Much like his last name, Matthew Love, president and CEO of Nicklaus Children's Health System in Miami, truly loves what he does. It's this love that drives his goal for a simple yet large mission: ensuring healthcare access for all children.
"Every kid should have access to great world-class pediatric healthcare," Mr. Love told Becker's. "No kids should have to leave Florida for care. If I could wave my magic wand, it would be that every kid has equal access to great pediatric healthcare. No matter where you're at, no matter whatever your income is, any of that should not matter."
Nicklaus Children's Health System comprises Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, an ambulatory surgery center and a network of outpatient centers. It also features the Nicklaus Children's Foundation, Nicklaus Children's Pediatric Specialists, the health system's physician group practice, and a for-profit arm, Children's Health Ventures.
To focus on increasing healthcare access, Mr. Love pointed to two crucial areas in this mission: evolve healthcare leadership roles and communication authentically with front-line workers.
In fact, Mr. Love has experience serving in different leadership roles in healthcare.
From 2018 to 2019 he served as the health system's CFO prior to entering his existing president, CEO role in 2019.
"Going from internal focused, financially driven, to being externally focused, community affairs, government relations, and being the face of the organization was probably the biggest change," Mr. Love said on the leadership change from CFO to CEO.
More specifically, Mr. Love has also watched the role of CEO evolve over the last few years.
"It's no longer, in my mind, the CEO sitting in the office kind of demanding things," he said. "It's more of being authentic and leading the organization versus kind of sitting in that corner office and not connecting to the community and the organization."
It's this reason why Mr. Love developed a program called 'Chat With Matt,' which allows the health system's employees, typically front-line workers, to hold small, informal and intimate conversations with Mr. Love.
Multiple conversations are held each quarter, and can run anywhere from five minutes to over an hour.
As CEO, the goal is not for Mr. Love to be seen as a strict dictator, but just another guy, a person, that his employees can connect with on a personal level.
"...They can ask me anything they want. It's very open ended, transparent," he said. "These 'Chats With Matt' really have proven a way to hear what's happening in the organization from the people that are actually doing the work."
These types of conversations have also helped Mr. Love and the health system's employees combat existing pediatric care challenges, like behavioral health.
From social media to continued bullying and online bullying among young people, Mr. Love said many factors have led to an increase in pandemic and post-pandemic mental health struggles for children.
Nicklaus Children's has expanded and doubled the capacity at its Hagerty Family Behavioral Health Unit in recent years so that they no longer need to transfer patients out.
The health system also formed a digital safety alliance and launched the Safe+Sound initiative in late January to help gather information and resources on the long-term impact that digital technology can have on children and their mental health.
"Most parents today grapple with the question of what age is best for children to be allowed to use a cellphone," Mr. Love said in a Jan. 31 news release on the initiative. "While there is no one-size-fits-all answer for every child, studies show after years of research that cellphones, social media, and other digital technologies, can have alarming effects on children. Parents are the first line of defense in setting boundaries for digital device usage. We want them to be informed before deciding when to give their kids a smartphone."
In looking to the future, while many adult healthcare facilities have removed pediatric services, Nicklaus Children's is looking to combat this and continue inching closer to a mission of more care for all by increasing partnerships and collaborations with adult facilities in the Florida area.
The health system also plans to open its Kenneth C. Griffin Surgical Tower in the next few months, which comprises 131,000-square feet and 12 operating rooms.
"We have to step into that space to make sure we take care of kids where they're at, in their local communities, as much as we can," he said.