EP431: How Accountability for Outcomes Works in the Real World With Kenny Cole, MD

Dr. Kenny Cole splits his time between seeing patients one day a week as a primary care internist and serving as system vice president for Ochsner Health, where he designs and develops new care models. Stacey Richter talks with him about what it actually takes to make accountability for outcomes real in a clinical setting — measurable results, care flows that clinicians actually follow, and trust that patients can feel.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why clinical teams have to be accountable for outcomes that are actually measurable — not just asked to "deliver good care" in the abstract

✅ Why clinical teams need to see with their own two eyes and believe that a clinical goal is achievable before they'll genuinely commit to it

✅ What a care flow is, and why getting everyone aligned on what best-practice care looks like — and operationalizing how to achieve it — matters as much as the goal itself

✅ Why building trust and connecting with patients isn't a soft nice-to-have, but something a standardized care flow has to be built to support

✅ Why aligning clinical pathways with financial viability is the real challenge for any practice or health system trying to pull away from the status quo

WHY THIS MATTERS

Accountability for outcomes sounds simple until someone tries to operationalize it inside a clinic. Dr. Cole's four points — measurable and accountable outcomes, clinical teams who believe a goal is achievable, care flows that operationalize best practice, and patient trust — aren't independent checkboxes; they're sequential dependencies. A clinical team won't commit to a goal it doesn't believe is possible, and a care flow patients don't trust won't produce the outcomes it was built to standardize. For anyone building, selling to, or working inside a health system trying to reinvent its business model, this is a working blueprint for how clinical excellence and financial viability actually get reconciled in practice — not on a strategy whiteboard.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

EP412 with Robert Pearl, MD: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Other Apps

EP315 with Bob Matthews: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Other Apps

EP242 with Marty Makary, MD: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Other Apps

EP427 with Rik Renard: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Other Apps

EP415 with Rob Andrews: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Other Apps

EP391 with Scott Conard, MD: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Other Apps

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

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00:00 Introduction.

07:38 Is there an optimal care pathway where there might be a lot of treatment variability?

11:01 Why doesn't Dr. Cole like the terms "noncompliant" and "nonadherent"?

11:45 EP412 with Robert Pearl, MD.

13:50 Why is it important to start with the end in mind?

17:20 How do you scale clinical excellence?

20:21 EP315 with Bob Matthews.

21:15 EP242 with Marty Makary, MD.

23:49 Why is it important simply to demonstrate what's possible for better health outcomes?

24:58 EP427 with Rik Renard.

26:10 How do we reinvent the business model of healthcare?

27:50 EP415 with Rob Andrews.

30:06 EP391 with Scott Conard, MD.

38:37 Dr. Cole is published in various healthcare journals; check out his most recent article.