Jim Hinton, chief executive officer of Baylor Scott & White Health, recruited Pete McCanna to join the system’s executive team in September 2017. Pete currently carries the title of president and interim chief financial officer. The following profile offers a closer look at one of Baylor Scott & White’s new leaders.
Pete always had one question on his mind: What am I going to do in my career to help others?
“My parents and the nuns who educated me constantly encouraged me to seek and find my ‘calling.’ How will I live my life to help others?” Pete recalled.
His answer came in the form of a diagram that a professor sketched for him toward the end of his graduate studies at The University of Texas. The professor was Wilbur J. Cohen, who served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the first Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. The diagram was of the U.S. health care system.
“See how messed up this is?” the professor asked Pete. “The health care industry needs leaders to help improve this.”
Since then, Pete has been working to do exactly that. Despite the “messed-up” model Professor Cohen showed him, Pete has established a solid track record of steering health care systems to success. During his most recent tenure at Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial Healthcare, he helped the system grow its operating revenue from $700 million to more than $5 billion.
Earlier in his career, Pete served as chief financial officer of Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico, where he and Jim Hinton worked together for four years.
Pete credits three things for bringing him to Baylor Scott & White Health. First is Baylor Scott & White’s great reputation. Second is that Baylor Scott & White has all the right pieces in place to be a leader in redesigning health care in the U.S.
“We have every part of the care continuum,” Pete said. “We have a health plan. We have an Accountable Care Organization. We have great clinicians and hundreds of care sites. You go down the list, and we have all the pieces it takes to both manage risk and deliver high-quality care to patients.”
Third, and perhaps one of the strongest motivators, is the opportunity to work with Jim again. “You remember the people who you really enjoyed working with and the people you really respected, and Jim is one of those people for me,” Pete said. “I think he’s a great leader and he makes it fun at work,” he added, citing an ugly sweater contest that took place over the holidays.
Pete plans on winning this contest next year.
On a serious note, Pete is excited about a number of initiatives happening at Baylor Scott & White, including virtual health and making the patient journey seamless. He’s also eager to help improve care through insights derived from data.
“Because of the breadth and depth of the services we provide, we have a lot of clinical information and data from each segment of the care continuum. I’m excited about building on that and developing management, health and care solutions derived from data analytics capabilities,” he said.
How do you help establish a vision for the system’s future when there is so much uncertainty in the health care space right now?
To get us started, there are clear “no-regret” moves. We have to be willing to make decisions that improve value for our patients and health plan members, even though we don’t have a crystal-clear view of the future. Becoming more efficient and affordable for our customers — those are pretty good things under any scenario of the future.
Do you have any words of wisdom you apply in your career?
If you treat the organization as if it were your family business, that leads you to the right decisions all the time.
How will your new role and Jim Hinton’s areas of responsibility complement each other?
It’s not static. Jim and I both lead with 100 percent alignment and shared goals. We divvy up the leadership responsibility to accelerate our pace and performance. This leads us to the right allocation of responsibility. The flexibility of this model is that we’re both working to not overlap each other, and we’re both working to put the right person leading the right initiative and the right area of responsibility.
Where did you grow up?
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. It’s like Mayberry, but in Wisconsin. There are a lot of lakes and rivers, and I spent a lot of time outdoors, swim- ming, hiking, hunting and fishing. For undergrad, I went to the University of Michigan. After undergrad, I was volunteering in Nome, Alaska, when I applied to graduate school. It was about 20 degrees below zero, and I was choosing between UT and schools in the Northeast. The Texas brochure looked much better at the time.
Tell readers a little bit about your family.
My mother and my wife are both nurses. My wife is from San Benito, Texas. I met her while we were at UT, and we’ve been married 31 years. We have three daughters: Carmen, who’s 22, Catherine, who’s 20, and Carla, who’s 18. Carmen is a senior at Xavier University and plans to be an elementary school teacher. Catherine is working in Utah. And Carla is a senior in high school. We didn’t plan for them all to have C’s in their names. It just turned out that way.
What’s it like to return to the Lone Star State?
I love the diversity of people and cultures. And then this “anything is possible” spirit is striking. It’s distinctly different from other parts of the country.
After living in Chicago so long, do you prefer New York style pizza or deep dish?
I like them both. But the unique thing to Chicago is deep dish — Lou Malnati’s deep dish, cheese only, uncut. That’s all I need to say.
You’re a basketball fan. What do you think of the Mavs?
I really like Dennis Smith Jr. He’s the real deal. I wish I had his vertical leap.
What’s your favorite Dallas restaurant so far?
I really like the Taco Diner in West Village. They have a shredded pork taco that’s super good.
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