Patrick Frias, MD, spent the first 18 years of his career at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, rising from pediatric cardiologist to the inaugural chief physician executive to COO before heading west in 2018. In January, a phone call from his former boss changed his trajectory again.
“When I got a call from the place where it all started, now 26-plus years ago, it was hard not to listen,” Dr. Frias said on a recent episode of the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast.” “Atlanta felt like home, and coming back to where my career started, to hopefully be able to finish my career here was an incredible opportunity.”
Dr. Frias officially assumed the CEO role at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in August, succeeding Donna Hyland, who retired after leading the organization since 2008. He most recently served as co-president and CEO of Rady Children’s Health in San Diego, where he led significant growth, a major campus expansion and a merger with Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
At the center of his agenda is “More Than Possible,” a strategy to put Children’s pediatric services within 30 minutes of every family in metro Atlanta — more than its current 1 million patients per year. The system recently opened a primary care office in Atlanta’s Adamsville neighborhood, which has served 500 new patients since opening in late June. Children’s has also purchased land in Sandy Springs, Ga., to support future growth, with further announcements planned.
The 30-minute benchmark was a deliberate choice rooted in the realities of metro Atlanta’s size and traffic. Dr. Frias said the goal is not to replicate quaternary care in every corner of the region but to ensure families can reach the right level of care close to home.
“In all parts of metro Atlanta, which is made up of a large area, that children would have access to our care,” he said. “Maybe not the quaternary care that’s at the larger hospitals, but primary care, certain levels of specialty care, urgent care. We really wanted to make sure we were addressing those care deserts and make sure those kids had access to care as well.”
The strategy extends well beyond metro Atlanta. Children’s is expanding into rural Georgia through a partnership with Macon, Ga.-based Mercer University School of Medicine and its Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center. The partnership includes a scholarship program for medical students who commit to providing pediatric primary care in rural communities after graduation, with 34 students currently enrolled. The system also runs high school internships to build the next generation of pediatric providers.
Mental health is a defined pillar of the “More Than Possible” strategy, and one Dr. Frias said deserves equal footing with physical health. The system has built what he described as the largest pediatric mental health workforce in the state of Georgia, with more than 300 care team members.
“There’s still more to be done,” he said. “To me, it’s very important that we also focus on mental health in addition to physical health, as we’re enhancing the care lives of the kids in our community.”
The strategy also encompasses innovation and research. Children’s is working with Atlanta-based Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, among other partners, on advancing research that can improve outcomes and access. Its cellular and gene therapy program, designed to deliver newer treatments to patients with hard-to-treat diseases, reflects the level of investment the system is making in clinical advancement.
On the workforce front, Dr. Frias has spent his first 90 days on what he calls a “People and Possibilities Tour,” visiting staff across the organization to reintroduce himself and hear where opportunities lie. He has asked every group the same question: What is one thing that would make your day go a little smoother?
The answers have been telling, he said, not for what they revealed about unmet needs but for what they did not.
“I think the most surprising is that there aren’t any big surprises, and that’s a good thing and a testament again to the great condition that Donna has left Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta,” Dr. Frias said.
He said success over the coming years will be measured by outcomes, access metrics and whether the system has meaningfully closed the gaps it has identified.
“Success will be making sure that we got into those care deserts, we enhance access to care for children, not just in metro Atlanta but across Georgia through technology and partnerships,” Dr. Frias said.
