This is Laura Dedo with our Becker Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr. Shazad Saed,
associate Chief Medical Officer in pediatric gastroenterologist at Dayton
Children's. Dr. Saed, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
Thank you, Laura. Um, and thanks for the invitation to join, uh, you in, um,
sharing some of the perspectives. Um, I'm, um,
thrilled and honored to share my perspectives on,
on the topic list that we'll talk about. Um,
I'm a pediatric gastroenterologist by background with, uh,
a focus on children with Crohn's and colitis and have a quality improvement
background, um, uh, which is focused on improving the cost,
the care and quality of children With I B D. Um,
I am involved in an international collaborative that, um,
is a quality improvement collaborative, known as improved care now,
and we really work, um, in a co-production model, uh,
partnering with researchers, patients, families,
and other clinicians to really focus on improving the, uh,
the standard of care for children With I P D and my hospital role, um,
I am involved in, um, uh, uh, the, the patient and family experience,
uh, area as a physician lead. Um,
we have really utilized the quality improvement methodologies to look at our
patient experience data to make sure that we deliver exceptional care for every
encounter,
whether that be in the ambulatory setting or in the inpatient setting. And,
um, along with that, um, I'm, uh,
in my role as the Associate Chief Medical Officer. Um, I am, um,
involved in two to three, uh, service lines in the hospital, um,
responsible for some of the, uh, access growth,
patient experience and quality metrics, uh, for those service lines, uh,
which in include about 14, 15 different divisions. Additionally,
um, we are trying to really focus on, um, uh,
embedding quality improvement, safety and quality in our operations. So I also,
uh, am involved in a, uh, the group of, um, um, folks or in, uh,
projects and initiatives, um,
which are bunched under the umbrella of clinical excellence,
which aligns quality, quality improvement, safety,
quality assurance, uh, and informatics to make sure that we have, uh,
laser sharp focus on what is driving our strategy and activities, uh,
uh, based on our strategic roadmap.
How that's, you know,
just really impressive to think about and hear all the things you have your
hands in today,
from the top level strategic aspects of affecting patient care right down to the
things that you're doing in the patient visits and operating rooms. So,
I'm excited to hear about that. And I'm wondering, given all of this,
what issues are you spending most of your time on today?
What are you excited about tackling and really doing to improve patient care?
Thank you, Laura. It's, it's,
it's a great question to sort of delve deeper into what our, um, focus has been.
And like everybody else, we have been, uh, dealing with, um, um,
opportunities for really buffing up our, uh, staffing, um, status.
Um, we have been really, um, uh,
intentional about how we are trying to manage, um,
staffing in critical areas, um, uh,
and looking at that staffing model from a wellness and resilience
perspective as well, uh, which is, uh, uh, aligned and, and, and, uh,
connected. Um,
as with most healthcare, uh, systems,
financial sustainability is also, um, uh, very sharp, um, and,
and laser focus for us because we can't, um,
underpin our staffing and resilience, uh, processes without having, um,
insights and, and ability to financially support them. Um,
as we have also recognized that, um,
patient experience and experience of delivery of care
is tightly, uh, connected with, um,
resilience and wellness of our staff, we are also paying very much attention to,
uh, ensuring that, um, the patients that are touching our health system, uh,
either in the, in the inpatient or in the ambulatory or emergency, uh,
room setting, continue to receive the,
the exceptional care that they expect and deserve to receive. Um,
in view of some of these challenges and opportunities, um,
we are also thinking about how to leverage technology, um,
and virtual care to optimize the clinical operation. And as well as, um,
not only optimizing, but also thinking outside the box to see, uh, what kind of,
um, technological, um,
leverage we can utilize to, um, deliver care. For example,
in the past, if, uh,
a staff person or a nurse was managing chronic disease
patients,
are there opportunities from technological support perspective that can help us
manage some of those things and offset some of the staffing challenges that, uh,
that we are facing? The other area that we are sort of, um,
paying really, um, close attention to, um,
is behavioral health and mental health strategies. Um,
like everyone else, we have seen a,
a huge, um, number of increases in,
in our behavioral health patients and, and, and even, um,
staff, um, who are dealing with a lot of stressors.
So we have really developed a behavioral health strategy to, um,
think about how to deliver needed care and support for our patients as well
as staff. We are, um, investing in building a, um,
a new, um, be health, uh, building, uh,
expanding and almost doubling our inpatient behavioral health beds, uh,
for pediatrics, uh,
to really coordinate and try to integrate a lot of
the behavioral health, uh, activities under one roof. Um,
and also recognizing, uh, the, the need that is, uh,
growing up, um, by the day in our community. Um,
I'm not sure that your audience, uh, is aware, but, you know, pediatric and,
and children in the midst of this pandemic has have really, um,
been at the forefront of the mental health crisis and, um,
the rates of depression, anxiety, uh, and, and suicide, uh,
ideation has really, uh, mushroomed in the last few years.
So a lot of the pediatric healthcare systems are, um, having to deal with, uh,
uh, these kind of, uh, challenges and how to sort of, um, uh, structure them,
their operations to meet these challenges and in fact, um,
prevent some of these challenges from happening.
The last area that I would sort of, um, share about, uh, uh,
with, with audiences, um, health equity, um, you know,
the last couple of years have really shown a, uh,
light on opportunities for improving, uh,
the delivery of healthcare, um, systems to, uh, patients with,
uh, different backgrounds. Um, and, uh,
like most health systems, we are, um,
really realizing the opportunities that exist, um,
in our operations to think about different aspects of our community that we
serve. Um, like most pediatric facilities,
we are an anchor institution, and we need to be very, um,
sensitized to what are the needs of the community that we serve, and also, uh,
bring that health equity, uh, lens to our operations,
our quality improvement projects, our utilization projects.
So I'm really, um, uh,
glad at certain levels that those kind of, um, um,
focus areas are coming to the fore. Um, uh, and,
and I look at it as an opportunity which is stemming out of a potential crisis
from the pandemic.
Yeah,
I think all of those are really interesting points in terms of looking at how
virtual care and telehealth works in the pediatric space and what kind of
platforms need to be built out there. But then to your,
your point on the behavioral health aspect of things, I, I think is so crucial,
as you mentioned,
for us to really understand and find solutions for some of the, um,
ballooning rates of, as you mentioned, um,
anxiety and suicidal ideation and all these other things that are really
a huge, huge challenge for the pediatric population today. Um, you know,
when you look at some of these rates increasing in the trend toward, you know,
needing more of these behavioral health visits and specialists and, and, um,
tackling these problems, how do you see tho those solutions coming up?
Is there anything that can be done in the short term versus long term?
How are you thinking about that?
I think, um, we need to probably have both short and long term,
um, strategies, um, put in place. I think the short term, obviously,
is meeting the acute care, acute care needs, uh,
from the mental health perspective, um, staffing providing, um, um,
counselors providing, um, support, um,
to those who are in, in, in acute, uh, crisis, um,
and managing and, and, and, uh, and empowering them to sort of, um,
then get better and then probably pivot to a more longer term strategies,
which would include, again, um,
partnering with the community to make sure that when they are out of the health
system, they have all the support that they can get and need, um,
leveraging community health workers to, um, uh,
help the community tackle with some of these, uh, issues. There's obviously,
um, in my mind a potential, you know, uh,
health equity lends to these mental health crisis as well.
Access to support services, access to, uh, treatment facilities,
um, transportation, uh, food security, all of that sort of comes into play,
um, uh, as, as a long-term strategy. Um, and, um,
I think as, as a society, we really need to start thinking about, um,
how to pivot, um, and think about, um, uh,
a preventive way of managing some of these crisis,
which then, you know, if not adequately addressed,
then lead to more acute short-term needs for, uh, support services.
That's a really excellent point. Thank you so much for going through that, Dr.
Saed. Now,
when you think about these challenges as well as everything else going on in
healthcare today, um,
what are you thinking about in terms of investments in growth over the next two
years?
Where do you really see your practice as well as Dayton Children's headed?
I think, uh, I had shared, uh, about the new building, uh, sort of,
uh, that we are investing in to really, um,
have an integrated strategic approach to
providing all sorts of mobile health services under one roof, uh,
which would in expand our inpatient footprint,
but also our crisis center day treatment center,
um, staffing, um,
as well as counselors and psychologists and psychiatrists, um,
investing in, in developing an eatin disorders program, both as,
as an inpatient, uh, uh, service,
but as well as as outpatient ambulatory service as well.
So that's a real large focus of our, um, uh,
strategic plan and investment on the last couple of years.
We hope to have the new building, um,
stood up by mid 2025, so,
which is in co in two to three years time. The second, uh,
big investment, I think,
and growth opportunity at the same time is really thinking about, um,
care coordination, um, handoffs between inpatient and outpatient settings.
How do we optimize that to prevent, um, you know, readmissions,
opportunities to really connect with, uh,
the patient's care between, um,
a specialty based service model to a primary care,
uh, model that is, uh, the right venue for delivering a lot of the care,
which can also then help us, um, look at and, and, uh,
really think about, um, uh,
providing care in the right setting to reduce the cost of care. Um,
value-based care, uh, we have been in that area for the last four to five years,
um, and have made a lot of progress,
but I think pediatric facilities have been, um, uh,
lagging hand adult facilities in really thinking about the,
the value-based care model and how to sort of think about, um, driving value,
um, uh, and, and partnership with community physicians, community part, uh,
community, uh, uh, care providers and,
and pairs to really, uh,
drive cost down. Um,
the third opportunity that I would think, um,
that is having us think about investment is again, um,
uh, technological platforms and, um, and virtual care.
What are the opportunities that we can partner with, um, some of our,
um, uh, technology partners to really think about data driven,
um, technological solutions that can help, uh,
streamline operations but also reduce cost, but provide exceptional, um,
care experiences for our patients and customers, um, and their,
their opportunities exist in, um, uh,
in sort of virtual health too. But, you know, uh,
virtual reality mitigating, uh, anxiety and, and, and,
and depression. We actually have, um, uh,
special sensory rooms in our periop and, uh, couple of other settings where,
uh, patients with special needs can really, uh, uh, receive,
uh, special treatment and, um,
has really led to reduced, um,
sedation requirements and sedation medication for some of these patients who are
scheduled to undergo procedures. And again, uh,
amplifying those kind of things for our, uh,
rest of our patient population is another area of, uh,
growth and investment for us. I think, um, care coordination, um,
amplifying our, um, partnership with, uh, our, um, um, aco,
um, and community to really think about, um, uh,
growth opportunities and investment in that area. And of course, I think, um,
I previously alluded to the health equity piece,
and we have sent stood up a center for health equity, um,
and are really looking at, um, you know, uh, our ed visits,
ed, uh, readmission rates, uh, we, um,
trying to think about what kind of services we can provide to patient population
of disparate backgrounds, um,
partnering with community to really deliver some of those resources in their
neighborhood rather than having them come to the hospital,
we have stood up a food pharmacy to look at food insecurity.
So some of these are some of the things that we are really focusing on investing
on for the future, um, short-term period.
Got it. I think that's so helpful to know, you know,
and really interesting to think about some of the,
the short and long-term investments that you have and how those fit into the
overall strategic plan. Now, I think before we sign off here,
I wanted to ask one more question. What are you most excited about today?
I think that's a, that's a great question. Um,
I think all of us are feeling after,
after effects of two to three long years of pandemic and, and,
and the effects of it. I also feel that this is really a, potentially a,
a op opportunity to reset.
We really need to sort of think about how we operate. Um,
the,
some of the challenges that we sort of talked about are not gonna go away in the
sh in, in the near feature.
So how do we repivot ourselves to think about how are we gonna
leverage some of these opportunities to streamline, augment,
amplify, empower our, our operations and benefit, um,
not only to patients and families, uh, but also some of our staff members,
colleagues. Um, I think this is really, um,
allowing us to think deeply about the wellness piece of, uh,
of our operations for our staff and for our patients as well. And, and I think,
um, uh,
healthcare system that is really focusing on that will really be the
healthcare system of the future. Um,
you can't deliver exceptional care if your staff is not exceptionally well care
for. So I think, um, this is,
this gives me energy and this gives me excitement to see how what the next phase
of healthcare, uh, system would, uh, spring out of this, this, uh,
challenging time.
Well, Dr. Sayed, I think that's a great point.
Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
It's been a fascinating discussion and I look forward to connecting with you
again soon.
Thank you, Laura. Um, I wish everybody a great rest of the day. Um,