast Arkansas,
um,
it's important to connect with the people and not come in as the big children's
hospital to say, here's how we can help you, but really engage the community.
And I, I think for me,
that focus on people has been something that's been important part of my career
from the very beginning.
And so it was really looking at all these opportunities we had and what was the
community interested in. And so, um,
for me it was really a great opportunity to um,
really see how solutions in one large urban environment might not
exactly be the same thing that is needs to be in a rural um, environment,
but certainly gives a place to start to have the conversation. So,
um, for me it was just an awesome opportunity to get very focused on building
relationships that, um, were across the state versus across the city.
I will tell you,
Houston takes forever to drive across and so it probably took me the same amount
of time to drive across Houston as it did driving from little Rockton,
Northwest Arkansas.
. Uh,
given your perspective now as c e o there for almost three years, uh,
what would you say are the biggest issues you're following right now?
Gosh, you know,
it's issues and opportunities because I certainly think in healthcare we're such
a dynamic environment and we have to be nimble.
What I've seen happen in the last couple of years since I've been here at
Children's is just the,
the people market has changed so dramatically where in healthcare,
the more than 20 years I've been in healthcare,
we've always seen nursing staffing via challenge.
What we're seeing now is it's across the entire healthcare system in lots of
roles.
And so it's really pushed us in healthcare to be more agile and nimble
in focusing on our, our people.
And that's to me the biggest part of the work we do.
And we're more competitive now across other industries where historically,
you know, people who wanted to work in healthcare really flock towards that.
Were having to use much more unique strategies for retention and wellbeing of
our own team members and also to help attract people into healthcare that might
not have thought that that is an opportunity for them.
And really help people either develop a,
why they want to be in healthcare or just be the kind of company that's
competitive with the bigger companies that are not healthcare related.
And people say, gosh,
at Children's they offer really great benefits and they are very focused on
wellbeing and it feels like they care about me as an individual and that's what
attracts people in. And we've had to be much more agile with, um,
that thinking.
And I think that's very exciting in looking at how we build teams,
how we build models of care and really pushing our thinking around
maybe something that's been the same thing we've done forever in healthcare and
we have to think about it differently. I find that really energizing. Um,
and it's been very energizing for our team to be able to say, there's no box.
You have to think within it. Just, just think of the best solution.
So I see that the people part of our work, um,
as probably the biggest challenge that we're all facing. And it's not just,
you know, I don't call it staffing cuz it's more important to me than that.
It's really about how we retain great people,
how we develop the p the workforce pipeline,
the next generation of leaders for the future that are already at our
organization. So I think that's pretty exciting.
I'm gonna use that right there as a segue.
So what else energizes you as far as being competitive or retaining staff and
people or connecting with your community and what makes you a little bit
nervous?
Sure. Um, let's see, what else makes me excited? Innovation,
I think you spoke to Ryan Cameron,
a executive on our team and it was intentional that we doubled down not only on
the people promise that we have for our own team members and the patients and
families we serve, but on investing in innovation. And if, um,
there's not a lot of dollars on the healthcare innovation pipeline that are
invested in pediatric healthcare because we are such a diverse population,
right? We're from birth until 19 and sometimes older.
And so it's,
it is a difficult business proposition to invest in innovation when
our population is so diverse just on age size, all those things.
And so we knew we would have to be very, um,
purposeful in our work around innovation because the patients and families we
serve really deserve us to be excellent. And um,
so we had to really focus on how we were going to elevate that work.
And that for me is kind of exciting and also certainly a little bit in
intimidating when you think we're in the same game with really big innovative
companies. The difference for me is that we know our population really well.
We have a very tight relationship with our team members and they are really
smart and have really great ideas of the work we could do to do this work
better. Not just from a research side, but a day-to-day work, right?
How do we think differently and really expand the horizons of things that may
never have been done in healthcare but could propel the work we do,
the efficiencies we have.
And that for me is really exciting to think about what healthcare will look like
five years from now. Uh,
we changed a lot during Covid and we're forced into that real digital
space. And now like we talk about digital innovation,
it's just part of our language now and that feels exciting.
We have tons of data and information in healthcare.
How do we use that in our organizations to help us be more efficient and
effective in the work we do?
I think that's not only the right thing to do for the care we provide to
patients and families, but it's also right for our employees, right?
If I knew my employer was helping intentionally focus on innovation to make
my work easier, more effective, that feels pretty exciting.
I wanna be a part of that. And so I'm really looking forward to how um,
we are gonna,
how the industry and how we specifically here at Children's will look five years
from now and how we do our work.
I love how you said there is no box. So as you look forward in the,
to the next 18 months or so,
how do you anticipate your roles gonna change and how are your team teams going
to have to change?
Yeah, I have spent a lot of time in the past year and you know,
focusing our team on how important it is to remember that
healthcare and healthcare organizations only provide about 20% of health
to people. 80% is determined outside of our walls.
And so we have really shifted our focus in the work we do to also
include that 80% outside of our walls and how do we partner differently more
effectively and how do we really refine our work to not not be that sort of big
brother idea of coming and saying do it how we want to,
but really standing side by side with organizations in the community,
with schools, with community partners to say,
you're already doing really great work.
How do we help you go faster and go bigger and not need to smack our logo
on it? Right? For me,
doing the right thing in child health and making an impact in child health is
the right thing to do regardless of logos.
And I think credit comes where partnerships happen and that's how people talk
in communities. And so for me, you know, my time is, uh,
progressively more spent externally to the organization, um,
are still a hundred percent our focus. Our core mission is, uh,
providing great healthcare to families,
but our mission at Children's is to improve the life of every child,
not just the health. And to be able to do both those things,
we have to be external.
And so our team is spending more time building partnerships,
building relationships in the community, in regions and in the national front.
And I only anticipate that's gonna increase as we realize how integrated we are,
um, here in our community, but just really, uh,
further out and those relationships and partnerships help us solve big problems
like mental health, right,
or child abuse that's not gonna be solved by one organization.
It's gonna be solved by us partnering together to do the best thing for kids.
As far as building relationships and building a strong community.
And you're a part in that.
You've advocated for kids and foster care as a support appointed special
advocate, which is terrific.
So how has that influenced your leadership style first and foremost?
Oh gosh, it is, um, probably the most impactful thing I've done in my life.
Um, I don't have my own children, uh,
biologic children and so this was my way to make an impact personally in
kids' lives. And I remember when I was in Houston, everyone would say,
I don't know how you have enough time to do that work.
And I think you make time for things that are important.
And my dad used to tell me as a, as a little kid when, uh,
you're really full ice cream always fits in,
it fits in the little open places for dessert.
And I see child advocates and being a court appointed child advocate as that
kind of work for me. Um, I have served over, gosh,
over 15 kids that have been in the system and have relationships still with
several of them and really feel, uh, personally gosh,
honored to have been able to be a part of their journey and to see how
successful they've been. And for me, that's the personal part of leadership.
It's why I'm in pediatrics is for the impact that we can make early in
kids' lives and in families' lives that help change their memories,
change their trajectory for the rest of their life. And I just,
I feel really honored that I got to be in the journey with these families and
these kids who, um,
gosh taught me as much as I taught them, if not more. And that's, uh,
been real powerful for me to realize that individuals can make a really big
impact.
And that's a big reason why I came here to Children's in Omaha is because
this is the kind of place,
this is a size of city where individuals can still make a really big impact.
And the community here is very nimble, moves quickly,
partners really rapidly.
And that for me is an exciting place to be when we can see big work and big
shifts happen really rapidly. Cuz if it's the right thing to do,
we shouldn't stand in the way of ourselves waiting to be perfect when we're
missing the excellence that's just gonna pass us by if we don't move. So, um,
I've loved being a court appointed child advocate. It was, as I said,
PR really probably one of the pieces of my life where I think I've been the most
impactful.
Zooming out on that subject a little bit,
how connected do you think the healthcare system in your hospital and healthcare
system in particular is connected to foster care and where do you see room for
improvement?
I do think that, um, many children's hospitals as we are here, um,
in Omaha are very tied to the state, um,
c p s teams, child teams. It's, it has been every place I've been,
it has been a really tight partnership,
a really close partnership at the state and city level.
And that's powerful because healthcare sometimes is one of those pieces that can
fall off, um,
of the radar in those kind of shifts and transitions.
And I see that as a really unique role of children's hospitals to provide care
for some of the most vulnerable kids who are in foster care. And we've,
every place I've been has done a really great job of, uh,
partnering in Lincoln and I think those relationships and partnerships have to
be fed and watered, right? They have to be grown to make sure that you,
um, shift and modify your work based off the needs of this very vulnerable
population. We've seen that shift here and during C O V D of,
not surprisingly the increase in need for mental health services in the this
patient population.
We've seen that across pediatrics and it's no different in our,
the kids that we see that are in the foster care system. And so, um,
as we've said about many of the things we do, we don't do that in a vacuum,
we don't do that alone.
We do that through partnerships of the child advocacy centers that are in our
community here, um, and work really closely with them to say, how do we partner?
How do we do the right thing? And I,
I do believe you have to ask those questions because what we believe is
important or helpful from the children's hospital side might not actually be
what those organizations need to help provide the very best care for children in
foster care. And so those conversations in partnerships are powerful. Um,
for me, so powerful. I actually serve on the board here of Project Harmony,
which is one of our child advocacy centers. Um,
for me it's really important that there's that connection between our
organizations so that we can be nimble and agile for kids that didn't ask
to be in the foster care system. Um, and we should,
we should have a responsibility to do the very best work.
Last thing I have for you today, Chanda.
So what issue in your field do you think deserves a much brighter spotlight than
it's getting right now?
Oh gosh. I think, I mean,
I think both of the things that I would think about are getting a pretty bright
spotlight. There's not an easy answer to them.
I would say the first one in pediatric healthcare is around behavioral and
mental health.
And we are shining a very bright light on that here in Omaha and Lincoln
in the region here in Nebraska because we know it is so critical to the future
of our state to the future, uh,
people who are gonna be working across our state. And so we've intentionally,
um, really doubled down on that work,
working across the community with state and local government, um,
with donors in the community, with our team members,
with community partners in schools. And we'll be investing, uh,
breaking ground actually this August on a facility through the help of the
Mental Health Innovation Foundation,
which is a foundation started here in Omaha to invest in a facility that will
have a full continuum of mental and behavioral health from, um,
the very least acute to an urgent care center,
to a partial hospitalization to inpatient psychiatric beds,
will also embed primary care in this facility.
And it's intended to be the hub to create a hub right here in Omaha to
then create spokes across the state. As being a rural state,
we have to think of creative solutions to help providers and kids stay close to
home.
And so we're doing a lot of work on education of providers implementing some new
really innovative care models through telehealth and through partnerships with
primary care providers in, uh, across the state. Also looking at urgent care,
mental health centers so that we can help really deescalate as quickly as
we can and then also have that spoke back into this highest acute care
that we'll uh, be delivering right here in Omaha and our, uh, central campus.
And that's,
that's really important work because there's so much linkage to
long-term outcomes, long-term health, um, with mental health.
And we've seen such an increase in, um,
kids coming to the emergency department for suicide ideation, uh, depression,
anxiety here in Nebraska. We have a higher, uh,
rate of suicide than the national average for at teens and adolescents.
And that for me is one of those things that keeps you up at night. You know,
when when I can sit in, be in a hero walk for a child who,
um, has successfully passed from suicide, it makes you think, gosh,
I know people on my team know this child and know this family and this is not
okay. We have to do better.
That shouldn't happen here or anywhere and we gotta get ahead of that curve and
we're chasing it, to be honest.
And so I would love to shine a brighter spotlight, um, on that.
I think there's a pretty big spotlight on it right now, but, um,
it is something we're definitely chasing and, um, not yet ahead of that curve.
So for me that's, uh, probably the most important work we have ahead of us.
Shannon,
thank you so much for sharing your insight today and giving us your time.
We can't wait to share all your insight with our listeners.
Awesome. Thanks so much.