The Many Detours of the Yellow Brick Road with Dr. Abbey Vandersall || EP. 179

Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Abbey Vandersall, VP of Quality and Clinical Services at AMSURG. The path to medicine and quality began in …. the hospitality business. The “how did I get here” story for Dr. Vandersall is not your typical path. An early degree in nutrition is what turned her onto medicine. Seeing the graph of outcomes and the ties to nutrition was a light bulb moment. Management consulting at Bain was something she absolutely loved – using data, optimizing, business implications, and actually impacting outcomes. But her love for healthcare and innovation drew her back to medicine. Abbey describes the road to becoming a physician as The Yellow Brick Road – you know the path to get there. But her interests in operations and outcomes – were steps off that road. And while the path is not clear, the journey has been amazing! At AMSURG the largest network of ambulatory surgery centers, Abbey talks about the hard problems she faces every day. Improving clinical metrics and quality metrics across a multitude of factors is the focus every single day. She shines light on innovation and Patient Experience as critical to what she is driving in her work at AMSURG. What is Abbey’s True North? Being a supportive daughter, friend, family member. What does the future look like? The focus is innovation……and perhaps a few more detours off of the Yellow Brick Road. This Inspiring Women episode was recorded at the 2024 Nashville Sessions at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

About Dr. Vandersall:

Abbey Vandersall, M.D., M.S., is the Vice President, Quality and Clinical Services for AMSURG, one of the nation’s largest ambulatory surgery center operations in the delivery of essential, high-quality care to patients. Dr. Vandersall joined AMSURG from the Envision Medical Group team of Envision Healthcare, where she served as Chief of Staff to the President and Chief Medical Officer before being appointed as Vice President of Clinical Strategy and Head of Envision’s Clinician Value Institute. In her role as VP, Clinical Strategy, Dr. Vandersall defined the organization’s near and long-term clinical strategies, translating them into tactical annual priorities, including designing and scaling innovative value-based care pilots, while simultaneously supporting ~25,000 clinicians in her role as Head of Clinician Value. Prior to her time at Envision, Dr. Vandersall worked at Bain & Company as a consultant where she supported business strategy for companies across multiple industries including healthcare, software and aerospace. Dr. Vandersall earned a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Biology and a Master of Science in Nutritional Biochemistry from Columbia University as well as a Doctor of Medicine from The Ohio State University College of Medicine.