This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by doctor Prativa Varki, president of Mayo Clinic Health System and professor of medicine and preventive medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Doctor Varki, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. Thank you for having me, Laura. Now I'm really excited to dig deep into some of the cool things that you're doing at Mayo Clinic Health System. I know 2024 was a big year and a lot of exciting things ahead for 2025 as well. But before we do, can you tell me a little bit more about Mayo Clinic Health System and your role as president? Sure. So, Mayo Clinic Health System is the community branch of Mayo Clinic, and we are home to 14,000 incredible employees. We're also home to 16 hospitals and, 50 plus multi specialty clinics, and we're predominantly located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. And we're also privileged to serve about 600,000 unique patients every year. That's amazing to hear. And, you know, a huge population that you're, accountable and responsible for. So when you look back at the last year or so, what are the accomplishments that you're most proud of? Yeah. I'd say, our biggest accomplishment is the team in 2024 has, been a continued focus on organizational transformation, integration being the keyword, integration across the different regions and sites while utilizing the diverse strengths and expertise in our hub hospitals, as well as our critical access hospitals and creating a seamless integrated virtual and physical experience to help our patients has been really deeply meaningful in 2024. This past year, we also grew our team by integrating over 2,500 new staff members and investing in our staff through multiple strategic programs as well as leadership and team development, and celebrating their career development while also enhancing, the staff workflows to artificial intelligence and automation, has been a huge priority across Mayo Clinic. And seeing our Mayo Clinic health system strategy come alive in our new Mayo Clinic health system, hospital in La Crosse, Wisconsin in September and seeing the completion of a massive modernization, and expansion project in our hub hospital in Mankato, Minnesota, in April, that provides forward looking facilities for our staff and patients was also very rewarding. And finally, I'd say that sharing many of the learnings that we've had, over the last several years with other institutions, who are animal community and we do health symposium where we brought over 400, health care experts from across the country in October, was something that left us all inspired. That's really cool to hear and and definitely a huge accomplishment, and and something to really be proud of and set yourself up for success in the future. And and speaking of that, what are some of the big organizational goals that you're working on for 2025? Laura, I think I'll, focus on or talk about, two big goals that, we will be focused on this year. At Mayo Clinic, our vision is to lead transformation of health care and through a relentless pursuit of excellence and innovation, bring hope and healing, to our patients who seek care and health. And, under the leadership of our CEO, Doctor. Gianrico Ferrugia, we launched a center for digital health and the Mayo Clinic platform ahead of the pandemic. And it's been really exciting to see the transformation that our staff are leading through more than 300, AI projects in various stages of maturity. And there's no question this is going to, transform healthcare as we know it by creating new ways to diagnose, prevent, and cure disease. And, through automation, really, we believe there are multiple opportunities to reduce administrative burden and, provide more timely, I'd say dynamic, intelligent, and proactive data analytics, to also help us streamline processes as well as augment, diagnosis and, potentially detect previously undiagnosed illness. So marrying that and and marrying those innovations with the empathy that our staff, provide, and continued focus on values, is going to be, a major focus for us across Mayo Clinic health system, in alignment with the strategic priorities of Mayo Clinic. The second big goal that we will be focused on in 2025, will be related to patient experience. Our primary value at Mayo Clinic has always been that the needs of the patient come first, and we've been very fortunate to have an integrated practice, and staff that operate very seamlessly while keeping, patients in the center of all we do. And as we've integrated the physical and AI technologies to current workflows, what else can we do to further improve and reimagine that care, including providing enhanced access to patients where they need it, how they need it, and triaging, acute and complex patients more accurately? What additional care can be seen as we provided at home? How can we maximize the talent of our care teams while automating clerical tasks, etcetera, are all areas that we're gonna double down in 2025. At, Mayo Clinic health system, empowering our staff to further work with our, few community partners to, enhance public health and reimagine ways to enhance wellness of our community, as well as reduce health care disparities will also be additional aspects we continue to focus on in 2025. It makes a lot of sense. You know, really are some great, areas to focus in on for growth both from the health system side. Really interesting to hear about the AI projects making an impact. And then, two, looking at patient experience and all that's something that, so many organizations are trying to bring front and center in, you know, really a a variety of ways. And then empowering staff with the community partners and continuing to, just, you know, reduce disparity in care is so, so critical on many levels to caring for the communities that you serve on a daily basis. And I'm wondering, you know, from your perspective, obviously, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic health system, have a lot of resources and known for being innovative with that Mayo Clinic platform. Are are there any areas, especially when you're looking at whether it's AI or or how you're able to, improve, you know, performance on on the patient experience level that have really been particularly, you know, you're excited about for the next year? Yeah. I think, we really, through the use of, the science of AI, I think we can reach more patients and create new ways to diagnose prevent and cure diseases I've mentioned. You Whether it is in selecting and matching patients with the most promising clinical trials and doing decentralized trials so that rural communities, for example, can have access to clinical trials that occur in academic centers or whether it's in developing and deploying remote health monitoring devices, or leveraging imaging technology, for example, to anticipate diseases way in advance of symptoms as we've done with pancreatic cancer, and detection of pancreatic cancers early, or whether it is, in, helping primary care providers, in Mayo Clinic health system, for example, to detect, congestive cardiac failure early using EKGs, through, AI developed algorithms developed by Mayo Clinic Rochester team. I think it's just amazing, the the bandwidth that AI and automation creates, in enhancing, evidence based, care to patients, in a much more expansive and transformative fashion, than has occurred in the past. That's amazing to hear. Thank you so much for giving us a bit of a preview of where things are headed. Now I know a lot to be excited about, but also headwinds, are are coming up on us too for the next year or so. What are you watching most closely and preparing to navigate? So I think balancing the current, while focusing on the future simultaneously will continue to be tough as there will be dynamic changes related to market forces, health policy changes, environmental challenges, like the recent back to fluid shortages and continued workforce shortages exacerbated in the backdrop of several health systems still working hard and getting to financial sustainability post COVID. So inspiring and engaging our teams to focus on excellence in providing that compassionate personalized care, that is prioritized for the current day while simultaneously ensuring that we are reimagining and investing in the future of health care, including in maximizing the potential of digital and AI, I think, will continue to be the challenge that health care organizations will face. It's in the spot on and definitely, you know, so much there in terms of understanding some of the challenges of the day and making sure you're able to care for your communities. But at the same time, looking ahead and and really thinking through how you can position yourself for success in a future that is quite quite uncertain, in terms of what could happen, and and how things are are playing out. And, you know, given some of that uncertainty and and that really fine balancing act you have to do, how are you evolving as a leader to make sure you're taking advantage of the moment and, really bringing the best out of your teams? I I think it's an exciting time in health care and, in a world that is a high frequency of virtual meetings. I it has become increasingly important for me to spend that one on one time, with my team members and staff in person and over virtual coffee conversations to continue to invest transformation, because I think they are the ones that will drive sustainable change. I'm also increasingly conscious of the need for bold versus incremental change and the need for continuous, strategic and tactical flexibility to pivot, as needed in a very dynamic health care environment. On a personal note, I'd I'd say and we're presenting our best selves, to the organization and on behalf of our teams and our patients. That really is fantastic to hear. And it's certainly an important message for all those who are, you know, trying to lead within, today's health care environment. So many stresses. It's it's critical to have that type of perspective, to lead through the transformation and then also, you know, make sure that you and your teams, are are really staying healthy and prioritizing what you need in order to, bring your best selves every day. Doctor Barkey, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This has been a really fun and informative conversation, and I look forward to connecting with you again soon. Thank you, Laura, for having.