 and welcome to the latest edition of Tell Health in Hawaii. I'm your host, Vikram Acharya. I'm the CEO of Cloudwell Health, an all-virtual telemedicine provider based in Hawaii. We have a great show for you today. I'm very excited and honored to introduce a high-ranking healthcare executive, Annalyn Ogata. Annalyn is the regional vice president at Covenant Physician Partners. Annalyn, how you doing today? I'm doing well. Thank you, Vik. It's really an honor to do a podcast with you. This is actually my first one. Oh, exciting. Oh, very exciting. Excellent, excellent. To kick things off, Annalyn, tell me a little bit about yourself. Where you're from, your role at Covenant Physician Partners, and we'll go from there. All right. Well, everyone, hello, Aloha. I'm Annalyn Ogata. I am the regional vice president for Covenant Physician Partners. I was born in Florida, but from San Diego. I was a military kid, so we traveled in quite a few states, but mainly in California and Hawaii. I'm a nurse by trade, and what had happened is I joined the military when I was in college, after college in California, and became, I was a nurse, an army nurse. And then from there, change, MOS is we're just changing fields to become a non-destructive inspector, so a plain doctor. But decided that I didn't want to do that anymore because I realized all of the chemicals that actually affect your hair and your skin. And so I decided just to go back into healthcare. So when I moved here to Hawaii back in 1998, I was working as an agency nurse, and then I landed a position over at Capulani Medical Center, and at the time it was only a hospital. It was in a health system. And so I was asked to build a women's cancer center, not knowing much about how to build anything, but I took on the challenge and built the women's cancer center over at Capulani. And then from there, just my career took off in regards to continue to build things on this island. And so that's including cancer centers the different locations or different systems. So I also worked at Queen's Medical Center, and I was the director of oncology there for about eight years, ran their oncology program inpatient and outpatient, built a few centers out there, which are the head and neck institute, the GI colon screening program. So a lot of things that's going to benefit the community here in Hawaii as we know it's healthcare is difficult here in Hawaii. And that's because we're challenged with some of the specialties that's needed here. So I decided just to stay in healthcare and got recruited by Covenant to definitely work as a regional vice president and making sure that we have services accessible to our community. That's a really impressive background. Now, what's interesting is you made the transition from being a nurse, really being at the front lines at the bedside, taking care of patients to the executive role. What brought you to the executive role and what's the day in the life in terms of the changes there? Wow, that's a loaded question because coming from a nursing background, working on the floor, doing clinical work is definitely, it was a steep learning curve for me to go from there to actually into a management position. But I took the challenge. I like challenges and things that I know that I can overcome on somewhat of an overachiever. And so whenever someone has asked me to go into a new role, I wasn't shy about trying it and challenging myself to see how I can grow and develop personally. But definitely a hard transition, but some of the challenges that we have here in Hawaii, especially post COVID, is there's five things that I could think of and one is the rising costs of healthcare. Two is recruiting top nursing talent. Three is managing Medicare and Medicaid patients. And then of course, expanding telehealth and telemedicine was something we were pretty much forced to do during COVID. And then the other challenge is cybersecurity. So those are the top five things that I believe is the challenges for any business or any healthcare CEO or administrator. Now this is a good topic to delve into in further detail. So during the height of the pandemic, staffing was a challenge in healthcare facilities, access to supplies to make sure that providers are safe. How did you and Covenant really respond to this challenge with providing your teams what they needed and when they needed it? Well, honestly, it was all the hard work of my managers. They were definitely the key component to making sure that our staff were protected, our physicians were protected, and my team, my employees were protected. So they pretty much got together on a weekly, sometimes even a daily basis and that includes all my doctors or at least the board to really discuss how we were going to continue. And so it was hard because we had to lay off, you know, some of our employees during that time, we had to shut down in April and part of May. And so when we did that, that gave us an opportunity to really try to follow the guidelines that were in place from the CDC and the state. And so really the people that I owe it to is my managers and my physicians who are pretty much the foundation of our business. So my role seems pretty easy because I just get to directive and then of course I'm the one that says, this is the goal we're going to do and then my team's pretty much boots on the ground. But it was challenging too with staffing. So one of my centers did a split staffing so making sure that not everyone would be there. So we'd split it between like an A team and a B team and they would rotate because if we've sent all of them there, then there was a high risk of them getting, one person getting COVID and then I would not have anyone to really fulfill the needs of our community during that time. And especially in Hilo, Hilo is another component that, you know, one center only staff of eight people there. So if one person contracted COVID, then it would be a huge impact on our financial statements. Now that's really interesting how you touched on the topic of empowering your managers, you know, providing them with the resources they need to be successful. And that's a very important trait when it comes to leadership, isn't it? Giving people the tools and really letting them do what they do best. And I think that was also the reason how I got into management because I had leaders that empowered me to provide the skill sets that I had from whether it was nursing or the military. And so they gave me the autonomy to go ahead and do things. And here at Covenant as the regional vice presidents, I have the independence and autonomy to make the decisions that's the best for the community for my team. And of course, with the input of my board and my managers, it makes it very seamless. Now, you're a regional vice president. You represent a very nuanced region as Covenant Physician Partners and National Company. How do you bridge, so to speak, you know, your region with the main United States? That's a very interesting aspect. That's actually a fun topic for me because the one thing here in Hawaii is we're big on our culture. Everything's aloha and it's hard for people from the mainland or business from the mainland to come here and try to start a business. It's very fortunate that Covenant really set the landmark here. And so really trying to bridge the gap between the corporate in the mainland versus the corporate locally is pretty much teaching them about our culture here in Hawaii. It's not as easy as, you know, if you were to do something in California or Florida. And I would say Hawaii is a very hard market, especially to even tap into, even make a business or start a business. So the first thing that you really want to do is be able to educate and, you know, teach them the cultures in here in Hawaii. You know, as I noticed you're wearing an aloha shirt right? And so that's what we would expect, you know, our visitors to wear because some of them will come in a suit and tie which already, you know, it's a radar for say okay, that's a person from the mainland and I don't think many people wear suits and ties here. But I do know that I have a front desk at EIH that does wear a tie. I believe his name is Noel. So I'm giving a shout out to Cammy and her team. And then I have Dr. Ronald Pang shout out to Inez that wears a bow tie or a tie as well. But really teaching the mainland folks to come in and respecting the culture is very important. And the other thing is the way you speak. So you can't be as aggressive or assertive because in Hawaii we're very passive aggressive. We will smile, we will welcome you, we'll welcome you with gifts and lays and cookies and candies. But when it comes down to signing or collaborating or partnering, then, you know, sometimes there's questionable about the trust, you know. So that's, it's challenging here. So you're leading the region but you're also providing a lot of education to the team nationally. That's very interesting. Well, yeah, and top of that we here in Hawaii, you know, we have different zip codes, different area codes. And so you have to know that patient population. You know, you have it. We span from all the way from Waianae to Waimanalo. And then of course you have like Kahala and then you have Waipahu, Pearl City. So you really have to know your people. And something that we've learned in the book Execution by Larry Bossidy, you know, is three things. Know your people, know your operations and know your processes. And so that's something that really is engraved into us is really have your people skills, know your people. Now, what are some of the techniques and processes, you know, Covenant has done just an amazing job with access, you know, really opening up access to patients across the entire region. What are some of the things that you and your team have done to really make sure that patients get that really nice, timely access to medical care when they need it? Well, as we know, COVID was a challenge and so telehealth was in telemedicine was something that gave us that option. And I'm a supporter of, you know, modern care anywhere. So especially like in my role, I'm busy. I don't want to have to drive and take a day out of my day, just some time out of my day to go see a doctor. So it was so easy for me just to basically call Cloudwell, which is you folks who I support. And during that time, I needed a physician not only for myself, but for my son. And Cloudwell was able to provide that in my home safely. And it was pretty easy. And so what we want to be able to do is be able to have our patients, you know, have access to, you know, telehealth or telemedicine with Cloudwell. And really having your team or Cloudwell's team doing an assessment that questions anything that they need or any referrals that they need to have within their health. So I would say that with telemedicine, telehealth, it really has changed the landscape here in Hawaii. But I think it's changed the landscape everywhere. We didn't realize that we can work from home and we could do Zoom meetings like this and we don't have to be in the office. But I believe we've been doing telehealth in GI for similar to what we're doing now. We do open access. And so open access is pretty much you're talking on the phone and you're doing an assessment on a patient based on the criteria that we provide. So what happens there is our nurses actually call patients that meet the criteria and scheduled in for a colonoscopy. So their first visit or introduction to a physician is actually the day of their colonoscopy. So sometimes it could be a little uncomfortable because you don't know who's going to be scoping you or seeing you. But I believe that was a form of telehealth in just by phone. And so that I believe was something that was beneficial to us. So telehealth, telemedicine was not anything new except that we were on a camera and we were able to see each other. There's a lot of literature out there in healthcare around culturally sensitive care, culturally competent care. And I would really think that coming from the region that you and your team manage on a day-to-day basis that you're very adept at being able to connect with patients, be warm with patients, understand the cultural nuances and ultimately translate that to a covenant nationally. Right, and that's because we treat our patients, our physicians, like family. That's something that's big in our culture is our family. And so everybody is our auntie or uncle and you don't know who you're going to be talking to on the phone or seeing. But a lot of times as we really do treat them as part of our team and our physicians, it's very important that they feel welcome and that we're providing quality clinical care to them in a safe environment, which my staff at all location is heavily on making sure that our patients are taking care of at the highest quality and providing safety for them too. So hands down to my team for doing that and my physicians who do contribute to the outcomes of our patients. So yes, our patient satisfaction scores are really high. Hilo is probably by far the highest. So and that's a smaller community. I mean, lots of people put small community meaning that it's easily, people talk there. Everyone there is auntie and uncle. The moment you get off the plane, it's auntie and uncle. What are some techniques that have made, especially Hilo such a strong satisfaction marker for covenant knowing that, like you said, it's a very small community and one negative experience can impact many others. But you've been able to provide such customer service and more and more people keep coming back. Well, I think honestly, it's the people. It really is the people. I mean, they're neighbors. They might be their daughter or niece or someone might be working in their restaurant. And so it's really the people. It's like basically one big family at different zip codes or different areas of Hilo. But they really, the team in Hilo, like I said, there's only about eight to 13 employees there. And they run a very busy practice in a very busy center with one doctor. So they're busy and that's why they can't have any mistakes. It's zero tolerance. So we have to not only provide the safety, but we need to also provide good customer service. And like you said, challenges to providing timely, high quality access to health care. It works, especially if people feel they're vested. They're part of an organization that they really care about on a personal level because they're going to go above and beyond the expectation. They're going to make sure that their neighbor or their cousin or their family or their friend really experiences great care at the organization that they work in, I would think. Absolutely, I agree. And so my managers really focus, you know, on their patient quality care. Hawaii definitely ranks within the company, ranks really high. And everybody knows like Hawaii seems to rank as one of the most healthy estates in the world, which is very true. But we also have a very challenging access of care too. And that's just because of the way our landscape is, you know, people live on Maui, people live on Kauai and Hilo. But my managers really focus on the patient's well-being. And not only that, but they're family members because if you have an elderly patient coming in, you're going to want to understand that you're not only talking to your patient, but you're also talking to your family member. Because a lot of times here in Hawaii, the family member is taking care of their mom or dad. And so that's why I say everybody's family managers are on top of it with customer service and making everyone feel welcome. And so that's where I think, you know, our team really drives good business. And a lot of its word of mouth here in Hawaii, we have, like you said, one wrong move. Everyone's going to hear about it, you know, through the coconut wireless, right? And so it's really important that we provide that care. Now, you are very passionate about your team. You have a great team, you know, especially now with a lot of things moving more to virtual. What types of team bonding or team engagement type of activities or initiatives do you do, you know, to keep everybody so energized and so passionate about taking good care of patients? Well, I meet with my team frequently. Some activities that we do, well, we definitely have our, you know, quarterly meetings. Every year, Covenant, well, this was the first time in the three years, has a leadership summit. And in that leadership summit, Covenant pretty much pays for all the managers across the board, across the nation to come to Nashville and really empower us to re-motivate us and to keep that flame alive and really finding our purpose. And so I've been doing that from even before Covenant. And so just having that passion and motivation, I mean, I have a lot of energy and I'm pretty much the type of person that wants to rub off that to my managers, which they do, they're awesome. I wasn't surprised that Hawaii was pretty much took all the awards when we went there this past month. I was not surprised at all. My team definitely deserves it. Some of the things we've done is like we've, we have like pahana, you know, we'll meet for lunch or dinner. When we were in Nashville, we did some duck bowling. I think that's what it's called, duck pin bowling. So we did things like that. And of course, we do a lot of different things, even if it's within their centers. But this Wednesday or tomorrow, as a matter of fact, we're actually celebrating our team tomorrow for pretty much supporting us and supporting the community tomorrow. So I provide a lot of things. That's the key is feeding my team and making sure that they're appreciated and that they're acknowledged. And that's again, knowing your people. Yeah, you're touching on some really great points, leadership points, knowing your people. And then it goes back to happy employees, happy teams lead to happy patients, which then reduces challenges to care, higher quality, higher satisfaction, and really improves the lives of entire communities. Yes, agree. And 100%, if you don't focus on the needs of your team, it could easily destroy itself. So I believe in pretty much having my manager's succession plan into a new role. That's something I'm big on. It's on education and development. So when I first started Covenant, I pretty much identified who was going to succession plan into these management roles and mentored them pretty much from that day. During that time, they weren't necessarily ready, but two years down the line, they're going on three years now. They're running it. They're running the show and they're running it very well. And so I am a person who likes to acknowledge my team because I can't do this by myself. There's no way I can do it. And so I believe in the teamwork. I mean, I had Inez who's over at HEC. She was a brand new manager. Three months in or less than three months, she had to do accreditation last week, Thursday, Friday. She passed with flying colors, no deficiencies. So to me, it's really the team that we have and what we develop. And so passing on whatever I know to my team so that they can pass it on to their team is important. And I think, like you said, that's where you get higher quality of care. You get good outcomes. You have a good patient satisfaction score. And then the people here in Hawaii like to talk. And then once they start knowing your name, it's like everybody starts, you know, wants to come to where they feel welcome. And knowing that the organization and you're coaching your team and you're saying, you know, where do you see yourself three to five years from now? How can I help you get there? Those are really great conversations because everybody then feels like, hey, you know, the organization cares about me. And not only in terms of what I do every day, but my future, my professional career. And that makes them feel even better. Yes, definitely having my managers coaching their teams. And that's why we're having a celebration tomorrow because we want to celebrate them. They are pretty much the hardworking people that I know here in Hawaii. And I want to personally thank them and my physicians. And that's how we keep a happy family is acknowledgement. And recognizing that, hey, you are doing a great job. Look at your patient satisfaction scores. You know, look at your clinical qualities, you know, data. It's excellent. You know, Annalyn, I do many of these podcasts and it's really just nice to hear not only about your experiences, but also how much credit you're giving to your team. You know, the managers that are with you, the physicians that are with you, that are part of the organization, you know, as any strong leader is only as good as the people around them. And they're only as successful as the people around them. And it's nice to hear just how much positive feedback that you're providing, you know, is that you're all in it together. And because you're doing that, you're doing such great things in terms of taking great care of patients in Hawaii. And we really appreciate this. No, absolutely. My team is the A team is what I call them, you know, and even though I'm trying to coach them through their development, they still have a challenging, you know, things of the rising cost of health care. Staffing is the big one. It's really hard to get top nursing recruitment. And then of course, you know, when telehealth has to has helped with our patient care, but we don't have the we don't have the staff sometimes and so becomes challenging. So what we've done is pretty much just cost train everybody and job share everybody. And that's what we did in our region is to really help, especially Hilo when I said like they only have a minimal small staffing, we're able to go over there and help. And so the team that I have now, the reason why I speak so highly of them is because they do the hard work. They do the heavy lifting. Really kudos to you and to your team. You know, you're working under very challenging circumstances, but people feel it's very clear that they feel part of something. And because they feel part of something, they go the extra mile for the patient. And it's very clear. And I can't thank you enough for not only being on the show, but just all your insight, your leadership insight, executive insight and focus on team. It's just really a great session. And thank you. No, thank you for inviting me. And hopefully I will be as inefficient with the lights turning off during our podcast or trying to figure out how to put the camera on. And so it was a pleasure. Absolutely. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Appreciate it. Take care. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.