Latest / Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast / Ryan Cameron, Vice President of Technology and Innovation, Children's Hospital & Medical Center - Omaha

Transcript

Ryan Cameron, Vice President of Technology and Innovation, Children's Hospital & Medical Center - Omaha · Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  This is Chris Sosa with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Ryan ta,
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  ed d Vice President of Technology and Innovation at Children's Hospital and
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  Medical Center in Omaha. Ryan, thank you for joining us today.
• 0:12
  Oh, thanks for having me. Great to be here.
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  Ryan,
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  could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?
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  Yeah, I'd be happy to. You know, um, I'm brand new to healthcare and,
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  uh, my background is, is a little jumbled,
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  but I've always been around technology and, and really have a,
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  a passion for creating positive social change, uh,
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  applying technology to a variety of different things. Years ago, I,
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  I had this dream and aspiration that I was gonna direct music videos for a
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  living. Um, and that journey didn't quite pan out, and I ended up, uh,
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  going into to education and using a lot of computers along the way.
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  Eventually you get to a point where, uh,
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  people ask you to kind of lead that endeavor,
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  and I've been lucky and fortunate enough to be given the,
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  the vote of confidence to,
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  to be kind of an IT manager and leader for many years. Uh, before I,
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  I joined the healthcare organization here at Children's Hospital and Medical
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  Center. I worked for an artificial intelligence startup, uh, called IV ai,
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  and then previous to that I was with Creighton University, go j's, um,
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  and worked in their IT leadership there.
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  What do you think was the catalyst to go from someone who wanted to do music
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  videos to transition into healthcare.
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  ? Wow, that's an awesome question. Um, you know,
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  I've always been fascinated with, with what technology can do, and, you know,
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  it, it's one of these incredible tools that can be a source of empowerment,
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  but it can also be a, a source of, of heartache and, and complexity too, if,
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  if it's not applied well. So wh when I look at it, I, I,
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  I look at it as something that really, truly can be magical. And whether you're,
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  you're directing a, a music video and using that to, to tell a story or,
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  or evoke a certain emotion,
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  or whether you're using that technology to help a patient or a patient family,
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  um, have a better care experience or a better day, fundamentally, they're,
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  they're more or less the,
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  the same kind of applications of technology in those universes. Um,
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  I love Omaha, Nebraska. I, I love this community. It's, it's been a,
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  a wonderful place to,
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  to live and to grow and to have the opportunity to kind of
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  contribute to that, uh, through children's hospital is something I,
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  I really couldn't pass up. So I, I've been really fortunate, uh,
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  even though I've got kind of that unusual background, uh,
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  to be given a vote of confidence to work in my role.
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  Well,
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  I have to understand and think that having an attitude of such positivity
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  toward technology, which can be a bit confusing,
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  certainly is very helpful. What are top priorities in your role at this time?
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  Wow. Hey, you know, it's funny you ask that because, uh,
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  sometimes people feel like everything is a priority, right? It's,
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  it's always priority one, .
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  So for us at Children's Hospital and Medical Center, it's,
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  it's really about growth over the next couple of years.
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  So I would say maybe two things come to mind. First,
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  a lot of our priorities are, are always focused on maintaining the,
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  the highest quality of care. And, uh,
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  we always want to do that as we continue to, to work hard and make our,
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  all of our services as accessible as possible for everyone.
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  And we provide services not just in Omaha, uh,
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  but throughout Nebraska and for our neighboring states as well.
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  So reaching out to those rural communities, uh,
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  really leaning on telehealth,
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  digital health and those technologies is super important. We're always,
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  always asking ourselves, how can we be 1% better tomorrow than we are today?
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  So, you know, what you would call iterative innovation, uh,
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  is something we're always focused on and,
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  and I feel like we're really great at this as an organization.
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  The second thing that comes to mind is an area of, of growth for us,
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  and I think it's an area of growth for many pediatric hospitals,
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  and that's what I would call kind of the, the moonshot effort. You know, the,
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  the really advanced innovation things are disruptive innovation,
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  and those efforts are really needed in pediatric healthcare.
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  Um, the statistics that pop out that really kinda shock people is, you know,
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  around 20% right now, between 20 and 22%,
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  depending on the statistic you look at, uh,
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  of the patient population in the US today falls under the realm of pediatrics,
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  yet, uh,
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  2% or less of investment dollars that are going into healthcare
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  startups are focused on pediatrics.
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  So that creates an incredible gap on, you know, the,
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  the innovations that we really need to help all of our patients, you know,
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  from the, the simple checkups and physicals all the way to, you know,
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  high acuity and, and medically complex things.
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  And so what we're doing is we're bootstrapping all of that on our own,
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  and we're doing that really through partnership and working with a lot
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  of, um, the folks in our community. And I'll tell you the,
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  the community in Nebraska, in our region, it's unparalleled to other regions.
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  Uh, we're very, very fortunate that, you know,
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  we have a very active and engaged community.
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  So working with our partners in unique ways, above and beyond the,
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  the traditional vendor or, or donor approaches is a game changer.
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  So this includes priorities such as building a new behavioral health center.
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  Um, we have a new innovation program in place, and, uh,
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  we even have a, a business incubator.
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  So we have our own LLC where we're actually developing a lot of our ideas into
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  businesses so that we can share those with other pediatric organizations.
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  How often do you offer yourself up as a model for a way to make
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  technology and innovation more accessible in pediatrics?
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  Every opportunity we get, um, you know,
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  that that gap is consistent, you know, it,
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  it doesn't matter which state you go to, you,
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  you'll see a lot of children's hospitals like ours, um, you know,
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  really focusing on innovation and those sorts of things. And so we,
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  we talk every week. Uh, we have some really great consortiums that are forming,
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  uh, through the, the Children's Hospital Association, and,
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  and we share our best practices as much as possible. Um, you know, our mission,
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  just like the missions of other children, hospitals out there, is to prove,
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  improve the life of every child. And so,
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  regardless if that happens in Nebraska or if that happens, you know,
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  in Texas or California or, or wherever, uh,
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  we wanna make sure that we're actively communicating with all of our partners
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  and everybody in our network to kind of go forward. It,
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  it is interesting that on occasion we do have, uh,
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  a technology company or, or a business that will call us up and say, Hey,
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  we, we saw this news article about you doing X, Y, or Z.
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  How did you go about that? Um, and so that,
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  that's the greatest compliment that we can get because we often look to,
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  you know, the business community for inspiration in terms of what we do next.
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  Why do you think the benefits of technology and innovation have not reached
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  pediatrics the way they have other areas?
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  There's a lot of reasons for that. Um, you,
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  you really can look at populations and generative populations
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  too. So a lot of effort right now and rightfully so,
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  is being focused on, uh, taking care of the baby boomers.
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  And so as, as, as they transition with their healthcare and, you know,
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  smaller generations follow behind them, whether that's, you know,
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  gen Xers like myself, which is a very small generation in terms of population,
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  uh, moving all of our way through millennials, gen Y, gen Z, and even, um,
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  gen Alpha, now they're smaller. And so when a,
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  a company looks at, they have to develop a medical device, uh, get, you know,
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  FDA approval, all of those things that go along with that,
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  it's very expensive endeavor, very difficult endeavor. Uh,
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  they simply have to prioritize and,
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  and they look at the dollars and cents a associated with launching a,
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  a new software, a new product, uh,
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  something that we need in our con continuum of care. And, um,
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  it just doesn't add up for them.
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  So a lot of the times we have to lean on developing it ourselves, uh,
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  making things into not-for-profit models, open source, uh,
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  really creative ways so that we, we can still get those things developed,
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  get them approved, that they're safe to use. Um, but you know,
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  it just kind of comes down to the bottom line, unfortunately.
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  Along those lines,
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  what sort of resistance have you found to embracing innovation and how do you
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  break through that?
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  You know, it's, it's all about change and everybody, uh, everybody loves change,
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  right? cha change just can be really scary.
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  It can be really tough. Um, and, you know,
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  it's about generating trust, confidence,
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  and really understanding why people are,
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  are fearful or apprehensive to make a change. Um, you know,
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  moonshot efforts are risky, so it requires investment,
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  it requires vision, and you kind of have to be willing to fail. Um,
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  but a good innovation program, if you do this right, you're,
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  you're able to kind of have a safe,
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  controlled environment to work on those things,
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  and you can fail fast and learn from those failures. The,
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  the best advice I would, I would give somebody, and it sounds kind of wacky,
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  but if, if you have even a small innovation and it doesn't work out,
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  celebrate it, um, actually have a, a, a failure party, you know, have cakes,
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  you know, bring, bring in pizza, whatever it takes to,
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  to reflect upon that and say,
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  we are doing the right things by trying something new, uh,
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  becau because we know what the baggage is, right? We,
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  we know what's gonna happen if we continue to do things that we've always done
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  them this way. And, um, you know, you won't get a,
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  a profoundly different result unless you're willing to kind of put in that sweat
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  ac sweat equity and take that risk. So celebrate your failures, um,
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  help people feel confident and comfortable when they're trying new things,
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  be a good listener. Um, all of those things that are out there,
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  you just have to be implicit about change management to get it done.
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  The concept of a failure party certainly seems foreign, uh, to a lot of people,
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  I would imagine. Yeah, .
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  They're a lot of fun. I encourage you to try it.
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  Okay. Alrighty. Uh, as far as, uh, your role right now,
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  certainly it's changing constantly.
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  What do you see changing over the next 18 months for you and your team?
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  Oh my goodness. You know, we're, we're constantly re-skilling. Um, I,
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  I would say that if you asked a doctor, a nurse, uh,
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  an IT professional, anybody in our,
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  in our service and support staff across our entire organization,
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  re-skilling is, is what we're always doing. We're, we're learning how to,
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  to use disruptive technology. We're learning how to do our jobs better. Um,
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  and with my role specifically, you know, it, it's really changed and evolved.
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  Uh, the expectations for, for IT service and support are very different. Um,
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  so I'm always working on the operational blow roadblocks that you're familiar
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  with. Um, getting time, getting capacity, making sure that, you know,
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  email and network is working really well every day. Um, finding ways to,
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  to do self-service tools to empower our, our users.
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  But what I'm really starting to see is our,
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  our roles are changing in that we have to become really good
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  partners, uh,
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  hospital to business relationships with high tech companies are becoming more
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  and more important. So when you have a project team,
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  you find that, you know it,
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  it's not just your internal staff working on that project,
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  you find that you're working with, uh, some,
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  some different companies or startups or another hospital, and it's really
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  multidisciplinary, uh, very diverse teams.
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  And so I would say that my role along with everybody else's I
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  is, you know, trying to figure out how to be a good partner, a good consultant,
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  a good project manager on top of other, you know,
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  the regular technical skills that we need to get things done.
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  E everything that we're doing related to that,
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  that re-skilling is really around meeting the individual
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  needs, uh, for our patients and our patient families. Uh,
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  that is a top priority for us. So we need to evolve and,
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  and master what I would call consumer technologies.
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  So the things that are already out there that are associated with AI and
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  chatbots and text messaging and web-based services, they're seamless.
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  They're easy to use, they're very familiar to people.
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  And as a healthcare organization, our,
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  our challenge is to rides to that same standard of accessibility and usability.
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  And so we're partnering with companies that are experts in this.
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  And, um, you know, we, we have a whole series,
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  a whole program of projects called our Digital Front Door Initiative,
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  and it's really designed around truly understanding our patients and what their
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  needs are so that we can meet them where they're at.
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  I'm so glad.
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  You mentioned some of these technologies that are evolving constantly,
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  whether it's AI or drones.
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  What sort of things are you excited about right now and what makes you a little
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  bit nervous?
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  Uh, yeah, so excited. Good news.
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  I would say that that virtual reality, um,
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  in my assessment is gonna be one of the most impactful technologies in
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  healthcare, certainly in in pediatrics over the next year, maybe two.
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  The reason behind that is virtual reality has really grown in maturity.
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  And, uh, a couple of years ago wasn't ready, but, but now it's ready.
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  We've got research that's, you know,
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  indicating really positive outcomes for pediatric patients. Uh,
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  one example I'll give you is imagine how scary it is, uh,
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  for a kid to go to a hospital and then, you know, go and get a, a, a CT scan.
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  Um, that's scary for me as an adult.
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  So there are VR simulations out there now where you can actually do a rehearsal
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  and, and help your child, you know,
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  be more familiar with what that environment's gonna look like before they go to
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  the hospital. Um, there's great evidence that shows, you know,
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  we don't have to sedate kids when, when, uh,
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  they get that opportunity to kind of become familiar with that environment using
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  vr. So VR is ready to be applied in clinical environments. Uh,
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  we are doing a lot of work as a, as a hospital and organization in that space,
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  and the simulations are getting better every day. And mo most importantly,
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  the content for pediatrics becomes, you know,
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  more available every day on things that scare me a little bit,
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  you know, with, as much as I love artificial intelligence and,
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  and that is a hundred percent, you know, my field of, of research and interest,
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  it scares me a little bit just due to the fact that I,
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  I personally feel like we have a weak regulatory system around it. And, um,
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  you know, the, the EU has,
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  has made some valiant attempts to kind of put some guidelines around it,
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  even some policies and laws about data ownership and,
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  and individuals having rights to their own data. Um, I,
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  I would say that here in the United States,
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  we still have some work to do there and, uh, whether it's, you know,
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  your average person kind of speaking up about, wow, that's, that's really,
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  you know, a magical technology, I'm so glad about its capabilities. I agree.
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  I think it, it opens the door to, unfortunately,
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  people who would use it for unethical or, or immoral practices. And so,
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  um, you know, a, as a, a believer and an advocate for the power of ai,
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  uh, I'm, I'm very careful to,
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  to work with as many people as I can to encourage them that if you've got those
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  concerns about that technology, you know, work, work with, um,
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  your legal experts, go and talk to your representatives, uh,
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  make this an issue so that, you know,
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  we can really get expertise around it and develop a,
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  a regulatory environment for ourselves that allows for AI to grow at a great
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  pace so that we can lead in, in that area of technology advancement,
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  but also we can do it in a very safe way.
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  Ryan, it's been just an absolute pleasure of speaking with you.
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  And thank you for spreading your enthusiasm for the magic of technology,
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  even though there might be a pitfall down the road,
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  it seems like there's a lot of promise as well.
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  Don't, don't be afraid of those failure parties fail fast. It's,
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  it's great to to be with you, and thanks for having me.
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  Thank you again, Ryan.
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  Take care.