Whole Person Care for the Mind & Body (ft. Terry Shaw)

Thanks for tuning to Digital Voices podcast, where we chat digital transformation challenges and opportunities across healthcare and life sciences. And now, your host, Ed Marx. Hey, Ed here. Welcome to another episode of Digital Voices. Very blessed to have Terri Shaw, President and CEO of AdventHealth, join us today as our guest. Terry, welcome to Digital Voices.

Thank you much. Thank you for having me. It's good to be with you.

Terry, I'm super excited because even though I've never served at AdventHealth, I've had long-term friendships and relationships with individuals who have been there. And then I think we may have crossed paths a time or two at Scottsdale Institute. And so really was always intrigued about the great work at AdventHealth. And I want to unpack that a little bit. But Terry, the most important question we have for all of our guests is what songs are on your playlist? Like when you listen to music, what kind of music do you like to listen to?

So I, I have an amazing number of genres on my playlist, but I will tell you my go-to is '70s and '80s rock and roll. And I've got Well, I've just got tons of stuff on my playlist. So if you, if you go to my, my phone and go to my Apple playlist, I can read down through the names, but I got everybody from the Doobie Brothers to Collective Soul, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Boston, Electric Light Orchestra, Eagles, Dire Straits. I just, I just like that era.

So, yeah, I, I love it. I, I can certainly relate to a lot of those, those bands. What about life messages or mantras? Are there certain words that you live by?

You know, one of the— yes. And it— since I'm a person of faith and I work at a place of faith, one of the things I've tried to live by my whole life is in everything you do, give glory to God. And, um, it's served me well personally and it's served me well professionally. And, um, that's something I've tried to pass on to my children as well.

Yeah, I love, I love that. And those are certainly very good words to live by. And so tell us a little bit about your story. I know that you've been at AdventHealth for 40 years. Tell us a little bit about your personal story, where you grew up and, and how you made your way to AdventHealth. Sure.

I grew up in Texas. Uh, my grandparents had a farm in Oklahoma, and so I grew up doing, um, nice hard work. Um, decided that in high school, this nice hard work would mean that I should go to college so I could do something else and went off to college and I got recruited to work at AdventHealth. Um, my senior year of college, and I moved to Central Florida in 1984, and I've been here ever since.

Very cool. And Terry, I didn't know that about Texas. Where in Texas were you raised?

Yeah, south of Fort Worth, um, little town called Burleson. Um, and it's not so little anymore, and Fort Worth-Dallas is certainly not little, but, um, back then it was a, it was a pretty little place.

Yeah, and not far from there is, uh, city of Keene, where there's an Adventist university where my wife went to.

Absolutely. As a matter of fact, I went to grade school and high school in Keene.

Oh, wow. Yeah, that's really a small world. That is too funny. Can you share with us sort of a brief history of AdventHealth and its mission and vision?

I can. Uh, you know, last year we celebrated our 50th anniversary as a faith-based healthcare system. Whose job it is, is to provide whole-person care. This legacy of care is inspired by Christ's earthly ministry and is reflected in our mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ. And it's interesting, some of our hospitals today have roots that trace back to the late 1800s and early 1900s as healthcare facilities that focused on wellness and prevention. That were built by the early pioneers of our sponsor organization, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We've got a deep-seated commitment to the communities that we serve that goes back many, many years, and our mission guides our work to be stewards of the resources that we've been given so that will benefit our communities and make them healthier places to live. But you know, our mission. is not only grounded in our legacy, it's also what guides us into the future. Our mission shapes who we are and frankly what we're trying to do in the markets that we serve. And it's reflected in our vision and our service standards and our brand promise of wholeness, which together form the DNA of who we are and who we try to be on a day-in and day-out basis. We have a 10-year strategic roadmap called Vision 2030 that we're 4 and a half years into. With the ultimate aspiration to become a preeminent faith-based, consumer-focused clinical care company that helps those that we serve feel whole and have an abundant life.

No, I love that. And one of the things that attracts me about Advent Health is, you know, many organizations have mission and vision, and oftentimes it's just a platitude. It's just a plaque on a wall, whereas you all seem to Live it each day. Can you share maybe an example how that brand promise is actualized each day?

We can. So our brand promise is to help those that we serve feel whole. And it's the ultimate expression of our mission, but it comes to life every day through our day-in and day-out service standards. The way we outwardly live our brand promise is in 4 simple issues. We need to love each person. We need to keep them safe. We need to make it easy for them to access care, and we need to help them own their healthcare journey. And we're 95,000 people caring for 7.5 million people. And when we activate our service standards and do it well, then we're serving our communities and we serve each other in a way where we see whole-person care in action. And the truth is that those that we serve will really only truly understand our mission and our brand promise when they experience our service standards themselves and we bring them to life for the individual that's sitting across the desk from us.

Yeah, love that. And I, I love the simplicity of the, of the brand promise and the, and the, and the love, uh, making it easy. Providing a safe place and everyone owning their healthcare. What has kept you at AdventHealth for 40-some years?

You know, about 5 years into my young journey into this organization, I realized that this place was just as serious about the business aspects of running a healthcare institution as they were the mission aspects of being a functionally viable, mission-driven organization. And it really resonated with me that you could blend the best of business and the best of mission in the service of mankind and to grow and expand that mission and ministry. And I found a very good place to call home, if you will, a place that where my personal convictions and the work conviction— convictions matched, and where I found the ability, um, to do my best work. And because of that, I've just chosen not to leave. And over time, I've given more responsibility, and I still find myself here today after 40 years.

No, that, that's awesome. I think it's really says a lot about an organization when the leadership has been there for such a long time. Before we jump into digital, I wanted to just mention a couple other touchpoints that we've had. I was the lead CIO of Texas Health Resources. We formed a joint venture in Huguley near Burlington with you all some time ago. So it was a great opportunity for me to work with one of my best friends, Brent Snyder, and his team over there at AdventHealth. And then, uh, my wife, who I mentioned is a clinician, and her parents were Seventh-day Adventist, um, hospital administrators and physicians, uh, in India. So, um, a lot of—

Very nice.

Yeah, a lot of shared history. And, and so the whole mission focus, uh, in terms of combining both the mission and the ministry, uh, together to take care of people. So I love speaking with CEOs about all things digital and transformation. And you made a big bet on tech in the middle of the pandemic while everyone else was sort of, you know, circling wagons and tightening everything down and not doing very much except for, you know, responding directly to the pandemic. You took a different approach. What was that strategy?

We realized that as we continued to grow, the complication of our organization demanded that we take a step back and really think about our clinical record and what we wanted to run digitally across our organization. And we realized we needed to make a change, and we found that Epic was the right choice for our organization. And we didn't mean it to be so, but we actually designed and built our Epic install during COVID and then actually Started installing it at the end of COVID So by the time we got through our recovery year, we were, we were done with COVID done with the recovery year, and done with the Epic build and the rollout. And the timing actually, even though it seems odd now, it's actually worked out very well.

Terry, can you share one or two examples how AdventHealth leverages other sort of digital or technology capabilities?

I can. We're a large organization and we're leveraging not only our clinical system to be one across our entire system, but we are also looking at our entire back office systems and processes, and we are moving to a new product, and we will be building and rolling that product out over the next couple of years. When you run a large health system, there are very few efficiencies you gain if you're running more than one back office and clinical system. And we're very intent on making for sure that we provide the right solutions, but we provide one solution for everybody in our company. We also spend quite a bit of time in our consumer-focused network. We have spent time, energy, and money to help the consumer find healthcare. We have our own self-service appointment booking. We, we've had over 800,000 self-service booked appointments in the last 12 months. We have the 3rd iteration of our AdventHealth app. We've embedded more than 100 Epic MyChart capabilities in the app with an e-commerce-inspired shopping experience. That allows a consumer to find care as well as access a chat-based service called Care Advocacy that helps consumers navigate their care. And we're going to be expanding our digital virtual assistant that will assist our care advocates and our patients through an AI-powered conversational experience that will offer prompt assistance to consumers seeking self-service support. So we are, we are leaning hard into technology and we believe technology is, is woefully inadequate in the healthcare industry from a consumer perspective.

Yeah, I think that's well said. And it's pretty amazing examples. I know a lot of our listeners who might be chief digital officers, CIOs in other organizations, they're probably thinking, man, I would love to be Brent Snyder and working with Terry and, and The whole AdventHealth family. That's pretty impressive. So I can tell by your music selection, you were more of a Walkman-type person like I was back in the '70s. But now we're in the sort of the cloud future and AI and all those sort of things. How does a CEO like yourself view digital technology and the future?

You know, I believe digital technology holds possibilities for transforming how we deliver care. As well as how we operate our business. And I believe that when it's used well, technology can help people have more time, and it'll help them use their brains better, and it will allow us to have more times for human interaction, which is so much needed in the kind of business that we're in. But with any technology, I will tell you, I believe the next 10 years is going to have— there's going to be risks as we think about AI in the healthcare business. It's not going to be good enough to be 90 or 95% right. And so we're going to have to carefully think through how we utilize new digital technologies and how we test, debug, and make for sure they're really additive to the core process as opposed to confusing the core process. One of the big things that I think is coming down the road is where doctors and nurses, instead of clicking a mouse, will be able just to talk to the patient and through ambient technology, the note and the visit to that patient and then the follow-up care and then what needs to happen from a pharmaceutical standpoint All those things I believe AI will be smart enough to put together for the physician and the patient that will take a lot of the frustration out of the patient-doctor interaction. And I look forward to watching that technology be developed, perfected, and then actually utilized by everybody in the healthcare industry.

Yeah, I think that's a powerful perspective. You know, you had— you've had a great relationship a long time, CIO and Brent, that I've mentioned. What advice would you have for other leaders who might be listening, tech leaders who might be listening and wondering, wow, how do I— what are 1 or 2 things I can do to ensure a good relationship with my CEO? So this, this is, you know, it's important to have this great working relationship with all members of the C-suite, but certainly with technology. So any, any pieces of advice you might give? Our listeners?

I, I just a couple. And, and, and I just talked to another group in our company about this. And, and if you're talking about Brent, Brent's a, a quiet, um, brainiac. And around here he's called the legend. But, but over time, Brent has not hesitated to make his voice heard.

Yeah.

I'm looking for leaders to help me understand what's going on. not only in their area, but to help advocate for change that will provide solutions to our organization, which frankly leads me to my second point, which is be the leader who actually not only has an idea, but can actually do something with that idea. Be the leader who can get something done.

Yeah.

And so those are 2 big things. Make your voice heard. And then once it's heard, be able to be the person that can turn an idea into action.

Love it. You know, I also love to talk about leadership and especially with, with a person of faith and working in a faith-based organization. Would love to get some of your insights. What is your approach generally to leadership?

So my approach to leadership and quite frankly, AdventHealth's approach to leadership through our Leadership Institute Is lead self, lead others, lead results. And so when you think about that, everybody wants results, but in order to get those results, you have to be able to lead others. But frankly, in order to be able to lead others, you have to be able to lead yourself. And by leading yourself, you have to know what you're good at, how you're wired, how you look at the world. And then you have to know the same about your team. So that you've got a complete picture of how the pieces fit and you make for sure that you're looking at it from a complete perspective and you're getting the right inputs into the process so that you're looking at the whole, not just a piece.

Yeah, that's great. How does AdventHealth faith-based mission impact who you are and what you do as an organization? And maybe it's kind of similar, but Maybe not.

Well, you know, so we're 50 years old in our company. As I go back through the previous 4 CEOs and the struggles they've had, they have— they lived the mission as they made intentional decisions, quite frankly, during times of struggle and times of prosperity. And it's our mission that calls us to extend the healing ministry of Christ through whole-person care. And this mission, along with our vision and brand promise, and then how it's lived in our service standards, as I said before, makes the DNA of who we are. And, you know, it doesn't remain words on a wall. It grounds what we do every day. It serves as our compass. And if done well, it differentiates us in the marketplace.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. There's no doubt about that. How does that mission guide your leadership principles?

It reminds me that since this is our mission, our leadership has to be intentional, and we can't be reactive in our leadership. One question I often ask myself and others is, will we be the ones to shape how we lead and do things, or are we going to let the marketplace do that for us? Our mission also reminds me that it's all about servant leadership. Servant leadership is about stewardship. It is not a position to use power for our own gain. Rather, it's a tremendous privilege and responsibility to make the lives of those that we serve better, not only now, but to set the base for generations to come.

Terry, my last question for you is, what, what role does the faith-based healthcare need to have in today's world?

When— wow, when you look at the world today, um, it's a hurting place. And as mental health and behavioral health epidemics continue and they continue to escalate, people need whole-person care now more than ever, not only for their bodies but also for their minds and their spirits. Um, the facts are we're all more than the sum of our diagnosis. We're the sum of our experiences and our thoughts, beliefs, and our emotions. To only treat the physical is to ignore so many other parts that make up you as an individual. And it's our job to make for sure that when we're treating you, when we help you become the whole person that you want to be, and we have to treat you as a complete person in order to get that done.

Yeah, I, I love that, Terry. And I can tell you from working with your team, as I mentioned, I have some pre— uh, previous long-term relationships with some of your leaders and working with your team just in something as simple as setting up a podcast. Um, everyone walks the talk and, and lives the mission. And, uh, it's just a tremendous organization. I feel very blessed to have this, uh, conversation with you. We covered a lot of things. We talked a little bit About Advent Health itself and its mission and vision, and and again on the brand promise, which I I love the simplicity of a lot of what you shared with us, and the whole aspect of you know loving people and creating a safe place and quality of care, making it easy and helping people to own their healthcare. I won't repeat everything you said, but but I but I love the simplicity in it. We talked a lot about digital. Some of the big bets that you made that turned out really well for your patients. You gave us a lot of examples on how you're leveraging technology to help with the mission of the organization, some of the things that you're doing now that are in flight. And then it's just super interesting how you view technology in the future and just how you recommend others work closely with their CEO. I love the idea about having a voice advocating for solutions and then executing ideas. And that came across too in the approach with leadership. And that is, first you have to lead yourself— love it, profound— uh, then you lead others, and then you lead for results. And the whole concepts around servant leadership and stewardship were great. So we covered a lot in a short amount of time. What did we miss, Terry, or what would you like to double down on? I'll give you the last word.

You didn't miss a thing, and I, I want to thank you very much. I would tell you that I believe Healthcare is an opportunity-rich environment for the next 15 years. I'm very bullish about the ability to care for the nation and do it at a less, from a less costly standpoint. And I believe that as we think about the solutions that we can put into the marketplace, if we really think about serving populations holistically, um, we can bring about change in healthcare that we desperately need.

Kerry, that's a great way to end our time together. And again, thank you for being part of our podcast, and thank you to our listeners who have many choices and things that they can listen to, and they chose us. So we're super appreciative, and we'll talk to you again on the next episode of Digital Voices.

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