The pandemic has been brutal, but did yield some unexpected benefits for Kansas City healthcare institutions and their leaders, according to participants in the annual Healthcare Summit hosted by MetroWire Media on March 11 — the one-year anniversary of when the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Those benefits included a renewed sense of mission, new collaboration and cooperation, and an enhanced appreciation of family and colleagues.
“When this began, something magical happened in how competing firms joined together as one to help everyone get through it,” said moderator Dennis Burns, president of Pulse Design Group.
The region was in a unique position, and very lucky, in the number of healthcare resources available to cope with the challenges of the pandemic.
According to Stan Holm, president and CEO of Olathe Health, the networking, sharing resources, collaboration and cooperation was “the good thing” about the pandemic.
“I was able to meet new CEOs. We would meet weekly and monthly. We all put patients first,” Holm said.
“Knowing that everyone was in the same boat was comforting and made us stronger,” said Nan Knecht, director of operations at AdventHealth Kansas City.
“The immediate response was a sense that we compete tough every day, but when it comes to the people we serve (and the medical community), we all come together. The Midwest does that very well — and we did it faster than either of the coasts,” said Matt Jennings, an architect and VP of healthcare with JE Dunn Construction.
“It was remarkable to see hospitals rally together,” added Matt Sogard, CEO of Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
Overall, the pandemic “revealed the good, the bad and the ugly of healthcare,” said Burns.
“We do live in a fragmented system, but there was a working process for testing and PPE (personal protective equipment),” Sogard said. “The combination of federal, state and private entities created both challenge and opportunity.”
The traumatic nature of the recent year’s events might be the bad, as Burns said, but the “good” that came out of it included innovations like AdventHealth’s “well-being calls” among colleagues to see what they need, led by a psychiatrist and the head of behavioral science.
”There was a 50/50 split in staff between relief versus having suppressed emotions for so long that they hadn’t dealt with, so they were breaking down. There was a new sense of work to be done (in mental health) and (understanding) how this will affect recruiting new people and current staff. In some ways, we’re just starting to cope with the mental health and behavioral aspects,” Knecht said.
Holm reported seeing “a transformation in coming to work every day.” Staff put patient service before their own safety or health. We’ve never had a shortage of vaccinators,” Holm said.
Despite vaccines becoming available, Holm warned, there may be a new wave to deal with.
“All our organizations are making it a priority to ensure recognizing there is a need (for support). There is concern of the constant stress leading to a potential increase in suicides,” Holm said.
More positive outcomes include when institutions had to create COVID-19 units, the state made it possible to get that done quickly — far faster than the usual bureaucratic process.
“That’s when we knew it was really serious. Everybody jumped in,” Jennings said.
Another surprising success was the growth of telehealth, which Burns said “had been slow to take off before COVID.”
“Adoption was slow with patients, payers and institutions, but COVID was a catalyst, and we’ll see it used more and more now,” said Jennings.
“Usually IT puts up barriers to getting anything done quickly, but moved very fast on telehealth. It’s an important way to connect, especially for those who are isolated,” Knecht said.
“Federal regulations and guidelines for IT jumped in,” added Jennings. “Within 30 days, all providers were doing telehealth.”
Future growth
“The first thing you hear is that the ambulatory environment will evolve with patients being released faster than in the past. From a strategic financial standpoint, you have to replace them with higher-acuity patients. The third bucket is what the replacement facility looks like. It will be very exciting in terms of being patient-centered,” Holm said.
AdventHealth will see expansion in the Blue Hawk area, with a new facility expected to open in October.
“We have big plans for another new location that will be a phased project,” Knecht said.
When asked why the institution is building another facility so close to an existing site, “it’s about putting patients at the forefront, and also their families. The new space will make it easier for family members to be at hand when someone has a hospital stay,” she said.
Sogard is seeing capital funds flowing again, with projects that had been paused now moving forward.
“Hospitals are caring for sicker and sicker patients,” he said. “There’s more technology; a high-tech/high-touch focus,” Sogard said.
Burns pointed out that the design and build side of the healthcare industry is also starting to see momentum.
“We follow architects and owners,” Jennings said. “The dollars are flowing because there is pent-up demand. It’s an exciting time to be a designer and builder. We’re seeing small projects and big ones.”
The pandemic revealed what Burns called “a capacity problem” as hospitals ran out of beds and equipment, but it also might have been a staffing issue.
“We are licensed for 300 beds but only staffed for 250,” Holm said. “We were at our peak and in a state of nervousness. Our healthcare staffers did very well, but we saw an increase in associated (staff) being out with COVID in the late fall.”
Overland Park’s locations tried to centralize COVID beds, according to Sogard.
“The scary thing was that if too many nurses would call in sick, we would be unable to care for patients. We were allocating resources among seven facilities where there was a matter of different needs and physician specialties,” Sogard said.
Lessons learns and hopes for the future
Asked by Burns to tally some of the lessons learned from the pandemic and expectations as healthcare moves forward, panelists unanimously reflected on how the events affected their family lives.
As vaccines become available, “children will be able to go back to school and we’ll be able to do more in public with the family and (professional) events like this 12 months from now,” Holm said. “I appreciate my family more and will hold onto that — will lock onto that.”
For Jennings, “it’s about family and getting to see each other.”
Sogard was pleasantly surprised that his family grew closer throughout the COVID experience.
“We had conversations we usually never have,” Sogard said.
In the professional realm, Holm said, “when I look at all we did in coping with COVID, it’s amazing what teams could accomplish in spite of the challenges.”
Knecht is looking forward to being done with her MBA program, masks coming off and more events being held in person.
“I appreciate the opportunities to jump in on things I would never have done before. I am proud of our teams. We’re closer than ever,” Knecht said.
Jennings is seeing excitement among colleagues about getting together professionally again.
“Everyone is curious to see what will happen with buildings. I think there will be a reset. How we deal with the next pandemic will be influenced by COVID,” Jennings said.
The commitment of staff in taking care of patients was an inspiring aspect of the pandemic for Sogard.
“The resilience was amazing,” he said. “Now we’re focusing on our mission in a new way.”
Among the lessons of the pandemic are the importance of flexible space and being nimble when a crisis arises, whether short- or long-lived, according to Sogard. Holm expects to see a greater focus on families.
“We will need an innovative way to create space for families as healthcare facilities take care of ‘long-recovering’ patients,” Holm said.
The MetroWire Media Healthcare Summit participants expect their institutions’ new connectedness to continue and benefit the community longer after the pandemic is resolved.
“Even now, as we are looking at how we can get back to normal, we are continuing to connect,” said Holm. “There’s a halo-effect long term that’s special. How we approach healthcare will be different — beneficially.”
The hybrid event was held at Silo Modern Farmhouse at the Canyon Farms Golf Club with online access for those not attending in person. Event sponsors included Kadean Construction, Pulse Design Group, JE Dunn Construction, Ross & Baruzzini, Ryan Companies, Burns & McDonnell, Arch Photo KC, Silo Modern Farmhouse at Canyon Farms Gold Club, Enterprise Precast Concrete and Rose Design Build.
Murray Company and MWM provided gift certificates which were raffled off at the end of the event to event attendees.
Mark your calendars now for the next MWM KC event on May 20th: MWM 2021 Multifamily Summit. Interested sponsors may email Lisa Shackelford.
Access full event photo gallery on MWM’s Facebook page here.