Ascension St Thomas CEO Highlights Innovation, Entrepreneurship in Specialty Care

Fahad Tahir, MAS, MBA, FACHE, president and CEO of Ascension St Thomas health system, summarizes what he discussed during his panel, "Health System Innovation and Entrepreneurship," at the Institute for Value-Based Medicine® (IVBM) event held in partnership with Tennessee Oncology on August 22.

Tahir also lists innovations that make specialty care delivery easier throughout the Ascension St Thomas health system and how health care leaders can foster an environment supportive of innovation and entrepreneurship.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Transcript

Could you summarize what was discussed during your panel, "Health System Innovation and Entrepreneurship"?

Our segment was a really thoughtful and intentional approach to help see the intersections between different components of the health care delivery system, the different components of the industry outside of the care delivery system, and how these intersections can be energized toward a common purpose: innovation focused on specialized care, but also with the intentional approach of creating economic and strategic alignment for the greater good.

Within the Ascension St Thomas health system, are there any particular innovations that have helped to improve specialty care delivery?

There's a series of novel innovations that we're really proud of that are part of the DNA of who Ascension St Thomas is as an organization, and those happen across clinical subspecialties. We're also excited about is the adoption of new novel innovations, whether it's in the cancer care space within cellular therapy, which is being done in partnership with Tennessee Oncology to really look at a sophisticated oncology physician group and health system coming together to really bring oncology care to scale in a novel and innovative way and bring cellular therapy access across the region, often in communities that don't have access.

We also look for other innovative ways to partner with health plans, whether it's specialized medical home care models or the use of technology, such as AI-enabled image-reading technology that's looking for incidental findings in high-risk populations. All of these are different components of clinical, strategic, and technological innovation that's driven by our commitment to take care of patients in new ways.

How can health system leaders like yourself foster an environment that supports continuous innovation and entrepreneurial thinking?

Innovation and entrepreneurial thinking really start by listening, seeking to understand in a real and genuine way the needs of our patients and the enablers and barriers of innovation being adopted.

I think by just listening and understanding what those natural barriers might be, we can look for creative, collaborative ways of overcoming them. Often, it's a give-and-take, and it's an intentional process of looking with a long view. I think when done right, new things can happen, and it can be a lot of fun.