Tracy Martinez began her healthcare career as a physical therapist, combining her love of teaching and her fascination with human anatomy.
Although she grew up wanting to be a teacher, her dream changed in high school.
“I realized I didn’t want to be a teacher in the traditional sense,” said Martinez, PT, M.S., HCA, recently named vice president at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Alliance. “I found a brochure about physical therapy and quickly realized it was a hands-on profession rooted in anatomy and science that would channel my passion for teaching into healing patients. I knew I’d found my career.”
After graduating from the UT Southwestern School of Allied Health Professions’ Physical Therapy program, Martinez began her career as a physical therapist 25 years ago at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital. She later moved to Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth as a director and earned her Master of Science in Healthcare Administration before landing at Texas Health Alliance in October 2015. She is responsible for hospital operations and direct leadership of the support and ancillary departments in her new role.
“I wanted to continue my learning and to understand the business aspects of healthcare operations,” she said. “As I changed roles, the constant has been my passion for learning and teaching.”
Martinez’s natural curiosity and people skills have helped the whole hospital, said Clint Abernathy, president, Texas Health Alliance.
“Tracy is a lighthouse on a hill for Texas Health Alliance,” he said. “Her leadership with her teams as well as her influence throughout the hospital are cherished by myself, her peers and the physicians on our medical staff. Tracy’s ability to be curious, lead culture and remain emotionally intelligent in all situations is a superpower for her and our organization.”
Read more about Martinez in her own words:
How do you spend your days at work?
The most impactful time is spent connecting with employees and leaders, finding ways to support them in getting the resources they need to best serve our patients. I can also be found working on our next construction project, leading a Surgical Council task force or, most recently, working as a scheduling business owner on the UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) Workforce Management project. I’ve been so grateful to assist in representing the support and ancillary departments’ needs in the new scheduling software.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
I love working with leaders to help solve departmental challenges. A complex hospital organization has a way of presenting daily scenarios that require rapid, multidisciplinary solutions that aim to achieve excellent clinical outcomes. I guess I equate it to solving a puzzle. I must listen and learn about topics I’ve never experienced and then try to help uncover solutions. It has taught me to ask a lot of questions to capture a broad range of perspectives or options, continue to be curious and support solutions that challenge the way things have always been done. I feel that my background in patient care helps me bring a clinical perspective to balance operations.
What’s your greatest challenge at work, and how do you overcome it?
Just like at home, every day is a decision of when and where to invest resources. Decisions about investments in expansions, people, programs or equipment must all be carefully analyzed to attempt to justify dedicating Texas Health resources. I take that responsibility very seriously.
What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?
As a person who doesn’t love surprises, people know I live by a plan and try to cover all the bases. I plan out the details of my week, the family trip or our next family holiday. I think I could have been a logistics coordinator! Also, in the last few years, I’ve become an orchid whisperer and can proudly say I had all eight of my collection blooming at one time this year.
Has your department found ways, big or small, to improve efficiency or care? What are some of them?
I was honored to be involved in the HR Technology Transformation project team for the last 18 months. I have met so many people across our organization and been able to represent non-nursing key business decisions related to employee scheduling. As a leader of support and ancillary departments, I heard feedback over the years about the struggles of using Clairvia for employee scheduling. I am so excited to see the new product that provides an easier, app-based platform to build, change and manage employee schedules. Managers and employees can access it on their phones, and it will provide an easier way to clock in and make real-time changes to schedules. This has been a huge investment in our leaders, employees and our HR and timekeeping teams. Every employee will see a benefit from this platform.
