Healthcare 360: Building a Resilient Health System
Podcast: Building a Resilient Health System
On this week's episode of Healthcare 360, Dr. Rob Fields sits down with Peter Shorett, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer for Beth Israel Lahey Health to discuss his journey to the healthcare industry and his vision for the future of BILH as a leader in healthcare.
Designing a System to Create Healthier Communities
Following his move from California to Boston after college, Peter Shorett was drawn to the world of healthcare policy and research. Leading him to The Chartis Group, a leading healthcare consulting firm, where he worked for more than a decade facilitating mergers and acquisitions and developing enterprise strategies at healthcare organizations and physician groups. The evolution of the newly formed Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH) network created the next career opportunity for Shorett, working for one of the nation's most respective health care systems as the Chief Integration Officer.
In his current role at BILH, Shorett oversees operations of the system's 14 hospitals and associated ambulatory centers as well as strategy, network development and system integration.
Reflecting on his introduction into the healthcare industry and experience working on the BILH integration project, Shorett recalls the initial conversations that laid the foundation for a new, high value academic health network in Boston. He emphasized the aspirational vision that has driven the BILH system since the beginning, to strive for innovation in healthcare and provide care to the community as one single system.
"We'e trying to create something different, something that's transformative for how we can deliver healthcare better in a market that really needs a new and different solution," says Shorett, "We created Beth Israel Lahey Health with the vision of creating healthier communities, one person at a time. I think we have designed the system to realize that vision."
On the Horizon in Healthcare Innovation
This year, BILH celebrated its five year anniversary as a health system. Since 2019, the hospital network has brought together academic medical centers, community hospitals, behavioral health services and more, to care for over 1.7 million patients across Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. Shorett describes the level of partnership and collaboration required to run a system of its size.
"The work [to build the foundation of BILH as a system] was tremendously valuable in building relationships and connective tissue among different teams," says Shorett, "I think that effective leadership requires moving through influence, really moving through building trusting relationships that allow you to work with people to get to common conclusions."
When asked to look ahead at what he is most excited about over the next few years, Shorett says it is watching the work across the BILH system translate great healthcare into greater health outcomes.
"We talk about care that's closer to you as a foundation of our long term vision. In your community, in your home, at your fingertips through digital innovation. I think we have the capacity to do that in a fundamentally different way. What I am most excited about is the work we are doing to really translate the foundations of an integrated system into better health for our community."
Every other week, we'll chat with a leading expert in healthcare to learn about the many challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Listen here to the full conversation with Shorett, and check in regularly for new episodes of Healthcare 360.
