LITTLE ROCK—Pediatrician Rob Steele, MD, MBA, is the son of former Little Rock pediatrician Russell Steele, MD, who at one time was head of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
“My dad is probably the most unselfish person I know,” said Steele, who is senior vice president & chief strategy officer, Arkansas Children’s Hospital. “Like my dad and many others, I got into medicine because I wanted to help people. When I went to Vanderbilt Medical School, I tried to keep an open mind. But pediatrics was what I had a slant for. After my residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital at the Medical Center of Cincinnati, I was asked to stay on as chief resident. I got into teaching and some administrative work.”
Then, he left because his plan was to be a practicing pediatrician. After Cincinnati, he moved to Springfield, Mo., where he lived for 17 years – the first ten exclusively in private practice with Mercy Health.
In the final seven years he was in Missouri, he became “an accidental administrator.”
“My foray into administration was somewhat accidental,” Steele said. “I did raise my hand to volunteer to do one thing. That turned into two, four, ten things.”
He got deeply involved in the integration of the managed care process at Mercy Health. Physicians liked having an administrator talk to them who was also a doctor.
“I got into this managed care thing, and working to understand the business side of medicine,” Steele said. “I am not smartest guy in the world or even the room. This was so far out of my comfort zone. But I threw myself into the negotiations for managed care contracting, and really got into it. It made me the total boring guy at the cocktail party.”
He recalls an “aha!” moment that solidified his foray in management. He realized that while it was deeply satisfying to have impact one-on-one with patients, by being involved in the managed care and the business side of medicine, he could have positive impact on the health of thousands of people.
There were a few years both working as a pediatrician and an administrator that he said were rough on his family since they saw him little. Very long work weeks were the norm. Then, about three years before he moved to Little Rock in June 2014, he became president of Mercy Springfield Communities and cut back to about 20 percent clinical.
“As time goes by, it is difficult to do administrative stuff with your doctor hat on,” Steele said. “While I’m licensed in Arkansas, I have not actively practiced here. You can come from a lot of different backgrounds and do what I do as chief strategy officer. But to align where healthcare needs to go, improve quality, and understand how changes impact the market, being a physician is helpful. You can speak both languages. You can talk to doctors about business strategy. It gives me a little bit of street cred. I know what it is like to be practicing, and the stresses and difficulties of things like electronic medical records. I know that many doctors think the paperwork hoops that Medicaid is requiring you to do are silly. I am able to tell them the strategy behind that, and why it is not necessarily silly.”
In his role at ACH, Steele is overseeing a five-year plan to provide a total system of statewide care for children in Arkansas that includes a new hospital in Springdale. Because of major population growth in northwest Arkansas, ACH felt the hospital was the correct solution.
“That doesn’t mean we will start plopping down hospitals all over Arkansas,” Steele said. “That wouldn’t make sense. That is just part of a statewide network we are building. It is not just clinics, but capabilities. Other parts of the state, like Jonesboro and Texarkana, have a concentration of children not as dense, but still substantial. In Jonesboro we have a clinic already, and we go down and do clinics in Texarkana. We recognize while the total number of children is not as robust, it is still significant, so we need a presence. Are we going to go build more clinics? We might, if it makes sense. But that is an expensive proposition and in many cases not necessary. We can help coordinate the care already in the community.”
In rural areas like the Delta with small populations, what works well is a combination of telemedicine and deploying physicians to clinics. Because of physician shortages in the state, telemedicine can have a major impact by providing specialist care in areas such as pediatric genetics and endocrinology.
“Endocrinology has childhood obesity and diabetes in its crosshairs,” Steele said. “Those are major health concerns in Arkansas.”
Another focus is on prevention. Steele said healthier children tomorrow means building a better mousetrap.
“The goal is to elevate health of children across the state,” Steele said. “I think in five years we will have very specific things we can hang our hat on that show we have moved the needle.”
Steele describes his management style as “classic servant leadership” that is integrated, collaborative, and team-based. That involves recognition that you succeed and fail not as an individual, but as a team.
Steele and his wife, Renee, have five children: Ryan, 22, has just entered medical school at UAMS. Mitchell, 20, is working on a degree in finance at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Dora Jean, the sole daughter, is 11. Twins Austin and Christopher are 7.
The family love the recreational opportunities that abound in Little Rock, particularly the River Trail.
“I’m a big road biker, and I love being on a trail so I don’t have to worry about getting run over,” he said. “You can do 30-mile bike rides without vehicle traffic. It’s a big deal. Some people have never gotten out there. It is so awesome. It is really pretty at night. I used to mountain bike a lot, but where I lived in Cincinnati, I had to load up the bike and drive a long way to ride. Soon I will be able to get on the River Trail near my house since they are expanding the trail.”
For more visit:
Arkansas Children’s Hospital, www.archildrens.org/
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Photo notes: Vertical, horizontal and action shots of sources provided by ACH (email from Hilary Demiloh).