Primary Care Transformation Planning within an Integrated Delivery System
The changing health care environment, combined with a newly created Primary Care Service Line structure for WellSpan Health, created a fresh opportunity to engage new leaders in the development of a 3-year primary care plan. Please join us as we share the approach the healthcare strategy team designed to engage key stakeholder groups across the organization to develop a transformational primary care plan within the integrated delivery system.
Featured Speakers:
Kelly Dearman, VP of Strategy Management leads system strategy and growth planning for WellSpan Health based in York, Pennsylvania. WellSpan Health is an integrated delivery system in southcentral PA serving six counties with eight hospitals, 340 ambulatory care and outpatient locations, over 1,000 employed physicians, a strong behavioral health service line and dedicated hospital and three home health services. In 2019 Kelly helped to lead the creation of WellSpan’s vision – A Trusted Partner. Reimagining Healthcare. Inspiring Health. – along with a bold, 5-year strategic plan. Shaped by the board, physicians and senior leaders, that plan has been the roadmap for tremendous transformation within WellSpan over the past 3 years. Kelly as worked in healthcare strategy for 14 years specializing in annual strategy deployment, long-term strategic planning, geography and service line growth strategy and analytics and board engagement. Before joining WellSpan Health she completed her Masters of Health Administration and Bachelor’s degree in business administration at Penn State University, in State College, PA.
Sarah Gebhart | Kelly Dearman
Sarah Gebhart leads both system and regional market strategy for WellSpan Health. WellSpan Health is an integrated delivery system located in Southcentral PA serving six counties with eight hospitals, 340 ambulatory care and outpatient locations, over 1,000 employed physicians, a strong behavioral health service line and dedicated hospital and three home health services. Sarah is a healthcare strategist, supporting the creation of long-term transformational and strategic work across a multitude of key industry topic areas. She has supported both service line and regional strategic planning at WellSpan Health for the past several years, including the development of a diversified growth portfolio for the organization. Before joining WellSpan, Sarah completed her Masters in Healthcare Administration from Penn State University and her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from York College of Pennsylvania.Kelly Dearman, VP of Strategy Management leads system strategy and growth planning for WellSpan Health based in York, Pennsylvania. WellSpan Health is an integrated delivery system in southcentral PA serving six counties with eight hospitals, 340 ambulatory care and outpatient locations, over 1,000 employed physicians, a strong behavioral health service line and dedicated hospital and three home health services. In 2019 Kelly helped to lead the creation of WellSpan’s vision – A Trusted Partner. Reimagining Healthcare. Inspiring Health. – along with a bold, 5-year strategic plan. Shaped by the board, physicians and senior leaders, that plan has been the roadmap for tremendous transformation within WellSpan over the past 3 years. Kelly as worked in healthcare strategy for 14 years specializing in annual strategy deployment, long-term strategic planning, geography and service line growth strategy and analytics and board engagement. Before joining WellSpan Health she completed her Masters of Health Administration and Bachelor’s degree in business administration at Penn State University, in State College, PA.
Transcription:
Primary Care Transformation Planning within an Integrated Delivery System
Bill Klaproth (host): This is a special podcast produced onsite at SHSMD Connections 2022 Annual Conference outside of Washington, DC as we talk with keynote speakers and session leaders direct from the show floor. I'm Bill Klaproth. With me is Kelly Dearman, Vice President of Strategy Management at WellSpan Health, and Sarah Gebhart, Director of Strategy management at WellSpan Health. Kelly, welcome.
Kelly Dearman: Hi, Bill. Thanks for having us.
Bill Klaproth (host): You betcha, Sarah. Good to see you as well.
Sarah Gebhart: Good to see you too, Bill. So exciting to be here at SHSMD.
Bill Klaproth (host): I know. Isn't it great to be here? Isn't it awesome in-person?
Kelly Dearman: In-person. Podcasting with you. It's excellent.
Bill Klaproth (host): It feels like old times, doesn't it?
Kelly Dearman: Even though we've just met, yes.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yes. That's the way we like it here. SHSMD Connections, we're all connecting. That's what makes it great.
Kelly Dearman: It is a family.
Bill Klaproth (host): It is a family, that's for sure. So we're going to talk about primary care transformation planning within an integrated delivery system. So Kelly, let me start with you. So how do you create engagement within the service line during the planning process?
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, we just had a great concurrent session talking to our audience about this very thing. For us at WellSpan, engagement in the planning process is just as important, if not more so than the plan itself. So we set off our planning process with a multi-hour retreat and we engage the service line leadership. We engage most of their team members as many as can be accommodated in the time And then, we actually engage a variety of our colleagues and stakeholders across the system to be right there at the table with them. So a lot of other SHSMD-type people. We've got our marketers and our communicators and our innovations colleagues join our service line teams as they start thinking about their plans for the future.
Bill Klaproth (host): So why is the planning process so important? I mean you really made it clear like it really starts in the planning process. That's where the engagement starts. Maybe that might be overlooked sometimes, why is that so important?
Kelly Dearman: It's extremely important because it really does get everyone on the same page. It levels up on the current state, you know, where are we in what we're doing, but also what's going on around us nationally or regionally, the context in which we're planning in, make sure everybody's on that same page to start. And then, it actually can build that inspiration and that collective discussion about the future. So it's not just handed to teams. You don't have one leader, two leaders in a room and then they show up one day and say to their teams, "This is what I need you to execute." Really critical to allow everyone's voice to be part of the process all the way along.
Bill Klaproth (host): So you're bringing everybody to the table. Is that right, Sarah? You're kind of getting everybody involved. Give us your thoughts on that.
Sarah Gebhart: Yeah, I would agree. It's extremely important to bring the whole team into the process. Kelly had made that same comment in our presentation earlier about the process is sometimes more important than what the plan is as we work through that together as a team. So we really try and encourage our service lines to bring their team members. Physicians are key as well. We want to engage the physicians in the conversation, have them be a part of it. Certainly, as Kelly said, we do not want to say, "Here's your plan. Please execute on it." So yes, really, really important.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, I think that is important. And Sarah then, think about the intersect between service line plans and market or hospital-based plans?
Sarah Gebhart: Yeah, definitely a really critical part of our planning process for our organization, which is an integrated healthcare delivery network. So we've worked both on regional-based plans that are more market and geographically-oriented in terms of what we want those geographies to be able to accomplish within our health system. But also the service lines are a key component as well. So typically, we look at the service lines as having that lead perspective on what they're going to do across the system. They truly are the experts in terms of what the trends are within their service lines, what the advancements in technology are and where that service line needs to go in the future. And then, we try and bring that into a regional view on how to execute that within a particular geography. So very important for us to have our health system work together on both the regional plans and the service line plans, so that we have alignment and execution when we can prioritize that moving forward.
Bill Klaproth (host): So there's a lot that goes into this. How long does this planning process take, Sarah?
Sarah Gebhart: There is a lot. There's a lot of moving pieces. Within our organization, there's a lot of key players and stakeholders that are really informing the plan. In the most recent work that we are doing, in some cases, it can take us up to 12 weeks to really go from the initiation and kickoff event where we're really bringing that team together for the first time. And then, over the next several weeks, really kind of ideating on what is the most important thing for our work. Again, what are those key trends, what's coming to us in the future and how do we position our service line successfully as we move forward. So you're right, it takes a lot of time. We've have a lot of stakeholders involved and, we really try and be very thoughtful about the process.
Bill Klaproth (host): I like that word, ideating, that you used. It sounds like this long, stretched out planning process gives you time to really think about it where you're like, "You know what I was thinking the other day? I know we talked about this, but maybe we should..." Is that right? This really taking your time to ideate on this really helps you flesh every area out to make sure you're covering every base. Is that correct?
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, it's definitely part of the process. It is not about getting in a room with just a packet of data and making some snap decisions. It's an opportunity to look at changing environment and landscape. You know, Sarah's answer to that previous question, the stakeholders, the regional colleagues, hospital leaders, all kinds of engagement to make sure we're really rounding out the thinking. So, yeah, you have to give it its time and we've heard from some of the keynotes here at SHSMD some of this thinking about, you know, sometimes what you think you're executing on, if you just widen that scope of thought a little bit more, you might have found that your a sixth idea ends up being the one you're going after. So we do take our time and allow it to kind of have a couple of different starts as we go down different paths to see what's the right answer.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, as you're both there talking, I'm thinking of the words, consensus, you're building consensus among the different teams, and collaboration as well. Is that right?
Kelly Dearman: Definitely. Definitely a lot of that collaboration in our organization. As Sarah said, that integrated network is all about collaboration. That's why in that first question, we really belabored the engagement that is critical in the process because without it, without the multitude of dialogues, you could have a lot of different directions, you know, coming out of that process. We want it to be one direction for the service line that everyone can understand and can execute on.
Sarah Gebhart: I would also offer the word alignment, which I just think is very critical, especially with the multitude of stakeholders that you have involved, the importance of alignment across the system and those stakeholder groups is really critical. And we found that out as we've done within our organization. Again, as you think back to that regional or geographic planning to the service line plans, the alignment so that we can advance the work together is really critical. And also alignment with our senior team as well. Are we advancing these plans in the direction that the organization is really looking for? So, going back to the time question. It does take time to not only create the plan but create alignment, include that collaboration in the discussion. That's all important.
Bill Klaproth (host): I love what you said, advance the work together, right? So that's the importance of bringing everybody in like that. And Sarah, how well at WellSpan do you scope your service line plans? What is included versus what is not included in the service line plans? Give us some insight into that.
Sarah Gebhart: That's a really good question because as we work with these teams and we take all of this time, you can imagine that quite a many ideas are discussed throughout the process. But, at the beginning, we really try and encourage our teams to be thinking about what is your unique opportunity to bring to the health system? Or what strategic question are you trying to answer as a service line? So for example, we've recently worked with our women and children's service line, and they've talked a lot about how do you work with or how do you encourage services within women throughout the lifespan? How do you create that partnership with a woman versus maybe some of the other things that we already know are going on across the service lines.
We have an annual plan for the health system that cascades critical work such as employee engagement or patient experience or quality and safety. So we try and separate that out from the service line plan so that it's not duplicated in the work. So we're really focused on, again, where is that service line uniquely positioned to help differentiate the organization?
Bill Klaproth (host): And Kelly, I see you nodding your head. Give us your thoughts.
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, I was absolutely thinking that the differentiation in the marketplace and actually finding transformational opportunities to deliver care differently to the patient populations that the service lines are organized to serve certain patient populations based on need. And now, women's is a great example. How are we thinking in the future or now into the future. Women want care delivered to them and in unique and convenient ways. And so it allows that service line to sit and think, in this plan, you know, outside the bread and butter improvement, you have to do on an annual basis, what can our plan offer to be transformational, delivering care different for women in the future that meets their needs better than it may have needed to meet their needs in the past. So we always are asking each service line, "What are you uniquely structured and positioned to do? What unique strategic questions do you have to answer to sort of drive the health system forward?"
Bill Klaproth (host): Right. Is it as simple as you're asking them, "Hey, what problem are we trying to solve here for your community?"
Kelly Dearman: Yeah. That's a great question to ask. Yep.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, that's wonderful. Any additional thoughts, Sarah, as we wrap up talking about primary care transformation planning within an integrated delivery system?
Sarah Gebhart: I just would say it has been a great experience here this week at SHSMD Connections. We've really enjoyed being able to talk about the work that we have done so far. We've been really impressed with the engagement of the group that came to the session, lots of questions. So, I know this is something that others are also trying to tackle within their health system, so that's been really great to be able to network with some attendees.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. Well, thank you. You've been adding to SHSMD, so thank you for everything you do. And Kelly, what's your final thoughts?
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, I would just offer, I was thinking that the title of our talk here today was really focused on primary care. I know we talked here on the podcast a lot about the process that we use. But I was, as Sarah said, really encouraged to see the questions that came from audience members during and after the session relative to primary care. It's nice to see folks really focusing on that foundational service inside of health systems that's so critical for the health of populations, and I'm always a big advocate for primary care in that way. So I just wanted to draw the thread back that we did talk to our session quite a bit about that. But the process really was the backbone by which we hosted that dialogue. So, yes, same as Sarah had said, we've had a really good time here already so far, meeting a lot of good people and having really good dialogue.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Well, that's what it's all about, connecting that's for sure. Sarah, thank you for being here.
Sarah Gebhart: Thank you, Bill. This has been great.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. And Kelly, thank you so much.
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, thank you. Enjoyed it.
Bill Klaproth (host): And make sure you sign up for this year's SHSMD's Virtual Conference, October 12th, 2022 plus on-demand through the end of the year. The virtual conference will feature access to 50 plus sessions recorded from the September in-person annual conference plus all new live sessions. Just go to SHSMD.org. That's shsmd.org/virtual to learn more and to get registered. And please join us at the next SHSMD Connections Annual Conference, September 2023 in Chicago. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and find access to our full podcast library at shsmd.org/podcasts. I'm Bill Klaproth. As always, thanks for listening.
Primary Care Transformation Planning within an Integrated Delivery System
Bill Klaproth (host): This is a special podcast produced onsite at SHSMD Connections 2022 Annual Conference outside of Washington, DC as we talk with keynote speakers and session leaders direct from the show floor. I'm Bill Klaproth. With me is Kelly Dearman, Vice President of Strategy Management at WellSpan Health, and Sarah Gebhart, Director of Strategy management at WellSpan Health. Kelly, welcome.
Kelly Dearman: Hi, Bill. Thanks for having us.
Bill Klaproth (host): You betcha, Sarah. Good to see you as well.
Sarah Gebhart: Good to see you too, Bill. So exciting to be here at SHSMD.
Bill Klaproth (host): I know. Isn't it great to be here? Isn't it awesome in-person?
Kelly Dearman: In-person. Podcasting with you. It's excellent.
Bill Klaproth (host): It feels like old times, doesn't it?
Kelly Dearman: Even though we've just met, yes.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yes. That's the way we like it here. SHSMD Connections, we're all connecting. That's what makes it great.
Kelly Dearman: It is a family.
Bill Klaproth (host): It is a family, that's for sure. So we're going to talk about primary care transformation planning within an integrated delivery system. So Kelly, let me start with you. So how do you create engagement within the service line during the planning process?
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, we just had a great concurrent session talking to our audience about this very thing. For us at WellSpan, engagement in the planning process is just as important, if not more so than the plan itself. So we set off our planning process with a multi-hour retreat and we engage the service line leadership. We engage most of their team members as many as can be accommodated in the time And then, we actually engage a variety of our colleagues and stakeholders across the system to be right there at the table with them. So a lot of other SHSMD-type people. We've got our marketers and our communicators and our innovations colleagues join our service line teams as they start thinking about their plans for the future.
Bill Klaproth (host): So why is the planning process so important? I mean you really made it clear like it really starts in the planning process. That's where the engagement starts. Maybe that might be overlooked sometimes, why is that so important?
Kelly Dearman: It's extremely important because it really does get everyone on the same page. It levels up on the current state, you know, where are we in what we're doing, but also what's going on around us nationally or regionally, the context in which we're planning in, make sure everybody's on that same page to start. And then, it actually can build that inspiration and that collective discussion about the future. So it's not just handed to teams. You don't have one leader, two leaders in a room and then they show up one day and say to their teams, "This is what I need you to execute." Really critical to allow everyone's voice to be part of the process all the way along.
Bill Klaproth (host): So you're bringing everybody to the table. Is that right, Sarah? You're kind of getting everybody involved. Give us your thoughts on that.
Sarah Gebhart: Yeah, I would agree. It's extremely important to bring the whole team into the process. Kelly had made that same comment in our presentation earlier about the process is sometimes more important than what the plan is as we work through that together as a team. So we really try and encourage our service lines to bring their team members. Physicians are key as well. We want to engage the physicians in the conversation, have them be a part of it. Certainly, as Kelly said, we do not want to say, "Here's your plan. Please execute on it." So yes, really, really important.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, I think that is important. And Sarah then, think about the intersect between service line plans and market or hospital-based plans?
Sarah Gebhart: Yeah, definitely a really critical part of our planning process for our organization, which is an integrated healthcare delivery network. So we've worked both on regional-based plans that are more market and geographically-oriented in terms of what we want those geographies to be able to accomplish within our health system. But also the service lines are a key component as well. So typically, we look at the service lines as having that lead perspective on what they're going to do across the system. They truly are the experts in terms of what the trends are within their service lines, what the advancements in technology are and where that service line needs to go in the future. And then, we try and bring that into a regional view on how to execute that within a particular geography. So very important for us to have our health system work together on both the regional plans and the service line plans, so that we have alignment and execution when we can prioritize that moving forward.
Bill Klaproth (host): So there's a lot that goes into this. How long does this planning process take, Sarah?
Sarah Gebhart: There is a lot. There's a lot of moving pieces. Within our organization, there's a lot of key players and stakeholders that are really informing the plan. In the most recent work that we are doing, in some cases, it can take us up to 12 weeks to really go from the initiation and kickoff event where we're really bringing that team together for the first time. And then, over the next several weeks, really kind of ideating on what is the most important thing for our work. Again, what are those key trends, what's coming to us in the future and how do we position our service line successfully as we move forward. So you're right, it takes a lot of time. We've have a lot of stakeholders involved and, we really try and be very thoughtful about the process.
Bill Klaproth (host): I like that word, ideating, that you used. It sounds like this long, stretched out planning process gives you time to really think about it where you're like, "You know what I was thinking the other day? I know we talked about this, but maybe we should..." Is that right? This really taking your time to ideate on this really helps you flesh every area out to make sure you're covering every base. Is that correct?
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, it's definitely part of the process. It is not about getting in a room with just a packet of data and making some snap decisions. It's an opportunity to look at changing environment and landscape. You know, Sarah's answer to that previous question, the stakeholders, the regional colleagues, hospital leaders, all kinds of engagement to make sure we're really rounding out the thinking. So, yeah, you have to give it its time and we've heard from some of the keynotes here at SHSMD some of this thinking about, you know, sometimes what you think you're executing on, if you just widen that scope of thought a little bit more, you might have found that your a sixth idea ends up being the one you're going after. So we do take our time and allow it to kind of have a couple of different starts as we go down different paths to see what's the right answer.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, as you're both there talking, I'm thinking of the words, consensus, you're building consensus among the different teams, and collaboration as well. Is that right?
Kelly Dearman: Definitely. Definitely a lot of that collaboration in our organization. As Sarah said, that integrated network is all about collaboration. That's why in that first question, we really belabored the engagement that is critical in the process because without it, without the multitude of dialogues, you could have a lot of different directions, you know, coming out of that process. We want it to be one direction for the service line that everyone can understand and can execute on.
Sarah Gebhart: I would also offer the word alignment, which I just think is very critical, especially with the multitude of stakeholders that you have involved, the importance of alignment across the system and those stakeholder groups is really critical. And we found that out as we've done within our organization. Again, as you think back to that regional or geographic planning to the service line plans, the alignment so that we can advance the work together is really critical. And also alignment with our senior team as well. Are we advancing these plans in the direction that the organization is really looking for? So, going back to the time question. It does take time to not only create the plan but create alignment, include that collaboration in the discussion. That's all important.
Bill Klaproth (host): I love what you said, advance the work together, right? So that's the importance of bringing everybody in like that. And Sarah, how well at WellSpan do you scope your service line plans? What is included versus what is not included in the service line plans? Give us some insight into that.
Sarah Gebhart: That's a really good question because as we work with these teams and we take all of this time, you can imagine that quite a many ideas are discussed throughout the process. But, at the beginning, we really try and encourage our teams to be thinking about what is your unique opportunity to bring to the health system? Or what strategic question are you trying to answer as a service line? So for example, we've recently worked with our women and children's service line, and they've talked a lot about how do you work with or how do you encourage services within women throughout the lifespan? How do you create that partnership with a woman versus maybe some of the other things that we already know are going on across the service lines.
We have an annual plan for the health system that cascades critical work such as employee engagement or patient experience or quality and safety. So we try and separate that out from the service line plan so that it's not duplicated in the work. So we're really focused on, again, where is that service line uniquely positioned to help differentiate the organization?
Bill Klaproth (host): And Kelly, I see you nodding your head. Give us your thoughts.
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, I was absolutely thinking that the differentiation in the marketplace and actually finding transformational opportunities to deliver care differently to the patient populations that the service lines are organized to serve certain patient populations based on need. And now, women's is a great example. How are we thinking in the future or now into the future. Women want care delivered to them and in unique and convenient ways. And so it allows that service line to sit and think, in this plan, you know, outside the bread and butter improvement, you have to do on an annual basis, what can our plan offer to be transformational, delivering care different for women in the future that meets their needs better than it may have needed to meet their needs in the past. So we always are asking each service line, "What are you uniquely structured and positioned to do? What unique strategic questions do you have to answer to sort of drive the health system forward?"
Bill Klaproth (host): Right. Is it as simple as you're asking them, "Hey, what problem are we trying to solve here for your community?"
Kelly Dearman: Yeah. That's a great question to ask. Yep.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, that's wonderful. Any additional thoughts, Sarah, as we wrap up talking about primary care transformation planning within an integrated delivery system?
Sarah Gebhart: I just would say it has been a great experience here this week at SHSMD Connections. We've really enjoyed being able to talk about the work that we have done so far. We've been really impressed with the engagement of the group that came to the session, lots of questions. So, I know this is something that others are also trying to tackle within their health system, so that's been really great to be able to network with some attendees.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. Well, thank you. You've been adding to SHSMD, so thank you for everything you do. And Kelly, what's your final thoughts?
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, I would just offer, I was thinking that the title of our talk here today was really focused on primary care. I know we talked here on the podcast a lot about the process that we use. But I was, as Sarah said, really encouraged to see the questions that came from audience members during and after the session relative to primary care. It's nice to see folks really focusing on that foundational service inside of health systems that's so critical for the health of populations, and I'm always a big advocate for primary care in that way. So I just wanted to draw the thread back that we did talk to our session quite a bit about that. But the process really was the backbone by which we hosted that dialogue. So, yes, same as Sarah had said, we've had a really good time here already so far, meeting a lot of good people and having really good dialogue.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Well, that's what it's all about, connecting that's for sure. Sarah, thank you for being here.
Sarah Gebhart: Thank you, Bill. This has been great.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. And Kelly, thank you so much.
Kelly Dearman: Yeah, thank you. Enjoyed it.
Bill Klaproth (host): And make sure you sign up for this year's SHSMD's Virtual Conference, October 12th, 2022 plus on-demand through the end of the year. The virtual conference will feature access to 50 plus sessions recorded from the September in-person annual conference plus all new live sessions. Just go to SHSMD.org. That's shsmd.org/virtual to learn more and to get registered. And please join us at the next SHSMD Connections Annual Conference, September 2023 in Chicago. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and find access to our full podcast library at shsmd.org/podcasts. I'm Bill Klaproth. As always, thanks for listening.