The Houston Methodist Administrative Fellowship: Henry Burns

<p>hello everyone this is Cole from the American Journal of healthc care strategy joined by Henry Burns of Houston Methodist an excellent administrative fellow with some really interesting experiences he's going to share with you today uh Henry please just introduce yourself and give a little bit of background yeah absolutely hey everybody my name is Henry and I am one of the administrative fellows at Houston Methodist and I'm just wrapping up kind of the end of my 18 months so really looking forward to the conversation today [Music] thank you so much for coming on I really do appreciate it and how many fellows just real quick are there at Houston Methodist in your cohort yeah so this year uh my cohort of fellows we have three of us uh so Houston Methodist it's an 18-month fellowship and so there is some overlap as the new fellas begin and then my cohort is kind of going and moving on and so right now I guess there's six of us kind of moving about the system but generally about three per cohort is is what we've done in the past excellent wow so this is a busy time for everyone then yes yeah it's super exciting it's always fun to kind of have that opportunity I know I appreciated the opportunity to get to know the fellows above me and experience their mentorship and so it's a kind of a great part of the process to be able to give back and uh engage with the new fellows and welcome them to the system because I remember how much it meant to me so it's it's an awesome time for sure yeah that is a big deal that's one of the things I heard from a lot of fellows who've liked their program is how important it was networking with those previous fellows and there's still quite a few that are still with Houston Methodist right from the last cohort yes absolutely yeah so I think that's one thing that Houston Methodist does a great job of is is trying to retain the fellows even long after the the fellowship ends we have actually several of our Executives uh have gone on to become Executives within the system uh just straight after becoming fellows and sometimes not even leaving the organization so that's always fun to see for sure that that can make a big a big impact coming in as a fellow early in your career right to see other people who are now Executives coming from that that's a big deal um so I want to talk about where you started though you started at Baylor and you're not from I think you and me have talked about this before where you're not from the Texas area right you're from originally trying to remember is it the Minnesota area it is yeah so just outside the Twin Cities just outside of St Paul so yeah grew up in the Twin Cities moved down to Texas for my undergraduate degree at Baylor and then back for my mha at the University of Minnesota so I tend to bounce back and forth between the two and so biocam right the probably the hardest uh subject that filters out most of the you know we call it the big filter for preds um you did a whole major in it and you didn't change your major right what what you know prompted you to switch from Premed to ma while you know clearly doing pretty well in your courses yeah absolutely um so I think think it it kind of goes back to why I started with biochemistry and so in high school I really loved science classes it really kind of just was an area that I appreciated learning about and kind of spoke to me and so I was like that seems like a great place to start as far as a major goes I don't think anybody's ever too sure when they're starting out about where they'll end up but it seems like a good starting place and so as I got started at Baylor I just found myself continuing to like those classes I appreciate of my professors the coursework and the people that I was meeting throughout my degree and so I was honestly having a great experience with biochm um but as I started to look down the path a little bit further and think about being Premed it was something that actually fairly early on I was starting to give more thought to and thinking I'm not actually sure if that's where I'm supposed to be and and you know where I actually want to go in life and so as I gave that more thought and and started to think about why I know that was a huge thing that people in med school would talk to us about is you have to really know your why because med school is going to be hard people in their residency would share that their residency was hard and they're like we experienced burnout despite having this intense why behind um why we're going into medicine and I was thinking like oh wow I just don't know if I have that burning intense why um but it was really interesting to me to hear people say like you know I do have that why but I still feel like I'm burnt out and I'm not enjoying what I'm doing anymore and so that spoke to me actually and then through a friend in my analytical chemistry class actually heard about mha programs and so did some research on that and all the pieces kind of arranged themselves and kind of came together and I was like it would be a really cool way to get engaged with Healthcare still stay close to a subject that means a lot to me uh but just maybe engage in a different way through the mha and then healthcare administration still being able to work with a lot of the Care teams and Physicians uh that I you know was getting to do school alongside but then potentially down the road hopefully make their circumstances better so that when they were in the workplace they weren't experiencing so much burnout and creating an environment that was fun to practice medicine in where they felt like they had what they needed and were empowered to really provide that Best Care uh that we possibly could for patients and so that's kind of what motivated my transition to the mha that's a really important motivation I'm sure that a lot of your colleagues now your especially your clinician colleagues really appreciate that that's what your motivation is um interesting topic to come up during analytical chemistry is is an mha program um that's great and then of course like you mentioned you did do the mha at the University of Minnesota we know quite a few people from that school how did you like that program yeah it was tremendous honestly um it was again like I told you I was kind of late to the game as far as mhas went uh it wasn't something where I was in high school knowing about that career path and so I was learning a lot on the Fly and so that was actually something where um just doing my research on schools Minnesota made sense logistically I had family there and so a lot of ties to the state already and then doing some more research about the program just felt like it made a lot of sense to me I really appreciated the focus on public health it was a lens that I did not get a whole lot of during my undergraduate time and so I was like that would be a cool place to go ahead and plug in a little bit more um and then I also really appreciated the Alumni network that was something that everybody at the school really spoke highly about whether it be the folks that were running the kind of Welcome or info sessions uh so so you can learn more about the program they spoke about that a lot um and then even getting into the program that was one thing I noticed right away is that the alumni were super plugged in uh whether it be as mentors for us as first year students or really throughout our project work it was definitely a culture of like if I'm working on a project related to throughput and noticed that there's somebody in the area uh one of the local Health Systems at C alumni um you had that confidence to be able to say like you know I'd love to hear more about how this looks in your Arena and uh pick up the phone and reach out to them and they definitely had that attitude of returning your calls and setting up some time to meet and so that I think was something that I heard a little bit about but then once I got in realized just how impactful that was so yeah the program itself was tremendous so very very grateful for the opportunity to take part in it and part of it is that residency that you did at Betty Bo right yes that's right yeah that was something in between my first and second year and so what kind of work did you do uh during that residency was you know was it in hospital ambulatory just tell us a little bit about what that was like yeah so it was actually super unique um and that's part of the reason why I wanted to pursue my residency there is I was like it's such a great opportunity for me to plug into an area of healthc care that is growing in importance I think we're really coming to recognize how important Behavioral Health is in providing holistic care to patients and so I think that that was really cool for me to experience and and it really is different than your traditional inpatient outpatient kind of hospital setting um even though there are some similarities you know there still are Residential Treatment programs uh and then treatment programs that you can go to that are you know more intensive you go for several hours a day but still stay at your own house or even less intensive kind of more traditional outpatient programs where you might go a few times a week for an hour a couple hour uh sessions and so it was cool to that entire landscape during my time at Hazel and Betty Ford uh really appreciated the way everybody there was really welcoming I think they uh did a great job at least for me helping me understand what the differences were and why those differences existed between your traditional hospital setting and maybe a residential inpatient treatment setting uh in the B Health world and so I appreciated their guidance through that um and my work I would say ranged significantly uh when I was an intern there and then when I even went on to stay on as uh kind of an independent consultant um in my second year um it was it was cool to be able to take part in their Falls uh Reduction Program and really take a look at their uh risk assessment tool that they were using to kind of help determine who was at risk at falling and do honestly kind of a clinical based uh project that was something where for me I didn't have a lot of work experience uh in the clinical setting and so I think it was a cool opportunity to engage and see how I could partner with folks that were clinicians and and work with them to develop and select a tool that hopefully would provide a little bit of use for them compared to the one they we're currently using um but then some more your traditional more administrated projects uh like okrs and things like that came up along the way as well so definitely a wide range of things but overall a super great experience I would say just learning about a completely different world in healthcare did it give you or impact you in any way on what you decided to to do for Fellowship you know whether you were going to do a fellowship or where did did it influence that decision yeah you know I think that a couple things come to mind as you asked that question so I would say maybe less about the where um as far as where I wanted to do my fellowship but I would say my Approach To The Fellowship definitely was influenced by that experience because uh and I as as I was taking that opportunity there was an aspect of me that was like this isn't necessarily what I'm learning in my coursework so it's going to require me asking more questions and really honestly like recognizing that I'm not the expert in the room and being willing to just kind of ask basic questions of folks and say hey I honestly just don't know this like can you explain why this is to me um and I think that that practice and experience that I got doing that during my internship carried over super well to the fellowship because that's a huge part of the fellowship is just being able to recognize like you know even as you come out of your graduate school experience and you're feeling like wow I know so much after this degree there still is like an Ocean's worth of information to learn after you get into the workplace and so having practice recognizing when I'm not the expert in the room and when to ask those questions um was super helpful um and that attitude of kind of exploring I think also lends itself super well to the fellowship so I'd say uh that's kind of what comes to mind as you ask that yeah no I I appreciate that and so when you went in through the first couple weeks you know where you started to get your projects do you think that it would have been harder if you had not had that experience during your uh M program as far as it related to my residency yeah yeah I would say I would say it definitely would have been harder um just you know getting that practice I think was was super helpful and so definitely made that transition a lot easier um you know just having practice doing something like that uh does make a lot of difference so I think that definitely did help me out I appreciate you sharing that because you know a lot of the the potential mha candidates are trying to consider whether to go to a program that you know has an internship requires an internship and I've been trying to encourage them based on you know our interns it's probably a good idea it does give you a little bit of an edge um so appreciate you sharing that and then of course you did decide to do a fellowship but why Houston Methodist right you were in Minnesota at the time you'd been to to Texas and back and forth and so you kind of had probably anywhere you know that you you could have gone but why Houston Methodist how how did that come about yeah I would say that that is something where like you mentioned I think first I think similar to how I I chose a graduate school geography was a factor I think that's something that I feel pretty passionate about is that it's tempting when you're starting the fellowship process to just look and think like you know I just have to get a fellowship and I'm willing to compromise on where I live and some of that to just make that happen um and IID really encourage people and something that I'm I'm glad that I got that advice early on is to make sure like just taking a little time to think for yourself is like would I be happy and have what I need to be successful uh in a fellowship in the area that I'm looking at and so I really did want my opportunity to be in Texas or Minnesota Houston Methodist of course checked that box but I think what really made Houston Methodist stand out to me is is again another huge part of the application process was the meetings that I would have with the different uh organizations ahead of time I think first of all that's another thing about the healthcare industry that I I've grown to really appreciate is how open everybody is to helping out I I haven't really met anybody that's not willing to take 30 minutes out of their day um to explain what they do to me or explain their experience and so um as I was doing that with several organizations Houston Methodist I really appreciated how they responded to my questions and honestly one thing that stood out a lot was as I met with the fellows uh you know at that time there were six um like I kind of mentioned earlier and I would meet with one of them and they would be talking about a project or something they were working on and they were like oh you know what you should actually reach out to my co- fellow because they had good experience with that and they kind of redirected me to the point where ID actually met with all six of them by the time it was time to really apply and go throughout their interview process and I was like that is super cool that you know knowing that I would be moving back across the country that I do kind of have some built-in friends in addition to colleagues um just by the way they talked about one another so that stood out and then some of the logistics about the program I think were phenomenal I was reading about the opportunities that fellows get at Houston Methodist and it was one of those things where I just contined to get more and more excited about it and I could really tell that that was something that I wanted to go do and so that's another thing that I always encourage folks to to take a look at is pay attention how you're feeling um as you're learning things about organizations because it of course was work for me to set up meetings and do all that research but it was one of those things that it was like giving me energy and and making me excited for the fellowship process at Houston Methodist and I think that that was a huge kind of significant factor in the interview process and then also uh now that I'm in the opportunity I think has definitely shaped my experience um in a positive way so and now AR of what you're doing now though is you review potential applicants as well right as as the Okay so the reason I asked that you know you were motivated you were excited you really wanted to be there geographically but also at the institution you you felt like you had some some common you know shared Associates or friends do you think that improves the application does that come through in the application when someone is excited tremendously yeah I would say it is honestly it makes a huge difference and you can you can genuinely tell um and that's I think it all goes back I think people a lot of time talk about fit with an organiz gation um and I think it's it's sometimes I've been on both sides of it right where I have been an applicant and I hear that oh we're just looking for the right fit and I'm like I appreciate that answer but I don't know what that means necessarily like does that like is this going to help me be a good candidate or a bad cand I don't really know what fit means um but really kind of having had the chance to really be on both sides I think a huge part of fit is being excited about the opportunity and then sharing that with the folks that you're applying with because I think a lot of people are uh you know very happy to be with the organization they are with and I think that's a huge thing at Houston Methodist is a lot of people are proud to work for Houston Methodist and it's a blessing for me honestly to be a part of an organization like that um and so I think when people come and they have a genuine excitement about their application and their interview and all of that uh it it lends itself nicely to that concept of fit because it's like we're all excited about what we're doing and so it's always so fun to talk to people and meet people that are also excited about that that same Mission and same goal and and some of that how as well even digging deeper into the details if somebody's coming in and is talking about hey I did this research and I heard about this initiative y'all have going on and it's really exciting for me that's always like it's like music to our years because it's like it's super cool when somebody's genuinely excited with you um on some of that so so this is key advice for for the upcoming classes here really important advice when um you were applying though how many you mentioned you have to do a lot of research and a lot of meetings how many many programs did you apply for yes I really looked at six programs um you know I got some advice to kind of keep it in the five to seven Fellowship range um and I think that I I would agree with that because I think that it kind of forces you to really evaluate kind of like I was mentioning kind of how excited you are about those different opportunities you know as you think about a fellowship you're not really going to know 100% about the organization that you're applying to when you're doing that application process um but if you are finding yourself like getting less excited about an opportunity or that it does feel like it's more work um than rather than it being kind of exciting and fun to learn more about the organization I always encourage folks that's a good signal to kind of re-evaluate and think like hey like am I just applying to this one to apply or do I really feel like if I got that offer I would be really excited and eager to accept it um and I think that that is a huge differentiator um so I would say yeah I I did apply to six um but but really I felt that to some extent where I was kind of evaluating there were some that I looked at and ultimately didn't apply to because I just didn't think that it was a great fit and kind of realized that internally as well like oh if I got that offer um you know I just would not be as excited compared to some of the other opportunities uh that I had learned about and so I think it's different for everybody and I think that everybody can find their fit um but knowing kind of where your line is is is also different for everybody can I ask how many you got interview you know requests from yeah I was actually fortunate enough to to get interviews at all of them um and so that was also a blessing and really humbling honestly um because going into the uh mha process it was one of those like I had mentioned before um it end not been something that I knew about my whole life uh and and was something that I had to rely a lot on on my school and and my peers within my program really bouncing ideas off of them and and honestly one of the huge big Parts about my time at Minnesota was that I really cherished the fact that there were were so many people in there that had such Rich experiences that I could just sit and listen to and learn from and so I think that that played a huge Factor uh in that you know success as far as those interviews went just hearing my my classmates and my peers and how they went about their processes really helped and influenced me so I think that that definitely was a huge Factor it is interesting in speaking with so many fellows that people who apply for more and more programs right um it doesn't necessarily increase their success rate it seems like the highest success is right like you said that five you know range I I have not met with someone who's applied for less than five and not gotten their Fellowship I've met people who've done one two three all of them have gotten their their key fellowship and I just think it's important to emphasize that this is not like traditional applications right like how different was this than your uh MAA application yeah I think you know it is it is different um for sure because you know I think that the process is completely different uh as you're thinking about like you know applying to undergraduate or graduate schools it very much is something where you kind of have to let your resume and your written components of your application speak to themselves um you know obviously say for a few exceptions with uh you know undergraduate schools and then also graduate schools a lot of the time do interviews as well um but it really is a different part of that process when you're evaluating a place where you're going to go ahead and work because you know I think that transition to the workplace is different because you're starting to go from like a student where you're the one learning and taking in information you're trying to find the best place for you to kind of grow and develop and then you move to the workplace and it's a different kind of opportunity of you're trying to find a place where you can continue to grow and develop but then also that organization is looking at you as somebody that they're hoping to grow into a leader and so you're they're hoping that that you ultimately one day can provide value as well and so it becomes a different type of application and so um I definitely think there is Nuance to that and I think that you're completely right I really agree with what you said about the number not being necessarily the defining Factor because I know for me those six opportunities that I was really looking at being able to take time dive deep on each of those uh really I think allowed me to uh have success in those Endeavors um but had I been applying to you know 10 15 or 20 I don't think I would have been able to devote the same level of depth to all of those opportunities and I think that it probably would have resulted in in me not getting interviews and and not being considered at some of those for sure thank you for sharing that because and it can be stressful right especially for our International applicants who've been really trying to help um you know they can't find places that accept their visas and you know they're stressing out because to get into college they applied for 30 or 40 schools and then you know they we try to say don't do that just find a couple that you really appreciate and then it'll it'll come through and so I want to ask you you did all this research you you know met all these great people you really enjoyed the process of getting started but 18 months later did it live up to the expectation yes I would say like a resounding yes like 100% I I you know I knew coming out of graduate school that I wanted to pursue a fellowship um but again it's it's just like kind of gr to graduate school you can't know 100% where grad school is going to be like and I've said it before but you also can't know what your fellowship is going to be like 100% until you get there um and there are so so many people at Houston Methodist that I would want to thank for opportunity that I've had here it's just you know whether it be the executives that I rotate with um as far as the rotations go we have several of them that we do um so we spend time with a lot of people throughout the system and they kind of devote one-on-one mentorship time to us and help grow us through projects and are are really careful to explain what they do to us on a day-to-day basis that is like there's nothing that can really top that as far as a growth opportunity um really to help you evaluate kind of where you want to go as a leader um and also just that has created so much space for me to really reflect as well and I think that that's so unique I've never you know gone through this long of a time in my life where I've just been reflecting on like how you know my leadership journey is going kind of all of those different topics were not things that I thought about super frequently before the fellowship and so it would be hard to go back after the fellowship so I think it's been a huge frame shift as far as my experience but also my attitude and outlook on Healthcare um and then also the folks that I've met along the way at Houston Methodist um on the team that I've had the the privilege of being able to be a part of I think that a huge part about Houston Methodist that I again can't express how grateful I am for is that it's not just the executives that welcome me when I go to a new rotation it's really the folks that I'm working with on projects or they're not even really necessarily affiliated with the fellowship or are the ones accepting a fellow but as soon as I'm there they're like oh my gosh like it's great to have you like let's get you plugged in if you have questions like come find me if you want to set up time for me to just explain what I do to you like that would be like perfect and so that opportunity and really welcoming culture that I've experienced has like really made this an unforgettable time and so it I like I've said it's it's something I'm incredibly grateful for and it's been such a blessing for me that really sounds uh really beautiful thank you for for sharing that and I'm sure like many of the audience you know I'm considering you know applying for a job at Houston Methodist after hearing that so one of the things that a lot of the audience you including myself might be wary of despite Houston Methodist sounding so awesome is Texas and but you keep returning to Texas so you have to explain what do you like about living in Houston do you plan to stay in Houston you know post Fellowship yeah absolutely um I would say that yeah Texas and Minnesota are definitely two very very different places um Houston is is honestly something uh that I have grown to really appreciate and enjoy being a part of um I actually really appreciate how diverse the city is um I've seen some statistics that Houston is one of the most diverse cities in United States if not the most diverse City and so that's actually something that I've really appreciated coming from Minnesota um is to get to experience all that comes with such a diversity whether it be uh different types of Cuisine I'm a huge foodie and so I've like been able to go to restaurants that are authentic foods from places that I had never had the chance to go to before but also just to to see all the different types of people that interact with Houston methodists and all the ways that Houston Methodist is plugging back in to the community it's definitely very nuanced here uh in Houston and and it's awesome I would say Houston Methodist navigates it super well um that's one of our I would say a huge strong point of the fellowship as well is that our preceptor Kathy Easter uh she does oversee our community benefits department so as a fellow you kind of do have a front row seat uh into seeing how Houston Methodist is plugging in and working with groups in the community I would say that there's a lot of folks in Houston that are trying to make positive change on you know the non-medical drivers of health and things like that um and one thing that I really appreciate is that Houston meth doesn't always pretend to be the expert in those areas you actually see us partnering with a lot of those organizations a lot of the time to try and make sure that uh we're letting the folks that have the expertise in a given field uh really provide the the support that the you know citizens of Houston need and so I would say that like you said very different from where I grew up but I would say that that's also contributed to my growth is just being exposed to a different way of life and and experiencing kind of what Houston has to offer so I would say you know even encouraging folks like to to go out your comfort zone a little bit when it comes time to look for a fellowship you know don't go someplace you know you won't like but um also if it means taking a little bit of a risk and stretching a little bit I I feel like that's what I ended up doing um and I again have been super super happy with how that's turned out so yeah very very good advice and and thank you for sharing I mean we can tell it's genuine we really appreciate it um so thank you for for your time coming on Henry and and all the rescheduling that you've dealt with and cancellations it's been a hard episode to schedule I apologize but thank you so much for uh for doing that and coming on yeah absolutely it's been my pleasure and thank you very much for having me I really appreciate it</p>