Becker's Hospital Review

Sign up for the COMPLIMENTARY Becker's Hospital Review CEO Report & CFO Report E-Weeklies at www.BeckersHospitalReview.com or call (800) 417-2035 Q: "Culture" can really be an ambiguous term, encompassing a range of workplace issues. Where should a health system CEO start if he/she wants to drive serious, lasting improvement? RO: The first thing to think about is the direct impact culture has on change in healthcare. When culture wasn't aligned with changes in the past, those changes failed. Culture is not a soft, fuzzy thing, but it's important when you think about what type of environment you want to create to work in. If you're interested in culture, start with conversations. Get others' perspectives on employee, patient, physician satisfaction. If the results are not where they should be, ask why, culturally, we're not doing the things we aspire to do. Start small, with a series of conversations, and see if your perceptions align with everyone else's. Talk to people, deal with misconceptions, and use that to address cultural issues in the organization. Q: What is it about healthcare that excites you most right now? RO: It is a very interesting time to be in healthcare. In some ways, it's very challenging, but it is still very, very exciting. When you begin to look at the need to change — the fact that healthcare is not sustainable, a lot of people are getting added to Medicare and Medicaid and dealing with cost issues while providing high-quality care — the challenge alone is very exciting. One interesting thing is the advances we've seen, like the adoption of EMR and physician and nurse order entry and the fact that we're talking about ACOs and global issues of health. Addressing community need and access is not dull by any means — it's very exciting. Who is better to solve the issue in the community than mission-based, community-focused non-profits? It's a great opportunity for healthcare institutions to address community needs. At ProMedica, we became interested in personal determinates of health, and specifically hunger as a health issue. When you look at the mission statement, [editor's note: ProMedica's 13 mission statement is "Our Mission is to improve your health and well-being"] it doesn't mean we only take care of people in our four walls, we need to go outside our four walls to deal with health and well-being in the community. For example, we're working with Share our Strength's No Kid Hungry® campaign to help end childhood hunger in communities across the country. We're excited about it because it's a little non-traditional. It is something we feel excited about. Q: Any New Year's resolutions you can share?  RO: I think any time you go through a lot of change and challenge, it's good to come back to focusing on what's important on a work and personal basis. Personally, mine is to have more balance in life over the next year. Professionally, it is to keep balance and take time to step back and think globally and strategically about the things we do. n Finding Value in Your Organization: Q&A With Baylor Health CFO Fred Savelsbergh By Bob Herman  Fred Savelsbergh is not a typical CFO in today's hospital and healthcare industry. Since he graduated from North Texas State University in 1982 with a double major in accounting and economics, Mr. Savelsbergh has worked at Baylor Health Care System, based in Dallas. He worked his way up from staff accountant to CFO, a position he has held since 2009. It's rare for a person to stick with one organization throughout his or her professional life these days, but Mr. Savelsbergh says he has enjoyed every second of it. A major reason he's found personal satisfaction at Baylor is because he works for an employer with similar values to his own — and he also happens to be in a position that demands vast amounts of change, which always keeps things interesting. Here, Mr. Savelsbergh talks about his tenure at Baylor, how the healthcare system has evolved during his time there and what ideas hospital and health system CFOs need to encourage if they want their organizations to be successful in an era of big data and quality outcomes. Question: You've been with one employer for your entire professional career. That experience is few and far between these days. How have you been able to maintain such a long, stable tenure at Baylor Health Care System? Fred Savelsbergh: The foundation of why I feel so good is based on my values and how those values fall in line with Baylor. Couple that with an organization that has $5.4 billion in total assets and a multitude of business models, and [consequently] there are different opportunities for advancement. Fred Savelsbergh Baylor also devotes a lot of time in succession planning. [Baylor Health Care System Vice President of Corporate Finance] Kitty Mann, one of the people who hired me in 1982, is one of those people who has been there to shepherd my career along, and there's been others as well. [Baylor Health Care System President and CEO] Joel Allison is the person I get a lot of inspiration from. So here you have an organization with great values that I identify with, an organization that is diverse in business units that allow career growth, succession planning with a vested interest and mentoring that helps you demonstrate your ability. Q: You're in a unique position in that you've seen the evolution and progression of the U.S. healthcare system over the past 30 years through the lens of one organization. Can you describe this systemic progression you've witnessed? FS: When I first came to Baylor, it actually had only one other affiliated hospital besides Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. [There are now 30 hospitals owned, operated, joint ventured or affiliated with Baylor Health Care System.] It was a very small healthcare system. If you think about where healthcare was in 1982, it was talked about in the purest sense of business, as it was just starting to develop a hub-andspoke strategy. We did this through years of relationships with other community medical centers. That, in and of itself, is quite remarkable.

• Cover