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<\/a><\/p>\nWhen Dr. Patrick Lee became president and CEO of Travis County\u2019s hospital district in early 2024, “My goal was to bring new energy to Central Health’s mission and let the district be creative and strong in meeting community needs,” he said recently. “Central Health today is definitely not the same as it was 20-years ago, or even one year ago.”<\/p>\n
Lee started with five main goals:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Building trust;<\/li>\n
- Creating a shared vision;<\/li>\n
- Figuring out where Central Health is now and how ready it is to change;<\/li>\n
- Identifying quick wins that create momentum; and<\/li>\n
- Getting the Central Health Board of Managers and executive team to agree and focus on these priorities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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<\/a>During his first 100 days at Central Health \u2013 from early February to late May \u2013 Lee spent over 380 hours in more than 400 one-on-one meetings with staff, elected officials, healthcare partners, and community leaders. He also visited 42 locations in the Central Health system, which includes CommUnityCare Health Centers<\/a> and Sendero Health Plans<\/a>.<\/p>\nThis thorough orientation helped Lee, who held prior executive posts at public hospital systems in Boston and Brooklyn, see Central Health’s strengths and its opportunities to do more and better. He found a 20-year-old organization with a strong mission, dedicated people, well-managed finances, and a commitment to grow to meet the healthcare needs of Travis County residents with low income.<\/p>\n
Those needs, and strategies to strengthen Central Texans\u2019 healthcare safety net, form the foundation of the district\u2019s Healthcare Equity Plan. Implementation of this seven-year roadmap with $750 million in new investments began in 2023.<\/p>\n
Lee expressed his gratitude for the work that went into building this strong foundation for what is happening now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tip my hat to Mike Geeslin,\u201d Lee\u2019s predecessor as president\/CEO, \u201cfor setting the stage for all we\u2019re doing now. Our new board chair Ann Kitchen\u201d \u2013 a healthcare policy expert, former Austin City Council member and state representative \u2013 \u201chas provided bold leadership, and our executive team and staff has stayed aligned, committed, and diligent in transforming good ideas and plans into realities that build up our reservoir of trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Lee also saw ways Central Health, CommUnityCare, and Sendero could work together better. He learned of the legal, political, and financial challenges that the Central Health system faces as it endeavors to meet big community needs with finite resources. Some stakeholders wanted proof that the district could achieve the goals of the Healthcare Equity Plan while also fulfilling Central Health\u2019s core responsibility to plan, pay for, and provide health care for Travis County residents with low income.<\/p>\n
Quick Wins Lay a Foundation of Trust<\/h4>\n
With these insights, Lee and his executive team moved fast to secure those quick wins \u2013 so quickly, in fact, as to reach Healthcare Equity Plan milestones years ahead of schedule. A powerful driver of change has been Central Health\u2019s expansion of its own practice of medicine, to provide specialty care that has long been in high demand among all Central Texans, sometimes unobtainable for Central Health\u2019s patients with low income, and needed by primary care providers \u2013 including at CommUnityCare \u2013 to treat the whole person properly.<\/p>\n
“We saw that the needs were big and growing right now, and our providers and partners trusted us and told us we could move faster,” Dr. Lee explained. “Because Central Health has carefully managed its cash reserves in prior years, we’ve been able to really push this work forward.”<\/p>\n