Women Of The C-Suite: Nicole Faucher On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive
Asa part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, we had the pleasure of interviewing Nicole Faucher.
As the president of Clearway Health, Nicole Faucher, brings more than 20 years of broad healthcare leadership experience including direct patient care, operations, healthcare IT and serving hospital and healthcare systems through strategic planning, financial performance, business development and growth.
Since joining Clearway Health in 2021, Faucher has overseen the strategy and maturation of the company, a specialty pharmacy services company partnering with hospitals and health systems across the country. From rural and community-based hospitals to large academic, children’s and specialty hospitals, the program helps to improve specialty medication access, patient outcomes, health equity and revenue potential so that health systems can better serve vulnerable patients and families within their communities.
Faucher provides day-to-day leadership for Clearway Health’s executive team and is responsible for the company’s strategic plan, financial performance, technology delivery, operations, market expansion and client development. She is an advocate for an inclusive and authentic workplace culture and is passionate about staying close to the patient experience.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Coming from a small town, my view of a career path at a young age was limited. I envisioned a career in medicine as aspirational, one that had purpose and “mattered.” I headed in the direction of medical school, and while ultimately that was not my path, I knew very early on my career would be in healthcare.
My first job out of graduate school was in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation at a hospital in Atlanta. I had the opportunity to interact with patients one-on-one in a post-acute setting in ways that were life changing for them, and it had a profound impact on me.
From there, I worked for a start-up focused on enabling and delivering consumer-driven healthcare. This was early 2000s and the idea that patients could drive their own healthcare choices was exciting and novel. During my tenure as the executive director, I had a chance to experience the business of healthcare, including its opportunities, challenges and its resistance to change.
The following steps in my career lead me to executive positions in radiology and healthcare IT organizations. Although very different, these roles were focused on helping to change the delivery of healthcare and advance the accuracy and safety of services delivered. In both companies, I found it fascinating to see what drives health system strategies, where friction exists and how technology contributes to the healthcare experience.
Despite exciting work and personally important accomplishments, I missed being closer to patients and knowing the impact our services have on their experience. My role as president of Clearway Health fulfills my desire to directly reduce the friction and burden for patients and providers. Combining the mission and purpose of Boston Medical Center Health System, their approach to specialty pharmacy development and their desire to bring our services to a national market, was, and is still very exciting to me. It’s unusual for a safety-net hospital to commercialize at a national level, not because of a lack of innovation, but because they innovate under different financial conditions than a for-profit or non-safety-net hospital. While not a pharmacist by background, my practice in direct patient care, start-up environments and experience across various healthcare settings and service lines has influenced the strategy at Clearway Health, and reinforced the importance of the patient experience.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
We have completely changed the dynamic related to what people expect in a healthcare setting. Patients today expect slow processes, friction and lack of clarity in navigating the healthcare system. Clearway Health disrupted the sludge and obstacles in specialty pharmacy by delivering friction-free systems and supporting a high-touch environment enabled by technology. We have found our health system partners experience improved outcomes, reduced burden for patients and providers and are financially growing. Having the ability to materially improve all three is unusual. Usually such opportunity can put one of these outcomes at risk. We are disruptors because we change this story. The story is you can lead putting people first with technology in a supporting role. You can change clinical outcomes. You can reduce administrative burden. And you can do so in a way that is financially profitable. That is a shift. Usually we are asking how do we do more with less or do more, pay more.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Sometimes even the most obvious decisions or actions require taking a moment to slow down to ensure you have the full picture. A funny work memory where this fits is when we decided to participate in a live radio broadcast to promote our business (consumer-driven healthcare services). We had done some previous work with professional sports organizations such as PGA and NFLPA, so sports talk radio seemed like a natural fit for the broadcast. While we anticipated the segment would help with advertising and build awareness for our company, we were not prepared for amount of interest from the audience. It was fantastic and much more successful than we expected. Our team at the facility could not easily handle the number of calls, questions and appointments from people who had listened to our segment. We had a great pitch but needed a stronger plan for the catch.
All things considered it was an incredible day for the company, but I definitely learned the value that even small bets require strong execution plans. Although I am very numbers and analytically minded, I tend to want to act quickly. Taking a moment to ensure that we will create the best experience and outcome for employees and customers is critical.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
There was a time during my career where I was concerned I would miss key opportunities because I did not go to business school, and I was considering pursuing an MBA. My CEO and mentor who was instrumental in expanding my view of business and healthcare, told me I had already demonstrated capabilities and understanding of an MBA through my career experiences and responsibilities. It’s easy to think you need to have the boxes checked — mentors are most valuable when they help you see what you can’t and recognize your value.
Another mentor helped me understand the importance of speaking up in the workplace. I’m more introverted by nature, and there was a time I would say a lot less, and would be more reserved. I remember someone distinctly saying, “Share your thoughts more. You don’t have to wait until you have all the perfect words or space to speak.” People need to hear that more — and not wait for the space or permission to share their ideas or insights.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
We do tend to see the label of disruptor applied as a badge of honor or to describe hyper success in an industry that has been stagnant. But disruption isn’t inherently positive or innovative. The impact of disruption can vary significantly and can be positive or negative.
The hottest disruptor today is AI. It is showing up everywhere with promises to change our lives. We are both enthralled and terrified by its capabilities. All innovative disruptors possess the ability to have positive and negative impact. In the case of AI, there is no question that automating routine queries, compiling insights from large data sets, and reducing errors is an advantage to the time-consuming nature of these tasks. However, three known risks include privacy, algorithm bias and compliance. A number of organizations have raised these concerns and have assembled experts across industries to ensure we have accountability and oversight to manage the known risks and to identify any others.
Companies that “withstand the test of time” demonstrate enduring value, stability and meet the needs of customers by adapting and innovating on a large scale over time. I think well-known companies such as Coca-Cola, P&G and Disney fall into this category. Each of these have successfully adapted to market changes through innovation.
Disruption can drive progress and innovation, but it must be approached thoughtfully and responsibly. Positive disruption enhances and improves systems, while negative disruption can lead to instability and inequity. Recognizing these nuances allows us to foster beneficial change while reducing potential downside.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey?
- Accept Help — The importance of not only asking for help, but accepting help. Whether help is being offered or accepted, an individual’s ability to multiply the impact, not just the immediate result, but the long-term impact of the help has the potential to amplify success on a broader scale. Asking for help brings more people together, strengthens the outcome and creates proud teams.
- Trust in Delegation — If we equate advice to conversations that helped us grow, the most important discussion I ever had, was a difficult one. It required acknowledging the “help” I thought I was providing a direct report was in fact conveying a lack of confidence or trust. A candid conversation was an eye opener about trust and delegation. Being supportive is vastly different than helping. By providing resources, removing obstacles, and being a sounding board for ideas, our relationships and leadership dynamic change for the better. Sometimes we call this empowerment, but it boils down to demonstrating we trust and believe in people and their abilities. It was a pivotal time of self-reflection for me as a leader and one I think about regularly.
- Extraordinary things are not accomplished through ordinary actions — If your goal is to be extraordinary, disruptive and innovative, as a person or organization, than you have to be extraordinary in your efforts. Remarkable accomplishments, discoveries and innovations are realized after the most difficult times, when most people give up or lose focus. The advice to keep persevering has shown up many times in my professional journey. Closing the company’s largest deal in its history, within a business unit, in the middle of a pandemic was the result of finding a way during a challenging time. Ordinary actions or accepted practices would have delivered zero results; instead we created a milestone.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Healthcare is full of pockets of fragmentation, friction and unnecessary obstacles for patients. Specialty pharmacy, for example, is a fragmented experience dictated by the manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers and payors.
Oftentimes, we create hoops disguised as efficiencies in healthcare, but in reality it’s not making the process better or easier for anyone — patients nor providers. In pharmacy, one of the largest growing segments in healthcare, we see a distinct opportunity to completely change the patient experience. I believe we have the ability with our high-touch services and proprietary technology to modernize the pharmacy experience for patients and providers.
I want to bring about real change in healthcare. Knowing the average patients sees their pharmacist at least 12x more per year than their doctor — we are focused on pharmacy. Our goal is to be intentional in truly changing the experience for all patients.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Women face numerous challenges when attempting to disrupt any industry. Our ingenuity often receives less acknowledgment compared to our male counterparts. Women frequently find themselves needing to excessively justify the value of their ideas in the market. Additionally, reports show that female innovators receive significantly less funding from VC investors than their male peers. As a result, the true extent of women’s innovation and disruptive potential remains underappreciated and unnoticed. I have been fortunate to have mentors and supporters who have helped me navigate and overcome gender bias in the workplace. Although progress is slower than we would like, we do see positive changes and remain optimistic.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
These are my four favorite business books.
- “Becoming a Category of One” by Joe Calloway is one of my favorite books because it reinforces the value of exceptional experiences for your customers. By knowing your customers better than anyone else and connecting with them better than anyone else you can transcend even the most commoditized industries. The book reinforces the importance of promoting a culture of doing what you say you are going to do, delivering with excellence and putting the customer first. “Becoming a Category of One” has had an impact on me for over a decade, and I think it’s one that will always apply to successful businesses.
- “Only the Paranoid Survive” by Andy Grove underscores how every company and industry will experience “strategic inflection points” — where fundamentals of a business change and ordinary rules of business go out the window. “Only the Paranoid Survive” is Intel’s story of emerging stronger despite changing rules and experiencing unchartered territories. Ultimately, “you can be the subject of a strategic inflection point, but you can also be the cause of one.”
- “Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable” by Tim Grover is a trainer and coach to some of our most adored and celebrated professional athletes. In professional sports and in business, there is a giant gap between people who were willing to practice, train and prepare at elite (and often exhausting) levels and those that are not willing. This elite ability is often the difference between good, great and unstoppable. Reading about the relentless mentality in the book is inspiring and a good reminder that “whatever drives you, let it take you where you want to be.”
- “Necessary Endings” by Dr. Henry Cloud highlights that if we cannot see endings in a positive light and execute them well, we may never see the “better” in business growth or our personal lives. Whether it’s a change in service line, change in talent, or a change in direction — knowing how or when to let go when something isn’t working is essential for happiness and success.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Health inequities impact every community in our country; disproportionately more in some neighborhoods than others. For instance, in Chicago the difference of a few miles means a shorter life expectancy by as many as 14 years. Removing disparities in healthcare and resolving the inequities driven by the social determinants of health is not only good for individuals and families, but also for our communities. When people are diagnosed with a life changing illness and are prescribed an expensive, complex specialty medication, they face significant challenges navigating, affording and understanding their care. I am passionate that no person or family should have to choose between paying for medication or other personal needs like housing and food. And yet, this happens every day. Providing high-touch patient services and protecting regulations such as the 340B Prescription Drug Program are examples of our commitment to help ensure that underserved patients receive the treatment they need to be well and live their best life.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
A favorite quote is “Don’t confuse priority with urgency. Urgency is a virtue lost on many.” I used to confuse and conflate priority and urgency. Priority is relative and therefore, the act of prioritizing is never a completed task. For a procrastinator (like me), this is exhausting. And it meant nothing was urgent. Until it was. Changing my behaviors and watching how others manage their time and effectiveness opened my eyes to the challenge of confusing priority and urgency.
For instance, in any given moment a prioritized list is as filled with unimportant tasks as it is outdated — that is to say how we tend to organize our “to do” list actually creates the urgent work or fire drill situations we all deplore. Prioritized lists should not be exhaustive but rather only represent the important actions necessary to support and achieve the most important goals — in the period of time being reviewed (day, month, quarter, etc.).
Labeling some work as urgent, “high importance near-term deadline” priority, can help avoid future fire drills and ensure all individuals involved or impacted by the action are clear on the expectations.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-faucher-ms-3b1944/