The Backstory

By Jarrard Inc.News Business News

The Backstory episodes

July 03, 2024 02. From Working Night Shift to Leading a Health System, with Chris Roth
Join host Anne Hancock Toomey, president of Jarrard Inc., as she welcomes Chris Roth, President and CEO of St. Luke's Health System in Idaho, to the podcast. In this engaging conversation, Roth reflects on his 17-year journey at St. Luke's. During his tenure, which encompassed multiple roles, St. Luke’s evolved from a two-hospital operation to an integrated health system with ten hospitals. Roth shares formative experiences, from watching his mother and her nursing school classmates practice injections on oranges, to his early days as a pharmacy technician. He describes key leadership lessons he’s learned along the way, and discusses the importance of culture, psychological safety, and authentic leadership. Roth also opens up about balancing family and professional life, the traits of effective leaders, and the significance of vulnerability in leadership.
Subscribe, share, rate and review The Backstory, and don’t forget to follow us on social @jarrardinc!

01:13 Overview of Chris Roth's Journey in Healthcare
02:04 Leadership and Authenticity
04:39 Chris Roth's Background and Early Influences
10:21 Joining St. Luke's and Career Progression through the Organization
13:47 Becoming CEO During a Pandemic
16:52 Leadership Philosophy and Challenges
23:38 A Critical Mistake in the Pharmacy
27:40 Creating a Culture of Accountability
29:27 Balancing Family and Career
32:45 Leadership Qualities and Challenges
36:29 Personal Habits and Lightning Round
40:16 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
42 min
June 20, 2024 01. From Flipping Burgers to Healthcare CEO, with Pete November
Join host Anne Hancock Toomey as she sits down with Pete November, CEO of Ochsner Health, on the inaugural episode of The Backstory podcast. Starting from his early days flipping burgers at Wendy’s, November went through undergrad and law school at the University of Kentucky – where one of his most formative leadership lessons occurred – and began his career as a healthcare attorney specializing in M&A. Moving from private practice to in-house roles, November rose through the ranks to eventually become CEO of Ochsner Health. In this candid conversation, he shares the pivotal moments, influential mentors and personal challenges that shaped his path.
November highlights the importance of authenticity, listening, team building and pursuing the ever-elusive work-life balance. He also dives into the leadership qualities that have guided him, the impact of his career on his family – and his family on his career – and…Saturday lunch.
Tune in for an inspiring episode and don’t forget to follow us on social @jarrardinc!
Episode highlights:
02:02 Intro and Overview
04:20 Origin Story
06:51 First Job
07:41 Education and Early Career
10:01 Transition to Legal Career
14:16 Going from Private Practice to In-House
24:01 Career at Ochsner Health
28:36 Work and Career in the Larger Context of Life
30:51 Effective Leadership and Flaws
33:44 Role of Faith
34:36 Lightning Round

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
39 min
June 12, 2024 Coming soon: The Backstory, with Anne Hancock Toomey
Welcome to The Backstory, with Anne Hancock Toomey, president and founding partner of Jarrard Inc. For nearly two decades, Jarrard – one of the nation’s top communications consulting firms for healthcare – has partnered with thousands of leaders across the country who are striving to make healthcare better every day.
But this isn't a podcast about healthcare, or politics or even communications. It's about authentic leadership.
The Backstory is about demystifying respected leaders who've had a lot of success along the way because of the kind of leaders they've chosen to be.
Each person Anne interviews is visionary, of course. They’re smart as hell, and they’re fierce about their business and their mission. They're also humble, kind and create the kind of environments in which people can thrive. They're not perfect. But they are real. And it’s the combination of those two things that makes each one of them great.
In every episode, Anne’s guest digs into who they are, where they come from and what's influenced them to be the person and the leader that they are today.
Which raises the question: Just who are these guests? We won't spill everything, but her first conversations include Pete November, CEO of Ochsner Health; Chris Roth, CEO of St. Luke’s Health System in Idaho and Sheri Shapiro, chief strategy officer of CommonSpirit Health.
Pull up a virtual chair and join us in these intimate, compelling conversations starting later this month. We’ll be dropping episodes on a biweekly basis, so be sure to subscribe in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
3 min
May 01, 2024High Stakes: 019. Creativity and Opportunity in Behavioral Health, with Karin Jeffers
Karin Jeffers, CEO of Clinical & Support Options (CSO), discusses the founding of CSO in 1955 and the organization's mission to provide mental health services to families across Western Massachusetts. She highlights the evolution of behavioral health care and the progress made in reducing stigma, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeffers also discusses the unique challenges and opportunities in Western Massachusetts, including the need for collaboration and recruitment of staff. She emphasizes the importance of integrating behavioral health care and the transition to value-based care. Jeffers shares insights on implementing change, the role of Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers, and the need for closing the gap in salaries and funding between mental health and medical care.
Key Takeaways
Clinical & Support Options (CSO) was founded in 1955 to address the mental health needs of families in Franklin County.
The COVID-19 pandemic has helped reduce stigma around mental health and increased willingness to seek help.
Collaboration and recruitment of staff are ongoing challenges in providing behavioral health care in Western Massachusetts.
Integration of behavioral health care and the transition to value-based care are important for improving outcomes.
Closing the gap in salaries and funding is crucial to recognizing the value of behavioral health care.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
22 min
April 10, 2024 High Stakes: 018. Trust, Finances and Storytelling in Healthcare Private Equity, with Dan Beuerlein and Ellis Metz
Dan Beuerlein is a managing director at Brentwood Capital, where he advises health services companies on M&A and capital raises. While his expertise extends across sectors, he has a particular focus on autism services, women's health and fertility, and outpatient surgery. Here, Beuerlein and Jarrard Vice President Ellis Metz talk about the state of the capital markets today, the work PE and other investors need to do to better tell the story of their work and value in healthcare, and their perspective on Jarrard's recent national consumer survey on private equity and post-acute care.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
25 min
March 20, 2024High Stakes: 017. Post-Acute Care and Private Equity - Consumer Survey Reaction Podcast, with Dan Schlacter
This Sunday, we’re unveiling our new survey (the first of its kind at Jarrard), which sought the opinion of more than 1,000 adults across the country about their perception of post-acute models of care and private equity’s role in healthcare. Over the past decade, industry segments such as urgent care clinics and post-acute rehabilitation have evolved from emergent trends to mainstream components of care delivery. And in parallel, the involvement of private investors in healthcare has grown. With this survey, we aimed to understand consumers’ baseline views of these care delivery and business models, particularly in an era of eroding trust in healthcare institutions.
In this week’s High Stakes podcast, we speak with Jarrard Vice President, Health Services Dan Schlacter about some of the survey’s headline takeaways. As one of the co-developers of the questionnaire, Schlacter sheds light on the implications of these insights.
Key points:
Broadly speaking, consumers’ perspectives on PE and “alternative” sites of care are not limited to leaders within those sectors. This survey is also relevant to hospital/acute care decision makers, particularly to understand which models or care people trust (and don’t trust) in the context of potential partnerships.
That said, one significant takeaway is everybody has room to improve. In Schlacter’s words, “there’s not a whole lot of trust out there to begin with.” Remaining up to speed with the various levels of trust across the industry provides a valuable innovation and partnership playbook for leaders of every stripe. It can also help them retain, or gain, the coveted trust of key stakeholders when it counts the most.
Speaking of “levels of trust”… government lawmakers and regulators are at the bottom of the barrel. At the same time, they have the power and jurisdiction to manifest change. Rather than doing so with an iron-fisted regulatory mindset, the public’s low view of these groups is an opportunity to adopt a partnership mindset between the government and private sector. Regulators can recognize that healthcare innovators, including investors, are driving positive change in the industry, and they can foster a supportive relationship to help accelerate new care models, ideas and partnerships that improve healthcare for everyone.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
21 min
March 08, 2024 Conference Reaction - HPE Miami 2024
McDermott Will & Emery's annual two-day event convenes leaders and investors from across the industry to discuss emergent trends and topics impacting the healthcare investment world. This year, its timing couldn’t have been more appropriate. On Tuesday, just one day before the conference kicked off, the FTC, HHS and DOJ announced their shared investigation into private equity’s role in healthcare. This development, among others shaping the market – including the continued repercussions of large-scale cyber security incidents – made for lively conversation this year. Miami was buzzing.
In the mix from our firm were Sheila Biggs, VP Health Services and Ellis Metz, VP Strategic Partnerships. We caught up with them as they were leaving town - Sheila recording from the hotel lobby, to get a few of their observations.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
17 min
February 28, 2024High Stakes: 016. Retail Healthcare - Are Referrals the Same as Access? With Abby McNeil and Sheila Biggs
Is retail healthcare the disruptor, the partner, the gap-filler or something else? What’s the best way for traditional health systems to interact with retail healthcare providers? There have been stories in the healthcare trades about these questions, so Abby McNeil and Sheila Biggs joined the High Stakes Podcast to sort them out. McNeil is a vice president and deputy lead of Jarrard’s Regional Health Systems Practice. Biggs is a vice president and deputy lead of our Health Services practice.
Key Takeaways:
Don’t conflate “learning from retail” or “competing with retail” with “partnering with retail.” Sounds obvious, but some of the coverage we’ve seen has done just that.
Speaking of partnerships between acute providers and retail healthcare, it’s not clear whether those relationships will lead to their stated goal of increased access. They may lead to more referrals to the health system, but that’s different.
That said, it does appear that the growing number of partnerships is built on an acknowledgement that each segment of the industry has a unique skillset, so rather than try to replicate someone else’s strengths, why not just work with them? But again, the jury is still out on whether that will lead to improved access or care for patients.
When thinking about lessons learned from retail healthcare in the push for a more consumer-friendly system, it’s critical to look at root causes. For example, setting up an online scheduling platform does no good if there isn’t enough clinical staff to cover those appointments. Or if the physicians don’t want to use the systems and turn it off.
Similarly, the expectations of clinicians have to be a big part of the conversation when thinking about how to develop a more consumer-friendly experience.
Medical data – and the security of it – is an ongoing concern. Do patients want Amazon having all of their personal health information along with their consumer behaviors? Tread carefully.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 min
February 14, 2024High Stakes: 015. DEI in Healthcare - When words get in the way, with James Cervantes and Allyson Carr
In this week’s High Stakes podcast, we explore the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in healthcare through a conversation with Jarrard Senior Vice President James Cervantes – who also serves as the leader of our Regional Health System Practice – and Senior Managing Advisor Allyson Carr. While DEI and health equity work has gained momentum throughout the industry as a workforce priority over the past four years, it is still often poorly understood, leading to underwhelming results when leaders try to codify their DEI priorities and bring initiatives to life. Thus, the cultural, operational and economic benefits of embedding DEI throughout an organization often go unrealized. Leaders need a framework for understanding DEI from 360 degrees and strategies for teaching and gaining buy-in from their stakeholders.

Key Takeaways:
The conversation around DEI was accelerated by the pandemic and George Floyd, which inspired a strong push for this work. But with both events shrinking in the rearview, what seemed like an inflection point in how we understand equity and belonging now is sometimes seen as a logistical box organizations need to check.
In some states, policies legislate what terms can and cannot be used, which of course poses challenges to DEI initiatives. Even so, organizations can find ways to work around language restrictions and make real progress through how they engineer their organizational practices and customs.
Success in DEI requires clear communication, storytelling and data-driven approaches to address gaps in care and achieve health equity.
Partnerships with community organizations can help improve access to care and address social determinants of health.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 min
January 31, 2024High Stakes: 014. Academic and National Health Systems - 2024 Healthcare Trends to Watch
At the end of 2023, we published our annual piece on healthcare trends primed to shape the new year. Leaders from each of Jarrard Inc.’s five practices shared insights on various challenges and opportunities facing the health systems and other provider organizations they serve. In this week’s High Stakes podcast, we’re releasing our full conversations with Tim Stewart, Jarrard partner and leader of our Academic Health Systems Practice, and Emily Shirden, vice president and leader of our National Health Systems Practice.
Because of their scale and varied business functions, national and academic health systems often struggle with an inherent distance from their patients. The rift between the ivory tower and the bedside is wide and impersonal. As such, many leaders are engineering cutting-edge ways to personalize care and create a more patient-centered brand.
Key Points
Physician relationships: the secret key to system partnerships. Academic and national health systems alike are exploring innovative partnerships with smaller entities, such as community hospitals, to offer certain services, address a market gap or mitigate labor shortages. In scenarios like these, the larger system will be bringing on physicians who may be dubious of affiliating with the new brand. Preserving – or building – and strengthening these relationships are paramount to achieving the vision shared by organization and clinician alike.
Personalization: everyone’s talking about it. Creating a more user-driven experience was a popular topic in several of our practice lead conversations. Amazon was mentioned several times. But activating this idea — building some sort of online shopping aisle for patients to browse their care services — is more complicated than tech development. Patient data safety is a conundrum that stands in the way of large health systems who would otherwise have the resources to explore such an offering.
Smart offense: the art of advocating for yourself. In the face of widespread criticism, many providers are too slow to advocate for themselves. Rather than playing defense again and again to deflect every individual criticism, leaders should see these attacks as symptoms of a root cause: Trust is shaky. Healthcare leaders should address that issue by reinforcing their value proposition for every stakeholder — campaigning for themselves and the value they bring to their communities.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 min