Seton Healthcare Family announced new leadership changes, including Dr. David Martin, who takes over as chief medical officer for Seton's parent organization, Ascension Texas. Courtesy: Seton Healthcare Family[/caption]

A familiar face has taken on a greater role within Seton Healthcare Family.

The Catholic-affiliated system that runs University Medical Center Brackenridge along with a number of other hospitals and clinics in the Greater Austin area announced several leadership changes this month, including that of Dr. David Martin, previously the chief medical officer for Seton Medical Center Austin and Seton Southwest Hospital.

Martin is now chief medical officer for Ascension Texas, the parent organization that oversees Seton Healthcare Family. A surgeon by trade, his career includes medical leadership positions in the U.S. Army and with St. David's Healthcare in Round Rock and Georgetown.

Seton announced Martin's new role along with those of Yvonne VanDyke and Robert "Scott" Herndon as the new chief nursing officer and chief financial officer of Ascension Texas, respectively.

A major capital project looms at Seton with the projected spring 2017 opening of the Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas. But new initiatives are also afoot on the medical care side, Martin said in a recent interview, not only at Seton but also throughout the health care industry.

What would you say is the most common topic of conversation among leaders in the health care industry right now? 

It's how do we transition from the traditional fee-for-service [method] to an entirely new value-based method of compensation for services. It's a 180-degree change for health care. That is the No. 1 topic for health care executives, for doctors, for everybody.

Seton began working on this a few years ago [through development of the Seton Health Alliance—a collaboration with Austin Regional Clinic and other area providers]. [Physicians] essentially take on risk, if you will, for the care they provide for the population of patients they have, and they agree to meet certain quality standards when they contract with insurance plans.

The other work that we're doing specifically that gets to the transitioning is we're developing a service-line methodology.

Health care has traditionally been in vertical 'silos,' where you have a hospital, you have an outpatient [facility and] you have rehab hospitals, and patients have to navigate all these. What service-line methodology does is it converts it from vertical to completely horizontal. It follows the patient from the time they see their doctor, with maybe hip pain, to the time they see a surgeon and have a hip replacement, have surgery and then get taken care of afterwards.

For Seton's patients, what do you think is their biggest challenge today? 

I really think [navigating the system] is their greatest challenge.

My mother-in-law ... fell and broke her hip, so she was now in the system, and it's tough. It's easier that her son-in-law can help navigate some of that, but the average patient, they don't have a son-in-law who's a chief medical officer in the system. They have to figure out: 'Who do I call?'

Then they get discharged from the hospital, and once they're out of the hospital, they're trying to call their primary care doctor to get in with that person, and the communication amongst all those different entities isn't that great.

I can't speak for all patients, but I think most patients would say that's one of their biggest challenges.

What about Seton's doctors and staff? What do you think is their biggest challenge? 

It's in that same area of discussion. But also, of course, if you keep up with the changes in laws that have taken place, the [federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] has basically said, 'You are going to transition to value-based reimbursements' [as opposed to the fee-for-service method]. So obviously, some of the money in the system is shrinking.

As physicians look at that, [they think] how do we manage a shrinking resource, and where do we fit in to that system of care?

What makes you a good fit for this position? 

I made the transition over here [after six years at St. David's HealthCare] because Seton's part of a large, faith-based organization. I'm a Christian, and so I like being able to practice my faith here. Then also, the mission that Seton has—and it's to provide care to all, especially those who are most vulnerable—that attracted me.

Both in my military experience for many years, and then in private practice, I have become increasingly passionate that we have to redesign how we do health care. I think I bring broad breadth of experience having practiced and been a leader in the military system, and then in a private practice system [and] then in a for-profit system.

What's on top of your to-do list? 

We are really focusing in on certain aspects of care. The service lines that we just stood up, they're fairly new, and I'm responsible for service-line development. So, [No. 1] is building the service lines, focusing initially on the cardiovascular service line, which is both the cardiology, non-surgery care for heart patients, and it's also the surgery side of care.

The other one is muscular-skeletal, so that's the orthopedic side, and the third one is women's health.

What's the most interesting thing you have learned in your time at Seton? 

The thing that gets me up the morning is how everyone in this organization is absolutely committed to redesigning how we provide health care. It's not just words, we are truly on that pathway, and we're taking risks to do it.

What's made it even more energetic and getting it more momentum is our partnership with UT Medical School because that's what they want to do.

A couple of our service-line chairs are also the chairs of the academic departments of surgery and women's health. They're working with me operationally to lead a service line, but they're also then bringing the sort of transformational expertise they have over there, both in the med school and in UT.

That to me is the most interesting thing we're doing, that partnership [with the university], along with us taking the risk to provide different kinds of care.