Health systems have a responsibility to help patients and the public understand not only how to access care, but how to fully use their health benefits — yet this aspect of health literacy is often overlooked, according to Michael Mayo, DHA.
As president and CEO of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health, Dr. Mayo leads more than 15,000 team members across six hospitals, 10 emergency centers and more than 200 outpatient facilities.
Becker’s connected with Dr. Mayo to learn more about his leadership style, his focus on education and accountability, and the hardest day of his career.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What’s something the healthcare industry isn’t talking about enough?
Dr. Michael Mayo: I don’t think we’re talking enough about health literacy — and by that I mean making sure that our public, both patients and those that may be our patients one day, really understand two things.
First, what is the most appropriate avenue for entering the health system? We owe it to the public to educate them about the proper level of care and where they need to enter the system. Many people default to the ED, and if you’re having a true emergency, that’s totally what it should be. But because of a lack of access to primary care, and underinsurance and uninsurance, it is an easy default to the emergency department. While we’re always going to see everyone, we also have to help people understand how to access the system best.
Second, for those who are insured or partially insured, do they understand their benefits and how best to use them? We, along with the health plans, own the responsibility of helping educate them, so that they’re making good choices.
The third piece is, I think many people are resistant to owning their health. The healthcare system should be improving your health, but sometimes people are a little resistant, or they don’t understand. We’ve got to work harder to get people to understand they own part of their well-being and healthiness.
Q: What’s an unpopular (or uncommon) leadership or healthcare opinion you have?
MM: Two come to mind. First, the concept that healthcare is a business. I work in a not-for-profit health system, faith-based, and we’re here to serve the community, and we will always do that. But I think a lot of people misunderstand our field and that it has to operate with a business-mindedness. Even though we’re not-for-profit, we have to make a profit in order to pay our team members, pay for the light bill and reinvest in our facilities and equipment. Having that understanding that there is a business aspect, and we have to run it with that, doesn’t mean that you cannot and should not be compassionate and focused on your consumer and their engagement and experience. But it still has a rigor of needing to be run as a business, and I think in many cases, healthcare as a whole feels a little behind in that, relative to other industries.
Second, there are levels of accountability lacking. We try to be very engaged with our team members, but we also have a responsibility to teach them that there is a level of accountability in their work, follow-through and execution, adhering to the policies and procedures and processes. Maybe not overly expecting accountability to the outcomes, although in quality, they’ve got to be at the highest level. For me, it’s the accountability of sticking to the process and the policy and procedure, because that’s what makes things run smoothly.
Q: What was the hardest day of your career? How did you get through it?
MM: I’m going to be transparent — the hardest day in my career was the day I lost my job. A mentor told me one time, “The higher you go in this field, it’s not a matter of if you ever get fired, but when.” I had that happen to me one time; there were changes taking place in the organization, and I was exited from the organization.
That was tough. But how I got through it was, first of all, after the immediate anger and confusion and worrying about how I was going to take care of my family, it was about remembering this wasn’t personal. It wasn’t about anything that I had particularly done, and it gave me a sense of resilience to keep moving forward and was a time of introspection. Could there have been things that I could have done better, or was there something that I could have been more attentive to?
What allowed me to get through it after doing that introspection was the network of people around me professionally and friends who were supportive. That network got called on immediately and, within a short period, I was interviewing and landing a new job, and most of that came through my association and membership with American College of Healthcare Executives, Being a part of the professional network I had made that a lot easier to deal with. Lastly, but probably most important, was family support and knowing that this is just a cost of the business sometimes, and it happens. But you’ve got to get back on the horse, keep riding and believe in yourself, and take down what you have learned from the experience so that you can do better next time.
Q: What was your first job? Biggest thing you learned?
MM: I was a paper carrier, and it taught me a lot — responsibility, customer service, financial accountability, and also some negotiation.
I was raised in a military family, and we lived in a military housing area with about 250 homes. I had a paper route there with about six of us delivering papers. It was pretty distributed, but over time, as people moved away, it got down to just me and one other person. We were crossing over each other’s routes, and it made deliveries difficult. We sat down together one day and drew a line and divided up our accounts, so we stayed on each side of the zone, and it made our job easier — that was the negotiation part.
There was also the responsibility of getting out, receiving the papers that were dropped off to you, folding them, delivering them on a bicycle. There’s also the financial piece. I had to collect for those papers — you didn’t have credit cards or Venmo back then, so I literally went door to door and collected the money. I had to manage that, because I had to pay for the papers, and then what I earned was the difference between the two. The customer service was also important. Some people wanted their paper stuck in their door, some wanted it laid in their carport. You had to build rapport with your customers as well. That was my first job, and it taught me a lot that has helped me in success today.
