Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / AI, Rural Healthcare and the Future of Health System Growth with Doug Arvin

Transcript

AI, Rural Healthcare and the Future of Health System Growth with Doug Arvin · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - When it comes to today's RCM, we know
• 0:02
  - the challenges,
• 0:03
  - complexity of claims, talent shortages,
• 0:05
  - low funding, and lagging tech.
• 0:08
  - That's why we built MedMetrix.
• 0:10
  - We have the expertise and advanced tech to
• 0:13
  - give you that edge on your revenue cycle.
• 0:15
  - We're a partner who will relentlessly raise your
• 0:17
  - yield, a partner who's on your side because
• 0:20
  - they've been operator side, who knows your battles
• 0:23
  - and will make sure you win from start
• 0:25
  - to finish, end to end. MedMetrix,
• 0:28
  - be exceptional.
• 0:30
  - This is Madeleine with the Becker CFO podcast,
• 0:32
  - and I'm so excited to have Doug Arvin,
• 0:35
  - vice president of finance and finance leader for
• 0:37
  - Accenture Health West on with me. How are
• 0:40
  - you doing, Doug? So excited to to start
• 0:42
  - chatting with you today.
• 0:43
  - Absolutely, Madeline. It's great to to be talking
• 0:46
  - with you and talking about the future of
• 0:47
  - health care and and, look forward to the
• 0:50
  - next few minutes.
• 0:51
  - Yeah. The future of health care, that's a
• 0:53
  - topic that I we could talk about for
• 0:55
  - hours, but we're gonna have to condense it
• 0:56
  - a little.
• 0:57
  - But thank you again for being on. Before
• 1:00
  - we begin, do you mind sharing with our
• 1:02
  - listeners just a little bit about yourself, your
• 1:04
  - background in health care, and more on Essentia
• 1:06
  - Health West?
• 1:07
  - Sure. Absolutely. So I work, as as you
• 1:10
  - mentioned, the financial leader for Essentia Health West.
• 1:14
  - And Accenture Health West is part of,
• 1:17
  - Accenture Health, which is,
• 1:19
  - headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota.
• 1:21
  - Accenture Health West in and of itself consists
• 1:24
  - of five hospitals,
• 1:26
  - 36 clinics, and nine urgent care walk in
• 1:30
  - sites,
• 1:31
  - and,
• 1:32
  - is
• 1:33
  - geographically between what we call Lakes Country in
• 1:36
  - Minnesota, which is the Western Part of Minnesota,
• 1:40
  - all the way to, Bismarck and further west
• 1:43
  - in North Dakota. So it's, it's two states,
• 1:45
  - but it's a pretty broad geographic area that
• 1:48
  - we serve.
• 1:49
  - You know, previous to my role here,
• 1:52
  - you know, I've had three decades of of
• 1:53
  - health
• 1:54
  - care experience in finance,
• 1:56
  - principally,
• 1:57
  - and started my career in public accounting consulting
• 2:00
  - like a lot of people,
• 2:02
  - did coming right out of as an undergraduate.
• 2:04
  - And,
• 2:05
  - you know, since then, I did that did
• 2:07
  - that for a while and,
• 2:09
  - and then decided, hey. I really like the
• 2:12
  - niche in health care and,
• 2:14
  - have been part of health care systems ever
• 2:16
  - since then.
• 2:17
  - Have served in roles including enterprise,
• 2:20
  - CFO,
• 2:21
  - divisional CFO, which is the the role I'm
• 2:24
  - in today,
• 2:25
  - and facility
• 2:26
  - CFO where I've worked with
• 2:28
  - hospital and practice management and
• 2:31
  - core services that support
• 2:33
  - enterprise system.
• 2:35
  - Also had the opportunity through this time to
• 2:37
  - work in,
• 2:39
  - roles and operations,
• 2:40
  - strategy, and payer negotiation, so helping kinda round
• 2:44
  - out that financial piece. And,
• 2:46
  - I would just say overall, I've been blessed
• 2:47
  - to work with,
• 2:49
  - as I mentioned, three decades of with working
• 2:51
  - with great people,
• 2:53
  - great projects, and supporting great communities really across
• 2:56
  - this country. So,
• 2:57
  - that's a little bit about my background and
• 3:00
  - and excited what we're doing here with us
• 3:01
  - in to Health West, and we'll talk a
• 3:03
  - little bit about that. Yeah. No. I appreciate
• 3:05
  - you sharing that background there.
• 3:07
  - And I'd like to get right into it
• 3:09
  - with you. As as you said, you know,
• 3:11
  - lots going on in the industry. So what
• 3:13
  - would you say you're keeping an eye on
• 3:15
  - right now in terms of maybe the top
• 3:17
  - three trends,
• 3:18
  - in health care. What's most important at Essential
• 3:21
  - Health West right now?
• 3:22
  - Yeah. You know, there's so many important things,
• 3:24
  - but I I think
• 3:25
  - keeping track of, you know, today, of course,
• 3:28
  - is important, and then keeping track of the
• 3:30
  - future is is even more important because there's
• 3:33
  - so many changes in health care. So I
• 3:35
  - think of three major areas that,
• 3:37
  - you know, I spend time on that are
• 3:40
  - that are my colleagues spend time on here,
• 3:42
  - their caregivers spend time on, and that is,
• 3:45
  - you know, how to use
• 3:47
  - use and apply technology,
• 3:49
  - particularly AI as we go forward,
• 3:51
  - how to create efficiencies with that. And and
• 3:54
  - we're already seeing that happening in areas around
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  - documentation and coding,
• 3:58
  - improvement,
• 3:59
  - diagnostic capabilities
• 4:01
  - and enhancements,
• 4:03
  - you know, financial,
• 4:04
  - analysis, which is an area I work pretty
• 4:06
  - closely with. But, you know, just the ability
• 4:08
  - to really
• 4:09
  - be very efficient in finding trends and and
• 4:12
  - data
• 4:13
  - that can help, provide insights to the organization
• 4:15
  - and and new directions.
• 4:17
  - And then just care coordination overall. So there's
• 4:19
  - a good mix of what I would call
• 4:21
  - care innovations as as well as, you know,
• 4:24
  - more back office or administrative,
• 4:26
  - innovations that are that are going on health
• 4:28
  - care. So those are things I definitely keep,
• 4:30
  - you know, an eye on as as we
• 4:32
  - are today and as we try to go
• 4:34
  - into the future and providing the, you know,
• 4:36
  - the best possible, patient care at the at
• 4:39
  - the best possible price for our for our
• 4:41
  - patients.
• 4:42
  - Would you say just in terms of, you
• 4:44
  - know, you're you're just touching on AI and
• 4:46
  - that's such a hot topic right now. Would
• 4:47
  - you say AI is actually, like, moving your
• 4:50
  - margin needle, or are you still mostly seeing
• 4:53
  - pilot programs, promises? What's that look like to
• 4:55
  - you? You know, I I think that we,
• 4:58
  - I I think we're more at the beginning
• 5:00
  - than the end.
• 5:01
  - But I do think we're seeing impact of
• 5:03
  - it. I see it every day in in
• 5:05
  - in the work that particularly around the the
• 5:07
  - finance and administrative
• 5:09
  - areas and and creating efficiencies and better
• 5:12
  - decision making, I I think we've got more,
• 5:15
  - much more to accomplish and to learn about
• 5:17
  - the, you know, the overall capabilities. So,
• 5:20
  - yeah, I would say if I was looking
• 5:21
  - at the iceberg, I would say we're, you
• 5:23
  - know, closer to the, you know, the tip
• 5:25
  - than than the base at this point. And,
• 5:28
  - and so we're we'll continue to work on
• 5:30
  - that as as most health systems are and
• 5:32
  - look forward to those
• 5:33
  - innovations in the future.
• 5:35
  - Yeah. I think everyone's keeping an eye on
• 5:37
  - on AI right now. What would you say,
• 5:39
  - apart from AI, you're most excited about right
• 5:41
  - now? Maybe a project, something exciting happening at
• 5:44
  - Accenture Health West. You know, it's there there
• 5:47
  - are a lot of really good things,
• 5:49
  - you know, without going into great competitive details,
• 5:52
  - but just we've had a real niche in
• 5:54
  - finding
• 5:56
  - partnership
• 5:56
  - with our physicians
• 5:58
  - in Accenture West.
• 5:59
  - And so I'm really excited about that because
• 6:02
  - I think that is not just in the
• 6:04
  - short term, but in the long term, you
• 6:06
  - know, how we really partner with,
• 6:08
  - specialists and providers,
• 6:10
  - and and in in terms of, creating, you
• 6:13
  - know, value back to the community and our
• 6:15
  - payers as well in those space. So we're
• 6:17
  - doing a lot of good things in that
• 6:19
  - space,
• 6:20
  - and and pretty proud of that. And I
• 6:22
  - think that's something that can can continue to
• 6:24
  - work well for us. And those don't require
• 6:26
  - often
• 6:27
  - dramatic
• 6:28
  - capital investments. It just require, you know, good
• 6:31
  - good partnership, you know, people bringing things together
• 6:34
  - that are win win solutions for both parties.
• 6:36
  - So, those are things I'm definitely excited about.
• 6:39
  - You know, I would also say,
• 6:42
  - exciting can be two different,
• 6:44
  - emotions. Right? You know, nervous excitement and and,
• 6:47
  - positive excitement. And I would say the, you
• 6:50
  - know, the reforms being brought on by,
• 6:52
  - the one big beautiful bill act are both,
• 6:56
  - challenging and concerning
• 6:57
  - as well as some potential,
• 7:01
  - acknowledgement
• 7:01
  - in rural healthcare in particular of the need
• 7:03
  - for transformation. So we're keeping a close eye
• 7:06
  - on on what we're seeing with the first
• 7:09
  - phase of the the rollout of of, what
• 7:12
  - we call OB3.
• 7:14
  - And and also, you know, the Medicaid,
• 7:17
  - impacts that'll occur beginning in 2027.
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  - So those are
• 7:21
  - exciting
• 7:22
  - slash,
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  - challenging slash nervous
• 7:25
  - kind of, areas of focus.
• 7:28
  - But I'd also say it creates, you know,
• 7:30
  - innovation opportunities around,
• 7:33
  - you know, focus on particularly in rural,
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  - America, which is where Essentia Health West is,
• 7:39
  - and Essentia Health overall has a niche in
• 7:41
  - rural health care. So the recognition
• 7:44
  - of the need in the rural health transformation
• 7:46
  - initiatives,
• 7:48
  - although we're in year one and and there's
• 7:50
  - still
• 7:51
  - a lot of moving parts there to say
• 7:52
  - the least, but as we get into year
• 7:54
  - two and year five, you know, optimistic that
• 7:57
  - we're gonna find
• 7:58
  - ways to invest in in real,
• 8:01
  - improvements in in health care and outcomes and
• 8:04
  - recruitment, retention,
• 8:06
  - technology and access, you know, within our communities
• 8:09
  - in in, in rural America. So those are
• 8:12
  - things that are definitely creating excitement,
• 8:14
  - and and opportunities really to
• 8:17
  - to influence those outcomes. And so, yeah, those
• 8:19
  - are all things we're we're pretty excited about
• 8:21
  - and work on routinely. So I think this
• 8:24
  - again, the the concept of partnership, the concept
• 8:26
  - of,
• 8:28
  - taking reform and being obviously,
• 8:31
  - having your feet on the ground about what
• 8:33
  - that means, but also, you know, looking opportunistically
• 8:36
  - at how to improve and align your mission
• 8:38
  - to the community.
• 8:40
  - Yeah. And when you think about, you know,
• 8:42
  - partnerships and and just in that same vein,
• 8:45
  - what does growth look like to you in
• 8:47
  - the next maybe twelve months, even to two
• 8:49
  - years?
• 8:51
  - You know, growth, it's a great question because,
• 8:54
  - I I really look at it, and my
• 8:56
  - thoughts here are gonna be beyond twelve months.
• 8:59
  - But I think,
• 9:01
  - we need to think of ways different than
• 9:03
  - the past, obviously, that, you know, the building
• 9:06
  - of large hospitals is is,
• 9:08
  - not necessarily gonna be as economical
• 9:11
  - and and probably rewarded in the marketplace. So
• 9:14
  - I think,
• 9:16
  - you know, a real focus on being willing
• 9:19
  - to adapt to change,
• 9:21
  - in the clinical realm, the, you know, chronic
• 9:24
  - disease management,
• 9:26
  - treatments, therapies that'll be different than before. And
• 9:29
  - where they're administered will be things that we
• 9:31
  - wanna be responsive to the communities,
• 9:34
  - overall.
• 9:35
  - I had just a little quote I was
• 9:37
  - gonna share here with you,
• 9:39
  - not related to health care, but the way
• 9:41
  - I think of innovation. And I'm gonna paraphrase
• 9:44
  - this from our,
• 9:45
  - CEO, Doctor. David Herman.
• 9:47
  - Sure. And to say the telephone was not
• 9:50
  - an offshoot of the postcard.
• 9:52
  - Rather, it was a distinct invention
• 9:54
  - that emerged from different technological advancements and needs
• 9:58
  - in communication.
• 9:59
  - While both inventions contribute to communication
• 10:02
  - and change how people interact, they arose independently
• 10:06
  - and serve different purposes.
• 10:08
  - So the purpose of me saying that
• 10:11
  - information is not comparing health care to postcards
• 10:14
  - and telephone,
• 10:15
  - but that the innovation in care is gonna
• 10:17
  - have to take and and just how we
• 10:19
  - deliver health care is gonna have to take
• 10:21
  - that type of quantum leap of technology and
• 10:25
  - thinking and innovation. And it won't be just,
• 10:27
  - hey. Can we go to two point o
• 10:29
  - on on the next version of something? So
• 10:31
  - I I I like that quote and like
• 10:33
  - to think of it that way.
• 10:35
  - But,
• 10:36
  - you know, I think, again,
• 10:38
  - nontraditional
• 10:39
  - ways of growth, outside the hospital,
• 10:42
  - growth and value,
• 10:44
  - value based care.
• 10:46
  - That's important because, particularly in rural health care,
• 10:49
  - the access is challenging,
• 10:51
  - and our ability to influence patients can be
• 10:54
  - different. And so to focus on that,
• 10:57
  - to focus,
• 10:58
  - again, on affordability
• 10:59
  - across the board,
• 11:01
  - to focus,
• 11:02
  - on making sure we, interact with our workforce
• 11:05
  - in the right way
• 11:07
  - and
• 11:09
  - invest in it in ways that make sure
• 11:11
  - we're achieving the best possible care and the
• 11:14
  - best possible work environment for our for our,
• 11:17
  - for our system. And so, again, I think
• 11:20
  - the the patient interface, the right setting of
• 11:22
  - care,
• 11:23
  - and just, again, improving that
• 11:26
  - affordability value,
• 11:27
  - you know, people,
• 11:29
  - investments in in the workforce in the right
• 11:32
  - way, I think, are critical, change factors as
• 11:34
  - we go forward in growth.
• 11:36
  - Yeah. And that was such a great quote.
• 11:38
  - What a good way to kinda wrap us
• 11:39
  - up here, and I appreciate you sharing all
• 11:41
  - those thoughts. Doug, it was truly, truly a
• 11:44
  - pleasure getting to speak with you. Excited to
• 11:46
  - hear about all the great things coming down
• 11:48
  - the pipeline at Essential Health West, and I
• 11:50
  - look forward to staying in touch.
• 11:52
  - Absolutely, Maddie. You have a wonderful day, and
• 11:54
  - thanks for taking the time. Thank you.
• 11:57
  - When it comes to today's RCM, we know
• 12:00
  - the challenges,
• 12:01
  - complexity of claims, talent shortages, low funding, and
• 12:04
  - lagging tech.
• 12:06
  - That's why we built MedMetrix.
• 12:08
  - We have the expertise and advanced tech to
• 12:10
  - give you that edge on your revenue cycle.
• 12:13
  - We're a partner who will relentlessly raise your
• 12:15
  - yield, a partner who's on your side because
• 12:18
  - they've been operator side, who knows your battles
• 12:21
  - and will make sure you win from start
• 12:23
  - to finish, end to end. MedMetrix.
• 12:26
  - Be exceptional.