Dr. Simon serves as President of Clinical Operations and Chief Medical Officer for Community Health Systems. She has broad responsibility for the areas of safety and quality, clinical services, nursing, case management, medical staff relations, physician practice management and clinical informatics. Dr. Simon received her medical degree from the University of Louisville, completed a medical internship at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and a neurology residency at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, serving as Chief Resident in her final year. She was a practicing neurologist in her hometown of Louisville, KY from 1989 to 2005 before transitioning to administrative leadership roles with Jewish Hospital. She joined CHS in 2010.
Healthcare organizations must continually adapt to changes in the environment, from strategic, competitive, operational and regulatory standpoints. Over the years we have expanded our footprint and then refined our portfolio to focus on building out systems of care as opposed to only acute care hospitals. CHS now consists of 48 distinct healthcare systems in mid-sized communities with more than 1000 outpatient sites of care, including affiliated physician practices, urgent care centers, freestanding emergency departments, ambulatory surgery and imaging centers.
Our organizational priorities are generally my priorities as well – and right now, those include growing, supporting and retaining our workforce, capacity optimization and network integrity. Regarding our workforce, the clinical operations team is specifically working to support hospitals in “growing their own” clinical staff through hospital-based nursing programs with our Jersey College partnership and development of in-house training and certification programs for Patient Care Technicians. These programs will enable a sustainable pipeline of clinicians for the Nursing Care Team Model – which is expanding in use at many CHS-affiliated hospitals. This model enables nurses to work at the top of their license, with support from a team of caregivers. The model has demonstrated enhanced patient experience as well as safety and staff satisfaction. Also, our HR team has developed a centralized nurse recruitment program that is also yielding good results and supporting our hospitals during a period where staffing is a challenge for all healthcare systems.
Another area of focus for me is innovation – looking for new ways of providing care or new technologies that enhance outcomes. The implementation of PeriGen PeriWatch Vigilance – a machine-learning AI point of care system for maternal-fetal monitoring – is one example. And, our new Care Management at Home partnership with Cadence, offering Remote Patient Monitoring for ambulatory patients with chronic conditions, is another that will help improve patient safety and outcomes.
There is a lot of investment in healthcare right now and it is exciting to see so many bright minds and innovators working to make health care delivery more accessible, equitable, efficient and effective. That being said, healthcare is a people business and no matter how much we automate, utilize AI or rely on technological advancements we still need physicians, nurses, and support staff to provide great care – so it is still the availability of healthcare providers that keeps me up at night. And, since I’m up anyway, I’m also thinking about ways we can address real issues affecting our caregiver teams – like the pace of change, potential for burnout, and how to be sure clinical professions remain rewarding for those working in our organization today.
I learned that we can implement changes very quickly and make good decisions in a shorter period of time. The rapid expansion of telemedicine and the updating of care guidelines are just a couple examples of what worked well during the pandemic. Going forward we need to continue to adjust our expectations, realizing that we can move faster, and reset expectations for more rapid adoption of new techniques and new technologies.
Look at opportunities that stretch beyond your prior experience – you don’t need to check every box to consider putting your hat in the ring or jumping into a new role or new assignment.
I don’t know if I have a motto or favorite saying, but I do hear myself saying a couple of things frequently enough… First, “it’s about the AND, and not the OR” – many problems do not require an either / or type of decision – I like to think beyond the binary. And the other is “perfect is the enemy of good” because sometimes getting something executed in a timely manner is better than waiting longer for it to be absolutely perfect.