Becker's Hospital Review

31 CEO / STRATEGY An unexpected leadership lesson from UC San Diego Health's CEO By Kristin Kuchno P atty Maysent did not know what to expect after receiving a February 2020 phone call. It was from San Diego County officials, and they were asking if UC San Diego Health was willing to accept some of the first COVID-19 patients coming to the U.S. "We didn't even know what that meant at that time, and we stood up our team," Ms. Maysent, who became the health system's CEO in 2016, told Becker's. When the pandemic first started, UC San Diego Health was in the beginning stages of implementing tiered daily engagement huddles, with tier one being the local level and the most critical issues discussed at tier five with the executive leadership team, she said. "The pandemic forced us to get into that kind of rhythm, so that every single day we were making changes and improving operations," Ms. Maysent said. "And it accelerated us moving into this system of how we manage." It is how they operate every day, she said, adding that decision-making can be nimble when big problems are brought up through the tiers. "While [the pandemic] was stressful, it was such a beautiful experience, watching the team do extraordinary work, watching the partnerships," Ms. Maysent said. "You would never think coming out of the pandemic that there would have been something that brought you joy, but it brought me joy that every day we came to work focused on trying to manage this and bringing our best work forward." n Sutter hired a record 730 clinicians last year, and wants even more By Laura Dyrda Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health hired 730 physicians and clinicians last year, a systemwide record for a single year. is year, CEO Warner omas said Sutter aims to hire even more. Sutter saw around 100% increase in applications across all disciplines last year, including leaders and nursing. "We are generating a lot of interest from folks that want to come and join the journey we're on here at Sutter," said Mr. omas on an episode of the "Becker's Healthcare Podcast." Hiring more clinicians will improve access to care and build out clinical depth systemwide. But the work doesn't stop aer clinicians are recruited; Sutter's executive team has also focused on building a strong culture engaging clinicians to increase retention. "We talk about our mission being patients first, people always, and making sure that we are focused on our patients, our communities, and how we help each other," said Mr. omas. "at cultural evolution at Sutter has been exciting. We've seen great traction and improvement in our engagement, both our employees, physicians and clinicians across the organization." e focus on engagement and retention is working. Mr. omas said Sutter has seen about a 50% reduction in turnover since the team began its cultural transformation 18 months ago. Sutter is also building academic partnerships in non-physician areas, such as physician assistants, medical assistants, nursing and other clinical disciplines to strengthen the pipeline. Finally, leadership development is top of mind. e health system doubled down on the physician workforce by creating a plan to grow its graduate medical education by five times as part of the long term strategic plan. "We instituted a very comprehensive talent management process and succession planning process here at Sutter," said Mr. omas. "We are relooking at all of our diversity, equity and inclusion strategies and building a more diverse leadership team, a more diverse population of nurses, physicians and clinicians in the organization. at is critically important to the success of our organization in the future." n Health system CEOs invest big in patient experience By Laura Dyrda Consumerism trends are rising to the forefront in healthcare, and system CEOs are making big investments to meet patient expectations. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic's primary value is patients come first and the entire leadership team continually monitors and implements new ways to improve the patient experience, leveraging technology to connect people and data insights for a more seamless, personalized care plan. Over the last several years, Mayo has incorporated ambient intelligence and personalized displays within the physical locations. "We are also investing in our physical structures alongside our digital

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