The Wellstar Health Administrative Fellowship with Paige Bates

<p>hello everyone this is Cole from the American Journal of healthc care strategy I am joined this evening by paig of WellStar Health Paige please uh introduce yourself and what you do for WellStar yeah um so as Cole said my name is Paige Bates um I'm a recent graduate from the University of Alabama at Birmingham um in the Masters of Science and health administration program and I have very recently um exited out of my fellowship at WellStar Health System in the WellStar Medical Group track um and I'm transitioning into operations with the Women's Health Service [Music] line how many days has it been since you've uh started that transition um we are going into the 72nd hour um wow so perfect time for us to quiz you on all things Women's Health atar really appreciate you coming out and in huge congratulations that is uh really exciting and you've been working uh for many years to get up to this point right you yeah 10 years since you started undergrad and um that's incredible so congratulations you started undergrad in Tennessee at Knoxville very popular School I've heard it's great football uh down there and so you started you got a A BA in psychology what were you thinking going into that degree what was your goal starting off in undergrad yeah um so I wanted to go into the medical field but I didn't really want to study science and I loved human behavior um and so I majored in psychology as my official Major and was on a Premed track um so that allowed me to take a combination of science courses required for med school or other um clinical tracks and also get to study um psychology which I would like to think worked out um because I got to study abroad with psychology um when I don't know that I would have had that opportunity otherwise so nice where did you study abroad um I studied in London for a summer that is awesome uh how how is London is what are your thoughts on it um rainy um but but wonderful um I had a great time had some great experiences and it's just so accessible um being able to travel to other countries nearby and be like a 2our commute is very cool and different um than my current everyday life so of course of course uh Georgia is a bit a bit different yeah um you also got a master's in Pharmacology after undergrad how did that come about yeah so I graduated from Knoxville in 2017 and um I was a year early so I wanted to kind of take the time off and not continue floating um into the next next thing and so spent a year doing clinical research at a children's hospital um and getting prepared for medical school kind of studying for the MCAT and things taking that um didn't get the MCAT score I wanted and so decided to pursue a master's in Pharmacology to kind of help me get prepared and bolster my application in that way um hoping to apply to medical school again and it's a good thing I did that um because it just wasn't the best fit for me I think and as I started learning things and getting more integrated it was very concentrated on students who wanted to go to medical school so a similar curriculum um to what you would experience in your first year and as I did that I was like I don't think this is what I want the next four years of my life um to look like necessarily so I need to figure out how to stay in healthcare but in a non-clinical role that is good that you got a MCAT score that wasn't good then yeah it worked out and then you ended up I think it was uh like a year or so after right was when you started the mha at at UAP um so it was I'm trying to do math two years after two years um so while my classmates were applying to med school um I was applying for jobs and ended up um thankfully getting a role at a local nonprofit um leading A Vision Care Program and so over that course of time over that two years I got to lead a program um across Tennessee Mississippi mississipp in Arkansas that was very like operations heavy who's scheduling the appointments how are we sending Vision screeners out just kind of doing the ins and outs um of making the program run and serving communities and so I was like oh like I love this um I could do this all the time and Google is very helpful if you put in your job description of helping you find what career path that is so when you put it into Google did it tell you healthcare administration yeah it was like this sounds like like what Healthcare administrators do and that was probably my first time hearing like that title that description um of the job obviously have seen people in business suits working in healthcare settings but never really knew what their career path was and so I was like ah it's all coming together now that's a that's a really cool Journey too because it comes from a place of things not necessarily going to plan right was there any anxiety or stress I know that there was for me when I moved out of being a Premed um in a way kind of felt like you know a failure like I couldn't hack this but as I got older I learned that you know that is not the case but at the time was there any stress and worry for sure um it was like if I'm not going to do medicine what am I going to do and have I had enough experience to then pursue the things that I want to do um I spent so much of my time getting these clinical experiences um and that being the focus that there was definitely like a fear and a nervousness of will I be qualified for the thing that I am now setting my vision on or will that take another set of years um to get me prepared to do and so you you did get into uh one of the best mha programs I think it's uh between that and youc are kind of fighting for the top spot how did you come across UAB and why did you just decide to apply there um top priority for me was being close to home um so I'm from Tennessee from Memphis um so I started that was my first filter of like what programs were nearby um started there saw Birmingham had a program so something that I was researching Pro as I was researching programs um I saw that some required a fellowship some didn't and I really liked that like oh you have to be placed into a fellowship and you have to get that Real World experience I knew I needed it um and so I was like I'm going to shoot my shot um we'll see what happens and thankfully um I was admitted to class 57 nice yeah congratul too on that that is a big accomplishment and I like what you said you were worried that you didn't have enough you know experience because you had focused on clinical and then it gave you that experience with that you know required third year um in the fellowship how how was the experience at UAB right you you already had a master's in Pharmacology and during that program you didn't necessarily like the the vibe there how did that compare to what you experienced during your mha um I think my one PE my eagerness to learn um obviously I was able to learn the things and acquire the knowledge in the pharmacology program but just that genuine interest um went a long way and I feel feel like UAB does a great job of exposing you to various areas of healthc care um I also love the cohort model I love my classmates dearly um they are some of my favorite people and so having those peers and getting to go along that journey together um was also just something I'm so grateful for and was definitely pivotal to my decision and what I was looking for into Fellowship as well I wanted another cohort model um and to know that I had peers alongside me as I went through that Journey too so so it kind of helped to to confirm as well that you were in in the right place yeah definitely nice and and you did of course do the fellowship as um you know as is required but you also got into a very special Fellowship like you said the cohort model with WellStar they have quite a few different uh fellows with you right I think there's we were discussing four or five sometimes fellows right right um and that was a gamble in itself so coming from working in kind of like outpatient operations with the Vision Care Program um UAB also places you in a role within the health system there um in your first year of the program and so I was placed in patient experience and working with the outpatient leader um for patient experience and for me that was like affirmation like I want to keep learning out patient um I'm kind of fing myself that's a bit dangerous but it's really where I feel most called and most impactful um is working in that setting and so going into the fellowship search again I was like okay Medical Group outpatient who's going to give it to me who's going to let me be focused in outpatient which was kind of few and far between a little bit when it came to Dedicated tracks and so wellar definitely stood out to me in that way giving that opportunity because I think puan and Jesse it was like an inverse for them right like one of them did inpatient they ended up doing the corporate one of them did outpatient then they ended up doing the inpatient so I know what you mean and and traditionally fellowships have been focused on Hospital operations right it's only in the past 20 years or even 10 years that we've started to see ambulatory carees taken off I think for job security working in ambulatory is excellent uh from what everyone says ambulatory will continue to grow what do you like about ambulatory though that has caused you to really want to stay in it yeah I feel so when you go into a hospital it can be like some of your darkest days some of your toughest times um and you definitely want supportive people in that environment to get you through that moment um in the ambulatory setting what I love is that you're part of someone's like everyday life potentially like they could be coming in for regular Clinic appointments you could really like get to know them and go on this journey um with them and I just feel like that opportunity to make small impacts over time um and really take your patients on a journey and hopefully get them to their ideal healthy State before it gets to the point of being hospitalized um is where I like to be that's really nice and so how many fellowships did you find that you were able to apply to that had that you know outpatient Focus um I cast my net I want to say I ended up applying to seven not all of those were outpatient focused and I believe I would say three for sure that like had that designated area yeah and so how when you went to WellStar for the onsite how soon was it until you or was it even before the onsite that you knew like WellStar is definitely the place that you want to go um so at UAB we do this thing called preceptors conference um and a bunch of organizations come to campus we do Round Table interviews with all of them um and so I had my interview and I knew I was interested um but then I had my Round Table interview on the first day and I was like oh I'm like I am gunning for it like very interested putting all my marbles in this bucket um and I think for me meeting someone in person I'm very much like energy um how you present yourself and just kind of what I get from you and so being able to meet leaders um from WellStar that I was really excited about um was definitely like the Kickstart I think the other Fells I've spoken to have said similar things that it's the leadership gives off a really nice impression and when you started there how how was that impression when you started you know you know your first day right did it even increase your excitement and and anticipation yeah it's actually funny I was telling um one of the new fellow today about meeting with your preceptor um and I was like when I first came in my preceptor and I said we were going to meet once a week to get me started and then we taper back and I think our relationship just evolved so well that we kept meeting for every week um through the end of my fellowship and we never even like tapered it back and I think that speaks to the experience that I was having like she was someone I was eager to talk to eager to work with um wanted her to see my growth and wanted to perform well um to make her proud so yeah that speaks volumes for sure yeah and so what was the fellowship like in terms of the structure you know were you doing it seems like it was probably Project based right yeah so definitely Project based very self-driven um so in the very beginning uh I got a list of leaders that were within the Medical Group um and some Serv ofice L because there's overlap in that way and she was like here's your list of people go and meet and see what you find um so in meeting with those leaders getting to know them what they had going on in their areas um I would hear little things that like jumped out to me and would try to volunteer to help or just to even Shadow and see um what was going on in that regard and then kind of try to keep that momentum of just just asking people like what do you have going on and can I help with it um in the areas that I wanted to see excellent and and what did that yield for you what are some of the the projects that you were especially proud of yeah um one of the projects I did early on I helped develop an application um for the system and so our Health Equity team was applying for a Health Equity Award with the American Hospital Association and um I thought I would go in being like support for this like oh someone on the team is going to lead this application like I'm just going to be wherever they like tell me to be and the VP of Health Equity was like Paige is driving you guys listen to her and she will get you there and I was like okay I'm driving um so that was a really awesome moment and I really appreciated the trust um that they showed in me to get that done um I also got to spend six months embedded as a interim practice manager for Hospital medicine um and that was huge for my learning um being on the ground every day um with a large group of providers at our Flagship hospital um was definitely I learned a lot and I think those are things you can't learn through a project I learned a lot of those just tangible people um everyday skills I would say how many uh you know people were you gu in charge of you know or direct reports you have during that practice manager um so I had six office staff that reported to me and and then the practice contained 76 um providers how far into the program did this start um six months so when I came back from Christmas and New Year's I went to the practice um and from that point forward I was there until the end of June were you like nervous or scared at first yeah I mean it's always the unknown right like what is a practice of this size look like and it was Hospital operations I had spent so much of my time doing um outpatient um but these were all doctors embedded in the hospital so I went to the hospital every day um within the office and so there was a few unknowns to where I was like all I can do is go in and do my best and be inquisitive um and surely someone will give me the answers that I need to be able to do the best I can do wow yeah no I mean that sounds uh quite terrifying from uh that's incredible and then you ended up getting an assistant director position I'm assuming after those six months were up is that the the area that you're transitioning from is the practice manager intern practice manager role yes um our fellowship started last July on the 10th so we knew ends this year on July 10th um and so that was a conversation I had with my precept over we are coming up on the end of the fellowship it is time for you to start interviewing for permanent roles what does that transition look like so we worked with the leader that I was working under um in that role and we all collaborated to kind of get the right exit plan for that excellent and then how did this role come about how did you you know find it or get alerted to it this team rapidly growing um women's services are rapidly growing and so in experiencing that growth they were looking for um another operator as it was posted on the job board my preceptor had let me know like hey I had a conversation with my peer um they're posting a job I think it would be a good fit we can talk about it I can describe to kind of what that person would be doing um and see like if you're interested and of course you would go through the interview process um to some degree in a dedicated area while also doing operations um and I was having a tricky time with that like finding that perfect fit um and so this came along and it allowed me to kind of have a little bit of both of those and I was like oh yes but also very nervous like oh a lot of people are going to be interested in this role um how is this going to shake out and so I think my first interview I want to say was the end of May and then I had my last interview the end of June yeah um so it was it was a journey that's that's an interesting month yeah wow and uh so that that's incredible and then do you have direct reports in this new role um we're restructuring so I will have um direct reports it'll look a lot different because it won't be front office staff um or providers Direct irly it'll be managers um of some of the practices that are within Women's Health and um our manager for coding nice um so that'll be an interesting change leading a different type of leading a leader um front office people and Physicians are leaders as well but that succession planning and that progress um someone who could want to be where you are one day I think um will be interesting so essentially you're leading who you were acting as right it's a similar type thing because you were a practice manager and now you're going to be leading practice managers right that's I think that makes it kind of uniquely cut out for that role right I I do think it helped um I think having done that of course and having had that experience in addition to having the systems experience from the fellowship and kind of seeing how things work at a high level allowed me to sell myself to the best of my ability to say like I really worked on some big picture things um that you are kind of looking for this role and here are some specific projects that I've done related to that um in addition to being inter practice manager nice wow uh yeah I'm very happy for you I think it's it's going to be incredible I can tell that you you know you clearly do very well since you've continued to level up would you recommend the fellowship to to others absolutely um I can read about it I'll talk to anyone who wants to talk about it I just think um a lot of what makes a success successful Fellowship is your fellowship coordinator who's involved ours is Andrew Cox um Rebecca Jacobs is also involved with the fellowship and coordinating our experience and then we have our preceptor and I just think that is they're just like top tier um people who are evolving in real time I've already heard about tweaks they've made to the program for this incoming cohort and I'm a little jealous um so they're getting better with time rapidly eving and the support um is unmatched in my opinion so what are some of those tweaks if you can share it um it's actually the silliest thing so they're doing head shots I think next week or something and we didn't do head shot and I don't even know if like we asked for it um but I was like they doing head shots um and then they've had like an opening session I think that was a little bit than our starter session so when we started I would say our um onboarding was a little bit preceptor specific and they did a little bit more of like group onboarding things to know so they really are every year trying to make it better they definitely like listen to our feedback um they listen to our feedback we sit with the CEO of the system and she listens to our feedback um about what our experience was and I just really appreciate them taking and running with it so clearly you know I'm a big fan of of WellStar based on all the metrics we you know feel like WellStar is one of the best Fellowship programs we've established that on this uh this channel a few times so do you have any tips though on how people can get into welstar you did it successfully anything that you did you think that maybe pushed the needle towards you getting into that Fellowship um I would say sorry I think you can hear a squeaky toy in the background um I would say Be Yourself um I think what's always stands out having gone through the interview process last year and interviewing the fellows that are now here um and getting ready to go through it again I would say people who just really like kind of not even let your guard down but just come across authentic and being honest and real about what they're looking for and what they need I think while star anywhere else it's going to make you the most successful um it can get tricky when you're trying to tell a panel or anyone interviewing you what you think might make you a good fit for the company and that's how you get yourself in a bit of a tricky situation um that isn't the best for your growth or your development and so that would be my thing I think if you come with your authentic self and you feel like it's a match um and we feel like it's matched and that's optimal but we want it to be just as you know beneficial for you and you to feel just as good about it as we do really strong advice thank you so much Paige thank you for coming on at the end of the day as well and sharing this with us really happy to have you on and after you get more experience in your role uh a year or so from now I want to be able to bring you on and actually bombard you with some questions about your role there so hopefully we can have you back on again in the future yeah Happ to do it and I appreciate the opportunity I was like oh this is going to be cool um so really glad to be here and appreciate it</p>