By Stephi Cham | June 2023
“You can’t have the best patient experience without the best employee experience.”
— Tom Vernon, Houston Methodist Chief Experience Officer, CPAM Executive Sponsor
To Houston Methodist’s Chief Experience Officer Tom Vernon, it all comes down to purpose.
“I like to connect things to the business outcome of why you’re doing it,” Tom says. “Why are you developing it?” As Chief Experience Officer, he leads strategy for all aspects of the patient experience—which, to him, is more than focusing exclusively on our patients.
“You can’t have the best patient experience without the best employee experience,” Tom says. “I always looked at them collectively instead of two separate components, and it led to where I am today and the role here.”
Tom started his professional career as a registered nurse (RN), and his affinity for interpersonal connection drew him to expanded roles. He became a nurse recruiter, then ventured into nursing development, innovation, human resources and other organizational leadership roles. He spent 25 years enhancing the patient and employee experience at Cleveland Clinic and around the world before he came to Houston Methodist.
“I think to be in health care, most people have a calling,” Tom says. “We’re not the highest-paying profession. It’s not the easiest job in the world. It’s connecting to people and having a positive impact on their lives.”
Our patients are our priority, but health care professionals should also invest in their own wellbeing. Tom wants them to know: “You have permission, and you are obligated to care for yourself,” because the best patient outcomes are a result of employees living by the Houston Methodist I CARE values (integrity, compassion, accountability, respect and excellence) and “extending those values to themselves, those you work with, your friends, our communities and our patients. To me, they’re all equally important.”
Tom became CPAM’s executive sponsor just this year, and his focus on enhancing both patients’ and employees’ experiences aligns with CPAM’s mission: effectively translate the collaborative potential of arts and medicine to the health care environment. He supports CPAM employees and their arts integration and creative arts therapy programs.
Tom feels strongly about the creative arts, especially music. His own brain, Tom says, works “melodically and musically.”
“My connection is all about how people express themselves in music,” he says. “It has such a profound impact on the way I think and my outlook on life.” To support CPAM’s programming, bring the creative arts to more people and enhance employee well-being, Tom asks himself, “How do I become an enabler to help this team grow and to demonstrate their value in multiple ways?”
Ultimately, everything returns to purpose through business outcomes. Tom hopes to further promote the positive outcomes of CPAM’s work, foster their growth and show their linkages to the Houston Methodist Patient Experience.
“Because what CPAM is doing, what the Patient Experience teams are doing—we are so excited about all the ways we’re going to be able to help our organization: help each other, our patients, our communities and ourselves. It’s a perfect place to be right now.”
