May 12, 2025 • 19 mins
In this episode, host Daniel Williams speaks with Dave Jenkins, healthcare executive at Cone Health and adjunct faculty at Winston-Salem State University. Jenkins shares his journey into healthcare leadership, the operational dynamics at Cone Health, and the evolving challenges in behavioral health. He dives into the critical role of technology, workforce engagement, and leadership development—offering valuable insights for anyone aspiring to lead in today’s healthcare environment.
00:50 Introduction and Guest Welcome
02:00 Dave Jenkins' Career Pathway
02:57 Overview of Cone Health
04:15 Day-to-Day Operations at Cone Health
05:33 Challenges and Opportunities in Healthcare
06:50 Leadership Principles and Approaches
08:39 Addressing Behavioral Health Needs
11:23 Workforce Engagement and Staffing
13:45 Involvement with MGMA
15:25 Educator Role at Winston-Salem State University
17:14 Future Trends in Healthcare Administration
18:52 Advice for Aspiring Leaders
20:01 Conclusion and Farewell
Resources:
- MGMA Fellowship Program
- Cone Health
- Winston Salem State University MHA Program
- Connect with Dave Jenkins on LinkedIn
Additional Resources:
Email us at dwilliams@mgma.com if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to advisor@mgma.com. Don't forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daniel Williams (00:04):
Hi, everyone. I'm Daniel Williams, senior
editor at MGMA and host of theMGMA Podcast Network. Welcome to
another MGMA member spotlightpodcast. Today, we have the
guest, Dave Jenkins. And Daveand I met recently, and I just
wanted to share him with theMGMA audience here.
(00:25):
Dave is an accomplished healthcare executive. He has more than
twenty years of leadershipexperience there, including
roles in hospital operations,behavioral health services, and
military leadership. Hecurrently serves as the
executive director of marketoperations at Cone Health,
overseeing hospital campuses andbehavioral health services.
(00:49):
That's not all. Dave is also anadjunct faculty member at
Winston Salem State Universitywhere he teaches health care
administrative courses.
Dave, welcome to the show.
Dave Jenkins (01:01):
Thanks, Daniel. Thank you for the invitation,
and I look forward to sharingthis time with our MGMA members.
Daniel Williams (01:09):
Great. Great. So with the MGMA member
spotlight podcast, we alwayslike to get to know those MGMA
members a little bit better.Just talk about your maybe a
couple of the highlights of yourpathway into health care and
what that looks like.
Dave Jenkins (01:26):
Sure. I think my pathway is probably not that
much different than a lot offolks where there's many forks
in the path and curve balls, andsometimes you just be at the
right place at the right timeand be prepared to step into
that next opportunity. Reallynothing special stuck out. It
(01:50):
was certainly not a lineardirection that I saw nor did I
ever envision myself being inhealthcare leadership, say
twenty, twenty five years ago.But everything's a journey and I
just go with it.
Daniel Williams (02:05):
All right. Thank you for sharing that. Now
tell us a little bit first aboutCone Health, size and scope of
the practice, any of thespecialties there, and then
where your focus is at ConeHealth.
Dave Jenkins (02:17):
Sure. So Cone Health is a medium sized
integrated healthcare system.It's got six acute care
hospitals, a couple ambulatoryoutpatient facilities, and well
over 100 provider basedpractices within our network. We
are in a partnership with RyzenHealth, which is a subsidiary of
(02:39):
Kaiser Permanente, and that'sfairly new. So we're still
learning more about thatrelationship and what the
longtime future is.
But within Cone Health, it's aGreensboro based system, a not
for profit founded in, reallyaround the Moses Cone Memorial
Hospital in the early 1950s andhas really just grown across the
(03:00):
triad. We incorporated abehavioral health service line
in the late '90s. And so my rolewithin the health system is to
provide the executive leadershipfor our two acute care
behavioral health facilities, aswell as the whole service line
portfolio within the Cone Healthfootprint.
Daniel Williams (03:23):
Okay. As far as your day to day, how would you
describe that? What's going onin Dave Jenkins' world? I know
that you also juggle theteaching as well. We'll get into
that.
But just as far as your work atCone Health, how would you
describe a typical day or maybeit's an atypical day? Just talk
about that.
Dave Jenkins (03:44):
I'd be wary of any health care leader that can
accurately describe a typicalday. I feel like that's why we
get into this field is no twodays are alike, for sure. And
that's no different for myself.And being part of a large health
system, I have to really balancethe needs of what's going on in
the hospitals. How does thataffect what's going on in our
(04:07):
outpatient clinics?
How is our providers and thework that they're doing
inpatient and outpatient andensuring that we're in tune with
the overall health systemoperation? And that's in the day
to day space, right? But myrole's a little bit more in the
strategic side, whereas I'mhaving to constantly look at our
(04:30):
programs and our practices andhow we're doing business today
versus what are the markettrends, what are the needs going
forward, and how do we seeourselves doing business in the
future.
Daniel Williams (04:43):
What do you identify as some of the major
challenges there oropportunities, however you wanna
look at it, that you're dealingwith there at Cone Health?
Dave Jenkins (04:52):
I think like everybody else, it's just
balancing a scarcity ofresources. We have come out of
the COVID thinking post COVIDwould be a sort of reversion to
mean, and it has been anythingbut that, especially within the
mental health space. The demandfor mental health services was
(05:13):
really exasperated by thepandemic and has maybe plateaued
at best, but there hasdefinitely not been going back
to how things were conductedbeforehand. And even the nature
of our work has changedsignificantly. So it's how can
we do more telepsychiatry?
How can we do more integrativehealth? How can we do more
(05:35):
collaborative care? And so a lotof our time and energy right now
is spent just optimizing whatresources we have to meet the
community needs, knowing thatthe demands of the community far
exceed our capacity right now.
Daniel Williams (05:49):
Wow. Okay. That just hits me hard. I am with
y'all and hope that you can getthe help that y'all need there.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for sharingthat. Let's look at, as far as
leadership in healthcare, youhave extensive experience, as I
was talking about earlier,leading teams in both hospital
operations and in behavioralhealth. What are some of those
(06:12):
guiding leadership principlesthat have really directed and
shaped your life as a leader?
Dave Jenkins (06:20):
Sure. So for me personally, I feel like I've
tried to be very consistent inmy leadership approach. So
whether when I was working inthe hospital, when I was a
practice administrator for manyyears now in kind of a service
line executive leadership role,think what has really made a
difference is really juststaying authentic and connecting
(06:44):
with people. We are in a humanservice, a human business. And
if you're not in tune with theneeds of human nature, you're
gonna get disconnected both fromyour mission and your people
very quickly.
And I really see them as one andthe same. I feel that the
mission that we provide to thecommunity is just as critical as
(07:04):
the support and the leadershipthat we provide to our staff at
all levels and roles. Justcoming with that and really
understanding our folks andgetting to know our folks and
listening to their challengesand providing them confidence
that the leadership is aware andwants to make things better for
(07:25):
them and the patient and thenfollowing through, that just
goes a long way, especiallyfollowing for sure showing folks
that you heard them and that youdid something about it. And that
goes much further thannewsletters and pizza parties
and all of that sort of thing.
Daniel Williams (07:43):
Exactly. Exactly. Thank you for sharing
that. Now as you mentionedearlier, behavioral health is a
major focus of yours. Talk aboutthat.
How is Cone Health addressingthis? Uptick is not even the
right word to describe what'sgoing on in the behavioral
health side of things. There hasbeen a major increase, as you
(08:07):
said earlier, since thepandemic. So how are you guys
addressing that?
Dave Jenkins (08:12):
We're probably doing a lot of the same things
that other health systems andmedical groups are doing, just
figuring out what works and whatdoesn't work and trying to do
things differently. We know thatthere's a workforce shortage
that we have to contend with,and that's not unique to us. I
know psychiatry is usually inthe top five list of medical
(08:32):
specialties with workforceshortages, and that's just not
at the provider level. Thattrickles down. Trying to find
good behavioral therapists is achallenge.
Psychologists can be a challengein discovering. And then just
folks who are willing to stepout of their comfort zone and
(08:56):
interact with mental healthpatients on a day in, day out
basis, the nurses and the techsand the assistants, and even the
folks who do registration andcheck-in. It really takes a
special person to want to workwith this population, even at a
registration desk. And soidentifying those people is
really the challenge. And thenwhat can we do to maximize the
(09:21):
resources that we have?
And earlier I mentionedintegrative care and
collaborative care, and thoseare tools that are really
underutilized that I feel likeare finally coming into their
own. They're not new.Integrative care has been around
for twenty years in amultidisciplinary practice
(09:41):
model, but now I think there's arecognition that's essential for
providing quality care andkeeping care within a primary
care office. Same forcollaborative care. So much of
mental health can be addressedat a primary care level that
they're not always equipped withthe skills and the abilities to
do that.
But when primary care providersare just constantly referring
(10:06):
out to therapists andpsychiatrists, it really bogs
down the specialist system andit makes access a challenge for
those that probably do need tosee a psychiatrist because they
are complex or they do have ahigher acuity. And if we're able
to do more in the primary carelevel with collaborative care,
(10:26):
then that frees up capacity formy psychiatrist to work with
those that have the mostdifficult needs.
Daniel Williams (10:33):
So following up with that then, you talked a
couple of times about staffingshortages. So how do you
maintain that workforceengagement? How do you keep the
team empowered and feeling goodabout the work that they're
doing when they might feel alittle bit of that overwhelm or
(10:56):
even burnout, what initiativeshave you started to help deal
with that?
Dave Jenkins (11:02):
Sure. As mentioned before, you know, you really
gotta be in tune with withwhat's happening at the
frontline. And there have beentimes where we've had to pull
back on something because it wasgonna be overwhelming, or we've
had to use inpatient units.There have been instances where
we've just not been able to fillto capacity because we did not
(11:25):
have a safe complement of staffin order to provide quality care
and just being willing to makethose tough decisions because
sometimes it will go in contrastwith the demands of the
organization, but you reallyalso have to think about what's
right for the patient as well.And you don't want patients to
be in a situation that's unsafebecause there's insufficient
(11:48):
staffing.
And we've been strategic aboutwhere we've brought in outside
assistance from agency staffingand temp and things as such,
which I know everybody elsedoes, but it's a very valuable
resource that you, it's notsustainable. And we'll do that
to bridge gaps and fill holeswhile we actively recruit. But
(12:12):
the single most important thingthat you can do to prevent staff
feeling overwhelmed is havestaff, have staffing, have the
right ratios. We really try toemphasize that with our team is
we don't want you to be shortstaffed. We want you to have
somebody on us taking assignmentwith you and covering the halls
(12:33):
together, like that is in ourbest interest as well.
This is not intentional. Justbeing transparent with our team
and letting them know whatrecruiting and retention looks
like and what our limitationsare going to be. And then
they're usually accepting ofthose boundaries.
Daniel Williams (12:51):
Yeah. Wow. That is a lot of work. So you are not
only involved there at ConeHealth, but you're also involved
with MGMA. As I mentionedearlier, you have that educator
role as well.
So let's tackle thoseseparately. Let's start with
MGMA. What was your introductionto the organization? And then
(13:13):
what is what has been somethingthat you've gotten out of that
relationship?
Dave Jenkins (13:20):
Sure. So my journey with MGMA started well
over ten years ago when I was apractice administrator. And for
me, it was just about growth anddevelopment, just learning more
about the industry. I didn'tgrow up in healthcare. I was a
career changer.
So I just wanted to be a spongefor knowledge. And I looked to
(13:42):
the industry leadership toprovide that. So that was a
great outlet. And Cone Health isa organizational member of MGMA,
so that helped as well. Many ofmy practice administration
colleagues were certifiedmedical practice executives.
And so I was like, Tell me moreabout that. And then the more I
(14:02):
learned, I said, oh, I want todo that too. And so I did, and
then here recently completed thefellowship program. And so now a
fellow of American College ofMedical Practice Executives, and
the journey continues. I'm stilllearning and enjoy all the live
webinars that you facilitate.
Those have been a valuable toolto deepen my toolbox and tackle
(14:26):
the problems that we encounterevery day.
Daniel Williams (14:29):
Yeah. That that is awesome. Now this other part,
you're also an an educator atWinston Salem State University.
Talk about, one, I'm let's talktime management for a minute
here because you alreadyexplained everything going on at
Cone Health, and then you'refinding somehow time to get that
(14:51):
fellowship. And then on top ofthat, also teaching.
So what is the code that DaveJenkins has that you can share
with the rest of us to be ableto do all these different
things?
Dave Jenkins (15:03):
Sure. I wish that I had some insightful guidance
on time management, but I amprobably the last person that
you would want to take anyadvice from on time management.
Time. Because there's neverenough time to do it all. You
just eat the elephant one biteat a time and keep going through
it.
And for me, teaching is more ofa hobby than anything. It's
(15:26):
great that I'm on payroll, but Ijust enjoy the experience and
really enjoy being around thestudents. And I learned from
them. For me, teaching is alearning opportunity, especially
with the MHA program, becausemany of them are either career
changers or they are wanting toprogress their career. So they
are bringing knowledge andexperience to the classroom.
(15:49):
And I tap into that for my ownpersonal growth. And so it's a
symbiotic relationship.
Daniel Williams (15:55):
Yeah. What do you enjoy most of it, or what's
something really interestingthat you've learned either about
yourself or learned about healthcare and how to be a better
leader through working withthese students?
Dave Jenkins (16:07):
Is that you never stop learning. You just you
don't. You can't. If you do,then you're in the wrong place.
If you're not a lifelonglearner, this is not the
industry for you.
Daniel Williams (16:18):
Yeah. Wow. All right. In our remaining time
then, I've got a couple morequestions for you. This is more
one of those crystal ball kindof questions, but what do you
see as the major trends that areshaping the future of healthcare
administration?
Dave Jenkins (16:35):
It's technology. Yeah. It's technology. It's
being able to leverage it notjust for operational improvement
and retrospective analysis andfine tuning processes. I think
we've been in that space for along time as an industry, but
now technology is is becomingforward looking.
(16:57):
You think about adaptivetechnology. You think about
artificial intelligence,predictive modeling. If you
don't know what I'm talkingabout, then you're already
behind. And it's just leveragingthose tools to improve outcomes,
improve quality, improve youremployee experience, improve
(17:18):
your patient experience. In ConeHealth, we really try to be
involved in being out of front.
One of the AI tools that we'relooking to onboard in the near
future in our provider practicesis ambient listening and
dictation. And that's gonna be ahuge win for physician
(17:39):
engagement and a huge win forjust being efficient and being
able to generate more patientencounters with our limited
amount of slots. Who knowswhat's five years down the road
from now, but whatever it is,you need to be involved in it or
else, you know, you're gonnafind yourself as I used to be.
Daniel Williams (18:00):
Wow. Final question then. Advice for
aspiring leaders. What's onenugget of advice you'd share
with any of those youngprofessionals, those early
careerists trying to carve out ahealth care leadership role?
Dave Jenkins (18:15):
Sure thing. It's something I tell the students in
the MHA program all the time.Your career journey is gonna be
full of so many things that areout of your control. But what
you can do about it is takecontrol of the things. You can
control your growth plan.
(18:36):
You can control development. Youcan control learning. You can
control networking, you cancontrol learning more about your
organization and the industryand your specialty, whatever it
is, there are many things thatare within your control. And I
have seen that the leaders thatrecognize that and really take
(18:58):
control of the things that theycan control, it puts you in a
much better position to respondand react and take advantage of
the things that are out of yourcontrol. Dave
Daniel Williams (19:11):
Jenkins, thank you for joining us on the MGMA
Member Spotlight Podcast.
Dave Jenkins (19:16):
It was an absolute pleasure. Thank you, Daniel.
Daniel Williams (19:19):
Yeah. That is gonna do it for this episode,
everyone. But in the episodeshow notes, I'm gonna be sure
and provide several links to thefellowship program, to MGA
mentorship, to perhaps evenDave's courses that he teaches
at the college. So be on thelookout for those, and we'll
also develop an article based onthis so you can read more about
(19:42):
what Dave's doing in healthcare. Until then, thank you for
being MGMA podcast listeners.
Hi, everyone. I'm Daniel Williams, senior
editor at MGMA and host of theMGMA Podcast Network. Welcome to
another MGMA member spotlightpodcast. Today, we have the
guest, Dave Jenkins. And Daveand I met recently, and I just
wanted to share him with theMGMA audience here.
(00:25):
Dave is an accomplished healthcare executive. He has more than
twenty years of leadershipexperience there, including
roles in hospital operations,behavioral health services, and
military leadership. Hecurrently serves as the
executive director of marketoperations at Cone Health,
overseeing hospital campuses andbehavioral health services.
(00:49):
That's not all. Dave is also anadjunct faculty member at
Winston Salem State Universitywhere he teaches health care
administrative courses.
Dave, welcome to the show.
Dave Jenkins (01:01):
Thanks, Daniel. Thank you for the invitation,
and I look forward to sharingthis time with our MGMA members.
Daniel Williams (01:09):
Great. Great. So with the MGMA member
spotlight podcast, we alwayslike to get to know those MGMA
members a little bit better.Just talk about your maybe a
couple of the highlights of yourpathway into health care and
what that looks like.
Dave Jenkins (01:26):
Sure. I think my pathway is probably not that
much different than a lot offolks where there's many forks
in the path and curve balls, andsometimes you just be at the
right place at the right timeand be prepared to step into
that next opportunity. Reallynothing special stuck out. It
(01:50):
was certainly not a lineardirection that I saw nor did I
ever envision myself being inhealthcare leadership, say
twenty, twenty five years ago.But everything's a journey and I
just go with it.
Daniel Williams (02:05):
All right. Thank you for sharing that. Now
tell us a little bit first aboutCone Health, size and scope of
the practice, any of thespecialties there, and then
where your focus is at ConeHealth.
Dave Jenkins (02:17):
Sure. So Cone Health is a medium sized
integrated healthcare system.It's got six acute care
hospitals, a couple ambulatoryoutpatient facilities, and well
over 100 provider basedpractices within our network. We
are in a partnership with RyzenHealth, which is a subsidiary of
(02:39):
Kaiser Permanente, and that'sfairly new. So we're still
learning more about thatrelationship and what the
longtime future is.
But within Cone Health, it's aGreensboro based system, a not
for profit founded in, reallyaround the Moses Cone Memorial
Hospital in the early 1950s andhas really just grown across the
(03:00):
triad. We incorporated abehavioral health service line
in the late '90s. And so my rolewithin the health system is to
provide the executive leadershipfor our two acute care
behavioral health facilities, aswell as the whole service line
portfolio within the Cone Healthfootprint.
Daniel Williams (03:23):
Okay. As far as your day to day, how would you
describe that? What's going onin Dave Jenkins' world? I know
that you also juggle theteaching as well. We'll get into
that.
But just as far as your work atCone Health, how would you
describe a typical day or maybeit's an atypical day? Just talk
about that.
Dave Jenkins (03:44):
I'd be wary of any health care leader that can
accurately describe a typicalday. I feel like that's why we
get into this field is no twodays are alike, for sure. And
that's no different for myself.And being part of a large health
system, I have to really balancethe needs of what's going on in
the hospitals. How does thataffect what's going on in our
(04:07):
outpatient clinics?
How is our providers and thework that they're doing
inpatient and outpatient andensuring that we're in tune with
the overall health systemoperation? And that's in the day
to day space, right? But myrole's a little bit more in the
strategic side, whereas I'mhaving to constantly look at our
(04:30):
programs and our practices andhow we're doing business today
versus what are the markettrends, what are the needs going
forward, and how do we seeourselves doing business in the
future.
Daniel Williams (04:43):
What do you identify as some of the major
challenges there oropportunities, however you wanna
look at it, that you're dealingwith there at Cone Health?
Dave Jenkins (04:52):
I think like everybody else, it's just
balancing a scarcity ofresources. We have come out of
the COVID thinking post COVIDwould be a sort of reversion to
mean, and it has been anythingbut that, especially within the
mental health space. The demandfor mental health services was
(05:13):
really exasperated by thepandemic and has maybe plateaued
at best, but there hasdefinitely not been going back
to how things were conductedbeforehand. And even the nature
of our work has changedsignificantly. So it's how can
we do more telepsychiatry?
How can we do more integrativehealth? How can we do more
(05:35):
collaborative care? And so a lotof our time and energy right now
is spent just optimizing whatresources we have to meet the
community needs, knowing thatthe demands of the community far
exceed our capacity right now.
Daniel Williams (05:49):
Wow. Okay. That just hits me hard. I am with
y'all and hope that you can getthe help that y'all need there.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for sharingthat. Let's look at, as far as
leadership in healthcare, youhave extensive experience, as I
was talking about earlier,leading teams in both hospital
operations and in behavioralhealth. What are some of those
(06:12):
guiding leadership principlesthat have really directed and
shaped your life as a leader?
Dave Jenkins (06:20):
Sure. So for me personally, I feel like I've
tried to be very consistent inmy leadership approach. So
whether when I was working inthe hospital, when I was a
practice administrator for manyyears now in kind of a service
line executive leadership role,think what has really made a
difference is really juststaying authentic and connecting
(06:44):
with people. We are in a humanservice, a human business. And
if you're not in tune with theneeds of human nature, you're
gonna get disconnected both fromyour mission and your people
very quickly.
And I really see them as one andthe same. I feel that the
mission that we provide to thecommunity is just as critical as
(07:04):
the support and the leadershipthat we provide to our staff at
all levels and roles. Justcoming with that and really
understanding our folks andgetting to know our folks and
listening to their challengesand providing them confidence
that the leadership is aware andwants to make things better for
(07:25):
them and the patient and thenfollowing through, that just
goes a long way, especiallyfollowing for sure showing folks
that you heard them and that youdid something about it. And that
goes much further thannewsletters and pizza parties
and all of that sort of thing.
Daniel Williams (07:43):
Exactly. Exactly. Thank you for sharing
that. Now as you mentionedearlier, behavioral health is a
major focus of yours. Talk aboutthat.
How is Cone Health addressingthis? Uptick is not even the
right word to describe what'sgoing on in the behavioral
health side of things. There hasbeen a major increase, as you
(08:07):
said earlier, since thepandemic. So how are you guys
addressing that?
Dave Jenkins (08:12):
We're probably doing a lot of the same things
that other health systems andmedical groups are doing, just
figuring out what works and whatdoesn't work and trying to do
things differently. We know thatthere's a workforce shortage
that we have to contend with,and that's not unique to us. I
know psychiatry is usually inthe top five list of medical
(08:32):
specialties with workforceshortages, and that's just not
at the provider level. Thattrickles down. Trying to find
good behavioral therapists is achallenge.
Psychologists can be a challengein discovering. And then just
folks who are willing to stepout of their comfort zone and
(08:56):
interact with mental healthpatients on a day in, day out
basis, the nurses and the techsand the assistants, and even the
folks who do registration andcheck-in. It really takes a
special person to want to workwith this population, even at a
registration desk. And soidentifying those people is
really the challenge. And thenwhat can we do to maximize the
(09:21):
resources that we have?
And earlier I mentionedintegrative care and
collaborative care, and thoseare tools that are really
underutilized that I feel likeare finally coming into their
own. They're not new.Integrative care has been around
for twenty years in amultidisciplinary practice
(09:41):
model, but now I think there's arecognition that's essential for
providing quality care andkeeping care within a primary
care office. Same forcollaborative care. So much of
mental health can be addressedat a primary care level that
they're not always equipped withthe skills and the abilities to
do that.
But when primary care providersare just constantly referring
(10:06):
out to therapists andpsychiatrists, it really bogs
down the specialist system andit makes access a challenge for
those that probably do need tosee a psychiatrist because they
are complex or they do have ahigher acuity. And if we're able
to do more in the primary carelevel with collaborative care,
(10:26):
then that frees up capacity formy psychiatrist to work with
those that have the mostdifficult needs.
Daniel Williams (10:33):
So following up with that then, you talked a
couple of times about staffingshortages. So how do you
maintain that workforceengagement? How do you keep the
team empowered and feeling goodabout the work that they're
doing when they might feel alittle bit of that overwhelm or
(10:56):
even burnout, what initiativeshave you started to help deal
with that?
Dave Jenkins (11:02):
Sure. As mentioned before, you know, you really
gotta be in tune with withwhat's happening at the
frontline. And there have beentimes where we've had to pull
back on something because it wasgonna be overwhelming, or we've
had to use inpatient units.There have been instances where
we've just not been able to fillto capacity because we did not
(11:25):
have a safe complement of staffin order to provide quality care
and just being willing to makethose tough decisions because
sometimes it will go in contrastwith the demands of the
organization, but you reallyalso have to think about what's
right for the patient as well.And you don't want patients to
be in a situation that's unsafebecause there's insufficient
(11:48):
staffing.
And we've been strategic aboutwhere we've brought in outside
assistance from agency staffingand temp and things as such,
which I know everybody elsedoes, but it's a very valuable
resource that you, it's notsustainable. And we'll do that
to bridge gaps and fill holeswhile we actively recruit. But
(12:12):
the single most important thingthat you can do to prevent staff
feeling overwhelmed is havestaff, have staffing, have the
right ratios. We really try toemphasize that with our team is
we don't want you to be shortstaffed. We want you to have
somebody on us taking assignmentwith you and covering the halls
(12:33):
together, like that is in ourbest interest as well.
This is not intentional. Justbeing transparent with our team
and letting them know whatrecruiting and retention looks
like and what our limitationsare going to be. And then
they're usually accepting ofthose boundaries.
Daniel Williams (12:51):
Yeah. Wow. That is a lot of work. So you are not
only involved there at ConeHealth, but you're also involved
with MGMA. As I mentionedearlier, you have that educator
role as well.
So let's tackle thoseseparately. Let's start with
MGMA. What was your introductionto the organization? And then
(13:13):
what is what has been somethingthat you've gotten out of that
relationship?
Dave Jenkins (13:20):
Sure. So my journey with MGMA started well
over ten years ago when I was apractice administrator. And for
me, it was just about growth anddevelopment, just learning more
about the industry. I didn'tgrow up in healthcare. I was a
career changer.
So I just wanted to be a spongefor knowledge. And I looked to
(13:42):
the industry leadership toprovide that. So that was a
great outlet. And Cone Health isa organizational member of MGMA,
so that helped as well. Many ofmy practice administration
colleagues were certifiedmedical practice executives.
And so I was like, Tell me moreabout that. And then the more I
(14:02):
learned, I said, oh, I want todo that too. And so I did, and
then here recently completed thefellowship program. And so now a
fellow of American College ofMedical Practice Executives, and
the journey continues. I'm stilllearning and enjoy all the live
webinars that you facilitate.
Those have been a valuable toolto deepen my toolbox and tackle
(14:26):
the problems that we encounterevery day.
Daniel Williams (14:29):
Yeah. That that is awesome. Now this other part,
you're also an an educator atWinston Salem State University.
Talk about, one, I'm let's talktime management for a minute
here because you alreadyexplained everything going on at
Cone Health, and then you'refinding somehow time to get that
(14:51):
fellowship. And then on top ofthat, also teaching.
So what is the code that DaveJenkins has that you can share
with the rest of us to be ableto do all these different
things?
Dave Jenkins (15:03):
Sure. I wish that I had some insightful guidance
on time management, but I amprobably the last person that
you would want to take anyadvice from on time management.
Time. Because there's neverenough time to do it all. You
just eat the elephant one biteat a time and keep going through
it.
And for me, teaching is more ofa hobby than anything. It's
(15:26):
great that I'm on payroll, but Ijust enjoy the experience and
really enjoy being around thestudents. And I learned from
them. For me, teaching is alearning opportunity, especially
with the MHA program, becausemany of them are either career
changers or they are wanting toprogress their career. So they
are bringing knowledge andexperience to the classroom.
(15:49):
And I tap into that for my ownpersonal growth. And so it's a
symbiotic relationship.
Daniel Williams (15:55):
Yeah. What do you enjoy most of it, or what's
something really interestingthat you've learned either about
yourself or learned about healthcare and how to be a better
leader through working withthese students?
Dave Jenkins (16:07):
Is that you never stop learning. You just you
don't. You can't. If you do,then you're in the wrong place.
If you're not a lifelonglearner, this is not the
industry for you.
Daniel Williams (16:18):
Yeah. Wow. All right. In our remaining time
then, I've got a couple morequestions for you. This is more
one of those crystal ball kindof questions, but what do you
see as the major trends that areshaping the future of healthcare
administration?
Dave Jenkins (16:35):
It's technology. Yeah. It's technology. It's
being able to leverage it notjust for operational improvement
and retrospective analysis andfine tuning processes. I think
we've been in that space for along time as an industry, but
now technology is is becomingforward looking.
(16:57):
You think about adaptivetechnology. You think about
artificial intelligence,predictive modeling. If you
don't know what I'm talkingabout, then you're already
behind. And it's just leveragingthose tools to improve outcomes,
improve quality, improve youremployee experience, improve
(17:18):
your patient experience. In ConeHealth, we really try to be
involved in being out of front.
One of the AI tools that we'relooking to onboard in the near
future in our provider practicesis ambient listening and
dictation. And that's gonna be ahuge win for physician
(17:39):
engagement and a huge win forjust being efficient and being
able to generate more patientencounters with our limited
amount of slots. Who knowswhat's five years down the road
from now, but whatever it is,you need to be involved in it or
else, you know, you're gonnafind yourself as I used to be.
Daniel Williams (18:00):
Wow. Final question then. Advice for
aspiring leaders. What's onenugget of advice you'd share
with any of those youngprofessionals, those early
careerists trying to carve out ahealth care leadership role?
Dave Jenkins (18:15):
Sure thing. It's something I tell the students in
the MHA program all the time.Your career journey is gonna be
full of so many things that areout of your control. But what
you can do about it is takecontrol of the things. You can
control your growth plan.
(18:36):
You can control development. Youcan control learning. You can
control networking, you cancontrol learning more about your
organization and the industryand your specialty, whatever it
is, there are many things thatare within your control. And I
have seen that the leaders thatrecognize that and really take
(18:58):
control of the things that theycan control, it puts you in a
much better position to respondand react and take advantage of
the things that are out of yourcontrol. Dave
Daniel Williams (19:11):
Jenkins, thank you for joining us on the MGMA
Member Spotlight Podcast.
Dave Jenkins (19:16):
It was an absolute pleasure. Thank you, Daniel.
Daniel Williams (19:19):
Yeah. That is gonna do it for this episode,
everyone. But in the episodeshow notes, I'm gonna be sure
and provide several links to thefellowship program, to MGA
mentorship, to perhaps evenDave's courses that he teaches
at the college. So be on thelookout for those, and we'll
also develop an article based onthis so you can read more about
(19:42):
what Dave's doing in healthcare. Until then, thank you for
being MGMA podcast listeners.
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