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Michael Carrese (Host):  Welcome to Inspiring Health. A series of conversations with Roxanna Gapstur and other WellSpan leaders about WellSpan 2025. So, Roxanna, this is the first foray into podcasting for you and for WellSpan. Why don’t you talk a little bit about why we’re here, what do you want to accomplish?

Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN (Guest):  So, we’re introducing some really new and exciting plans for WellSpan’s future and I just think it’s a really great way of reaching out to 20,000 people to be able to do podcasts and do thing electronically and have that conversation with employees in a way that people are used to doing nowadays.

Host:  Yeah, podcasts have been incredibly popular, and they keep growing in popularity. So, you are maybe envisioning people on the ride home, listening to this or maybe in the morning getting ready for work?

Roxanna:  Yeah, absolutely. I think whenever people have a moment, and we’re trying to keep the podcasts short, ten minutes or so, so that the people can listen to them at different times of the day or whenever they have a minute.

Host:  So, what’s your vision for this series?

Roxanna:  My vision is to just highlight some really key ideas and concepts that we as teams can use to stay abreast of what’s going on in our organization and how we continue to push WellSpan forward to meet our vision for 2025.

Host:  And there’s a lot in that vision. I mean this is obviously, your folks have always been providing great healthcare and focused on quality and being patient focused and all that but there is a lot that needs to change, and the folks need to think about too going forward.

Roxanna:  Our new vision is really; we are seeing it as our North Star and it’s just so inspiring. I think the work that’s been done on the vision is just fantastic. And it’s really a trusted partner reimagining healthcare, inspiring health and every time I see or read that vision, I get inspired myself.

Host:  And why do you think it’s time for a new vision?

Roxanna:  Healthcare has changed so much the last few years and we just really need to be on the forefront of that change and WellSpan is a great organization. We’ve done such good work in south central Pennsylvania and we want to stay the leader here. And we think with new competitors and new changes in the market that to do that, we need a really inspiring, bold vision and I think this vision definitely fits the bill.

Host:  Yeah, and we’re going to break that down some going forward, but what’s different about it than the current vision do you think?

Roxanna:  You know our current vision is more like a paragraph of things that we do together. It’s just not as bold, not as aspirational and I think this new vision could really unit our teams and our communities in a way we’ve never done before and creates an excitement about our future.

Host:  So, let’s break it down a bit. You talked about being a trusted partner and I’ve heard you talk about that in terms of creating loyal patients. Explain some of that.

Roxanna:  Yeah, I think really, creating loyal patients is what we want to try and do in the next five years and so we might see ourselves as a trusted partner right now; but I would ask us to think about are we a trusted partner in every way? Are we highly reliable in every way that we can be? Are we creating avenues for patients accessing our care in the way that they need to and are we helping people be the best version of themselves.

Host:  And value is part of that, right?

Roxanna:  Absolutely. Yes, I think what we’re seeing now in the last five to ten years is patients are really consumers in many ways. People often have to pay for more of their healthcare that they did ten years ago, and they are looking for value; whatever that means to them. I think for us, we need to be highly aware of that and be thinking through how can we offer the highest value experience, quality and affordability to our communities.

Host:  And a positive experience too on top of all that.

Roxanna:  Yeah, absolutely. I think experience is probably one of the things that healthcare organizations have struggled with the most and probably one of the areas of vulnerability where we all really need to put on our innovation hat and think through how do we do things completely differently.

Host:  You also talk about reimagining healthcare. That’s a pretty broad idea. What are you talking about when you say that?

Roxanna:  Well I’m talking about how do we think through the way that we’ve delivered care in the past 25 to 30 years. How could we provide care in a completely different way and I’ll give you an example. One of the apps that we now use here at WellSpan is called Babyscripts and it’s just a really unique experience for women who are pregnant and having a baby. You can download the app on your phone, and it actually takes the place of four separate prenatal appointments just by communicating with your care team on the app. You can provide your weight and your blood pressure, and you can actually stay at work and stay at home. You don’t need to go to the doctor for those four appointments. That’s completely different than anything that we’ve ever done before. We have about 4000 women signed up for that now and the experience has been fantastic.

Host:  Yeah, so that’s the kind of innovation in a future program we are going to talk about creating a culture where people feel comfortable innovating, thinking of new ideas. That’s the sort of thing that can come from that, right?

Roxanna:  I think there is really great opportunity with the technology and the digital platforms that we have these days that we didn’t have ten years ago that can really offer not only that simplified use but also more affordable care. When you are avoiding doctor’s appointments and tests, you don’t have to pay for those tests and those doctors appointments. So, we are really trying to again, get at that value equation for people.

Host:  And Inspiring Health finally. What’s involved in Inspiring Health and your idea? This is talking about working with communities and people to be healthier?

Roxanna:  Yeah, I’ve always thought WellSpan is a unique organization ever since I first came to interview here in that the mission of WellSpan really talks about improving the health of the community. And if you look at the missions of a lot of different healthcare organizations; you might see that in a Kaiser Permanente or Intermountain or Geisinger, but you don’t see that in a lot of healthcare organizations. And I think the idea that we’re here to provide more than just sick care for people, that we are actually here to help people be the best version of themselves and to walk alongside them in that journey toward health is a great idea and not only that, it’s what happens here at WellSpan. We provide care across the continuum for all of our communities and it’s exciting to think about the things that we could do in partnership with our communities in the future if we really had a goal of Inspiring Health.

Host:  And so that would I’m sure lead to more thinking about prevention and wellness and the things in people’s lives that they can change that happen outside a doctor’s office.

Roxanna:  Yeah absolutely. As we know, people spend 80% of their time outside the doctor’s office so they are not with us very long and so thinking about how those social aspects of health really impact patients and families and everyone in our community is such an important part now that we really need to be thinking about that as a healthcare organization and what’s our impact on those social issues and how can we put forward the best platform for patients and families to be healthy.

Host:  So, what are some of the ideas in your head along those lines?

Roxanna:  Yeah, well we’ve got some great community partnerships across all five of our counties and three of the areas that WellSpan has really made a deep commitment to in community is housing, food insecurity and the opioid epidemic actually. And those three areas, we’ve gone really deep with out communities so we are providing support for shelters, for transitional housing, to allow our patients and families to be able to be discharged from the hospital and if they don’t have a safe or reliable place to go; that they can go to one of those places to recover. That’s been super and we’ve also supported some food insecurity projects like the Gleaning Program through South Central Community Action Programs. So, lots of depth in what we are doing now so instead of skimming the surface on these social determinants; we are really going deep.

Host:  So, when employees think about this in terms of their own day to day work; how should they apply this lens to what they are doing?

Roxanna:  Yeah, well I think first of all, just kind of getting familiar with our new vision and thinking through in your area of responsibility what could that vision mean and how can we take our work a step further than what we’ve done before. So, it kind of goes back to that innovation comment that we talked about in one of our podcasts too about how we really want our employees to be thinking about new ways, new ideas, new thoughts for Inspiring Health. So, I would put that challenge out there to our team members, all 20,000 of them because we’ve got some amazingly smart committed people in our organization who I think will just do a fantastic job at thinking through that.

Host:  And what do you think reimaging healthcare should mean for your patients and consumers?

Roxanna:  I think it should mean that they can expect more from us, that they can expect something different, that they can expect a better experience, ease of use and affordable care. I think it’s really exciting and I believe that that’s the way that we’re going to develop loyal patients.

Host:  So, it’s 2025 and you are looking back and what you’ve achieved and what is WellSpan going to look like at that point?

Roxanna:  Well I sure hope our families and patients would say that they would never go anywhere else than WellSpan because we’re so highly reliable in all of our processes both our clinical care, our business processes that we are easy to use. We have great access and we’re affordable.

Host:  And with competition in mind which is obviously facing healthcare in every direction; how are you going to set yourself apart from competitors and is it that formula that you just talked about that you think will get you there?

Roxanna:  Absolutely and I do think having competitors makes us better. We have some great competitors here in south central Pennsylvania, really high quality organizations. And we want to exceed and lead those organizations. And that’s a big challenge but I think here at WellSpan we can do that.

Host:  So, we have to wrap up I’m afraid to say. But what are some things you want people to walk away from thinking about?

Roxanna:  I’d love them to walk away thinking about how do we become even more of a trusted partner that what we have been to our communities. How would they reimagine care in their own area and how would they inspire health in their community? So, each of our employees are working in different counties across our landscape and I think it’s really important to have that local feel to healthcare. So, how would they inspire health there in their local community?

Host:  Well Roxanna, we’re going to have to wrap it up there. You’ve been listening to Inspiring Health, the series of conversations with Roxanna Gapstur and other WellSpan leaders about WellSpan 2025. Great to talk to you.