A Closer Look: David Stark

Take a closer look at UnityPoint Health-Des Moines’ President and CEO

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David Stark became president and CEO of UnityPoint Health-Des Moines on July 1, succeeding Eric Crowell, who retired after 17 years leading the Des Moines hospital system. Stark, who joined UnityPoint Health-Des Moines as an administrative fellow 23 years ago, was most recently executive vice president and chief operating officer. He was chosen for the top leadership position in a national search process by parent company UnityPoint Health from a field of several candidates from both inside and outside the health system. “David was set apart by his commitment to our mission and his passion to advance our collective efforts to become a national leader in health care,” UnityPoint Health CEO Kevin Vermeer said when Stark was chosen. Earlier in his career, Stark led Blank Children’s Hospital as president and chief operating officer. He was named chief operating officer of Iowa Lutheran Hospital when he was just 27, and four years later took on the additional role of COO for Iowa Methodist Medical Center, one of the state’s largest hospitals. He also led the planning for Methodist West Hospital in West Des Moines. In 2009, Stark moved from Des Moines for a hospital CEO role in Chicago, but returned less than a year later after realizing that he was meant to continue his career in Des Moines. He currently chairs the board of Iowa Public Television and is vice chair of the American Heart Association, and has served on several charitable boards, including the YMCA, Principal Charity Classic and Dowling Catholic Foundation.

How long has Eric Crowell been a mentor?

I actually first met Eric when he was teaching a capstone class when I was in graduate school, so that would have been in the spring of 1994. It’s a class that I ended up teaching when he started here. So it’s kind of a neat connection there. From a formal standpoint, it really began when he started here 17 years ago. He came over from Trinity in the Quad Cities, and I was already here and I was a direct report to him. I’ve considered him a mentor that entire time. 

How did it feel moving into this office? 

The first time I walked in, it was a goosebump moment. … It was just this wonderful sense of accomplishment, but also a sense of tremendous responsibility for the people who have occupied this office, most notably Eric before me. The history of leadership of this organization is pretty impressive. 

How has it been moving into the top leadership role? 

The change so far has been fairly manageable, largely because I have a good history and connectivity here and I think that’s lent itself very well. I’ve spent time at literally every one of our campuses and have had responsibility for just about every area operationally. So that, I think, is a big plus in that I understand why we’re doing what we’re doing, why we made the decisions we’ve made. So that’s been a huge benefit. The broader responsibility is different in that there’s more time with the board of directors. I continue to spend a lot of time in the community; I think that’s an important expectation. I enjoyed doing that before, and I look forward to doing that more.  

What do you view as some of the most significant changes you’ve seen in your career? 

It’s hard not to point to the technology changes. [In July], we started doing outpatient total joint procedures — shoulder, hip — you go home the same day as your surgery. I never thought in a million years we would be doing something like that. During my tenure I’ve seen robotic surgery come into play; we were the first in the state to do that. And just [a few] weeks ago we had the first exoskeleton at Younker Rehab to help people walk who couldn’t before. Not to mention all the amazing drug therapies and CT scanners. A four-slice CT scanner was really something to write home about in 1996. Today we have a 256-slice CT scanner. The technology advances are really just awe-inspiring over that period of time. And obviously we’ve had tremendous investment in our facilities, with a new [West Des Moines] hospital being built. We’ve renovated all of our emergency departments during that time and most of our nursing floors. That’s been a huge change, getting to all private rooms. With all of that, I think the important message is: What hasn’t changed? I think our commitment to our mission, our commitment to our community, our committed team. With all that technology, we are still a people business, and we will always be that. So that’s a hallmark that won’t change. 

Are there any particular new people-related initiatives coming up? 

Something that I’m really proud of that we’ve spent a lot of time on is our safety. We talk a lot about that in terms of our patients, but we also talk about in terms of workplace safety. We instituted a year ago daily safety huddles. Every day, including the weekends, a team of our leaders — and I’m in this rotation — lead those daily safety huddles. What important issues do we have to worry about today, what happened in the last 24 hours and what’s going to happen in the next 24 hours, so that everybody is on the same page. Those run from employee injuries to technology changes and major projects. We’ve really shown a bright light on overall awareness and improvement of safety — everything from our physical safety to how well we deliver care to our patients. That’s an initiative that has really paid dividends, and that’s actually going to grow into a systemwide safety huddle, not just here. 

What’s the outlook for more facilities expansion or modernization? 

We’ve been probably doing that on a yearly basis ever since I’ve been here. We think you’ve got to make that investment over time. Projects I would point to that will be done very soon — we just opened up our new GI [gastrointestinal] suite. That’s the last stage of our ER/Critical Care project. So that is much closer to [meeting] the high-end, critical needs for those patients in the GI suite. We’re finishing up a large cath lab renovation, so we’ll have additional capacity, but also better pre- and post-op [facilities] for families and patients. We’ve seen a 30 to 40 percent growth in that area over the past few years, so we’re planning for the future there. We’ll be making significant investments in OB [obstetrics], particularly out west, to grow and expand that service. We’ll be growing and expanding our clinics at Blank Children’s Hospital. That’s another key project that will be coming up in the next year. And then Younker Rehab is one that we’ve just expanded by another six beds. We’ll be adding another six to 10 beds over the next year to grow to meet the needs of our rehab population. So we have a lot of irons in the fire. 

What’s ahead for more beds at Methodist West? 

At Methodist West, our biggest plan is to expand OB [obstetrics], so we’ll be adding another eight delivery suites in 2019. That’s in direct response to our maternity demand and tremendous physician support. Obviously, with the number of rooftops that are going up in the western suburbs, it’s really to accommodate that additional growth. 

What do you see as some of your biggest challenges or opportunities as CEO? 

I think the shift in health care financing — and not just for me but for the entire country — you’ll hear the term “shifting from volume to value.” That shifts a different level of risk to us, and requires a different level of thinking, a different structure. That will be a big shift for the industry, because that’s not how we’ve operated for decades. Second, continuing to recruit nurses, therapists, physicians — that’s probably our other big challenge. We’re blessed with a low unemployment rate in Iowa and Des Moines, so it’s a very competitive labor market. We compete statewide and regionally and even nationally for talent. 

Are more affiliations ahead for UnityPoint Health-Des Moines? 

That is always on our mind. Our two most recent connections here were with Eyerly Ball and Grinnell Regional Medical Center. So two very different organizations. I think it exemplifies the shift you’re seeing of where those partnerships are at. I would call Eyerly Ball a non-traditional partnership. They’re not a hospital, they’re not a clinic. It’s a community mental health center. … Ten years ago, we would not have seen that as a strategic partnership, but because of this shift, you’re going to see more partnerships like that. We have four other of our regions that have connections with their community mental health center for that same exact reason. But we still will do those traditional partnerships — Grinnell is a good example — because geography is important. 

Other areas of service that will also be key for partnerships? 

One big one for us is going to be in insurance. We have a formal partnership with HealthPartners; they’re based out of Minneapolis. So we’re part-owners of a health plan. Again, it’s a kind of non-traditional approach, but it’s part of the equation. We’re a good example as a self-insured plan, we use them for our back office and those functions. But that’s a contracting arm that we haven’t been much a part of. That’s a big one that you’ll see more and more throughout the state and region, because it’s a systemwide partnership. … It’s where we’re not just being the care provider — we’re going to be the insurer. 

What are some ways that UnityPoint Health is trying to improve population health? 

That’s a big deal for us, and it gets to the point of measuring value versus volume. It’s not just the services we provide for you — we actually want you to receive less services, to avoid a hospitalization, if you can. You do that by investing upstream in things like lifestyle, diet and addressing chronic diseases even before they happen. If you think of our investment in our pediatric population, our efforts in asthma prevention with our joint partnership in Des Moines. That reduced ER visits and it made kids healthier; it’s going to make them healthier later on in life. We have a lung screening program as well to try to catch lung cancer before it’s even there, particularly in the smoking population. And we have other smoking cessation programs available so that you don’t even develop lung cancer down the road. 

Talk about the leadership dynamic you have with your team. 

I can’t talk about that without giving tremendous credit to Eric [Crowell] for the team that he built, and the culture and environment he created. In a lot of respects, it’s been something I’ve been blessed to inherit. To sum it up, we’ve got each other’s backs, and have the backs of our employees as well. I think that’s an important leadership philosophy. If we don’t take care of each other and take care of our team, we won’t be able to do as good of a job taking care of our patients, our community or our population. … We’re part of the team, too, and that’s how we want to act and something we want to foster. 

Personal goals? 

A fun thing is that my second daughter and I are on the water ski team at Lake Panorama. We [recently] had our show. That’s a lot of fun, and I’ve enjoyed water skiing for a long time. And I run a 5K now and then.