Erik Summers, MD, chief medical officer of MUSC Health’s division in Charleston, S.C., is focused on strengthening patient flow and empowering frontline teams.
He joined the Charleston-based health system in October 2024 after nearly 15 years as CMO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., where he spearheaded efforts to improve capacity and patient throughput.
In a broader conversation about improving the discharge process, Dr. Summer said one of his first priorities at MUSC Health was getting to know the team at the system’s Admit-Transfer Center, or ATC.
“I want to know what they’re thinking. I want to know how they make moves. I want to know what they prioritize,” Dr. Summers said. “They’re a behind-the-scenes critical key piece to discharge, throughput, access — the whole nine yards.”
A longtime advocate for care coordination and case management teams, Dr. Summers identified a pressing issue: Some physicians were asking the ATC to bypass standard procedures to accommodate specific requests.
Dr. Summers worked to stop that.
“I had to let them know immediately — and as CMO, I do this in a lot of areas — here’s the deal. You got work to do. My job is to support you, and if anybody is inappropriate to you, if anybody’s trying to divert your process, you refer to me. I’ll take the heat. It is not on you. It is on me,” he said. “I’m here to make you stronger and make you as effective as you can be. And they [the ATC staff] needed that.”
Giving a speech is not enough; leaders need to fulfill their promises, Dr. Summers said.
When a physician called the ATC upset and sought to change the process, Dr. Summers spoke with him directly, listened to his perspective and explained the ATC’s role: to manage and prioritize transfers for the 18-hospital system.
MUSC Health is full of good people with good hearts, he said, and exercising emotional intelligence is essential for such conversations.
“If you don’t take the time to try to imagine someone’s perspective or understand where they’re coming from, then you’re going to lose,” he said. “I mean, it would have been very easy for me to scream at that doctor, ‘What are you doing? You’re a jerk.’ But that would create a rift for us, and that wouldn’t really solve the problem. Take the time to know where they’re coming from, listen to their concerns, give feedback [and] create a process that’s productive.”
Previously, the ATC would field calls directly from physicians requesting transfers. Now, the center uses a tiered system to prioritize cases and has updated its process for handling phone calls.
Hiring has gained momentum at the center, Dr. Summers said, and the changes have empowered the team.
“If you don’t value your people, if you don’t give them strength, they’re not going to be as effective as they can be,” he said. “And we need our transfer center to be strong.”
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