Q&A: Bevan Yueh

The opportunity to come to Iowa is exciting because Iowa has one of the very few truly integrated academic health systems in the country. That means that the hospital, the physician practice, the medical school, and the research enterprise all work for the same entity. That's really, really special. And with that comes a lot of synergy and cooperation. I'm looking forward to joining that effort. 

I'm continually mindful of the ever-changing landscape of health care in the U.S., and my role will be to seek new ways to achieve our organizational priorities. When complex operational challenges and barriers arise, my goal is to have our teams address them in a way that serves our patients’ best interests, with even greater alignment between strategy, implementation, and operations. 

I love the fact that UI Health Care is so widely respected throughout Iowa. People really rally around the University of Iowa. So, I like what leaders are doing now, which is to extend UI Health Care to every citizen throughout the state. 

I understand that we have traditionally asked patients to travel to Iowa City. Now is an opportunity to make it easier for people to access our care. For instance, Mission Cancer + Blood in Des Moines now allows us to have patients in central Iowa see us closer to home. 

I'd like to see us make it even easier for people to see us. One of the things we did in Minnesota was to be more efficient in making clinics available to patients. For example, we used to have a 7% cancellation rate, and we lowered it to a 1% cancellation rate. We also used nurse navigators to get people to the right level of care. We partnered with systems throughout the state. And even if our doctors were not physically present in parts of the state away from the Twin Cities, we developed electronic means so that people could access us a little bit better without traveling. 

When we talk about recruitment and retention, I've always believed the focus should be on retention. You can bring people in for a year or two, but that's not the goal. The goal is to keep them here and make them happy. What I have seen at UI Health Care is that people are really happy, and they feel good about the mission and the other people. They feel highly respected and highly engaged, and that's the important part of keeping them here. 

Now what we must do is really sell UI Health Care. We have to overcome our Midwestern modesty and tell people how great it is, because once they come in and take a look, they're going to want to stay. That happened with me. We have to get people in the door and then let this great culture make them feel valued. 

Of course, we also need to pay attention to keeping outcomes great, patient satisfaction and quality and safety. Great performance in these areas makes people proud of where they practice. 

I believe in great people. And if you want to be an outstanding organization, you have to have outstanding people. That comes by keeping teams of great people, engaging and empowering them, and knowing when to stay out of their way. I believe in truly listening to what people say. It takes time and patience to develop a diversity of thought and a diversity of opinion that we value. So, what I do a lot is listen carefully. Listening to where people think we can make change is a critical first step to making the organization outstanding.