479: Ascension Via Christi's not-so-new face in leadership (Podcast)

Um, w- I, I'm curious about what has changed in Wichita healthcare besides you going from one major hospital system to the other.

What have you seen in Wichita healthcare that's changed in the six years away?

I think the, the changes that we've seen here are not in, uh, um, different really from what we're seeing on the national trends.

You have, you have physicians that are becoming more employed by health systems over the course of time.

It's becoming harder to be an independent physician group.

You're seeing health systems with more financial pressure than what they've had in the past.

A myriad of reasons for that.

So those trends are, are remaining the same.

I think that the other thing that we're starting to see the front end of now, you have inflation pressure that's hitting the consumers.

And so historically what that's meant is that people will delay healthcare, and then when they come into the hospital they're that much sicker.

And so we were really working hard, and that's one of the places where it's, I'm very proud to be a part of Via Christi and our mission o- of caring for the poor and the vulnerable because I quite frankly think that with that kind of pressure that's going on from an eco- uh, an economics perspective, that that piece is gonna become more important as we go into the future, uh, in terms of caring for our community.

Mm-hmm.

One of the big obvious questions with you moving from HCA to Ascension is you're going from a for-profit system to a non-profit system.

Uh, and I don't know that the consumer gets all the differences, but talk about a- as an administrator and a leader of, of a system, what, what that entails to you.

I think at the end, ultimately, for profit, not for profit, it's a tax status ultimately.

Mm-hmm.

And I think so...

But, but at the, at the core of what that really means is the difference in the mission of the organizations.

And for us at Via Christi, we really look at caring for the whole person.

We look at caring for the whole community.

And so the opportunity at a Via Christi is that we own everything from hospitals to surgery centers to assisted living to rehab hospitals to, uh, everything in between, home medical, uh, durable medical equipment.

And so the opportunity to really look holistically at the patient and at their journey.

We also are the, are, are the largest employer of primary care in this community, and so we really work to provide access to care in the right setting at the right time for people, uh, regardless of where they are in the healthcare journey.

And so for me, ultimately, that's the component that is so rewarding, and we get to look at it in a different way where we can say, um, "If you can't afford to pay for s- those services that aren't just hospital-based, we can figure out a way to provide that for you and work with you and work with the community to provide that." We have so many partnerships with so many amazing organizations, uh, that help us to be able to provide care for the community, and that to me is the most rewarding piece.

Um, w- I, I'm curious about what has changed in Wichita healthcare besides you going from one major hospital system to the other.

What have you seen in Wichita healthcare that's changed in the six years away?

I think the, the changes that we've seen here are not in, uh, um, different really from what we're seeing on the national trends.

You have, you have physicians that are becoming more employed by health systems over the course of time.

It's becoming harder to be an independent physician group.

You're seeing health systems with more financial pressure than what they've had in the past.

A myriad of reasons for that.

So those trends are, are remaining the same.

I think that the other thing that we're starting to see the front end of now, you have inflation pressure that's hitting the consumers.

And so historically what that's meant is that people will delay healthcare, and then when they come into the hospital they're that much sicker.

And so we were really working hard, and that's one of the places where it's, I'm very proud to be a part of Via Christi and our mission o- of caring for the poor and the vulnerable because I quite frankly think that with that kind of pressure that's going on from an eco- uh, an economics perspective, that that piece is gonna become more important as we go into the future, uh, in terms of caring for our community.

Mm-hmm.

One of the big obvious questions with you moving from HCA to Ascension is you're going from a for-profit system to a non-profit system.

Uh, and I don't know that the consumer gets all the differences, but talk about a- as an administrator and a leader of, of a system, what, what that entails to you.

I think at the end, ultimately, for profit, not for profit, it's a tax status ultimately.

Mm-hmm.

And I think so...

But, but at the, at the core of what that really means is the difference in the mission of the organizations.

And for us at Via Christi, we really look at caring for the whole person.

We look at caring for the whole community.

And so the opportunity at a Via Christi is that we own everything from hospitals to surgery centers to assisted living to rehab hospitals to, uh, everything in between, home medical, uh, durable medical equipment.

And so the opportunity to really look holistically at the patient and at their journey.

We also are the, are, are the largest employer of primary care in this community, and so we really work to provide access to care in the right setting at the right time for people, uh, regardless of where they are in the healthcare journey.

And so for me, ultimately, that's the component that is so rewarding, and we get to look at it in a different way where we can say, um, "If you can't afford to pay for s- those services that aren't just hospital-based, we can figure out a way to provide that for you and work with you and work with the community to provide that." We have so many partnerships with so many amazing organizations, uh, that help us to be able to provide care for the community, and that to me is the most rewarding piece.