October 13, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode, Timothy Collins, CEO of UCR Health, discusses expanding access to care and training the next generation of physicians in the Inland Empire. He shares how UCR Health is tackling provider shortages, fostering collaboration, and creating a patient-centered model to meet the region’s growing healthcare needs.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
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(00:23):
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(00:44):
This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
Timothy Collins, chief executive officer at UCR Health.
Timothy, it's a pleasure to have you on
the podcast today. Thanks for having me. I'm
excited to be here. Absolutely. Now I'm looking
forward to learning more about some of the
cool things you're doing at UCR Health. I
know it's, such a unique time in health
care right now and certainly a lot of
(01:05):
growth and innovation happening, but,
you know,
challenging times as well. So I I'm looking
forward to talking through more of this with
you. But before we dive in, could you
introduce yourself and just tell us a little
bit more about UCR Health? Sure. I'd be
happy to. My name is Tim Collins. As
as you would said, I'm the chief executive
officer of
UC Riverside
Health.
(01:26):
We are the clinical arm of the UCR
School of Medicine. So it's where the physicians
practice,
where we train the future physicians. We have
residencies,
and essentially, it's where patient care is provided.
And the educational experience
is provided as well to these future physicians.
I've spent nearly three decades
(01:47):
in healthcare. I started
and, you know, just had a passion for
healthcare.
I I realized early on in my career
that I didn't wanna make or produce things.
I wanted to have an impact on people.
And that each day when I went home
from work, I always wanted to make sure
that I left the world a better place.
And,
(02:07):
I hope that, you know, that continues. And
plus or minus, good or bad,
I think I've had an impact over my
close to three decades.
So I've I've spent a lot of my
experience in in health systems.
I recently worked for an organization in San
Diego,
and then about two years ago, I came
to UCR.
(02:29):
And really, my my main focus
here is to expand the clinical enterprise,
the the network,
the clinics,
the integrated offerings that we have for patients
in this marketplace,
because this market
is under resourced.
And we're looking at about a 20 to
21%
(02:50):
growth rate to twenty forty nine.
And right now, our primary care ratio to
population
is the lowest in the state of California,
and our specialist rate is the lowest in
the state of California.
And our hospital beds
is lower than the average in the state
of California. And with the population growth that
I had mentioned before, that will decline.
(03:12):
So we really have to come up with
some solutions for the future
to create more physicians, to attract more physicians
to this market place, to provide more care
and care opportunities
at the lowest cost possible.
And so that's why I came here is
to be able to build the clinical network,
to be able to expand the the number
of residencies that we have, the number of
(03:34):
medical school students we have in the school
of medicine, and to really be proactive in
in addressing
the needs for this future that we have
in the Inland Empire.
Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense, and
it really is a helpful lay of the
land for the market that you're currently serving.
And, you know, from your perspective, what's the
biggest winner success story you've had from this
(03:56):
last year or so?
I think the word we're at the heart
of something that's absolutely critical. As I mentioned
before,
addressing the future needs of the population.
And, unfortunately,
there's no
magic
or silver bullet that will solve this problem
that we have. It'll take
a lot of organizations
working together and a lot of collaboration.
(04:18):
And this year,
we announced in June
a decision from the University of California
that we will make an investment in the
Inland Empire. We call it the Inland Empire,
which is Riverside and San Bernardino
Counties, to create a health sciences campus in
Riverside.
And it will be a multi phase project
(04:38):
that will that will expand our clinic locations
from three to 10.
It will have what we call a specialized
ambulatory center on this 20 acre campus,
and it will also it's already entitled for
a 280 bed hospital for the future.
So we're really excited about that as part
of this solution.
(04:59):
And right now, we're continuing to build the
clinical network because as a lot of your
listeners
will understand,
marketplaces that have been impacted by the entry
of some of the private equity firms has
created tremendous fragmentation for providers.
They've lost access to contracts. They've lost access
to their patients that they've held for years.
(05:19):
And as a result, there's opportunity to create
an integrated network in the Inland Empire. And
so that's also what we're trying to do
at the same time is to create this
integrated clinical network
among providers that really props them up
for the future, gives them access to contracts,
ensures that that patient physician relationship stays in
(05:40):
place, and also addresses the care gaps that
we have for our future. So we're really
focused on laying the groundwork for a sustainable
long term
clinical and academic model in the Inland Empire.
Absolutely. I I love that. I think that
makes a lot of sense and certainly
a lot to think about, but providing that
(06:01):
type of access to care is no easy
task. And so seeing those opportunities,
continue to grow is critical.
Now from your perspective, what are the top
two to three issues that you're focused on
right now? What are top of mind for
you and your leadership team as you're thinking
through the decisions that need to be made?
I think one of them is what I
just mentioned, which is provider
(06:21):
and care access.
And I had mentioned that the population
has grown rapidly, and it will continue to
grow rapidly.
We've got certain dynamics that are going on
in this marketplace that are causing the constraints.
One is
businesses are moving to the Inland Empire because
of the lower cost of housing, and I
think most people have probably heard about the
(06:43):
high cost of housing in California in general.
So people, young families are seeking out lower
housing opportunities. So we're seeing just this boom
right now
with housing, but, again, not enough providers. So,
we're trying to create the opportunities to keep
more of our school of medicine graduates local,
(07:03):
and we developed a medical group and a
physician network to do that.
So we're very focused on creating the access
that this that this community needs. And as
I had mentioned,
the fragmentation that exists as well. So
we need to make commitments to patients
about the service that they'll receive.
(07:24):
I believe that, unfortunately,
patients have become a commodity,
and that's far from what I believe.
I believe we need to have a patient
centric model
that listens, understands their needs, and then is
unique to what they're looking for. If it's
online scheduling, if it's online communication for really
busy parents
who have to fit in you know, schedule
(07:45):
appointments when they can, if it's offering urgent
care, if it's offering locations that are different
for them. It's really deal dealing with the
the care access
and recruiting and retaining physicians. And we're also
working with our
sister UC
organizations. So that's also the beautiful model for
for UCR as we expand.
(08:06):
This has been a UC regents,
initiative
and a priority
for the state
to make the investment in this marketplace. And
the other UC medical centers have made commitments
to support our growth. So we're not going
it alone, and we'll have the support from
providers, you know, other organizations
bringing physicians into this marketplace, addressing care gaps
(08:29):
in the short term so that in the
long term, we can do it ourselves.
So, really, those areas right there, provider and
care access, we need to improve that. The
second one, I think, is operational readiness.
And I think, you know, I won't belabor
the OBBBA
implications,
but I I think everybody's reeling right now
on how is that going to impact
(08:51):
each one of our communities
and each one of our patients. It will
be unique between eligibility constraints,
reimbursement
delays,
red tape,
all these other things. And then, you know,
future reimbursement
levels,
the cost of care that keeps going up
as we've seen. You know, cost and utilization
(09:12):
keep going up in this marketplace, which is
driving up overall costs. And without the reimbursement
to support that,
it's going to be an unfortunate situation for
a lot of people who are gonna lose
insurance. So we're doing a lot of preparation
for that. The third one is defining our
brand promise, and I had mentioned the ideas
about
access.
(09:32):
But we've put into place some
strong metrics
around, and we've met with folk with with
patients
and developed some focus groups to identify ways
in which they see value being created and
how they want their care provider and how
they want to work and contact
their provider.
And we've also started to use, you know,
(09:53):
more nurse practitioners
in our model as well. So it's looking
at those things like when you call us,
we wanna get you in for an appointment
within ten days.
When you call us,
we wanna make sure we find out, you
know, your referral, and your authorization so you
have control over your future.
We when you email us with the medication
(10:14):
request, we get right back to you within
twenty four hours of your email. So we're
tracking all of those things, and we wanna
make a really strong brand promise
to our patients in the marketplace. So I
think overall, it's it's addressing some of the
current issues we have with care access, and
I'd mentioned before about building the network for
the future. So we're in the planning stages
(10:35):
for that. Looking at how do we prepare
ourselves for the changes that have occurred with
reimbursement and some constraints on eligibility.
And then the third one is defining a
patient centric model
that really allows us to monitor our performance
and gain input and understand and listen to
what the patients want so we can create
a better framework for the future.
That makes a lot of sense. And I
(10:56):
I really appreciate you digging into some of
these topics because I know it it's so
important to have the type of care model
that's transformative, that is nimble, and that can
respond to some of the big challenges that
you mentioned in terms of access to care
and and how things are changing at the
state and federal level too for some folks,
and then being able to to pivot and
address that in a meaningful way. And I
(11:18):
think too when you look at, you know,
that patient centric
care model, the ability to keep that patient
front and center and,
anything that's happening, and who need changes, you
know, I I know that's so important, so
critical for hospitals and health systems. So, you
know, when you think about your your current
transformation and how things are going, how do
(11:39):
you, work with the clinicians and really keep
their perspectives top of mind, within the leadership
of the organization so that,
you're able to make the the right adjustments
as time goes on? I think the the
main priority for us lately has been making
sure we're engaging and engaged.
(11:59):
And so we've got our chairs and our
physician leaders who what I found is if
they understand
what and why and how,
they can help us with implementation, and they
can help us with the how.
Sometimes the best ideas that we have aren't
the best ideas in reality because, you know,
it takes
it takes,
(12:20):
different perspectives
to make sure that we're addressing the
the critical
I think some of these challenging problems, they
continue to persist because we don't think holistically
enough, and we don't engage people. So that's
really the the main area lately is to
engage, understand, and to listen, and then to
make, you know, adaptations and adjustments to what
(12:43):
we thought
rather than railroading our plan. It might take
a little bit longer, but in the long
run, you have champions for the change. You
have people who understand
how to change. And I come from from
a philosophy,
Laura, that when I when I look at
physician leaders,
I've always felt
that the more you share, the better they
(13:06):
understand and the better partners they are. So
I I am a big fan
of communicating frequently
and holistically,
so financially, clinically, operationally, so they understand. So
when they go out and try to, you
know, support change or change themselves,
they can articulate the why. And the why
is so important in health care nowadays because
(13:28):
some of the changes that are being made
sometimes don't make sense, to be honest with
you. But at the face level, you you
need to get these individuals so that they're
engaged as leaders, and they understand. So we've
been doing a lot of communication,
a lot of sharing, a lot of, you
know, iterative discussions back and forth around the
priorities.
And what we found is when we do
all of those things, they're highly engaged, they're
(13:51):
supportive, and they begin to communicate our vision
and our mission for us. And they become,
you know, participants
rather than renters, if you will. They're owners
of the solution rather than renters.
And that's really where we want them to
be as partners, seats at the table, understanding,
and supporting our the change as leaders.
Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
(14:11):
And it's, you know, a really smart way
to approach it. I love that kind of
philosophy of it. You know, looking at it
might take just one bit longer, but having
those physician champions can make a big difference.
And fully understanding the why leads to,
a stronger how to get it done. So
I I love that.
And speaking of the future, when you look
at the next few years or so, where
(14:31):
do you see some of the biggest opportunities
for growth in the next few years?
I think there's a a couple of different
areas that we're focusing on. One is I
mentioned before,
expanding our clinical footprint, improving clinical access.
We also need to be adaptive to what
patients want.
We've seen a tremendous
(14:52):
uptick in our telehealth.
And what we have seen is that if
we can make it convenient for patients,
they will use that option
most of the time as a preference. And
it's interesting because, you know, we we've we
pride ourselves on having an amazing psychiatry network.
And now we're at about I think about
90% of our visits
(15:14):
are online or telehealth.
And that I don't know if there's a,
you know, a best practice out there, but
I'd probably say that's pretty close to it.
And it's really convenient for patients. It's convenient
for the the clinical teams too because they
can go from patient to patient to patient
without having to worry about, you know, being
on-site, etcetera.
So we're able to line them up that
way. So it's really looking at both our
(15:36):
physical footprint and our virtual footprint.
The the second one is I had mentioned
the the challenges
of of expanding the workforce.
And we have to address the workforce pipeline,
and it has to be driven by, you
know, increasing number of slots that we have
overall.
(15:57):
Right now, our medical school has capacity for
500 medical school students. The unfortunate thing for
us right now is that we don't have
a network that's
sufficient to support
those 500, and we can only support about
325.
So
we know we can recruit or, you know,
attract more medical school students to address this
(16:18):
problem,
and we also need to retain them in
the marketplace. So we need to expand our
residencies with partnerships and things like that,
for our future. And, you know, just a
little note, we're a, you know, a community
based medical school, so we rely on our
providers in the marketplace to support these clinical
rotations. And we don't have a hospital right
(16:40):
now, but that's, as I mentioned before, part
of our plan. So it's also tied we're
only gonna solve this problem
by collaboration
as
well. And so we need to have collaborative
care models and partnerships with, you know, hospitals
for residents,
addressing the gaps in care collaboratively,
and being able to recruit and retain physicians
(17:01):
for this marketplace and create a sustainable model
for them to stay in this market. You
know, the the debt structure that most medical
school students have as they come out,
it's unbelievable. So we're able to offer some
scholarships through the state and through some very
gracious donors
that allows physicians, if they practice in the
marketplace for five years, their debt is covered.
(17:24):
And so as a result, that helps these
physicians
really become critical members of the community. So
I think expanding our footprint,
using our every means that we have around
expanding our workforce and our pipeline
around providers,
And we're only gonna be able to do
this through collaboration
with organizations
(17:44):
in the marketplace.
We have to think differently around our partnerships.
It can't be a, you know, a win
lose equation. We need to create win win
equations,
that, you know, one organization can't win everything.
It has to be done, you know, with
a broad understanding that there's a give back
to the community for the future, and we
(18:05):
need to make investments together. And that's the
way that we're gonna solve the problem, not
by one silver bullet or one solution. It's
gonna be really
a, a gumbo, if you will, of a
lot of con you know, ingredients that need
to go into the solution that's gonna craft
an outcome for us.
Absolutely. I I love that analogy.
(18:26):
You know, and especially given a little spice
to that gumbo, and you're in really good
shape there. So
that's awesome.
And I I love the way you kind
of talked about the bringing the physicians in,
getting them to stay in the community,
and doing what you can in order to
support them as they're starting off. I know
that's a really critical time, especially after they've
been in school for so long in in
(18:47):
training as well.
And and then looking at, you know, giving
back to the community and making those partnerships
a win win in as many ways as
possible.
You know, I think that's so important because
it's easy to lose sight of,
that
necessity to support partners in that same way
and have a mutually beneficial connection,
especially, you know, in in times when there's
(19:08):
a lot of stress within the health care
space.
It is. I and I you know, the
challenge that that exists or I'll say
the opportunity
is that
when you have
a place where physicians
call
home
(19:29):
and
want to be here and have a passion
to be here,
they will do whatever they can
to have an impact for their community.
And we have focused on
recruiting
medical school students who are from this community
and will stay in this community. They might
(19:51):
have to leave for a rotation here or
there,
but we want them to be a part
of this community and a part of the
solution so that, you know, we talk about
the how we need to understand better. Some
of these physicians that are in this marketplace
right now
understand what their patients need. So that is
more of the holistic
(20:11):
view, and that's what's gonna help us with
population health. That's gonna help us address some
of those care gaps.
That's gonna help us address some of those
things when we talk about social determinants of
health and gaps in care and things where
these physicians
will know how to connect their patients more
effectively
because they grew up in this marketplace,
(20:32):
they understand the market, and they know the
physicians, their pure physicians that they can refer
to, and they can work on behalf of
the patients who really need them to move
the needle on some of these population health
issues around diabetes,
you know, behavioral health issues,
you know, hypertension,
a lot of these things that, you know,
were pediatric
asthma, all these things that we're really trying
(20:53):
to change. You're not gonna do it with
just
documentation
and tools within an electronic medical record.
I firmly believe that it's also the social
component and the networking, the understanding of what's
what's in the market.
Maybe some of these individuals face the very
same challenges that patients are facing right now.
So it's also being able to have those
(21:15):
honest, truthful conversations
that will change people's futures.
Absolutely. I love that. And a really, really
strong point when you think about how you
can build a community alongside of the organization.
Before we wrap up here, I wanted to
get your sense,
and a few words on leadership. What do
you think it will take to lead a
(21:35):
thriving
hospital and system over the next five years
or so, especially given some of the things
we've talked about today, how health care delivery
models are evolving with technology
and and resources and more?
I think that we, unfortunately,
have,
in some cases, evolved into a me to
approach on our strategy.
(21:56):
I think that, you know, organization needs to
understand its brand and its commitment to its
marketplace. What are you really gonna do when
you what are you really gonna do well?
And it allows organizations to focus on those
things.
I've seen organizations where they start to acquire
assets because
they think, Wow,
this is a growth opportunity for us, and
(22:18):
they end up wasting a lot of money
because it's not tied to their core mission.
So I think that that's the part that's
probably at the forefront of me. What's what's
our mission? What's our vision? How do we
deliver on that?
And how do we also
adapt and innovate based on that? So we
can't you know, if something needs to change,
it still needs to tie back to your
(22:39):
mission and your core values of the organization.
That's why people come to your organization and
remain at your organization is because of the
mission and because of the culture. It's what
you do. It's how you do it. So
I think as we move forward,
we need to be very quickly adaptable to
changes in the marketplace and then use some
of the innovation that's available to us to
be more efficient,
(22:59):
but never lose sight of our our mission
and our vision and our values that we
live with. So when we make decisions, those
need to be forefront.
I think also that from a leadership perspective,
we need to be very strategic listeners, and
we need to understand better.
When you understand what people need,
(23:20):
you're better at delivering the care and the
outcomes and the solutions.
It's when you don't listen and you just
hardwire it and it isn't what the community
needs that you'll continue to fail and struggle,
and that's also that connection back to to
your mission.
The third thing I'd probably say
is as a leader, it's resilience.
(23:41):
And I can't tell you how many times
I've been disappointed with a result that, you
know, it it, you know, it didn't get
where I wanted it to get to at
the beginning.
But as a leader, to be honest with
you, that's also part of creating the best
solution.
And it's the patience that you need to
have and the resilience you need to have
around coming up with new opportunities.
(24:02):
But most importantly,
being inclusive with others
and getting different perspectives and viewpoints along the
way. I'm a big fan of
being inclusive,
understanding diverse perspectives,
and I think we make better decisions,
and our outcomes are much higher quality
when we bring in different perspectives.
(24:23):
And we ask questions that are humble, humble
inquiry
that, you know, maybe we think we know
the answer, but the humility that we as
leaders need to have as we move forward
needs to needs to be even greater. Because
these problems
continue to be problems because the solutions we
came up with are not working. So we
have to understand at a deeper level
(24:44):
why they keep happening
and understand how we can engage people who
are on the front lines,
ask the right questions,
empower, and engage. And I you know, some
of the best opportunities that I've ever come
across, to be honest with you, are when
I'm rounding and I ask people, what do
you think? What do you think we should
do? And I'll get, you know, even down
to, you know, the the folks who are
(25:05):
the environmental service workers, who I think are
heroes, actually,
that, you know, during COVID, they continued to
come to work, continued to place themselves in
the role of, in a way, caregivers
for patients providing you know, they they were
ensuring that the rooms and the hallways were
clean.
They they have better eyes than I do.
They have better eyes than most people because
(25:27):
they see everything.
And I love to tap into those individuals
in particular
because I can get so much from them,
and I can engage them. And and when
you make it their idea,
it's amazing what you can do. It's a
multiplier. When when you engage them, you find
out what they think, how would they go
about it because they have such
(25:47):
they're so intuitive
around identifying solutions to problems that we usually
can't solve. So all these things relate to,
you know, how we need to solve problems
in the future and how
I am one individual
trying to create a culture of engagement,
resilience,
empowerment,
(26:07):
leadership. So each individual should be a leader,
and they should understand the what and the
why we're trying to do it so we
can live out the mission.
I love that. Tim, thank you so much
for joining us on the podcast today. This
has been such a fascinating and inspiring discussion,
and I look forward to seeing you at
our CEO's CFO roundtable in November.
Just a great opportunity to continue this discussion
(26:28):
and learn from each other.
Thanks for having me, and, I look forward
to being there in November.
At athenahealth, we know your ambulatory practice wants
healthier,
a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
patients.
But the complexities of modern health care tech
make it hard for you and your care
teams to focus on what matters most.
(26:50):
That's where athenahealth can help.
Our AI native all in one solutions
reduce administrative burdens,
streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights
when clinicians need it most.
That means fewer clicks, more time for patients,
and stronger
lines. Practicing medicine is complex, but running a
practice can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
(27:12):
See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.
At athenahealth,
we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier,
a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
patients.
But the complexities of modern health care tech
make it hard for you and your care
teams to focus on what matters most.
That's where athenahealth can help.
Our AI native all in one solutions reduce
administrative burdens,
(00:23):
streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights
when clinicians need it most.
That means fewer clicks, more time for patients,
and stronger bottom lines. Practicing medicine is complex,
but running a practice can be that much
simpler with athenahealth.
See how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.
(00:44):
This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
Timothy Collins, chief executive officer at UCR Health.
Timothy, it's a pleasure to have you on
the podcast today. Thanks for having me. I'm
excited to be here. Absolutely. Now I'm looking
forward to learning more about some of the
cool things you're doing at UCR Health. I
know it's, such a unique time in health
care right now and certainly a lot of
(01:05):
growth and innovation happening, but,
you know,
challenging times as well. So I I'm looking
forward to talking through more of this with
you. But before we dive in, could you
introduce yourself and just tell us a little
bit more about UCR Health? Sure. I'd be
happy to. My name is Tim Collins. As
as you would said, I'm the chief executive
officer of
UC Riverside
Health.
(01:26):
We are the clinical arm of the UCR
School of Medicine. So it's where the physicians
practice,
where we train the future physicians. We have
residencies,
and essentially, it's where patient care is provided.
And the educational experience
is provided as well to these future physicians.
I've spent nearly three decades
(01:47):
in healthcare. I started
and, you know, just had a passion for
healthcare.
I I realized early on in my career
that I didn't wanna make or produce things.
I wanted to have an impact on people.
And that each day when I went home
from work, I always wanted to make sure
that I left the world a better place.
And,
(02:07):
I hope that, you know, that continues. And
plus or minus, good or bad,
I think I've had an impact over my
close to three decades.
So I've I've spent a lot of my
experience in in health systems.
I recently worked for an organization in San
Diego,
and then about two years ago, I came
to UCR.
(02:29):
And really, my my main focus
here is to expand the clinical enterprise,
the the network,
the clinics,
the integrated offerings that we have for patients
in this marketplace,
because this market
is under resourced.
And we're looking at about a 20 to
21%
(02:50):
growth rate to twenty forty nine.
And right now, our primary care ratio to
population
is the lowest in the state of California,
and our specialist rate is the lowest in
the state of California.
And our hospital beds
is lower than the average in the state
of California. And with the population growth that
I had mentioned before, that will decline.
(03:12):
So we really have to come up with
some solutions for the future
to create more physicians, to attract more physicians
to this market place, to provide more care
and care opportunities
at the lowest cost possible.
And so that's why I came here is
to be able to build the clinical network,
to be able to expand the the number
of residencies that we have, the number of
(03:34):
medical school students we have in the school
of medicine, and to really be proactive in
in addressing
the needs for this future that we have
in the Inland Empire.
Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense, and
it really is a helpful lay of the
land for the market that you're currently serving.
And, you know, from your perspective, what's the
biggest winner success story you've had from this
(03:56):
last year or so?
I think the word we're at the heart
of something that's absolutely critical. As I mentioned
before,
addressing the future needs of the population.
And, unfortunately,
there's no
magic
or silver bullet that will solve this problem
that we have. It'll take
a lot of organizations
working together and a lot of collaboration.
(04:18):
And this year,
we announced in June
a decision from the University of California
that we will make an investment in the
Inland Empire. We call it the Inland Empire,
which is Riverside and San Bernardino
Counties, to create a health sciences campus in
Riverside.
And it will be a multi phase project
(04:38):
that will that will expand our clinic locations
from three to 10.
It will have what we call a specialized
ambulatory center on this 20 acre campus,
and it will also it's already entitled for
a 280 bed hospital for the future.
So we're really excited about that as part
of this solution.
(04:59):
And right now, we're continuing to build the
clinical network because as a lot of your
listeners
will understand,
marketplaces that have been impacted by the entry
of some of the private equity firms has
created tremendous fragmentation for providers.
They've lost access to contracts. They've lost access
to their patients that they've held for years.
(05:19):
And as a result, there's opportunity to create
an integrated network in the Inland Empire. And
so that's also what we're trying to do
at the same time is to create this
integrated clinical network
among providers that really props them up
for the future, gives them access to contracts,
ensures that that patient physician relationship stays in
(05:40):
place, and also addresses the care gaps that
we have for our future. So we're really
focused on laying the groundwork for a sustainable
long term
clinical and academic model in the Inland Empire.
Absolutely. I I love that. I think that
makes a lot of sense and certainly
a lot to think about, but providing that
(06:01):
type of access to care is no easy
task. And so seeing those opportunities,
continue to grow is critical.
Now from your perspective, what are the top
two to three issues that you're focused on
right now? What are top of mind for
you and your leadership team as you're thinking
through the decisions that need to be made?
I think one of them is what I
just mentioned, which is provider
(06:21):
and care access.
And I had mentioned that the population
has grown rapidly, and it will continue to
grow rapidly.
We've got certain dynamics that are going on
in this marketplace that are causing the constraints.
One is
businesses are moving to the Inland Empire because
of the lower cost of housing, and I
think most people have probably heard about the
(06:43):
high cost of housing in California in general.
So people, young families are seeking out lower
housing opportunities. So we're seeing just this boom
right now
with housing, but, again, not enough providers. So,
we're trying to create the opportunities to keep
more of our school of medicine graduates local,
(07:03):
and we developed a medical group and a
physician network to do that.
So we're very focused on creating the access
that this that this community needs. And as
I had mentioned,
the fragmentation that exists as well. So
we need to make commitments to patients
about the service that they'll receive.
(07:24):
I believe that, unfortunately,
patients have become a commodity,
and that's far from what I believe.
I believe we need to have a patient
centric model
that listens, understands their needs, and then is
unique to what they're looking for. If it's
online scheduling, if it's online communication for really
busy parents
who have to fit in you know, schedule
(07:45):
appointments when they can, if it's offering urgent
care, if it's offering locations that are different
for them. It's really deal dealing with the
the care access
and recruiting and retaining physicians. And we're also
working with our
sister UC
organizations. So that's also the beautiful model for
for UCR as we expand.
(08:06):
This has been a UC regents,
initiative
and a priority
for the state
to make the investment in this marketplace. And
the other UC medical centers have made commitments
to support our growth. So we're not going
it alone, and we'll have the support from
providers, you know, other organizations
bringing physicians into this marketplace, addressing care gaps
(08:29):
in the short term so that in the
long term, we can do it ourselves.
So, really, those areas right there, provider and
care access, we need to improve that. The
second one, I think, is operational readiness.
And I think, you know, I won't belabor
the OBBBA
implications,
but I I think everybody's reeling right now
on how is that going to impact
(08:51):
each one of our communities
and each one of our patients. It will
be unique between eligibility constraints,
reimbursement
delays,
red tape,
all these other things. And then, you know,
future reimbursement
levels,
the cost of care that keeps going up
as we've seen. You know, cost and utilization
(09:12):
keep going up in this marketplace, which is
driving up overall costs. And without the reimbursement
to support that,
it's going to be an unfortunate situation for
a lot of people who are gonna lose
insurance. So we're doing a lot of preparation
for that. The third one is defining our
brand promise, and I had mentioned the ideas
about
access.
(09:32):
But we've put into place some
strong metrics
around, and we've met with folk with with
patients
and developed some focus groups to identify ways
in which they see value being created and
how they want their care provider and how
they want to work and contact
their provider.
And we've also started to use, you know,
(09:53):
more nurse practitioners
in our model as well. So it's looking
at those things like when you call us,
we wanna get you in for an appointment
within ten days.
When you call us,
we wanna make sure we find out, you
know, your referral, and your authorization so you
have control over your future.
We when you email us with the medication
(10:14):
request, we get right back to you within
twenty four hours of your email. So we're
tracking all of those things, and we wanna
make a really strong brand promise
to our patients in the marketplace. So I
think overall, it's it's addressing some of the
current issues we have with care access, and
I'd mentioned before about building the network for
the future. So we're in the planning stages
(10:35):
for that. Looking at how do we prepare
ourselves for the changes that have occurred with
reimbursement and some constraints on eligibility.
And then the third one is defining a
patient centric model
that really allows us to monitor our performance
and gain input and understand and listen to
what the patients want so we can create
a better framework for the future.
That makes a lot of sense. And I
(10:56):
I really appreciate you digging into some of
these topics because I know it it's so
important to have the type of care model
that's transformative, that is nimble, and that can
respond to some of the big challenges that
you mentioned in terms of access to care
and and how things are changing at the
state and federal level too for some folks,
and then being able to to pivot and
address that in a meaningful way. And I
(11:18):
think too when you look at, you know,
that patient centric
care model, the ability to keep that patient
front and center and,
anything that's happening, and who need changes, you
know, I I know that's so important, so
critical for hospitals and health systems. So, you
know, when you think about your your current
transformation and how things are going, how do
(11:39):
you, work with the clinicians and really keep
their perspectives top of mind, within the leadership
of the organization so that,
you're able to make the the right adjustments
as time goes on? I think the the
main priority for us lately has been making
sure we're engaging and engaged.
(11:59):
And so we've got our chairs and our
physician leaders who what I found is if
they understand
what and why and how,
they can help us with implementation, and they
can help us with the how.
Sometimes the best ideas that we have aren't
the best ideas in reality because, you know,
it takes
it takes,
(12:20):
different perspectives
to make sure that we're addressing the
the critical
I think some of these challenging problems, they
continue to persist because we don't think holistically
enough, and we don't engage people. So that's
really the the main area lately is to
engage, understand, and to listen, and then to
make, you know, adaptations and adjustments to what
(12:43):
we thought
rather than railroading our plan. It might take
a little bit longer, but in the long
run, you have champions for the change. You
have people who understand
how to change. And I come from from
a philosophy,
Laura, that when I when I look at
physician leaders,
I've always felt
that the more you share, the better they
(13:06):
understand and the better partners they are. So
I I am a big fan
of communicating frequently
and holistically,
so financially, clinically, operationally, so they understand. So
when they go out and try to, you
know, support change or change themselves,
they can articulate the why. And the why
is so important in health care nowadays because
(13:28):
some of the changes that are being made
sometimes don't make sense, to be honest with
you. But at the face level, you you
need to get these individuals so that they're
engaged as leaders, and they understand. So we've
been doing a lot of communication,
a lot of sharing, a lot of, you
know, iterative discussions back and forth around the
priorities.
And what we found is when we do
all of those things, they're highly engaged, they're
(13:51):
supportive, and they begin to communicate our vision
and our mission for us. And they become,
you know, participants
rather than renters, if you will. They're owners
of the solution rather than renters.
And that's really where we want them to
be as partners, seats at the table, understanding,
and supporting our the change as leaders.
Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
(14:11):
And it's, you know, a really smart way
to approach it. I love that kind of
philosophy of it. You know, looking at it
might take just one bit longer, but having
those physician champions can make a big difference.
And fully understanding the why leads to,
a stronger how to get it done. So
I I love that.
And speaking of the future, when you look
at the next few years or so, where
(14:31):
do you see some of the biggest opportunities
for growth in the next few years?
I think there's a a couple of different
areas that we're focusing on. One is I
mentioned before,
expanding our clinical footprint, improving clinical access.
We also need to be adaptive to what
patients want.
We've seen a tremendous
(14:52):
uptick in our telehealth.
And what we have seen is that if
we can make it convenient for patients,
they will use that option
most of the time as a preference. And
it's interesting because, you know, we we've we
pride ourselves on having an amazing psychiatry network.
And now we're at about I think about
90% of our visits
(15:14):
are online or telehealth.
And that I don't know if there's a,
you know, a best practice out there, but
I'd probably say that's pretty close to it.
And it's really convenient for patients. It's convenient
for the the clinical teams too because they
can go from patient to patient to patient
without having to worry about, you know, being
on-site, etcetera.
So we're able to line them up that
way. So it's really looking at both our
(15:36):
physical footprint and our virtual footprint.
The the second one is I had mentioned
the the challenges
of of expanding the workforce.
And we have to address the workforce pipeline,
and it has to be driven by, you
know, increasing number of slots that we have
overall.
(15:57):
Right now, our medical school has capacity for
500 medical school students. The unfortunate thing for
us right now is that we don't have
a network that's
sufficient to support
those 500, and we can only support about
325.
So
we know we can recruit or, you know,
attract more medical school students to address this
(16:18):
problem,
and we also need to retain them in
the marketplace. So we need to expand our
residencies with partnerships and things like that,
for our future. And, you know, just a
little note, we're a, you know, a community
based medical school, so we rely on our
providers in the marketplace to support these clinical
rotations. And we don't have a hospital right
(16:40):
now, but that's, as I mentioned before, part
of our plan. So it's also tied we're
only gonna solve this problem
by collaboration
as
well. And so we need to have collaborative
care models and partnerships with, you know, hospitals
for residents,
addressing the gaps in care collaboratively,
and being able to recruit and retain physicians
(17:01):
for this marketplace and create a sustainable model
for them to stay in this market. You
know, the the debt structure that most medical
school students have as they come out,
it's unbelievable. So we're able to offer some
scholarships through the state and through some very
gracious donors
that allows physicians, if they practice in the
marketplace for five years, their debt is covered.
(17:24):
And so as a result, that helps these
physicians
really become critical members of the community. So
I think expanding our footprint,
using our every means that we have around
expanding our workforce and our pipeline
around providers,
And we're only gonna be able to do
this through collaboration
with organizations
(17:44):
in the marketplace.
We have to think differently around our partnerships.
It can't be a, you know, a win
lose equation. We need to create win win
equations,
that, you know, one organization can't win everything.
It has to be done, you know, with
a broad understanding that there's a give back
to the community for the future, and we
(18:05):
need to make investments together. And that's the
way that we're gonna solve the problem, not
by one silver bullet or one solution. It's
gonna be really
a, a gumbo, if you will, of a
lot of con you know, ingredients that need
to go into the solution that's gonna craft
an outcome for us.
Absolutely. I I love that analogy.
(18:26):
You know, and especially given a little spice
to that gumbo, and you're in really good
shape there. So
that's awesome.
And I I love the way you kind
of talked about the bringing the physicians in,
getting them to stay in the community,
and doing what you can in order to
support them as they're starting off. I know
that's a really critical time, especially after they've
been in school for so long in in
(18:47):
training as well.
And and then looking at, you know, giving
back to the community and making those partnerships
a win win in as many ways as
possible.
You know, I think that's so important because
it's easy to lose sight of,
that
necessity to support partners in that same way
and have a mutually beneficial connection,
especially, you know, in in times when there's
(19:08):
a lot of stress within the health care
space.
It is. I and I you know, the
challenge that that exists or I'll say
the opportunity
is that
when you have
a place where physicians
call
home
(19:29):
and
want to be here and have a passion
to be here,
they will do whatever they can
to have an impact for their community.
And we have focused on
recruiting
medical school students who are from this community
and will stay in this community. They might
(19:51):
have to leave for a rotation here or
there,
but we want them to be a part
of this community and a part of the
solution so that, you know, we talk about
the how we need to understand better. Some
of these physicians that are in this marketplace
right now
understand what their patients need. So that is
more of the holistic
(20:11):
view, and that's what's gonna help us with
population health. That's gonna help us address some
of those care gaps.
That's gonna help us address some of those
things when we talk about social determinants of
health and gaps in care and things where
these physicians
will know how to connect their patients more
effectively
because they grew up in this marketplace,
(20:32):
they understand the market, and they know the
physicians, their pure physicians that they can refer
to, and they can work on behalf of
the patients who really need them to move
the needle on some of these population health
issues around diabetes,
you know, behavioral health issues,
you know, hypertension,
a lot of these things that, you know,
were pediatric
asthma, all these things that we're really trying
(20:53):
to change. You're not gonna do it with
just
documentation
and tools within an electronic medical record.
I firmly believe that it's also the social
component and the networking, the understanding of what's
what's in the market.
Maybe some of these individuals face the very
same challenges that patients are facing right now.
So it's also being able to have those
(21:15):
honest, truthful conversations
that will change people's futures.
Absolutely. I love that. And a really, really
strong point when you think about how you
can build a community alongside of the organization.
Before we wrap up here, I wanted to
get your sense,
and a few words on leadership. What do
you think it will take to lead a
(21:35):
thriving
hospital and system over the next five years
or so, especially given some of the things
we've talked about today, how health care delivery
models are evolving with technology
and and resources and more?
I think that we, unfortunately,
have,
in some cases, evolved into a me to
approach on our strategy.
(21:56):
I think that, you know, organization needs to
understand its brand and its commitment to its
marketplace. What are you really gonna do when
you what are you really gonna do well?
And it allows organizations to focus on those
things.
I've seen organizations where they start to acquire
assets because
they think, Wow,
this is a growth opportunity for us, and
(22:18):
they end up wasting a lot of money
because it's not tied to their core mission.
So I think that that's the part that's
probably at the forefront of me. What's what's
our mission? What's our vision? How do we
deliver on that?
And how do we also
adapt and innovate based on that? So we
can't you know, if something needs to change,
it still needs to tie back to your
(22:39):
mission and your core values of the organization.
That's why people come to your organization and
remain at your organization is because of the
mission and because of the culture. It's what
you do. It's how you do it. So
I think as we move forward,
we need to be very quickly adaptable to
changes in the marketplace and then use some
of the innovation that's available to us to
be more efficient,
(22:59):
but never lose sight of our our mission
and our vision and our values that we
live with. So when we make decisions, those
need to be forefront.
I think also that from a leadership perspective,
we need to be very strategic listeners, and
we need to understand better.
When you understand what people need,
(23:20):
you're better at delivering the care and the
outcomes and the solutions.
It's when you don't listen and you just
hardwire it and it isn't what the community
needs that you'll continue to fail and struggle,
and that's also that connection back to to
your mission.
The third thing I'd probably say
is as a leader, it's resilience.
(23:41):
And I can't tell you how many times
I've been disappointed with a result that, you
know, it it, you know, it didn't get
where I wanted it to get to at
the beginning.
But as a leader, to be honest with
you, that's also part of creating the best
solution.
And it's the patience that you need to
have and the resilience you need to have
around coming up with new opportunities.
(24:02):
But most importantly,
being inclusive with others
and getting different perspectives and viewpoints along the
way. I'm a big fan of
being inclusive,
understanding diverse perspectives,
and I think we make better decisions,
and our outcomes are much higher quality
when we bring in different perspectives.
(24:23):
And we ask questions that are humble, humble
inquiry
that, you know, maybe we think we know
the answer, but the humility that we as
leaders need to have as we move forward
needs to needs to be even greater. Because
these problems
continue to be problems because the solutions we
came up with are not working. So we
have to understand at a deeper level
(24:44):
why they keep happening
and understand how we can engage people who
are on the front lines,
ask the right questions,
empower, and engage. And I you know, some
of the best opportunities that I've ever come
across, to be honest with you, are when
I'm rounding and I ask people, what do
you think? What do you think we should
do? And I'll get, you know, even down
to, you know, the the folks who are
(25:05):
the environmental service workers, who I think are
heroes, actually,
that, you know, during COVID, they continued to
come to work, continued to place themselves in
the role of, in a way, caregivers
for patients providing you know, they they were
ensuring that the rooms and the hallways were
clean.
They they have better eyes than I do.
They have better eyes than most people because
(25:27):
they see everything.
And I love to tap into those individuals
in particular
because I can get so much from them,
and I can engage them. And and when
you make it their idea,
it's amazing what you can do. It's a
multiplier. When when you engage them, you find
out what they think, how would they go
about it because they have such
(25:47):
they're so intuitive
around identifying solutions to problems that we usually
can't solve. So all these things relate to,
you know, how we need to solve problems
in the future and how
I am one individual
trying to create a culture of engagement,
resilience,
empowerment,
(26:07):
leadership. So each individual should be a leader,
and they should understand the what and the
why we're trying to do it so we
can live out the mission.
I love that. Tim, thank you so much
for joining us on the podcast today. This
has been such a fascinating and inspiring discussion,
and I look forward to seeing you at
our CEO's CFO roundtable in November.
Just a great opportunity to continue this discussion
(26:28):
and learn from each other.
Thanks for having me, and, I look forward
to being there in November.
At athenahealth, we know your ambulatory practice wants
healthier,
a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
patients.
But the complexities of modern health care tech
make it hard for you and your care
teams to focus on what matters most.
(26:50):
That's where athenahealth can help.
Our AI native all in one solutions
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(27:12):
See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.
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