Edmund Sabanegh, MD, serves as President of Main Campus and Regional Hospitals for Cleveland Clinic.
On November 11th, Dr. Sabanegh will serve on the panel "Creating Healthcare Leaders" at Becker's 8th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place November 11-13, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Dr. Sabanegh's session, click here.
Question: What is the single most important thing you need to do in your role? (Ie: What do you have to be great at?)
Edmund Sabanegh: The single most important aspect of my job, and the team I lead, is staying laser-focused on our patients. The quality of care our patients receive, the experience they have and their safety is our North Star. We see people during their most vulnerable moments and we must instill confidence and trust with every person we treat so they know they are receiving the best care. At the start of every team meeting, we discuss our goal of ensuring the quality is the same at each of our locations, with each patient, every day, every time. It’s our job to ensure our patients feel safe, and are safe. With safety as our guide, we encourage all individuals, all caregivers to speak up no matter job title or role. When a team comes together, they are stronger. When a patient has a team of people looking out for them, everyone wins.
Q: There is a lot to improve upon in healthcare. Of the many issues that hold your attention, what is the one you consider exceptionally imperative and urgent?
ES: In healthcare, the long-standing idea of the doctor/patient relationship is shifting. It is no longer the best or safest avenue to have one person in charge of care. A welcome paradigm shift in the way of team care is already underway which requires educating both clinicians and patients alike. Healthcare information is vast and it’s nearly impossible to stay abreast at the speed with which we innovate. When a group comes together comprised of physicians, nurses, advanced practice providers and more, their collective knowledge and diverse experience are superior to that of an individual. We need to help clinicians understand that they are not alone and help patients understand that they have an entire team supporting them.
Q: Healthcare leaders today need skills and talents that span beyond those emphasized during formal training and higher education. What is one specific competency that you learned or sharpened in real life? Or: What one specific competency do you believe up-and-coming healthcare leaders would benefit from strengthening outside the classroom?
ES: I am particularly struck by the quote attributed to the late Maya Angelou, noted poet and civil rights advocate, who said, “At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” In medicine, healthcare leaders are expected to be so much more than clinical experts. With each patient interaction, it is imperative that we are present with our patients, hearing both the words they use to describe the symptoms that ail them but also what they are emoting and not speaking. We have to convey a safe haven, where we listen and empathize as trusted advisor and confidant. We must earn our patients’ trust by how we make them feel. These skills are even harder to develop than our “revered” organic chemistry education.
focus their efforts and energy. As I partner with hospital leaders, it’s important to assess the impact
and benefits of projects to help prioritize initiatives.
For example, everyone is paying attention to the rise in specialty drug costs. Yet often there is little a
hospital can do to lower their specialty drug spend. However, there are substantial cost savings
possible through an improved reimbursement strategy and medication utilization-based projects.
Not only would prioritizing these initiatives drive meaningful results, they also are within the
hospital’s span of control.
In addition, I find that hospital leaders can overlook the pharmacy in performance improvement
initiatives, so it is an ongoing education and advocacy about the pharmacy’s potential impact. The
pharmacy should be a center of innovation for a hospital – and innovation is key to expanding
services and improving care.