Interview Michele Chulick Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: Michele, thank you very much for taking the time. It's great to spend more time with you. We spend a lot of time together but I really enjoy very much having the chance to interview you. So maybe to start why don't you tell us a little bit about the way you grew up? The kind of context where you became Michele Chulick and how you chose your career and what were the factors that drove you to be the way you are? Michele Chulick: So I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. And I'm an only child. Does that surprise you? Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: A little bit actually. Michele Chulick: I had an absolutely wonderful childhood. I had incredible parents. And an incredible childhood where quite frankly- you know most only children feel that they're in some respects very spoiled, I just feel very blessed. My father and mother both worked. My mother was not a stay-at-home mom which is probably why I'm not a stay-at-home mom. Maybe also because of my personality I'm not a stay-at-home mom. But they were wonderful, great values, just great parents. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: What did they do? Michele Chulick: My dad was an engineer. He worked for Republic Steel. He designed safety equipment and my mom was a nurse. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: Fascinating. So how did it work? So you grew up, you went to school in Cleveland? Michele Chulick: I went to school in Cleveland and then went to college at Duke. I always loved math and science and looked for a career that would allow me to sort of use math and science. I had an undergraduate degree in nursing from Duke but as soon as I graduated from Duke I knew I wasn't going into nursing. It was a great education. My education at Duke was very much book based, not 1
practice based. There wasn't too much practicality to it. So as soon as I graduated I applied for my MBA and started my MBA at Case Western Reserve University. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: So that's how you got to Detroit? Michele Chulick: Yes. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: Okay. Michele Chulick: First I went to Case Western Reserve, met my husband Ian in Cleveland and took only one class at Case. We got married, we moved to Detroit and that's when I went to Wayne State and finished my MBA at night while I worked. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: So then you go to Detroit. Michele Chulick: Went to Detroit and I did consulting for what is now KPMG but at the time was Peat Marwick. I did health care financial consulting. I had two kids while I worked for KPMG, and really couldn't travel much with two children. Traveling was just full time. Ian's career was accelerating at that point and he was working many long hours. I just decided I can't do this traveling anymore. I called up a friend that I knew at Beaumont and said you know I'm really looking for a position that I don't have to travel and could be home a little bit more. And so I accepted a position in their Management Engineering Department. And that's how I started at Beaumont and was there for 22 years. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: So that was really just almost right out of school. Michele Chulick: No, because I had had the kids. So I worked for KPMG for quite a while. I worked for them for almost six years and did consulting and Ian and I were married seven years before we had kids. I had worked for a while and just decided I couldn't travel anymore and the kids needed their mom at home instead of the nanny. 2
Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: How did you like the medical environment at that point in your career? Michele Chulick: Oh it was fascinating. When you do consulting you go to different hospitals, different environments. I did CONs, I did financial feasibility studies, I did operational improvement studies. It was fascinating. I saw lots of different ways to care for patients. I saw the good, the bad and the ugly. And you know you take a little bit away from each of those experiences. And you always try to utilize the best of what you've seen in that next career or next environment that you work in. It was fabulous. I enjoyed it. It was probably one of the best things I could have done to accelerate my career. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: You're right that looking at the different experiences and the mistakes and the successes and take that as lessons, it's phenomenal. Michele Chulick: You think about people who are in their career for 20, 25, 30 years and they've worked at the same place the entire time. They don't see the rest of the working world. They don't understand how different it can be. They don't understand the variety that can exist. I think at some point in time people begin to be so jaded in terms of the environment that they're in; they think that is the only way it can be. And so having done consulting at a very early age, because I was in my mid 20s to early 30s it gave me a great background to understand that there's more than one way to do something. You always look to maximize the opportunity. So it was a great experience. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: I always felt that doing consulting was a bit like grandparenting children versus being the parent. Where you can actually go home, right? Home isn't right there with your kids. So how easy was the transition for you from providing advice to being in charge? Michele Chulick: The Management Engineering Department at Beaumont was really almost like a consulting department because it was project based. So many departments called up and said I need this 3
staffing study or we need to look at how we can reduce transfers or we need to add on to the hospital and we need somebody to do a work flow study. We did simulation back in the late 80s. One of the projects I worked was a simulation project that focused on a reduced transfer model. We were looking to reduce the length of stay for ICU patients by potentially combining ICUs and the step down unit. So we simulated it. The management engineers were internal consultants. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: Then you went to a different level right? Michele Chulick: I did. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: Where you took charge for something much larger? Michele Chulick: Yes. One of the advantages of working in Management Engineering was that you got to know a lot of people throughout the health system. And there was a chief operating officer at the Troy facility who called me up one day and said that Beaumont had a management contract at a small hospital in Livonia. That facility was losing 5 to 6 million dollars a year. They contacted us to manage the facility and get them into a profitability situation. He asked me if I would be interested in being the chief operating officer for this particular facility. I grabbed the opportunity and we were there for five years. Actually I hired Jackie (Liberto) to be part of the team in this turnaround. I have known her since she was 18. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: That's where you met? I didn't know that you actually met her that early in her career. That's great. Michele Chulick: She was in a work co-op program for college. So she would go to school for three months and then she'd come to work with us for three months in management engineering. So anyway I took Jackie along with me out to St. Mary's in Livonia for five years. When the facility was sold to Trinity, our contract ended and we were booted out and back to the mother ship, back to the Beaumont 4
Health System. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: And then what was the next opportunity? Michele Chulick: Then I was picked to head up the implementation of the Oracle ERP. I had no formal IT background, none, zero. I am not an IT person, didn't have any IT training in any way, shape or form. But the focus was process improvement. And we were looking at implementing the Oracle ERP replacing legacy systems very similar to what we're going to do here in Miami. Replace those legacy systems and in the process improve and change the current processes to make them more efficient. We redesigned over 300 processes between the financial systems, between the inventory, between the supply chain and human resources and put a new payroll system in at the same time. Jackie was part of our core implementation team. It is where Jackie and I met Mark Ziemianski. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: Unbelievable. Michele Chulick: So I did that for about three and a half years. Actually finished the implementation of the ERP and had it fine tuned. Then corporate asked whether I would take over the supply chain for the corporation because I had implemented the supply chain modules as part of the ERP. I took over the supply chain, then added the OR then added the perioperative, and other departments and then before I left was the vice president of operations for the Royal Oak facility, a position I held for several years before I came to Miami. So I have a really, really varied background. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: But that's great because it's very palpable for those who work with you. You have phenomenal experience, and also a very natural sense of a good operation. I mean that s your- Michele Chulick: It's my background. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: It's really your modus operandi. One thing that's really very 5
interesting is that you also have a natural ability to integrate what you work with. Sometimes I wonder, where is that coming from? The fact that you can look at this system and then very rapidly study ways to connect things so that it is well wired. Here at UHealth, UM you're in charge of all the hospitals, the clinics, etc. And the first time you looked at it I mean it looks like somebody had thrown dice on the table and you kind of very quickly put a structure into it and things were really making sense. Where does that integration sense come from? Michele Chulick: I think I'm just a very analytical person. Maybe it's my type A personality. Maybe it's the structure that I need in my life and I need the same structure in my work environment. I'm not sure. I think people are either gifted with analytics or they're not. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: But I think you're very structured. Michele Chulick: I am very structured. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: I think you're feeling comfortable with developing structure to whatever complexity you have to be exposed to. But along the way you had a family and everything. So how did that work out through that really stellar career? Michele Chulick: Ian and I have two wonderful children. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: I know them. I agree with that. Michele Chulick: Again, I am very fortunate to have my best friend be as supportive as he is. He's incredibly supportive. And you can't have two careers like we have and have two children and not be supportive of each other. And he is wonderfully supportive. Our children adapt really well. Dean Pascal Goldschmidt, M.D.: So you balanced your life with the support of Ian, etc. and things worked out very well. Michele Chulick: Your children learn to adapt. They grew up with au pairs in the house which was 6
always another wild experience. But you know they laugh about it now. It was just the way it was. We are incredibly close. Every Friday night was date night. Date night because the four of us, the two kids, Ian and I went out for a date. And one Friday night Blair chose what we wanted to do, the next Friday night it was Tod's (Todd?) choice. Nothing could get in the way of Friday night date nights, sacred time. Sunday dinners were sacred time for the kids. And they understood that life was going to be crazy and sometimes mom was going to be home late, sometimes dad was going to be home late, but they grew up adapting. And I actually think they're better kids for it to be honest with you. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: They're wonderful kids and you've done a superb job. As you have with everything that you've done in your life. Michele Chulick: Oh I don't know about that. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: So tell us about Miami. You really have created something very special with the way you have put the health system together and again wired the hospitals, the clinics, work with the faculty, the rest of the leadership.- Michele Chulick: There's a lot of work yet left to do. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: I know but how do you feel about that experience? Michele Chulick: I came to Miami because it was a challenge. After 22 years of working at the same place I told you I think people begin to think that's the only way. And I needed a challenge in my career. I needed to build. I'm a builder. People know if they're builders or not. People know if they're risk takers. I'm a builder, I'm a risk taker and I wanted a challenge. It was a point in my career where the kids were off in college, Ian's incredibly supportive as I told you and he said let's go. It's an adventure. Thank goodness he didn't have to change law firms. His firm had an office here in Florida so it was an easier transition for him. He would never say it was easy because he had to take the Florida 7
Bar. There's no reciprocity in the legal community between Michigan and Florida, so he studied for six months to take the Florida Bar and was very successful in passing but has told me that he's never going to take another bar again. That was it. There is no more. This was enough. So we came here as an adventure and as an opportunity to grow. I guess I never thought I'd really have to work this hard or these long hours at this stage in my career but it is incredibly rewarding. And I don't think you work long hours or deal with the pressure or stress that we deal with unless you feel that the rewards- the changes that have taken place in the four years I think are pretty dramatic. The culture change is really now just taking hold from a foundational perspective. I consider every one of us who have come here within the last four to five years as true change agents because that's truly what we are. And you have to sort of take the good, bad and the ugly if you're a change agent. So there are people who aren't going to want to change so they're going to be ugly. There are people who change and they accept and they flourish and that's the good. The bad happens when people just resist the change and unfortunately they fight the change. So it's been a wonderful, wonderful opportunity and experience and the positive atmosphere, the improvement in patient care, the changes that we've made for the community for South Florida, for people who know that there is outstanding health care available is the reward. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: No I agree. There's something very special about you. Of course the intelligence, the ability to integrate, to analyze, to use your formidable toolbox to find solutions for everything. All that is really just beautiful to see in action. But the one thing that is really almost a surprise to me is that I've never seen someone who was able to concentrate energy the way you do. You come across as a very pleasant, kind, gentle individual but then it doesn't take long to realize there is a ton of energy. And it's interesting because it's as if you had been able to reduce the size of electrons. I mean in the way that you have more energy per unit of whatever time, space, it's pretty fascinating and 8
I don't know where that comes from. Michele Chulick: Me neither. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: It must come from your parents. Michele Chulick: I know what it is. I'm a mom, a wife, I work, I volunteer. Maybe it's all of those multitasking years that help you develop the skills to do that. I don't know. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: But there's also the fact that you're almost super human in a way that you have that ability to really energize an entire world around you that without you would not have the same opportunity to move forward. It's as simple as that. I can't define it better. It is as if the years that you accumulated that energy have served you so well because it allows you to deliver in a way that I have not known people who could deliver that way. So I think that you are a superb leader that we're so lucky to have you here. From time to time I take the opportunity to tell you that on behalf of the University of Miami, the Miller School of Medicine and UHealth-University of Miami Health System, I thank you for what you do. Michele Chulick: You know what, thank you. I wouldn't be here without you being here, to be honest. Bill O Neill is the one who recruited me. You and Bill Donelan were really the ones to convince me. We have leaders who have a vision. You have a vision. We are just here to help you achieve that vision. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: No, you are much smarter, trust me. Michele Chulick: No, no, no, no, no. There is a wealth of knowledge in your executive team and I think every single one of us sit there because of the vision that you have and the leadership that you have provided for the School of Medicine. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: I'm the luckiest person in the world to be working with a woman 9
like you. Michele Chulick: No. You know what I think we're all very lucky. We're all very lucky. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: And I hope that we're going to keep this team for a long, long, long time. Because it's still good. Michele Chulick: It is a good team. We're all strong personalities. I think in the last several months many of those personalities are learning to play nicer with each other. And I think that as we move forward we can no longer disagree with each other. We have to really collaborate because otherwise we aren't any better than our competition. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: Well you know there are only so many resources and we have to spend all of our resources to make sure we help each other. But the passion that there is in you for doing the right thing for the patient, creating the systems that need to be there to be successful and to deliver the goods is just fantastic. Michele Chulick: You know one of the best parts of my week, I have to be really honest with you is rounding with you. And it's not just the time that I can slide little words in when I have you alone. It's really the expression on the faces of the people that we meet. Yesterday when we gave Jackie (Cereijo) that fire starter pin I actually had a tear in my eye. I mean she was incredibly touched and the staff was incredibly touched. And that's what makes it rewarding. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: All these other people that are making a difference. Michele Chulick: Absolutely. Unless you go out and you really meet the people who support the mission, who support the services that we provide, I don't think we really understand our business. And it's a business. It's exactly that and it's going down on the shop floor to shake the hands of the people who put the widgets together. It's going out there shaking the hands of the people who touch our 10
patients. And the expression on their faces, the joy that they get is really the best part of my week. And I'm sorry I just don't have more time to do that. I really am. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.: But you're on the other vision. That's really the bottom line, the other vision. That's exactly what we want and what we need and it's just beautiful to see it in action. I agree with you. Thank you for spending time with me. Michele Chulick: Thank you. It was a pleasure. 11