Ep. 1: The Shift in the Way We Do Things at WellSpan
Roxanna Gapstur, President and CEO of WellSpan Health, is joined by Bob Batory, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at WellSpan, to discuss the importance of culture and WellSpan's new culture shift.
Featuring:
Dr. Gapstur has extensive experience in strategic planning, business development and operational leadership in both ambulatory and hospital settings. She has served in multiple executive roles including chief operating officer, chief nursing officer and as a senior executive accountable for population health.
Dr. Gapstur obtained her bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., and her master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Minnesota.
She was named a “Top 35 Women in Healthcare Leader” by Minnesota Women’s Health Leadership Trust in 2014. Dr. Gapstur has participated as a member and president of non-profit boards, including the Greater Twin Cities United Way, Minnesota Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation and the Minnesota Organization of Leaders in Nursing.
Mr. Batory has led the human resource management activities of WellSpan Health since 1991. Prior to that time, he served as director and vice president of human resources at WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital. Mr. Batory holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bloomsburg University and a master's degree in business administration from Mount Saint Mary's College. With more than 30 years of health-care human resource management experience, he has been an active leader in the human resources profession, having served as president of associations and industry partnerships at the local, regional and state levels, including the Pennsylvania State Society of Human Resources
Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN | Robert (Bob) Batory, MBA
In January 2019, Roxanna Gapstur assumed the role of President and CEO of WellSpan Health. She has over 25 years of healthcare leadership experience working in group practice, academic, and integrated health care systems which included health plan operations. Prior to her appointment at WellSpan, Dr. Gapstur was a senior vice president and president within the HealthPartners system in Bloomington, Minn.Dr. Gapstur has extensive experience in strategic planning, business development and operational leadership in both ambulatory and hospital settings. She has served in multiple executive roles including chief operating officer, chief nursing officer and as a senior executive accountable for population health.
Dr. Gapstur obtained her bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., and her master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Minnesota.
She was named a “Top 35 Women in Healthcare Leader” by Minnesota Women’s Health Leadership Trust in 2014. Dr. Gapstur has participated as a member and president of non-profit boards, including the Greater Twin Cities United Way, Minnesota Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation and the Minnesota Organization of Leaders in Nursing.
Mr. Batory has led the human resource management activities of WellSpan Health since 1991. Prior to that time, he served as director and vice president of human resources at WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital. Mr. Batory holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bloomsburg University and a master's degree in business administration from Mount Saint Mary's College. With more than 30 years of health-care human resource management experience, he has been an active leader in the human resources profession, having served as president of associations and industry partnerships at the local, regional and state levels, including the Pennsylvania State Society of Human Resources
Transcription:
Michael Carrese (Host): Welcome to Inspiring Health, a series of conversations with Roxanna Gapstur and other WellSpan leaders about Vision 2025. Today Roxanna is joined by Bob Batory, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Good morning folks.
Robert (Bob) Batory MBA (Guest): Good morning.
Roxanna Gapstur PhD, RN (Guest): Good morning.
Host: So, Roxanna, tell me what we are going to be talking about today.
Roxanna: We’re going to be talking about culture today.
Host: And how do you define that? That’s culture to you?
Roxanna: I define culture as the behaviors, beliefs and values of a group of people and more simply, as the way we do things around here. And our culture is visible to each other by the way we interact and treat each other and it’s also visible to our communities, patients and families when we interact with them.
Host: Give me an example of what you think is working well right now with WellSpan’s culture.
Roxanna: WellSpan has a group of people who are very committed to our mission and very connected to our communities. So, our commitment and our mission is a very important part of our culture. Our employees and team members and physicians live our values each and every day. And we have a very collaborative culture. In fact, we have a value called Working as One which creates the milieu and the environment for us all to work together for the benefit of our patients and communities.
Host: And Bob, why don’t you jump in. what do you think is working well with WellSpan’s culture now?
Bob: Well I agree, collaboration is at the top of the list. I think we’ve also been a very patient focused organization working on making WellSpan easy to use and I think that collaboration and teamwork among our 19,000 team members has really been a very strong asset for us historically.
Host: And how do you think employees feel about it, describe themselves working at WellSpan, it’s a place that’s what? How would you fill in the blanks?
Bob: WellSpan is a high quality, highly collaborative, team based organization. Really focusing on our local communities as well as patients and their family members who live, work and play there.
Host: And Roxanna, you would agree with that?
Roxanna: I do agree with it and having come here just ten months ago from another state; I’ve been really impressed with the connections among WellSpan’s team members and physicians and how we often see team members call out on Yammer and some of our other social media pages the working as one value and how they’ve seen that benefit our patients and communities.
Host: So, that’s a lot of positive stuff that you have got to build on. What do you think needs to change Bob?
Bob: If you look at our new strategic plan for 2025; first of all, the environment has changed over the last few years. It’s a much more competitive environment than we’ve ever experienced before. And I think there’s a critical few things that we really need to concentrate on. One, to become even more patient and consumer focused. We’ve talked a lot about our need to become a more agile organization and to be able to really pick up the pace on high priority items. We are trying to become as reliable as we possibly can, and I think that reliability and the focus around it is really important. And then we are also trying to become a little bit more innovative in our culture and I think that will only benefit our local communities and our patients and family members.
Host: That’s a lot there. Let me take on these a little bit one at a time. So, innovation, talk more about that. How do you get people to be more innovative or think in terms of innovation?
Bob: Yeah, many people have important creative abilities. I think it’s more important that we continue to foster an environment where they feel free to share their ideas and to take some risks. Now we’ve got a lot of really, really smart, good people who have the right intentions and I think we just need to free them up a little bit to feel comfortable expressing themselves.
Host: So, Roxanna, how do you do that? How do you create an environment where people feel safe taking risks? What are the signals that you can send out there as leaders to do that?
Roxanna: Yeah, well I think one of the ways is having podcasts like this where we can communicate our intentions as senior leaders with our employees and team members. I think other ways that we do that are when we go around the organization and do our team chats this fall. So, we will be sharing with more than 100 or 150 different departments our new vision, our new intentions around culture and some specific information on diversity and inclusion. So, certainly those kinds of opportunities are times when we can have a two way dialog with our teams across the organization and get their input as well on what would help them feel more free to be innovative and to bring those ideas forward.
We also have a lean culture that we have started to embed the last few years at WellSpan and those cultures allow each department for a lean daily management board where employees can bring ideas forward, opportunities for improvement and opportunities for innovation.
Host: Bob, you also talked about being more agile, picking up the pace. Tell me more about that.
Bob: As you know, it’s a pretty fast moving world today and particularly in south central Pennsylvania as we’ve seen the increase in competition from UPMC, Penn, Lancaster General, Penn State Health. These are really good organizations and they move at a pretty fast pace and environment as well and I think in order to not only keep pace but to keep a step ahead; I think we really need to – you can’t run at high pace on every issue but on priority issues, I think it’s critically important for us.
Host: So, Bob was just touching there on some of the drivers, competition being one of the keys. Roxanna what else is pushing the need you think to change the culture some?
Roxanna: I think consumerism and what our patients and communities need from us is probably one of the number one things driving it. I agree with Bob, competition is one of those, however, we know that patients and consumers really want to see different things from healthcare today than they did ten years ago. And we want to be the number one choice in central Pennsylvania that patients and families can choose us because we’ve got such a great value proposition for them.
Host: Yes, and a lot of hospitals are facing this now, the idea of a CVS or Walgreens or somebody getting into the healthcare space and these are folks who understand how to do things in an efficient way let’s say, more efficient way than healthcare has traditionally. Is that sort of what you have in mind?
Roxanna: Yeah, I think that’s one of the things. WellSpan has done a tremendous job of actually starting to create a digital platform for the organization so that patients and consumers can interact with us in different ways. And we’ve seen really great uptake of that in the past couple of years and we really want to increase the amount of interactions that we can have with patients and families and the ease that patients and families have when they access us. So, those are some of the pieces that we’ll need to do really well if we are going to compete with a CVS or an Aetna.
Host: And how quickly does this need to unfold Roxanna?
Roxanna: I think we’re starting to transform right now today and with our new vision and our new strategic plan that we are rolling out; we will want to start that steady transformation this fall and continue as we are preparing for our fiscal year 2021 annual plan next June. So, I see this year as kind of a preparation and a way of building capacity for the new work that we have ahead of us.
Host: Transformation is a big word. How do you get that across to employees that this is really a time of transformation?
Roxanna: Well I think again, our interactions with our employees, our team chats, our huddles, our rounds and the messaging that we use in the organization to continue to reinforce that we really want to see a transformation of how we provide care. And we’re seeing some really exciting innovations coming forward both in other organizations and in our own organization, ways of providing care that we’ve never done before. For instance, we started online primary care this year. We’re talking about providing hospital care at home. Those are really exciting innovations that will meet the needs of our patients and consumers in a way that we’ve never done before.
Host: And Bob, what would you say to employees in terms of embracing change at this scale?
Bob: Well I think they are telling us that they are ready as we have these conversations in our team chats and our other venues as we are rolling out this new and exciting WellSpan 2025 plan. It’s resonating extremely well with our team members and I think they’re excited and I think they’re capable and I think they’re ready to embrace these changes.
Host: So, as we wrap up here thinking about what folks are going to walk away from this conversation thinking about; what do you want those to be Roxanna?
Roxanna: I’d love for people to really think about our new vision, A Trusted Partner, Reimagining Healthcare, Inspiring Health. And think about what that means to each individual employee on a daily basis how we can become that trusted partner for our communities, how we can really think about our own work and what are different ways that we could be doing that work so really reimagining how we deliver healthcare and then thinking about our whole community. How can we inspire health in our community even if it’s in small ways each and every day as we go about our daily work?
Host: Bob, do you have a final thought?
Bob: Oh I agree 100%. It’s an exciting time. And I think our team members are equally excited about our future.
Host: Well great. It does sound like a very exciting time and we’re going to be talking more about this next time on Inspiring Health, a series of conversations with Roxanna Gapstur and other WellSpan leaders, today joined as well by Bob Batory, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Thanks for being with us.
Michael Carrese (Host): Welcome to Inspiring Health, a series of conversations with Roxanna Gapstur and other WellSpan leaders about Vision 2025. Today Roxanna is joined by Bob Batory, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Good morning folks.
Robert (Bob) Batory MBA (Guest): Good morning.
Roxanna Gapstur PhD, RN (Guest): Good morning.
Host: So, Roxanna, tell me what we are going to be talking about today.
Roxanna: We’re going to be talking about culture today.
Host: And how do you define that? That’s culture to you?
Roxanna: I define culture as the behaviors, beliefs and values of a group of people and more simply, as the way we do things around here. And our culture is visible to each other by the way we interact and treat each other and it’s also visible to our communities, patients and families when we interact with them.
Host: Give me an example of what you think is working well right now with WellSpan’s culture.
Roxanna: WellSpan has a group of people who are very committed to our mission and very connected to our communities. So, our commitment and our mission is a very important part of our culture. Our employees and team members and physicians live our values each and every day. And we have a very collaborative culture. In fact, we have a value called Working as One which creates the milieu and the environment for us all to work together for the benefit of our patients and communities.
Host: And Bob, why don’t you jump in. what do you think is working well with WellSpan’s culture now?
Bob: Well I agree, collaboration is at the top of the list. I think we’ve also been a very patient focused organization working on making WellSpan easy to use and I think that collaboration and teamwork among our 19,000 team members has really been a very strong asset for us historically.
Host: And how do you think employees feel about it, describe themselves working at WellSpan, it’s a place that’s what? How would you fill in the blanks?
Bob: WellSpan is a high quality, highly collaborative, team based organization. Really focusing on our local communities as well as patients and their family members who live, work and play there.
Host: And Roxanna, you would agree with that?
Roxanna: I do agree with it and having come here just ten months ago from another state; I’ve been really impressed with the connections among WellSpan’s team members and physicians and how we often see team members call out on Yammer and some of our other social media pages the working as one value and how they’ve seen that benefit our patients and communities.
Host: So, that’s a lot of positive stuff that you have got to build on. What do you think needs to change Bob?
Bob: If you look at our new strategic plan for 2025; first of all, the environment has changed over the last few years. It’s a much more competitive environment than we’ve ever experienced before. And I think there’s a critical few things that we really need to concentrate on. One, to become even more patient and consumer focused. We’ve talked a lot about our need to become a more agile organization and to be able to really pick up the pace on high priority items. We are trying to become as reliable as we possibly can, and I think that reliability and the focus around it is really important. And then we are also trying to become a little bit more innovative in our culture and I think that will only benefit our local communities and our patients and family members.
Host: That’s a lot there. Let me take on these a little bit one at a time. So, innovation, talk more about that. How do you get people to be more innovative or think in terms of innovation?
Bob: Yeah, many people have important creative abilities. I think it’s more important that we continue to foster an environment where they feel free to share their ideas and to take some risks. Now we’ve got a lot of really, really smart, good people who have the right intentions and I think we just need to free them up a little bit to feel comfortable expressing themselves.
Host: So, Roxanna, how do you do that? How do you create an environment where people feel safe taking risks? What are the signals that you can send out there as leaders to do that?
Roxanna: Yeah, well I think one of the ways is having podcasts like this where we can communicate our intentions as senior leaders with our employees and team members. I think other ways that we do that are when we go around the organization and do our team chats this fall. So, we will be sharing with more than 100 or 150 different departments our new vision, our new intentions around culture and some specific information on diversity and inclusion. So, certainly those kinds of opportunities are times when we can have a two way dialog with our teams across the organization and get their input as well on what would help them feel more free to be innovative and to bring those ideas forward.
We also have a lean culture that we have started to embed the last few years at WellSpan and those cultures allow each department for a lean daily management board where employees can bring ideas forward, opportunities for improvement and opportunities for innovation.
Host: Bob, you also talked about being more agile, picking up the pace. Tell me more about that.
Bob: As you know, it’s a pretty fast moving world today and particularly in south central Pennsylvania as we’ve seen the increase in competition from UPMC, Penn, Lancaster General, Penn State Health. These are really good organizations and they move at a pretty fast pace and environment as well and I think in order to not only keep pace but to keep a step ahead; I think we really need to – you can’t run at high pace on every issue but on priority issues, I think it’s critically important for us.
Host: So, Bob was just touching there on some of the drivers, competition being one of the keys. Roxanna what else is pushing the need you think to change the culture some?
Roxanna: I think consumerism and what our patients and communities need from us is probably one of the number one things driving it. I agree with Bob, competition is one of those, however, we know that patients and consumers really want to see different things from healthcare today than they did ten years ago. And we want to be the number one choice in central Pennsylvania that patients and families can choose us because we’ve got such a great value proposition for them.
Host: Yes, and a lot of hospitals are facing this now, the idea of a CVS or Walgreens or somebody getting into the healthcare space and these are folks who understand how to do things in an efficient way let’s say, more efficient way than healthcare has traditionally. Is that sort of what you have in mind?
Roxanna: Yeah, I think that’s one of the things. WellSpan has done a tremendous job of actually starting to create a digital platform for the organization so that patients and consumers can interact with us in different ways. And we’ve seen really great uptake of that in the past couple of years and we really want to increase the amount of interactions that we can have with patients and families and the ease that patients and families have when they access us. So, those are some of the pieces that we’ll need to do really well if we are going to compete with a CVS or an Aetna.
Host: And how quickly does this need to unfold Roxanna?
Roxanna: I think we’re starting to transform right now today and with our new vision and our new strategic plan that we are rolling out; we will want to start that steady transformation this fall and continue as we are preparing for our fiscal year 2021 annual plan next June. So, I see this year as kind of a preparation and a way of building capacity for the new work that we have ahead of us.
Host: Transformation is a big word. How do you get that across to employees that this is really a time of transformation?
Roxanna: Well I think again, our interactions with our employees, our team chats, our huddles, our rounds and the messaging that we use in the organization to continue to reinforce that we really want to see a transformation of how we provide care. And we’re seeing some really exciting innovations coming forward both in other organizations and in our own organization, ways of providing care that we’ve never done before. For instance, we started online primary care this year. We’re talking about providing hospital care at home. Those are really exciting innovations that will meet the needs of our patients and consumers in a way that we’ve never done before.
Host: And Bob, what would you say to employees in terms of embracing change at this scale?
Bob: Well I think they are telling us that they are ready as we have these conversations in our team chats and our other venues as we are rolling out this new and exciting WellSpan 2025 plan. It’s resonating extremely well with our team members and I think they’re excited and I think they’re capable and I think they’re ready to embrace these changes.
Host: So, as we wrap up here thinking about what folks are going to walk away from this conversation thinking about; what do you want those to be Roxanna?
Roxanna: I’d love for people to really think about our new vision, A Trusted Partner, Reimagining Healthcare, Inspiring Health. And think about what that means to each individual employee on a daily basis how we can become that trusted partner for our communities, how we can really think about our own work and what are different ways that we could be doing that work so really reimagining how we deliver healthcare and then thinking about our whole community. How can we inspire health in our community even if it’s in small ways each and every day as we go about our daily work?
Host: Bob, do you have a final thought?
Bob: Oh I agree 100%. It’s an exciting time. And I think our team members are equally excited about our future.
Host: Well great. It does sound like a very exciting time and we’re going to be talking more about this next time on Inspiring Health, a series of conversations with Roxanna Gapstur and other WellSpan leaders, today joined as well by Bob Batory, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Thanks for being with us.