Jason Keeler, MHA, MBA, serves as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President at the University of Chicago Medicine.
On May 24th, Jason will serve on the panel "How to Build and Sustain High-Performing Teams - What’s Your Top Piece of Advice? How Do You Balance Consensus vs. Direction?" at Becker's Hospital Review 11th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place on May 24-26, 2021 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Jason's session, click here.
Question: What's one lesson you learned early in your career that has helped you lead in healthcare?
Jason Keeler: The power of letting the people who do the work help to solve their own problems. All too often leaders think they need to be responsible to solve the problems of the organization. The truth is rarely are they the experts and it is best that they convene the people who do the work and provide them with the tools and resources to solve their own problems. Early in my career, I was introduced to the Toyota Production System and its application in health care. Proactive problem identification and empowering the frontline to solve the problems is at the heart of this system. I also learned the importance of going to the Gemba (the place where work happens) to see what is really happening vs relying on what people tell you or what the data may show.
Q: Where do you go for inspiration and fresh ideas?
JK: I often turn to other industries that are nearly all more advanced and automated then we are in health care. I continually think about how healthcare as a service entity can provide the same sort of instant access and value that other industries have been able to provide for years. I am also signed up on multiple e-mail list serves and networking groups focused on the healthcare industry. I usually start my day with a quick scan of e-mails for the latest innovations in our industry. One of my favorites list serves creates a weekly summary of most of the healthcare-related research and innovation articles for the week. I usually spend part of my weekend quickly skimming through it for new ideas.
Q: Healthcare has had calls for disruption, innovation and transformation for years now. Do you feel we are seeing that change? Why or why not?
JK: I do feel like real change and innovation are starting to take hold in healthcare. The push from Meaningful Use to drive providers to electronic medical records has created numerous opportunities to innovate that did not exist in the world of paper medical records. The availability of this rich data set as well as the ability to farm data out of most of our medical devices has allowed for the rapid creation of AI and predictive analytics aimed at improving health care outcomes. We have some great examples in our own organization where we have used predictive analytics and real-time alerting to improve outcomes. The shift in how organizations are reimbursed has caught the industry's attention and we certainly have seen the start to a shift in really understanding the value of the services we provide. Finally, when organizations such as Amazon, Google, and Apple take an interest and make large investments in your industry you are certain to experience disruption and innovation. Much of this is yet to come but I would certainly say that big, transformative change is coming.