Banner Estrella Medical Center

Eric Katz

Clinical Culture Shaper

Dr. Eric Katz is a dual-boarded physician executive and the CMO of Banner Estrella Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. With over 20 years of experience, he is dedicated to safety, process improvement, wellness, and mentoring. He has been a Fellow of FACEP and FAAEM, he holds an MBA from the University of Arizona and earned his MD from Yeshiva University. Dr. Katz has led various medical institutions, published numerous articles, and delivered over 300 presentations.

As the Chief Medical Officer at Banner Health, what are some of your key roles and responsibilities that you have on a daily basis?

As a Chief Medical Officer, I am responsible for overseeing and managing all aspects of medical care, ensuring quality and safety standards are met. I provide leadership and guidance to our medical staff, develop, and implement medical policies, protocols, and strategies, and collaborate with other team members to improve patient outcomes and overall healthcare delivery at Banner Estrella.

CMOs must always look for new and innovative ways to stay ahead of the curve. Also, they must continue evaluating new technologies and platforms and experimenting with different marketing channels. Your views on this?

In my mind, great healthcare leaders are defined by their ability to inspire and empower those around them to achieve greatness while maintaining the culture, and by their unwavering dedication to improving patient care. To evaluate new technology and platforms, we must continue to ask questions and embrace a learning mindset.

 “In my mind, great leaders have three things in common— they ask many more questions than they answer, they understand the importance of their people, and keep their focus on the outcomes as well as the process.”

At Banner Estrella, we target being a great place to work, and a great place to receive care. I don’t believe it’s possible to have one without the other. It takes real effort to get them both, and it’s often the effort most worth making.

Rapid digital evolution makes it hard to keep your head above the surface of the deep digital ocean. Is adaptability vital for staying afloat?

One of the challenges today is to keep abreast of a rapidly changing environment. Technologic innovation is everywhere, and all of it has a value proposition. The ability to recognize the useful ideas, evaluate the fit, and integrate is what will help Banner stay ahead of the curve. Large language processors, remote patient management, and improved device technology must be met by growth and preparation of those who would use them. That could be for healthcare professionals, as well as those receiving care. This necessary adaptability is proving exceptionally difficult to control. But we’ll all get there.

What would be your piece of advice for your fellow peers and leaders?

The typical advice I’d give my peers is to be authentic, honest, and humble. Authentic means that your true personality, whatever it is, has to come to work with you. I deliberately use a lot of humour in every setting to break tension and stimulate ideas. I also bring a lot of passion which keeps the team, and me going strong.

My atypical advice is to celebrate failure. Everyone has potential. Fears get in the way. I want to create psychological safety by making it safe to try and fail. I encourage my teams to, “find ways to get to a yes.” If what they try doesn’t work, I just want them to own it, learn from it, adapt it, and try again. I’ll be behind them cheering them on, backing them up and celebrating their work.

All CMO’s are smart. All have been successful. And if we all continue to grow, our workforce and patients benefit. That makes it a cool gig!