At a time when there is considerable concern about people leaving the New Orleans region, one local institution is bucking the population outflow trend. Over the past few years, Children’s Hospital of New Orleans has attracted more than 200 of the nation’s top pediatric physicians to move to the area and work at the Hospital.
According to Children’s Hospital President and CEO John R. Nickens, IV, this is one aspect of a major refocus for the institution that began some five years ago.
“We recognized that health equity began with access to care, which many people did not have,” he explained. “So we set up to radically change access.”
This began with creating the hospital’s NOLA Now program, with the intention of bringing immediate solutions to the problem. In Nickens’ words, “you build the bricks and mortar, then you build the programs, then you bring in the people.”
Accomplishing the first step involved investing some $300 million, including improvements to the main Uptown campus as well as building a large satellite facility in Metairie. Recognizing that Children’s is the only provider of many pediatric specialties in the entire state of Louisiana, additional projects included opening a heart clinic in Alexandria and a multi-service office center on the Northshore.
However, as Nickens pointed out, “anyone can build a building, but you have to recruit and retain the talent.”
Part of this was educating potential new physicians about New Orleans, many of whom knew nothing about the city or region other than the French Quarter. Nickens also worked to address the lingering impacts of Hurricane Katrina, asking and then answering the question, “Is New Orleans 300 years old or 17 years old?”
Nickens, who himself arrived at Children’s in 2017, quickly found two effective approaches to recruiting for the facility: “I go after legacy and opportunity.”
Legacy, he elaborated, means reaching out to leading physicians who are nearing the ends of their careers, and making the case that in a place like New Orleans, “they really can make a difference. They have the opportunity to grow and be impactful.”
As an added benefit to the Hospital and its patients, these leading medical lights “come in with such standing and pedigree and influence that they challenge us and make us better.”
Overcoming any concerns the doctors might have had about the problems in the region was easier than one might expect. As Nickens noted, “every city has struggles right now, but do they have that culture, that spirit that you find in New Orleans?”
Further, the career experiences of many included working in difficult circumstances. Nickens cited the example of a new staff physician who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work building medical clinics across Africa.
“He’s not afraid of crime in New Orleans,” Nickens commented dryly.
The second pitch is opportunity. The expansion and reimagining going on at the Hospital “gives people a chance at leadership and the freedom to be leaders,” Nickens said. “I sell this to every number two person across the country: come here and you get to create your own program.”
Nickens is equally up front with these individuals about the challenges in the city, but as he puts it, “we signed up to do the hard stuff. And if we change the dynamics of pediatric health care here, the people of New Orleans have a brighter, healthier future.
“We don’t control crime, but we can impact crime.”
Drawing these world-renowned physicians to New Orleans has important impacts beyond improving pediatric health care quality. As one might expect, these leaders are highly paid, and they and their families spend most of those salaries in the area. A GNO Inc. study put the regional economic impact resulting from the Hospital’s total employee compensation and related financial activity at $429 million annually.
In addition, as leading innovators in their field, these doctors are able to attract substantial new grant funding, which supports research at multiple local facilities. In the process, the monies support additional positions and salaries, vendor contracts and other local spending, while the studies funded by the grants increase patient access to cutting-edge treatments and technologies.
Just beginning to emerge from this work is new entrepreneurial activity. As Nickens pointed out, “innovative thinkers like these doctors and their spouses are willing to take risks and invest in their communities.”
One more community benefit results from the willingness of many of the new physicians – and, again, their spouses – to volunteer with various local organizations. “When you bring in people who want to be impactful,” observed Nickens, “it’s natural that they sign up to volunteer, to be on boards.”
The challenge of maintaining a world class staff and operation is never-ending, but it is clearly one that Nickens relishes. He believes in Children’s Hospital, and in his approach to attracting the best pediatric doctors.
“What we’ve done in the last five years is remarkable,” he stated. “I’d put us up against anyone in terms of the quality of talent we’ve recruited.
“We make a difference.”
