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This is Chris with the
Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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I'm thrilled today to
be joined by Dan Golans,

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president of Texas Children's Pediatrics
and Texas Children's Urgent Care. Dan,

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thank you so much for joining us today.

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Thank you for having me. Good morning.

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Dan.

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Could you please introduce yourself and
tell us a bit about your background?

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Sure. As you said, I'm Dan Go.

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I'm president for of Texas Children's
Pediatrics and Texas Children's Urgent

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Care.

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We have 80 plus locations across the
central and southeast Texas regions,

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so throughout Houston,
Austin, and College Station.

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I have been in the president role since
2021 and have been with Texas Children's

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for over 10 years.

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I have my undergraduate degree in
master's degree from University of Central

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Florida. I got into healthcare,
uh, a little bit about why I,

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how I got into this role. I
got into healthcare thinking.

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I actually wanted to be a physical
therapist and quickly realized during my

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undergraduate studies that, well,
healthcare was where I wanted to be.

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Patient care wasn't necessarily
the thing I wanted to do.

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And so quickly shifted my focus from
the patient side to the business side of

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healthcare. I've spent my entire
career on the physician side,

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so I have not worked, uh,
in the hospital setting,

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but I've spent all my time
with physician groups,

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either on the adult side or
in now in the pediatric world.

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Uh, Dan,

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what was it that made you want to make
that change from physical therapy to your

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current path?

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Well, I quickly realized in the anatomy
and physiology classes that, uh,

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looking at those very,
very large textbooks,

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that was not how my brain functioned
to memorize, uh, information at a,

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in a large quantity. I was more of a
numbers person, data and analytics person.

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Um, and in the background,

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I had been taking a lot of the
economics courses and finance courses.

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So quickly shifted, uh,

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shifted gears because I knew I
wanted to do healthcare again,

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thought I wanted to do patient care,

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but recognized very quickly
that that wasn't, wasn't for me,

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but I could still have, uh, uh, the
ability to impact patient care in a,

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in a different way. And so utilized my,
my finance and analytics skill set, um,

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and, and went down that path.

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Well, it certainly sounds like
he lands here in the right place.

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What would you say are
your top priorities today?

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Well, I'll gonna, I'll break that
up into two, two buckets here. So,

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from a patient standpoint, our, our,

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our top priority is to continue to
provide high quality best in class

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experiences. Our families love
us. They love their pediatricians.

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Their pediatricians are a part of their
daily lives. For some of our families,

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they, you know,

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they get to see your kids from the day
that they're born until they leave,

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leave for college. And
we want our families, uh,

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at least here in our organization,
we want our families to,

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to be a part of that.

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And we want our pediatricians to
be a part of our families. Um,

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we have a responsibility to continue
to make sure we have access for our

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families. We have so
many people that love us.

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It's sometimes really hard to get in.

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So we continue to look at different ways
to provide access for our families. Um,

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and that's where we're unique.

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And our urgent care service line is very
closely aligned with our primary care

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service line.

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So we have the ability for patients to
get seen on a primary care side or on a

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urgent care side, but we can
see their entire history.

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So while the provider might be
different, the care is very seamless in,

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in how we're providing it to our families.

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From a physician and staff standpoint,

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our prior priority coming out of the
pandemic has really been around engagement

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and wellness.

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So what we heard from our team quite
often was they felt abandoned or

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alone, especially during the
early parts of the pandemic,

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because we didn't know what to
expect. We didn't know, you know,

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how to make sure everybody was truly
protected. And while we had a ppe,

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there's still a lot of questions out
there. Uh, as we've come out of that,

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we have really focused on the
re-engagement and the wellness of our,

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of our teams. Um, we are uniquely
challenged due to our geographic spread.

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So Texas is very large, and
Houston is, um, has some,

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some traffic barriers. And,
and Austin is no different.

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It can take you several hours
to drive across town. Um,

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but our geographic spread, while
it is, uh, unique and challenging,

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it is also provide us a unique
opportunity to get out and,

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and meet with our teams. So personally,

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I make it an effort of mine to go out to
our practices at least once or twice a

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year to visit with our teams to
listen. It's really important that we,

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we go out and listen. We're not just
there to shake hands and say hello.

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We're there to listen and hear the
direct feedback from our teams,

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see what's going on in the
clinic, hear from our patients,

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or hear from our providers. Um, I have
a very much have an open door policy.

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Anybody has questions or
concerns in our organization.

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They can pick up the phone and call,
they can email me. I am available. And,

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and my leadership team, our
directors, our executive team,

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everybody has that same open access to
them because we are very much here about

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transparency, listening,
communicating. Um,

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I think the other thing that's really
important to us is about two years ago,

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we stood up our physician engagement
and wellness committee as a physician

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group. We are a
physician-led organization,

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and it's really important
for us to be successful,

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we have to have physician buy-in.

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So we started this engagement and wellness
committee really focused on combating

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burnout. And we don't even
like to say the word burnout.

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We want to improve engagement
and improve wellness. Um,

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subsequently that's gone so
well that we've done, uh,

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subsequent groups for managers,
advanced practice providers, staff,

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and one specific to our
urgent care setting,

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just because there's some unique
challenges that they have that might be

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different on the, the
primary care setting. Um,

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but what I didn't talk about,

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what you didn't hear me say was talk
about finance or quality or, uh,

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growth. You know,

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we're confident that if we improve the
engagement and the wellness of our staff

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and our physicians, all the other
stuff, the business stuff will come.

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We will be successful in finance. We
will have better quality outcomes. And,

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and we've seen that. So we've seen
our financial position improve.

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We've seen our quality
outcomes improve, um,

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over time as we've
continued to launch and, um,

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navigate our way through the pandemic
and, and really reengage with our,

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with our staff and our
physicians differently.

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You mentioned the challenges that were
faced by your teams during the pandemic.

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Uh, with the recent wave of R S V,

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what sort of feedback were you
getting from your providers?

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Yeah, that, that surge was over the,

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the winter break was really heavy,

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and I would tell you that
outpaced any volumes that we

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had seen during the, the pandemic,
um, previously. But, you know,

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everybody felt supported. They felt
that we communicated appropriately.

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Was it perfect? No. Were
there times that we were like,

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you just gotta figure out how we can
get open, how we can see our families?

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Absolutely. Um, but, you know,

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I also think this was a unique challenge
and nobody really knew what to do.

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These were volumes and numbers across
the, the country that patients weren't,

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that we've never seen before.
Um, I think as an organization,

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having our urgent cares single-handedly
saved our organization to be able to

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function. Our emergency
rooms were over capacity.

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Our urgent cares were filled to the brim.

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Our primary cares were filled to the brim.

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And so we would leverage all those assets.

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We leveraged our telemedicine program.

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We were seeing 180 to 200
kids a night on telemedicine,

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where normally we see a hundred. We were
open till three o'clock in the morning.

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So we, we pulled all the
leverage that we could,

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and our staff and our physicians felt
very much supported. And, you know,

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at some point we just said,
this is as much as we can do,

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and we're here to serve as many patients
as we can, but we have to do it safely,

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uh, for everybody.

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Given all that you have seen, and it
sometimes seems just overwhelming,

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how do you anticipate your role and
your teams will evolve over the next 18

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months or so?

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Yes, I think the word evolved is a, is a,

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is a good term to use here. So
Texas Children's, we have a very,

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very strong history of growth and
expansion, and we're really proud of,

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of Texas Children's Pediatrics and urgent
care. We've been around for 28 years,

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so we've really, um, had a
physician group that started,

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started with one practice 28 years
ago, and now with our urgent cares,

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we're over 80. Uh, the next 18 months
is gonna continue to be an evolution.

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We have a new hospital that's opening
up in Austin in February of 2024.

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We've got additional urgent cares,
additional primary care, uh,

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service line offerings. So we need to
continue to evolve and be flexible.

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And what does it mean to provide
care in not only just another part of

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town, but a place that's three hours
away? How do we support those practices,

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support our physicians,
support our families? Um,

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Austin is a little different than Houston.

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How do we support families differently
there than we might here in Houston?

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I think for my team,

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we talk a lot about the evolution
of our structure. So our finance,

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our quality teams, our value-based care,

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we know we need to evolve in those areas
to continue to support the growth and

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the expansion, um, that we have going
on. And I think for me in particular,

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I actually don't think there's
a, a ton of evolution in my role.

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My role continues to be an advocate.
I need to advocate for my physicians.

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We need to advocate for our staff, need
to advocate for our leadership team,

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need to provide them with those tools
that they need to support and care for our

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families. I can't do that. I cannot
go in and serve our families.

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I cannot go in and provide
care for our families,

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but what I can do is I could fight
for whatever it is that they need.

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I could advocate for those
tools, those resources,

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whatever it is that they
need to do to be successful,

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to be able to support our
families. And I think in my role,

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in our leadership team's role, like if
we don't do that, then we are failing.

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Uh, doesn't mean we can't evolve as
leaders, but at the core of what we do,

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we need to be an advocate for
our, for our team. So I don't,

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I don't see my role changing
much in, in, uh, in that sense.

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Uh, beyond advocacy, which is
exer certainly very important. Uh,

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what do you think is the key to cohesion
among your network, considering,

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as you said, it's spread all over Texas?

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Yes, I think transparency
and communication.

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If there's one thing that we've
learned throughout the pandemic,

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you can't over communicate to
your, to your, to your team.

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So, uh,

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what we've seen be the most success that
we've had is our constant communication

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around changes in protocols or
updates around covid guidelines.

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Um, going forward, it's, it's not
necessarily covid, but what communication,

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explaining the why, why
are we doing something?

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And it can't just be an email <laugh>.
Our doctors are staff. They're busy,

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they're caring for patients. They're
not sitting at their computer all day,

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like we might be on the,
on the business side.

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So how do we communicate differently
to them? Is it a quick phone call?

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Is it a lunch and learn?
Is it a night meeting? Um,

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is it a quick text, uh, message
that might go out to folks,

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cell phones if it's something
that's really, really important?

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So we've learned a lot
about communication,

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how to communicate with our teams better,
and in order for us to be successful,

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that's gonna be even more key given our
geographic spread, uh, that we have,

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that we have today.

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Uh, switching gears a
little bit here, Dan,

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what are you most excited about
and what makes you nervous?

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So, you know,

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I'm most excited about the opportunities
that we've had to build upon our

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successes for the last 27 years.
So we, again, have a strong,

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strong core operations.
We've been really successful,

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but when you have a strong core,
uh, basis for your operations,

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it allows you to do all the fun
stuff. You can't do all the fun stuff.

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If you can't turn the lights on,
you can't serve our patients,

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provide high quality. All of that
has to come first. So one of the,

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one of the fun projects that we're
working on is behavioral health.

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So we know if you read any article
across the country, there is a very,

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very large need for behavioral health
services for patients, adult and,

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and pediatric. Uh,

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but there is not a ton of opportunities
for these families in these patients to

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get that care.

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We have started an integrated behavioral
health program that has social workers,

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psychiatrists, and psychologists
embedded in our practices. So it takes,

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that behavioral health program,

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takes it out of the hospital
and brings it closer to home.

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But if we don't have the ability
to do the basic primary care

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work that we do,

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we can't do this other fun additional
work that our families really need.

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And it's really important. So, you know,

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I'd say that's what I'm really excited
about because that's just the start of

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what we have to come. If we
can do integrated health,

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we can do name the next
thing in line and we can,

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we can easily roll that out
and support our families. Uh,

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in ter in terms of what makes
me nervous, I'll be honest,

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not a whole lot makes me nervous. I look
at all as an opportunity. You know, we,

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especially when you, you step
into the president's role of,

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of the largest primary care group
during the middle of a pandemic, it,

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that was pretty tough.

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I had a really great team around me and
I had a great mentor who left me in a

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very, very good position, uh,
to be in with her, with her, uh,

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leadership that she had shared with me
when, uh, when we transitioned. But,

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you know, we used the
pandemic, for example,

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to launch our telemedicine programs for
our primary care and urgent care teams,

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our virtual urgent care. We'll see 30
thou over 30,000 patients this year.

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It's the largest urgent care that we have.

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A site of service that we have is our
virtual urgent care platform that came

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within a week because it took us
so long to talk through virtual

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care. And is it something we can
do? As soon as the pandemic hit,

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we launched virtual care. We've invested
in it, and it's continued to grow.

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It's, it's been a very, very
wonderful success, um, success story.

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You know, I, I don't, don't get me wrong,

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not being nervous doesn't mean
it's not going to be easy.

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There's not going to be
challenges ahead. Um,

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but when you have the strong core
operations, you have a strong team,

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you can face those headwinds, and we
can make it, we can make it through.

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You know, I have, I, I really feel
like I'm in a, an amazing position.

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I have a strong leadership
team, my chief medical officer,

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my assistant vice presidents,
my directors of operations,

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and then at the core of that,

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we have a physician leadership
team that we meet with monthly.

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We have a board of physicians
that we can go to and say, Hey,

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here's what we're thinking.
Are we on track? Um,

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and these are all physicians
who practice daily.

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So it's not falling on deaf ears.
It's not people who don't, uh,

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work and see what's going on.

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It's really important to stay close to
it so we can ensure that we are serving

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our families appropriately.
We are supporting our, uh,

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physicians and our staff appropriately,

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which will ultimately just make
us more successful for the future.

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Yeah, it was an absolute
pleasure speaking with you today,

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and I look forward to
connecting with you again soon.

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Absolutely. Thank you very much.