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71 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT THOUGHT LEADERSHIP Corner Office: Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital CEO Caitlin Stella on how payer, provider struggles hurt patients By Leo Vartorella C aitlin Stella has held numerous healthcare leadership positions, though in no other role has she been able to advocate for patients as much as she has in her short time as CEO of Hollywood, Fla.-based Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. Ms. Stella began her career in healthcare as the program administrator at the Cen- ter for Autism Research and Treatment at Los Angeles-based UCLA Health System's Neuropsychiatric Institute before going on to become a manager in PricewaterhouseCoopers' national healthcare consulting practice. She then joined Children's Hospital Los Angeles as director of pro- vider programs and outreach before heading back to UCLA Health to serve as executive director of women's and children's services and chief administrator of UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital and Wom- en's Health. In July 2018, she was appointed CEO of Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. Ms. Stella earned a bachelor's degree in family and child develop- ment from Blacksburg-based Virginia Tech University and a mas- ter's degree in public health from UCLA. Ms. Stella recently spoke with Becker's and answered our seven "Cor- ner Office" questions. Editor's note: Responses have been edited lightly for length and style Question: What's one thing that really piqued your interest in healthcare? Caitlin Stella: e reason I went into healthcare was personal. My grandfather was diagnosed with cancer when I was in high school and, until that exposure to chronic illness, I had only experienced healthcare in terms of wellness. I watched my family try to figure out the healthcare system, struggling to figure out drug coverage and insurance issues. It was overwhelming, confusing, and difficult to navigate. On the flip side, I loved seeing the care team interact with my grandfather and my family. ey were so compassionate and kind. I grew to love being in a healthcare environment because I enjoy working with people and being service-oriented, so I thought working in healthcare I could combine those. I became very passionate about improving the healthcare system be- cause I watched my family struggle to understand it. e reason I went into healthcare, and what continues to drive me every day, is a desire to make the system as easy as possible for families and chil- dren. Because when your family member is sick, especially a child, the last thing in the world you want to worry about is navigating the system. Making the experience as easy as possible and combining that with kindness and compassion is what it's all about for me. Q: What do you enjoy most about Hollywood? CS: I lived in Los Angeles for almost 20 years and went from one Hol- lywood to another. What I love most about this Hollywood compared to the one I came from is the people. e people in this community are phenomenal. e wonderful people within the walls of this hospi- tal are so warm and welcoming. ey've created a playful, loving and home-like environment for our patients and their families. I've found the whole community is like that. Anyone I've met — even if they don't know what I do — tries to connect me to something, introduce me to someone or recommend something to do because they know I'm new in town. When they find out I'm working at Joe DiMaggio, they say, "Oh my gosh what can I do, how can I help?" I've found this to be a welcoming place both within these walls and outside of them, with warm and caring people. Q: If you could eliminate one of the healthcare industry's problems overnight, which would it be? CS: No question it would be related to the barriers to care created by insurance and provider network limitations. I understand the im- portance of focusing on cost, but what I see in pediatrics is that chil- dren aren't getting the care they need and deserve because there's a cost consciousness that makes insurers think kids can get the same services as adults. Children are not small adults. Take pediatric audiology, for example, with little kids whose brains and sense of hearing are developing. Say they've had a cochlear im- plant, they need very specialized audiology care. Oen, insurance companies will direct them to services meant for adults. Providers like us have to jump in and help advocate because patients will not do as well if they don't get specialized audiology care. So that's an example of a barrier created by a system that doesn't understand nuances around children. I am on a mission to change that. e same is true for adults — that insurance benefits and provider networks are getting more and more narrow. ey eliminate people's ability to go to the providers or specialists they may need to see. I think everyone should have access to care that's going to give them the best outcome. Q: What is your greatest talent or skill outside of the C-suite? CS: I'm not creative in any way, no arts and cras abilities at all, but I love people. I love being around people I know, including family and friends, and I love meeting new people. I'm a social butterfly, and if you put me in a networking event, some kind of party or a "I became very passionate about improving the healthcare system because I watched my family struggle with understanding it." — Caitlin Stella, CEO, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital