Leadership, Access, and the Future of Health Care in Johnston County with Tom Williams

Jonathan Breeden: [00:00:00] On this week’s episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast. We have our second episode with this Johnston, UNC Health CEO, Tom Williams. We talked to him a little bit about his biography, and his time as a respiratory therapist, and we talked to him about.

What are the certificate of need laws in North Carolina and whether we still need them and his opinion may surprise you being that he is the CEO of a hospital. We also talked to him a little bit about the patient satisfaction and how Johnston UNC Health Con continues to score really, really high in patient satisfaction and the oncology services they provide and how they continue to provide more and more oncology services and their tumor teams and how AI is working in medicine right here in Johnston County. So listen in.

Welcome to another episode of Best of Johnston County, brought to you by Breeden Law Office. Our host, [00:01:00] Jonathan Breeden, an experienced family lawyer with a deep connection to the community, is ready to take you on a journey through the area that he has called home for over 20 years. Whether it’s a deep dive into the love locals have for the county or unraveling the complexities of family law, Best of Johnston County presents an authentic slice of this unique community.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello and welcome to another edition of The Best of Johnston County Podcast. I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden, and on today’s episode we have the second episode with Tom Williams, the CEO of UNC Health Johnston. In this episode, we’re gonna talk to him a little bit about about his background.

Again, how he getting to Johnston County, a little bit about the certificate of needs laws, the consolidation of healthcare over the last 25 years, some of the oncology programs that they are providing, including the fact that you can get the exact same chemo treatments in Smithfield as you would get at Duke and Durham.

And we’re gonna talk a little bit about patient care and AI and [00:02:00] medicine. If you wanna go back and listen to the previous episode that came out a couple of weeks ago, we talked to him about his growing up in the Bunn North Carolina area. His time going to Durham Tech, his rise through the ranks at Rex Hospital.

Why he came to Johnston County and took over this hospital preview. It’s because he loved the people when he came and met him. And a little bit about the growing the growth of the area, including a brand new three story. Patient tower that’s gonna be built behind the current patient tower at the hospital in Clayton on veterans Parkway, highway 42, whatever you wanna call it.

Everybody knows where Clayton Hospital is. So anyway, but before we get to that, I’d like you to like, follow and subscribe to this podcast wherever you see it, whether it be on Apple, YouTube, Spotify, LinkedIn, TikTok, or any of the other social media channels of The Best Johnston County Podcast. The Best Johnston County Podcast comes out every single Monday. It has now for two years. So go back and listen to some of our previous guests. We’ve had most of the county commissioners then candidate Brad Knott, now Congressman Brad Knott, a lot of small business owners local dentist, [00:03:00] Tim Sims. A lot of great people have been on this podcast.

If you love Johnston County as much as I do, this is the podcast for you.

Welcome, Tom.

Tom Williams: Glad to be back. Thank you.

Jonathan Breeden: Thank you. Thank you. So, like I said, not everybody listens to every episode. So state your name and where you’re from, what you do.

So, Tommy Williams. I am the president for UNC Health Johnston.

Tom Williams: Been here since 2019. Prior to that I was at Rex Hospital in Raleigh. I started there in 2000. Grew up near here, but then also that we covered in our last episode, but have worked in healthcare as a respiratory therapist since 1983 here in the triangle area.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. And you started out going to Durham Tech.

Tom Williams: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: And then got your initial respiratory therapist certificate or license. I don’t know what you get. And you started working as, you were young, you were like 20 years old and you were a respiratory therapist.

Tom Williams: My first job I was 19 years old ’cause I was 17 when I started in respiratory. I had a late birthday and I’ll never forget this, when my first job, I started working weekends and that was while I was still a student ’cause [00:04:00] back then, you know, you had a two year degree, but after your first year when you started clinical rotations, you could take your CRTT exam, which you passed that, and then you could start working at a hospital.

So I started working on weekends at Wake Med, so I could also go to school and he’ll pay for school. And I’ll never forget Tommy Mohadra was the director at the time and I was interviewing with him and he said, I’m not supposed to ask this question. He said, how old are you?

And when I told him, he dropped his head down. He said, you’ll be the first person I hired that’s younger than my oldest son. And he was just like, I finally reached that age where I’m hiring people younger than my kids.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh my goodness.

Tom Williams: And he was a great director. And, but yeah, that’s kind of where I learned from and how I cut my teeth in healthcare.

Jonathan Breeden: What does a respiratory therapist do?

Tom Williams: So, respiratory therapist, a funny answer on this and people gimme a hard time about it. We always say we suck snot and save lives. So what that really means is we care for patients that are on ventilators. We care for people that need breathing [00:05:00] treatments all ages ranges from newborns all the way up to our senior citizen population. But we are basically anything that has to do cardiopulmonary care.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Cool. Cool. So, anyway, and rose through the ranks at at Rex and you became the interim director at UNC Health Johnston in I think November of 2019.

Tom Williams: 2019, yes.

Jonathan Breeden: And we all know that March of 2020 COVID happened. And when did you get named the permanent director?

Tom Williams: That was on May 4th, 2020.

Jonathan Breeden: Right, in the middle of COVID.

Tom Williams: Right in the middle of COVID.

Jonathan Breeden: If they decided you’d live through that you could probably can live through anything.

Tom Williams: I think probably that might be why it was, and I, I, I yeah, I probably should.

Jonathan Breeden: And you probably don’t remember this, but I have distinct memories. I, I, you know, I didn’t know you at the time, you’d not been here long and, and you went in front of the county commissioners and I watched it on YouTube and you said, at this point. I’m a respiratory therapist and it is so bad I’m gonna start taking care of patients if that’s what needs to happen. I [00:06:00] don’t know if you actually had to do that, but you said that I, I am willing to do that. I can do it. And given all the people we have, I might have to, and I thought. The CEO of our, our hospital is actually gonna go see patients. I don’t know if you did, but you told ’em you were willing to do it.

Tom Williams: It was all hands on deck with everyone because of the number of patients that we had. It seems like so much of that and probably a lot of people that worked through it just kind of blocked that out of your memory because it was a trying time. It was very difficult.

But a lot of things that also helped me understand how special our teammates are and everybody pulling together and everybody doing what they could do to save lives and help people. And I think, you know, probably the most troubling thing as a leader, the most challenging thing is, you know, we didn’t know what we didn’t know.

Jonathan Breeden: Right?

Tom Williams: And so there’s a lot of hindsight now people going back and looking, well, we should have done this, we should have done that. Well, of course we gotta debrief. And of course we gotta always go back and learn from our mistakes and we’ve got to give ourselves and judge ourselves [00:07:00] because we wanna do better the next time.

So I think a lot of that is okay, but we can’t take that lens off. We didn’t know what we know now. So you’re trying to do the best we can. You’re trying to make decisions based on. What you’re being told by our experts what CDC is telling you, you know, what joint commission and our regulatory bodies are telling us that we got to do what the state legislators telling you what to do.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Tom Williams: And sometimes they didn’t match.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Tom Williams: So you’re just doing the best you can because at the end of the day, it’s about the patient.

Jonathan Breeden: I gotcha.

Tom Williams: What decisions are we gonna make that is right for the patient? If we do that, we’re probably gonna be okay. But I think it is fair to go back and have a critical eye on that.

And people are doing that now because we probably will have another one in the future. I don’t know if it’d be COVID, it’d be something and we’ve got to say, we learned this and now we’re gonna do this better and that, that’s worthwhile.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and I hope so. And we’re always learning from the better. Always learning. You know, medicine never ends. Right. It’s constantly evolving. You know, that’s why the sort of the, the symbols, a snake and a snake always [00:08:00] loses its skin and regenerates and, and medicine is always changing and the law’s always changing too. Like

Tom Williams: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: You know, the laws are, I mean, legislature passes new laws every, every year. I gotta, I gotta learn to deal with

Tom Williams: sure

Jonathan Breeden: and train on and, and stuff like that.

Tom Williams: And I think that’s, some people, you know, criticism of science and medicine may be, well, you know, you changed your mind on this and you did that. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing was correct. Supposed to be learning and changing and adapting to what’s new and what better outcomes that we can learn. You know? I know we’re gonna talk about CON, right?

Jonathan Breeden: That’s my next question.

Tom Williams: Well, and kind of lead into that. One. One downside, I will say about CON, I think a lot of the public, and a lot of people that listen to this are probably thinking, well, the Dukes and the Wake meds and the UNCs of the world are always at odds because that’s what hits in the paper.

You know, we’re arguing about this and that, but really behind the scenes we collaborate all the time, and we share information. We transfer patients back and forth to each other and it’s, you know, it’s like, you know, if I’m running a [00:09:00] McDonald’s and I find a better way to cook a hamburger, I’m not telling Burger King about it.

But, you know, if I’m in a hospital and we’re doing research and we find a better way to do something, the first thing you’re going to do is publish a paper and tell everybody about it because it’s about patient care. So I think, you know, you know, I know we’re gonna talk about CON, but one of the downsides, ’cause people tell me all the time well, you’re, you’re. You guys are always at odds. We’re not really, we, we work together. It’s just the CON and trying to get assets, and that’s what puts you.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, maybe, maybe it’s just the CEOs that are odds, so the, the doctors are working, working together. Maybe that’s maybe, but it’s the CEOs and the boards and stuff like that.

But, but so, yeah. So certificate of need is where hospitals in order to add beds and add services in, in, in a community has to apply to the state. And the state has to give them a license to be able to add beds, build a new wing, add new services in any given area. And one of the things the state is trying to do is determine is there a need for this service in that community?

And and [00:10:00] then is this person that’s applying. The best person to provide that service. So the first question the state has to ask is. Is there a need? And the second person is, who’s the best person to provide it based on what other assets they may have in that community? I think that it, that is socialist.

It is anti-capitalist. And what happens is, is your, your opponent, so if Johnston UNC Health wants to add a wing at the Clayton Hospital, which they’ve gotten a CO in to add a few new beds recently, then Duke and Wake Med can come and say. They don’t need it. They didn’t do a good job with the last one. We can do better.

We’d rather have that and, and the state can say no and it is just not right. It’s not the free market. Right. I, I can open a law office anywhere I want. I, by the time the sub, theres, I’m have a brand new one and carry and none of my opponents can tell me I can’t open one and carry. And by the time this episode runs, I might have a new one in Wake Forest too.

Right. You [00:11:00] know, I just. I, you know, in the, in the state senate for people listening has passed the elimination or certificate of need to North Carolina multiple years in a row. It is currently in 2025. We’re taping this in at the end of August of 2025. It is sitting in the State House, followed up at a committee not being given a hearing because the house leadership at this point, I don’t think wants to see this pass.

It’s debatable. I think the house leadership gets a lot of money from the hospital lobby. That’s my opinion. That’s not Tom Williams’ opinion. That is Jonathan Breeden’s opinion. And I think they don’t want to upset the hospital lobby. That’s my opinion, not his. But what do you, I mean, you’ve been in healthcare for a long time. Significant of need. Good. Should we keep having it?

Tom Williams: Well, I’m gonna give you a long answer and okay. This is a part of the podcast where you probably get me in trouble, but that’s okay. But you said, you know, this is my opinion, so I’m right. I’m glad to offer my opinion, not UNCs opinion, not in the North Carolina Hospital Associations. That’s their opinion. But since I’m sitting here, I give you my opinion. [00:12:00] One, it’s complex, no question about it. And also about CON, you know, if we had four people sitting here, we get five opinions on it. So I think a difficult, and a long-winded answer is CON very likely had a place. Again, my opinion and I understand it and I understand its roots, I understand what was trying to be achieved by it.

But you know, at the end of the day, if you ask me like you did very directly, what I think about it, you know, I’m a free market. In my soul, because that’s who we are and that’s how we are raised. That’s what we feel like is the right way to go for our society and competition. I feel like competition makes us better.

And if CON were to go away, I would not lose a minute’s sleep over it. You know, if you go back over the background of CON if we’re all just being honest about it. And there’s some truth to this, is that if you could go up and just, anybody can [00:13:00] open up ambulatory surgery centers and imaging centers or put an MRI on the corner all of that would probably be siphoned away, you know, from hospitals.

And if you think about does that put a hospital at a disadvantage for that outpatient care? It does because a hospital does have more overhead. Nobody’s gonna argue with that. A hospital takes care of everyone that comes through the door. That’s our jobs. That’s what we signed up for. We shouldn’t complain about that.

Regardless of your ability to pay, you walk into an ed, we’re gonna take care of you. We’re gonna do surgery on you, we’re gonna take care of that. Not all of these freestanding will do that. They’re gonna ask you for your copay. They’re gonna ask you what insurance you have, they can refuse your care.

It’s okay. We cannot refuse your care. But again, that’s what a hospital’s job is. That’s what we’re here for. That’s what we should do. We are the safety net of the community, and that’s what we signed up for. So yes, if people say, yeah, but allowing all this competition in that can pick and choose the [00:14:00] patients or the payers.

You know, you can say, I’m not gonna take Medicare or Medicaid, then is that unfair? And there’s that siphon revenue off that the hospital has got to have to stay open. Probably so, but I will also make the argument that as an administrator, it’s the unknown that you’re trying to plan for. That’s the hardest to plan for it.

There’s no doubt in my mind if COM were to go away tomorrow. We know what we, we know what the playing field is and we know what’s going to occur, and we will plan for that and strategize for that, and we will make it happen and make it work. Now, we’ll say in Johnston County, there’s already repeals that have occurred because we’re over 125,000 people.

So a couple years ago with Medicaid expansion. Ambulatory surgery centers were repealed out for counties over 125,000. That includes Johnston County. So after this fall, you could open up an ambulatory surgery center without a CON. Next year in the [00:15:00] fall, some imaging is going to be repealed out, so you, you can open up imaging centers for that.

That will increase competition. Again, competition is fine, but still for beds, you still have to apply. My argument with it would be. If you’re going, if, if, result is to try to protect hospitals, that ambulatory surgery business and the imaging business, that’s probably what’s helping a lot of hospitals really stay afloat and do okay.

The big count is not. That’s what should be pulled out of CON because right now we have access problems in the triangle area. We have access problems in Johnston County and Wake County. Most days. All the hospitals in the triangle, including ours in Smithville and Clayton, we are full. A lot of days we’re holding patients in the emergency department waiting to get into a bed.

And that’s not just us. You say, well, you could just transfer ’em to Rex. Rex is full too. Wake Med is full too. So our need to [00:16:00] expand beds, and I think the challenge behind that is you petition a state, you show a need. If these guys that are working for the state and the CON agencies, they’re doing their job, they’re following the law, they got very strict rules they’re trying to follow, so they’re doing what they have to do.

But the whole process, if you petition, that takes a year. The CON is gonna take a year. If there’s competition, there’s probably gonna be appeals. And there all the things you read about in the paper that might take a year, might take two years. Then let’s say you win it. Well then you got at least nine months or more that you gotta do design permitting planning, and then it’s probably a two year build.

So you are always playing catch up and it’s like, okay, we got these beds. Well, you’re already five years behind before a patient ever lays their head down. So, you know, if I got a criticism of CON, I’m okay with working through the process if I know what the process is. It’s just the length of time that you have to go through and you’re always playing [00:17:00] catch up.

So when I’m talking to people in the public, they’re like, you’re, you know, I go to your ED and it’s two hour wait and I can’t, you know, it’s 12 people waiting to get in the hospital to get a, a inpatient bed. Why don’t you build new beds? Well, that’s a great question. Why don’t you build new beds? I can’t build new beds.

Jonathan Breeden: That’s what I say

Tom Williams: until, you know, right. We get that ability to do so. So, you know, if you ask me for it, my opinion, personal criticism, it’s that length of time. We all ourselves, they work in the hospital, the public, the CON agency, our legislators, nobody won’t see anybody. To be waiting in an emergency department.

Nobody wants to be in a, a patient sitting on a, in a stroller or, or in, you know, a, a. a bed out in a hallway. Nobody wants that. We all want access. So to me is we just gotta do better on that length of time that it takes. ’cause we’re always playing catch up.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, I do believe that the CON ultimately gets repealed and my guess is it is gonna [00:18:00] continue to be a piecemeal type thing.

Tom Williams: How did you

Jonathan Breeden: versus the ultimate appeal that the state Senate keeps passing and when the state Senate passes it, it’s like. 45 to zero or something. Like, it’s not even controversial, it’s bipartisan or whatever. You know, and the State House just will not move it. I think we, I think we get another hospital here in Johnston County.

I don’t know if it’ll be Duke. I dunno if it’ll be Wake Med, but I think if it gets repealed. Another hospital will come here and, and I’m fine with that. And it sounds like you’re fine with that

Tom Williams: in any, anywhere there’s population in demand, there’s gonna be competition in a hospital to bed to put beds there.

As I have always said, we, we need to compete because we compete against providing access, providing the right quality, your reputation, your patient satisfaction. You provide that you’re gonna have the patience, but competition makes us better. And then

Jonathan Breeden: that’s what I think

Tom Williams: and, and again, and I said it in other podcasts, we’re really fortunate because we got great health [00:19:00] systems in our l in in our areas.

Areas of the counties that grow the way we are growing in triangle area. The, we were growing in Johnston County. It’s not gonna be a shortage of people trying to put beds and healthcare resources there. You know, the challenge and the thing we probably all ought to be arguing about and trying to figure out are these rural counties who do not have the access or the ambulatory surgery centers, or even the hospitals or the hospitals that are closing, right?

How do we fix that? That’s what we should be arguing and talking about. Because that’s the challenge, you know, if you’re living in some of our counties where the population’s going in the other direction, you’ve gotta drive two, three counties away before you can get to a hospital. That’s the challenge.

That’s the issue.

Jonathan Breeden: That is, that is, and you and I are not gonna solve that today. I’ve got some opinions which are not nearly as educated as yours about it, but, you know, I mean, I’ve looked into it. So let’s talk a little bit about the patient satisfaction scores are really high. When I see those in the newspaper or I read about ’em online, like, I mean it’s really high and I know you’ve worked [00:20:00] hard on that. You talk a little bit about that. I mean, it’s like, well, in the 90s people just love it. I think it’s like over 90%.

Tom Williams: I think our teams both at Smithfield and Clayton, it is something we talk about every day and it’s about, you know, take caring for those patients and caring for those families that come in there, being responsive to them. One of the things I think that we instituted that was one of the big biggest satisfiers and drove some of those patient satisfaction scores, we asked all of our leaders.

And, you know, our nurse managers and our nursing teams to round on every patient at least two hours. Now you’re, you’re in and out all the time. I mean, people are seeing patients all the time, but it matters when a leader walks in a patient room. I’m a nurse manager on this floor today. How are you doing, sir?

Do you need anything? Is there anything I can personally do for you that matters? When I’m rounding, go in there and, and talk to people and ask them the same questions. You know it, it’s not just stick your head in the door, [00:21:00] Hey, it’s going in and checking on people and talking to people because we can provide the very best care and have the best physicians.

That we have. But when people leave there, I just wanna know, how’d you make? Did, did you make me feel important? Right. And, and did you take the time to understand my concerns? That’s what drives patient satisfaction scores.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, I mean, and they, they, they’ve been going up, I mean, they’ve been going up and I mean, they’re, they’re really, really high.

I don’t know if people realize how satisfied people are. I’ve always been satisfied with whatever treatments I’ve gotten with UNC Health Johnston over the years as well. I always give them five stars or whatever.

Have family law questions? Need guidance to navigate legal challenges? The compassionate team at Breeden Law Office is here to help. Visit us at www. breedenfirm. com for practical advice, resources, or to book a consultation. Remember, when life gets messy, you don’t have to face it alone.

Jonathan Breeden: So, I guess the next question is, [00:22:00] you talk about the collaboration, right? And I think people don’t understand we have, y’all provide chemotherapy. We have a oncology unit in Smithfield, right?

Tom Williams: In Smithfield and Clayton. We provide both medical oncology and radiation oncology. It means we have a linear accelerator in Smithfield. We also have one in Clayton. In fact, we just doubled right at, doubled the size of our medical oncology unit in Clayton, but we also offer radio oncology there.

The reason we did that is because, again, the population growth and the need for more spaces to provide outpatient chemotherapy. I think about the importance, and that’s one of our focuses on strategy too, is how do we continue to expand. We’re already starting to look people that are familiar with the medical mall in Smithfield.

That’s where our medical and radiation oncology location is, that we’re looking at that medical mall and how we can expand. I would like to. Doubled the size of our medical oncology offerings in Smithfield as well. The thing I think about a great deal, my dad has been passed away almost 19 [00:23:00] years now.

He had prostate cancer and at the time he was living in Franklin County right outside of Bunn at the home place. and We had to travel into Raleigh and Cary He had with prostate cancer. He had both radiation oncology and chemotherapy, medical oncology. But we had to drive him to that. I got two older brothers, so one of us would take off from work and we kind of rotated around and we would drive him and Dad would always say the worst part of his chemotherapy treatments was not the treatments, but the drive to Raleigh and back.

So I always think about that. What our goal is in recruitment of specialists, expansion of oncology, everything we’re trying to do at Johnston, we’re trying to bring that care closer to home because if you can get that treatment and you can see that specialist there close to home. It takes so much of your worry about out of your mind is that travel.

Nobody wants to drive in the Raleigh because of the traffic that you have to deal with. You wanna be cared for, especially if you don’t feel good. Right? And, and especially if you have transportation issues or if you [00:24:00] got a kid that’s gotta take off from work to get you somewhere. We gotta think about all of that and that’s what we’re constantly trying to do and expand.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and the one thing I want people to understand is. All the doctors are sharing all the most UpToDate information on how to treat these cancers. And whatever you’re getting, whatever kind of chemo you’re getting in Smithfield is gonna match the chemo you’re gonna be getting at Duke or at weighted or whatever.

Like all these doctors are sharing it. If there’s anything out there that is, that is making this cancer shrink, they’re immediately sharing with each other and they’re all doing it like it, it’s chemo medicines are changing by the month, I think. I mean, they’re, they’re constantly finding new stuff and so you don’t have to go all the way to Durham or weighted or whatever.

It’s gonna be the same. Chemotherapy medicines because they’re sharing the information. I’m right about that. Right.

Tom Williams: You’re, you’re getting the same, exact same. And we also have a tumor board that meets weekly. And that tumor board is consistent of radiation oncologist, a medical oncologist, a surgeon you have the pathologist there, you have a radiologist there.

[00:25:00] You have a nursing team that represents that as well. And they go through cases and they talk about what’s the best practice for this patient. And what’s the best outcome of all that knowledge in the room, and if there’s questions about it. They’re talking to their colleagues in Raleigh or in Durham and, and, and then they formulate your care plan.

So absolutely you’re getting the same treatment.

Jonathan Breeden: I mean, that, that’s the thing I, I don’t think people realize is it’s the same treatment. Alright. The next, the last question we’ll ask you on this episode is AI and medicine. So, will, will, will, will cancer be eradicated in five years because of ai? That’s what I wanna know.

Tom Williams: It, it probably will not, but because so much of cancer is also, and a lot of healthcare challenges. It’s how we treat ourselves. You know, we, we all, myself included, eh, your blood pressure’s a little up. Hey doc, can you gimme a pill? I don’t wanna change my lifestyle. I just want a little pill for something that’ll fix it for me.

So a lot of that is we gotta back up and start taking accountability for ourselves. [00:26:00] I’m talking to myself. I’m talking to anybody else. Is you know, in that accountability. So that’s probably why we probably will not eradicate cancer, but in the next five years. But ai, what AI will do for us, we are already, you know, AI is, it’s responsible.

I’m like everybody else probably listening to this, kinda a little bit suspicious, don’t know about it, kind of makes me feel, is it gonna take over the world or not? And you hear on that, on the other podcasts. But, you know, the, the real thing about ai, we gotta use it responsibly. Gotta understand what we’re doing.

We go back to that one question, is this best for patient care and how is it going to improve patient care? To give you some examples, the cancer care team that you just talked about, one thing, AI is really good at crunching data. So I just talked about your tumor board and the care team that’s trying to put the best brains and minds in the room for your care plan. Imagine AI running in the background and not just what these people in that room know, but it’s running in the background [00:27:00] and it’s looking at your specific case, your background. Like for me, and I’m a 60-year-old male and any other comorbidities I might have, and it’s running it against a 100,000 200,000, a million other cases, and it’s spitting it back out to you in a minute based on all the information and all the data that’s ever been published.

Is what that care plan will be. You know, that’s possible and that will make a difference. So I think other uses of AI that we’re seeing, you know, even simple stuff, like we gotta run in the background on meetings right now, and, you know, and it’ll like, I’m a note taker, I’m a big note taker. I’m normally have a pad in my hand.

I’m writing stuff down all the time, but AI running in the background, and it gives you a summary of all the points and all the notes immediately. That’s a huge time saver. We got clinicians. We did a UNC, did a pilot program with our clinicians. One of the biggest things that primary care and specialists will tell you is the paperwork, electronic health record.

They see you as a [00:28:00] patient and they’ve got 20, 30, 40 people they see that day, and then they gotta spend till eight or nine o’clock that night typing in their notes, catching up their notes. Well. Several years ago they started using scribes. So while you’re talking, you’ve probably been to a physician as somebody in the background, maybe a med student.

They were over there taking notes that started saving physicians time. Well, now they got AI and they won’t do it without your permission. They will ask you. Can AI run in the background and then give me a summary of this conversation, what the huge success of that is? Number one, it catches everything.

You know, I’m not relying on my memory to remember what you told me. The second thing, I can interact with you and I can look you in the eye and I can have a conversation with you just like we are right now, rather than me sitting there. On a laptop type in the whole time you’re talking to me, that’s not very, that doesn’t feel very good.

When your provider is looking at a computer the whole time you’re telling ’em what’s going on. AI is summarizing that and it can give you a, a full [00:29:00] detail of that conversation and that examination in about 30 seconds after you walk out the door and then the doctor can look and say, yep, yep, yep. I agree with this.

Yep. Put it in the medical record. And then you can go on my chart and read it and see it right after you leave the office. So that’s a win because it’s keeping doctors happier. Helps them balance that work-life balance. Maybe they get off at six o’clock that night rather than work until eight 30, so they stay in the profession longer.

So that’s a win.

Jonathan Breeden: Well that’s great. That’s great. Well, I’m hoping, I know it’s already solving problems ’cause it can crunch so much data and so I, I’m excited about what it can do in the medical thing and, and helping us get healthier. The last question we ask everybody on this podcast, what do you love most about Johnston County?

Tom Williams: I love the people of Johnston County. I love they’ve embraced me. I didn’t, wasn’t born in Johnston County. I was born right next door. But it’s the people that I get to work with every single day. And I see their passion. I see their love for this community when I’m walking the halls in the hospital.

And I love the stories. You know, we [00:30:00] talked, you talked a little bit in our last podcast, the difference between administration and patient care. I love walking in a patient room and having a, someone tell me, I had a great story. Gentleman told me he remembered when the first hospital was built in 1951 and he was a kid walking in front of it and he was like, here I am in the hospital.

And you know, we’ve added on. And our new Smithfield was built in 2010, but we still got the bones of that old buildings and talking to people that grew up there still there, we were giving them care. I’m talking to this older gentleman. He was a little kid walking in front of the hospital and remembered all that.

That’s what I love about Charleston County that connection.

Jonathan Breeden: And what’s y’all’s website?

Tom Williams: UNCHealthJohnston.org.

Jonathan Breeden: Alright, well that’s cool. Well, we’d like to thank Tom Williams for being our guest on this week’s episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast. As we mentioned earlier, please go back and listen to the previous episode we had with you a couple weeks ago. We talked about.

He was growing up in, in Bunn how he got into healthcare, his growth [00:31:00] through the, the ranks at Rex Hospital, coming and taking it over Johnston County, a Johnston, UNC Johnston Health, and the expansion of the Clayton Hospital that’s gonna be coming here in the next couple of years.

If you’d like this podcast, please give it a five star review down below. Tell us what you liked about it. If you have any guests you’d like us to bring on, be sure to reach out to us at social media at BreedenLaw.com or through any of our social media channels of The Best Johnston County Podcast. Until next time, I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden.

That’s the end of today’s episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.

If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.