Brian Erling, MD, has served as president and CEO of Reno, Nev.-based Renown Health since November 2022, and he brings a physician perspective to the role.
Having started his healthcare career as an orderly at 16, Dr. Erling held positions at Centura Health in Colorado, including chief medical officer, senior vice president and chief clinical officer, and most recently president and CEO of Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Penrose-St. Francis Health Services.
An emergency medicine physician by training, he also served as president of the Alliance Group, a subsidiary of Envision Healthcare, and was a founding partner of the Apex Emergency Group in Denver.
Dr. Erling told Becker's that Renown uses an "employ and partner" philosophy for hiring physicians. He discussed this approach in the context of Renown Health's affiliation with the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, shared his leadership insights and early career lessons, and offered advice to his peers.
Editor's note: This is a regular series of conversations with CEOs of the nation's health systems. Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: What was your first job? How old were you? Biggest thing you learned?
Dr. Brian Erling: My first job was as a caddie at a golf course outside of St. Paul, Minnesota, beginning the summer after sixth grade. The course was actually an 8-mile bike ride away, which I know sounds a lot like that 2-mile walk uphill both directions in the snow, but it really was an 8-mile bike ride, and I still managed to caddie over 90 loops that summer. By the end of the season, I had saved over $3,000, which was a lot of money for a junior high kid in 1985. I think the biggest thing I learned is that hard work is rewarded in our society, with the added benefit of keeping you out of trouble when you're a kid. At 16 years old, I actually started my first job in healthcare as an orderly in the OR, and I've worked in healthcare ever since.
Q: What's the most difficult choice you've had to make for your organization this year?
BE: Renown Health is in our fourth year of a fantastic affiliation with the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, with the shared goal of growing our academic mission across the health system. As part of that journey, we're finding the need to recruit and employ a growing number of physicians who are aligned with that mission. This move has created anxiety for some of our community physicians. Unfortunately, I think academic health systems have an "employ or destroy" reputation, which can be difficult to overcome. So we are attempting to be very intentional about our philosophy of "employ and partner." We believe that the two are not mutually exclusive, but it does require unapologetic transparency from both parties and a willingness to skate together to where the puck is going.
Q: What is one of your lesser-known talents or leadership superpowers?
BE: I started my healthcare career as an emergency medicine physician at a level 1 trauma center in Denver, and while I've had a lot of professional growth since that time, I can't help but view the severity and urgency of any issue through that lens. Even the most significant business or operational challenges simply do not compare to the critical decisions and interventions required when you're alone in an emergency department in the middle of the night. The feedback that I've received from my team is that I bring an inherent calm to the table, even in the most difficult situations. Ironically, this allows us to move even quicker as an organization. After all, I'm still an ER doctor at my core, so I prefer to make decisions quickly once we have the necessary information and stakeholder involvement.
Q: If you could give one message to other health system CEOs, what would it be?
BE: Never forget the essentiality of the work that we do, especially as we face increasing challenges as an industry. As I read the news, there seems to be a fair amount of reactionary leadership, with decisions and actions inconsistent with our societal role. If we believe we are essential and want our community and legislators to treat us as such, then we need to act as such. I recommend taking the long view with a focus on our people and the needs of our communities, even during the most turbulent times.