Women Veterinary Leaders Matter
One of my goals with this blog is to encourage women to be both owners and leaders within the veterinary profession. My first blog was Why Women Should Own Veterinary Hospitals. I’ve also profiled several women veterinary practice owners to share stories of how you can have both financial success as a veterinarian and find work life harmony. Today, I am excited to share my interview with another woman veterinary practice owner and leader, Linda Lehmkuhl.
An Interview with Linda Lehmkuhl, DVM DACVIM (Cardiology), CEO of MedVet
In 2018, I published a blog called Faces of Veterinary Medicine. This pictorial blog showed that despite 80% female veterinary graduates, the CEOs of the largest veterinary groups were all male. Of the thirteen CEOs pictured, only 3 are veterinarians. There are now two CEOs that are female (out of 29 consolidators that list a CEO and control more than 15 hospitals). One of those is happily also a veterinarian, Linda Lehmkuhl, DVM DACVIM (Cardiology). Dr. Lehmkuhl became the CEO of MedVet in July. Recently, I spoke with her about her professional journey and her thoughts about our changing profession.
Dr. Lehmkuhl is a graduate of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She stayed at OSU for her internship and cardiology residency. After her training, she joined the faculty as an assistant professor of cardiology and worked there for the next 6 years.
In 2000, Dr. Lehmkuhl left OSU and joined MedVet as a staff cardiologist. At that time, the hospital’s ownership was departmental and she eventually purchased the cardiology practice. As the practices evolved and came together as one hospital, she slowly transitioned into larger leadership roles and has most recently served as CMO (chief medical officer). She started the transition to CEO in January and took on the role full time in July.
Here are some of Dr. Lehmkuhl’s thoughts and perspectives from our interview.
Can you tell me more about your journey to becoming CEO of MedVet?
MedVet turned 30 in November and I have been with the organization for 19 of those years so I am a “homegrown” CEO. I’ve been part of the decisions as we moved from a model of siloed specialty departments into an integrated hospital approach. Our succession plan was thoughtful and executed smoothly over the last 2 years. I was lucky enough to have great mentorship from Dr. Eric Schertel (former CEO of MedVet) and also an outside of the industry CEO coach.
When I think about my career journey, I think about the evolution in my primary focus. For most of us in veterinary school, the initial focus is on the pet. As you move into clinical practice, the focus switches to an understanding that you have to gain trust from the client to provide good care. As a specialist in private practice, I realized that the best care for the pet and client would come when I had a good working relationship with the referral community. In leadership, my primary concern is now for our team. If we take good care of our teams, they will take excellent care of the referring veterinarians, clients and patients.
What do you think are some of the biggest challenges facing our profession?
I am currently focused on four main challenges. The first is veterinary healthcare team well-being. The crisis in well-being is a huge one. It is influenced by the debt level of veterinarians, compassion fatigue, and the difficulty in finding and maintaining work/life harmony. This is an area we are putting a lot of effort into at MedVet.
The second challenge is how to better serve underserved communities given the shortage of the veterinarians and team members we need. Our focus at MedVet is specifically on emergency and specialty care. Although there are many more specialists than in the past, we still have multiple week wait times and long distances to travel for many people to have their pet seen by the appropriate specialist. We are not doing as well as we would like if it takes over a month to get in to see a cardiologist or if there is not one within a reasonable drive distance.
The third issue is how to retain a veterinarian led and owned profession given the changes in the industry. MedVet is committed to veterinary leadership and ownership as we believe the best future for healthcare is in the hands of veterinarians I worry about what will happen to priorities in our profession if veterinarians are not in control.
The last issue is how to proactively approach the rise in 3rd party payment from veterinary insurance companies. While insurance is great to help owners pay for care, I think we need to be proactive on the potential impacts to our profession. Third party payment dramatically changed the landscape for physicians. How do we make sure within veterinary medicine that veterinarians keep control over medical recommendations and treatments rather than a situation where things are only done if insurance deems them acceptable?
What are your thoughts on solutions to these issues?
Well-being
MedVet has taken an organizational approach to the issue of well-being. We are approaching the issue by realizing that the problem has workplace issues, financial issues, and those that are more personal including both mental and physical components. Studies in the human medical field show that inefficiencies, especially as they relate to the medical record system, can be a huge source of frustration. We are devoting people and resources to help veterinarians fix these inefficiencies and streamline their days. In addition, we are concentrating on developing great servant leaders in our practices and giving them training in areas such as crucial conversations and change management.
We are looking at what is the best way to help with debt while at the same time being committed to financial success for veterinarians and our leaders through equity in our business. On a personal side, we are providing organization-wide training and support in areas such as compassion fatigue, QPR for suidicide prevention and mindfulness. We are trying to build a culture that includes more gratitude and celebration of our successes.
Better Serving Communities
I believe our specialty colleges are not training the number of veterinary specialists we need to serve clients and pets well. Despite an increase in demand for specialty care, the number of residencies in many disciplines has not increased. MedVet has an active training program and we are working to continue to build it. Our well-being initiatives are important for retention. In addition, we are also actively using a professional fulfillment survey annually for our doctors to identify ways to increase engagement and retention within the profession.
Veterinary leadership and ownership
MedVet has made a commitment to veterinarian leadership and ownership within our organization. We are majority veterinarian owned with 161 shareholders, 90% of whom are veterinarians. Our outside capital investors provide helpful financing and board contribution through board observer roles but our organization’s leadership is through our leadership team and healthcare steering committee. We are actively training leaders within our hospitals and at the regional level so we have strong succession for the future.
Veterinary Insurance
We need to start an active conversation on 3rd party payment. I am hoping we can look at forming an industry task force to better formulate a plan. Insurance can be lifesaving for pets. However, we need to think about data usage and who keeps control.
What advice do you have for women looking to be in leadership within the veterinary profession?
My first piece of advice is SAY YES. I think it is a mistake when women, even before they have kids, decide that taking on a leadership role will be too much. You can’t predict what your life is going to be like in 5 years and jumping at opportunities when they arise is important. I have 3 kids (now adults) and while it can sometimes be hard, you can figure it out and it does work. One thing I strongly believe is that being a parent has made me a better leader and that being a leader in my practice also made me a better parent. When your commitment is to helping grow a team, the skills you need are similar.
**Note from Beth: For more on women saying yes to leadership, check out this TED talk.
Secondly, be an owner. I know of several women who have spent years growing their specialty service but then the practice gets sold at a price that values their service but they do not share in that sale. It is important to ask for this ownership when you are looking at jobs.
The last advice is that when you become a leader, be a servant leader. If you value and prioritize your team, everything else will follow.
What is MedVet doing specifically and what recommendations do you have for other veterinary organizations to support women’s voices?
I am proud of where we are at MedVet. Four of our 9 C-suite members and 60% of our healthcare steering committee are women. I think you support women’s voices and women’s leadership when you create a culture where all team voices are heard and when you act and provide feedback on suggestions. We are actively training new local leaders in our hospitals to help hear these voices. In additon, we are working to create a culture where we actively ask for input in many ways. We have monthly doctor and department meetings in our hospitals. The goal is that no more than 30% of the agenda is set by the leadership team so that the issues discussed are those most important to the team.
We also have an employee engagement survey and we actively respond to the suggestions made. People stop talking if they don’t see action with their suggestions. That doesn’t mean you can change everything. However, acknowledging that someone has been heard and then, if you can’t change, explaining why, can make a big difference.
Any other last words?
The veterinary medical profession is really unbelievable. I’m excited for MedVet’s future and being able to contribute to this profession and to support our healthcare team in this new role.
