Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Reed Smith, Chief Consumer Officer at Ardent Health

Transcript

Reed Smith, Chief Consumer Officer at Ardent Health · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:03
  At athenahealth,
• 0:04
  we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier,
• 0:07
  a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
• 0:10
  patients.
• 0:11
  But the complexities of modern health care tech
• 0:13
  make it hard for you and your care
• 0:15
  teams to focus on what matters most.
• 0:17
  That's where athenahealth can help. Our AI native
• 0:20
  all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens,
• 0:23
  streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights
• 0:26
  when clinicians need it most. That means fewer
• 0:29
  clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom
• 0:32
  lines.
• 0:33
  Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
• 0:36
  can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
• 0:39
  See how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.
• 0:44
  Hi, everyone. This is Scott King with the
• 0:46
  Becker's Healthcare podcast. Thrilled today to be joined
• 0:48
  by a very special guest, Reed Smith, chief
• 0:51
  consumer officer with Ardent Health. Reed, how are
• 0:54
  you doing today? Thanks so much for joining
• 0:55
  us. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Good to
• 0:57
  be here. Yeah. I think we're gonna dive
• 0:59
  into some kind of big topics and and
• 1:01
  conversations happening
• 1:02
  right now in health care, Reed. But before
• 1:05
  we get started and get to some questions,
• 1:07
  can you just tell us a little bit
• 1:08
  about your background and your work in health
• 1:10
  care, please?
• 1:11
  Yeah. Absolutely.
• 1:13
  You know, it's funny. It feels like not
• 1:14
  very long ago, but it's been probably close
• 1:17
  to twenty five years now.
• 1:19
  I took my first job in health care
• 1:20
  as the director of marketing, at a hospital
• 1:23
  in Central Texas. And
• 1:24
  over the years, I spent time at the
• 1:26
  Texas Hospital Association
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  and and consulting and at different places, and
• 1:31
  then now have been here
• 1:32
  at Arden Health for the last, four years
• 1:35
  or so, leading everything this consumer facing. So
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  I've got a little oversight of
• 1:40
  marketing communications,
• 1:41
  a lot of our consumer faced technology, our
• 1:44
  contact centers, referral teams,
• 1:47
  all that kind of fun stuff.
• 1:49
  That's wonderful. I think it's a really interesting
• 1:51
  career trajectory you you've had, actually. Let me
• 1:54
  ask you about
• 1:55
  starting starting out or or being a director
• 1:57
  of marketing early in your career and and,
• 1:59
  like you said, having some communications experience. How
• 2:01
  does that kind of pave the way for
• 2:03
  the rest of your career?
• 2:05
  You know, it's funny. I I I think
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  back to that point in time, and a
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  lot of people will, probably appreciate this. They're
• 2:11
  listening to podcast, but we had,
• 2:13
  recently signed on with the Studer Group, and
• 2:15
  we're doing a lot of
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  experience based initiatives. And at the time,
• 2:20
  that was kinda handed to me as, as
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  the quote, unquote,
• 2:24
  initiative champion.
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  And I remember at the time thinking, you
• 2:27
  know, as the director of marketing communications,
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  why in the world
• 2:31
  would I be leading,
• 2:32
  an experience initiative? And I know that that
• 2:35
  that sounds weird today,
• 2:36
  but at the time, those felt like two
• 2:38
  totally different things. And so,
• 2:40
  you know, it's been, very I've been very
• 2:42
  fortunate, I guess, in a lot of ways
• 2:44
  that some of the things and some of
• 2:45
  the opportunities I had early on,
• 2:48
  you know, turns out, you know, this day
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  and age, it's really hard to delineate where
• 2:52
  one starts and the other one stops. And
• 2:54
  I think we're seeing that a lot across
• 2:56
  the industry,
• 2:57
  certainly in and amongst,
• 2:59
  our organization as you think about what used
• 3:01
  to be maybe siloed departments,
• 3:04
  our functions within the organization. It's it's much
• 3:06
  more of a cohesive,
• 3:08
  way that we think about things, especially as
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  it relates to the consumer.
• 3:13
  Absolutely. And getting to your role now and
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  things that are happening in health care right
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  now,
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  what opportunities
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  and headwinds do you have your eye on
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  as we speak?
• 3:23
  Yeah. I mean, headwinds are probably
• 3:25
  not much different than everybody listening is dealing
• 3:28
  with, you know, with a lot of the
• 3:29
  uncertainty in the space.
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  You know, not not sure, you know, in
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  the in the, I guess, long term, especially,
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  but even the near term what, you know,
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  payment models or, you know, kinda how that's
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  all gonna be structured and thought about. And,
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  you know, that that does create certain level
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  of uncertainty. I think, you know, I'm more,
• 3:50
  optimistic in the sense that, I can see
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  the tailwinds. I can see the expectations of
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  the consumer
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  in in our ability to potentially meet people
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  where they are. You know, and so you
• 4:01
  think a lot about virtual care and some
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  of the the evolution of that over the
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  last few years, certainly on the telehealth side,
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  but even remote patient monitoring, the shifting sites
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  in care,
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  and really just, you know, what people want
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  out of the health care system.
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  I think we're uniquely positioned, and a lot
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  of us in the industry are uniquely positioned
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  to deliver on that through some of the
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  evolution and technology.
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  You know, we're only a couple of minutes
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  in, and I'm gonna say the word AI.
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  But I think we've got a lot of
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  opportunity both to help those that are delivering
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  the care and receiving the care.
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  And so I do. I I think there's
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  a lot of,
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  a lot of great opportunity,
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  and and I feel like we're in a
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  place where,
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  both we understand it as an industry of
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  what the opportunity is, but also the expectation
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  and the desire from the consumer is there
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  as well.
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  Yeah. I I think you make a great
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  point. And my follow-up question to that is
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  just with everything going on with, you know,
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  patients and and health systems and and today's
• 5:02
  climate, how vital is it to kind of
• 5:05
  approach
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  issues with a a solution based mindset, kind
• 5:09
  of that optimism that you were speaking of?
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  Yeah. I I think it's important. No. I
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  wanna I wanna, I guess,
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  carve out a a little bit here,
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  a piece where it's like, you know, I
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  I don't wanna be solution oriented,
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  where, you know, I've got a a a
• 5:25
  solution looking for a problem. Right? So, again,
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  we we have to make sure that we're
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  identifying the value that we would be creating,
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  both for the customer and for the organization.
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  Right? And so, you know, there's a lot
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  of really cool shiny objects out there and
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  a lot of people doing some really cool
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  things and interesting things. And it may or
• 5:46
  may not be a fit for us. Or
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  just because it is, it doesn't mean it
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  is for someone else.
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  But,
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  I I do think
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  the opportunity
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  is to look for,
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  friction.
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  We talk about a lot internally, but friction,
• 6:01
  with the experience or with the journey a
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  patient or a consumer may be having.
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  And, you know, how do you reduce that?
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  How do you eliminate that, in their lives,
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  as they, you know, interact with us?
• 6:14
  It's kinda how we think about it.
• 6:16
  Absolutely. And, you know, in your role as
• 6:18
  as a chief consumer officer, you know, you
• 6:20
  mentioned kind of the shiny new object. I
• 6:22
  I think we're seeing a lot of those
• 6:24
  in health care with the way technology has
• 6:27
  advanced things.
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  How do you and your system really kind
• 6:30
  of vet, you know, what you call the
• 6:32
  shiny new object that that new maybe piece
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  of technology or or tool that the system
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  might invest in? How do you kinda do
• 6:38
  your homework and and vet that before investing?
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  Yeah. Absolutely. I'm probably the worst culprit, to
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  be honest,
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  relative to, you know, wanting to try something
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  new. And,
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  but, you know, you try not to get
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  just enamored with the product necessarily, but look
• 6:52
  for, again, what's the opportunity, what's the value.
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  And so,
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  really understanding
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  the voice of the customer. So that could
• 7:01
  be a physician referring into the organization. That
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  could be a patient looking for care. It
• 7:05
  could be a large employer.
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  But who whoever the consumer is, the stakeholder
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  is,
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  you know,
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  where are they seeing? What do they need?
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  Where are they giving you feedback? And how
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  do you use that to better a process?
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  And I think if you can align around,
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  you know, what the outcome or what success
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  looks like, you know, where where are you
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  what's the goal,
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  I think then you can back into,
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  is there technology or is this a process
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  in people and bandwidth,
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  I guess, solution to solve for? Right? And
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  so
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  now once you get to a place that,
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  yes, maybe technology is the solution or is
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  part of the solution,
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  I'm not sure it's ever the solution, but
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  part of the solution,
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  I think you've gotta look at and look
• 7:49
  at a lot of solutions or providers out
• 7:52
  there talk to other people that are in
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  the space using technology,
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  get get real world feedback. I would say,
• 7:59
  you know, technology outpaces
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  our ability
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  to really see it mature in a lot
• 8:05
  of times. And so the idea that anything's
• 8:07
  gonna come in and be exactly what you
• 8:09
  thought and solve every problem you have is
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  probably slim to none.
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  And you gotta be okay with that and
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  be willing to, you know, be nimble and
• 8:17
  pivot when needed.
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  Is there one specific risk or investment you
• 8:21
  think is worth making this year for your
• 8:23
  system?
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  You know, I think in any case
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  that you can put an experience in front
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  of the consumer that that matches up to
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  their expectation
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  or maybe better said,
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  what they already expect based on the rest
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  of their life,
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  is a great place to lean in. And
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  so,
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  you know, portals
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  are nothing new,
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  but how do you drive people into these
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  experiences and have some sort of a mobile
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  environment
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  that they're used to, you know,
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  engaging with? You know, a really good example,
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  simple example,
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  but is,
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  you know, in every way, shape, and form,
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  people can pay their bill or pay their
• 9:02
  co pay. Are they able to do it
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  with, you know, Apple or Google Pay, for
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  example? Again, something small,
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  but something people are used to doing.
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  You don't have that. Well, then you've you've
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  created an extra layer, an extra friction point
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  that,
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  takes people out of the course of what
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  they would normally do when engaging with,
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  someone from a financial transaction. So I think
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  if you can think about those types of
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  scenarios, I think about a kiosk, I think
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  about, you know, obviously, checking in, scheduling online,
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  all of that kind of practical,
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  ways that people engage with you. Those are
• 9:37
  certainly places to to lean in. I think
• 9:39
  the other piece of it is around data
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  and data
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  hygiene.
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  More and more of what we see, especially
• 9:46
  online,
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  really has a prerequisite
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  for data.
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  And so if you think about
• 9:52
  what you're seeing now with search and answer
• 9:54
  engines and all of the
• 9:57
  ChatGPT,
• 9:58
  Perplexity, Gemini, those types of things that people
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  are using,
• 10:01
  it requires,
• 10:03
  those answer engines require good data and citations
• 10:05
  that they can trust. And so,
• 10:08
  that's a great place to lean in as
• 10:09
  well.
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  Yeah. I agree. It certainly seems like data
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  is is a a key investment and and
• 10:15
  things people are looking to hone in on
• 10:17
  right now from who we talk to. And,
• 10:20
  something
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  else I wanted to ask, if you don't
• 10:23
  mind putting me kind of your your glasses
• 10:25
  to the future on. Yeah. Where where do
• 10:27
  you see the best opportunities for growth in
• 10:29
  the future?
• 10:30
  You know, I think it's going to be,
• 10:34
  through the lens of virtual.
• 10:36
  I think, again,
• 10:38
  especially as you go on the lower acuity
• 10:40
  end of the spectrum of care,
• 10:42
  people are prioritizing, obviously, convenience.
• 10:45
  This is nothing new. This is obviously why
• 10:47
  urgent cares,
• 10:49
  have become popular.
• 10:51
  But people want to get the care they
• 10:53
  need, in, out, and and move on. Right?
• 10:56
  And so I think, you know, if you're
• 10:58
  looking at entry points to the health care
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  system, primary care, urgent care, virtual care,
• 11:05
  it's gonna be through the lens
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  of,
• 11:08
  of a, kind of virtual type scenario. I
• 11:11
  think the other piece of that is the
• 11:13
  connectivity relative to all of that. So you
• 11:15
  think about wearables,
• 11:17
  remote patient monitoring, etcetera.
• 11:20
  I think our ability to be able to
• 11:21
  manage people's lives and the care that they
• 11:24
  need and need to receive is gonna, you
• 11:26
  know, require us to have this connectivity. And
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  so
• 11:30
  that's that's where I think a lot of
• 11:32
  the future is going to be. I think
• 11:34
  we'll see the social determinants of health and
• 11:36
  how we better take care of the wellness
• 11:38
  of our communities, not just the sick care.
• 11:41
  We've said that for some years now, but
• 11:43
  I think that's also a place where,
• 11:45
  we need to be investing certainly and then
• 11:48
  a place that we'll see a lot of,
• 11:51
  I think, heightened focus.
• 11:53
  And the last question I have for you,
• 11:55
  Reid, how have you evolved as a leader?
• 11:58
  Oh, man. What a great question. I mean,
• 12:00
  I think you can point to the obvious
• 12:02
  things, you know, post COVID with remote workforce
• 12:05
  or hybrid and and things like that. I
• 12:07
  think, you know, evolving as a leader is
• 12:09
  really requiring,
• 12:11
  you know, you to think about the whole
• 12:13
  person that's on your team.
• 12:16
  You know, you may not be able to
• 12:18
  solve every issue or
• 12:20
  appease everybody, so to speak. But I think
• 12:23
  the idea that, you know, we think about
• 12:25
  things like burnout with our clinicians,
• 12:28
  this is true,
• 12:29
  for really everybody in the space. And so
• 12:32
  how do you look at,
• 12:34
  you know, leading with purpose and example
• 12:37
  and and trying to heighten,
• 12:38
  the way that we, look for ways to
• 12:41
  reward and recognize folks and provide gratitude,
• 12:44
  and grace even, and then amongst all of
• 12:47
  that. So, again, I think it's, you know,
• 12:50
  a special way to to to hopefully take
• 12:53
  care of your team where people are energized,
• 12:55
  ultimately, to take care of patients.
• 12:58
  Great. Thanks so much for joining us on
• 12:59
  the podcast today. It was a great conversation.
• 13:01
  I look forward to working with you again
• 13:02
  soon. Thanks for having me.
• 13:06
  At athena Health, we know your ambulatory practice
• 13:09
  wants healthier,
• 13:10
  a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
• 13:13
  patients.
• 13:14
  But the complexities of modern health care tech
• 13:16
  make it hard for you and your care
• 13:18
  teams to focus on what matters most. That's
• 13:21
  where athenahealth can help. Our AI native all
• 13:24
  in one solutions reduce administrative burdens,
• 13:27
  streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights
• 13:30
  when clinicians need it most. That means fewer
• 13:33
  clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom
• 13:35
  lines.
• 13:37
  Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
• 13:40
  can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
• 13:42
  See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.