Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Khalid Turk, Chief Healthcare Information Officer at Santa Clara Valley Healthcare

Transcript

Khalid Turk, Chief Healthcare Information Officer at Santa Clara Valley Healthcare · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:01
  The Becker's team is excited to announce the
• 0:03
  launch of our new CFO and Revenue Cycle
• 0:06
  podcast.
• 0:07
  Tune in for conversations with finance experts from
• 0:10
  the top hospitals and health systems. We'll discuss
• 0:13
  key trends and ideas to drive meaningful change
• 0:15
  in the industry. Look for Becker's CFO and
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  revenue cycle podcast wherever you listen to episodes.
• 0:24
  This is Rosie Talago with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Khalid
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  Turc, chief health care information officer at the
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  County of Santa Clara Health System. Khalid, it's
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  a pleasure to have you on the podcast
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  today.
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  Thank you, Rosie. Thank you for having me.
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  Of course. We have a great conversation in
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  store diving into the key opportunities and challenges
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  shaping health care. But before we get into
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  it, I'd love for our listeners to get
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  to know you a bit better. Can you
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  start by sharing a little bit about your
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  background and your journey to your current role?
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  Yeah. My current role is
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  chief health care information technology officer,
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  serving the health system
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  under the county of Santa Clara.
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  I've been in health system for over
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  twenty years, started way back when as a
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  software engineer.
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  I've been
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  implementing EPYC systems for over fifteen years.
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  My introduction into the EMR realm was an
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  as an interface analyst, actually. I became the
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  EPYC Bridges analyst way back in 02/2004,
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  and then took different roles, project implementation,
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  EPIC implementation,
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  and whatnot. And, eventually, it led me to
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  the current role where I am leading the
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  health system technology for the Santa Clara Valley
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  Healthcare,
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  which is the second largest public health system
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  in California.
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  We serve a diverse population of over 2,000,000
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  residents a year.
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  As a safety net provider for Santa Clara
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  County,
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  we operate three acute care hospitals and more
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  than 20 specialty and primary care clinics,
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  ensuring access to high quality health care for
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  all. Better health for all is actually one
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  of our slogans,
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  and regardless of socioeconomic
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  status. So many people that we serve
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  would not be able to afford health care
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  on their own. That's what
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  makes us very special and my job very
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  purposeful.
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  What makes us unique here at the Santa
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  Clara Valley Healthcare
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  is our commitment to innovation in public health
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  care. I already mentioned we are second largest.
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  We have had stage seven certification since 02/2017,
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  and we have renewed it,
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  for three times.
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  We are heavily focused on digital transformation,
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  patient centered care,
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  and most most importantly,
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  equitable access.
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  And our health system as a is is
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  not just the acute care and ambulatory clinics,
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  but we also have a public health and
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  behavioral health.
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  And,
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  the way we have implemented technology here, all
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  the systems are integrated.
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  So it's a great place to be in
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  and a extremely public,
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  purpose driven job that I have.
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  That's great. Thank you so much for that
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  introduction and the background on what sets your
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  organization apart.
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  So looking at that commitment to innovation and,
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  you know, you mentioned digital transformation,
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  patient centered care, equitable access,
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  looking more closely
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  into these
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  milestones or accomplishments that you've hit, let's discuss
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  some of the specifics in the past year.
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  So looking back at this past year, what
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  is the one accomplishment that you're most proud
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  of?
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  Yeah. We do actually a lot of cool,
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  quote unquote, cool work in a given year.
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  It's it'll be really hard to pick one
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  thing, but I'll mention a few things.
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  If I may,
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  we continue to improve our EMR,
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  our EPIC EMR, what we internally call Health
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  Link. We implemented our EMR, or started implementing
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  it, in June of twenty thirteen. So it's
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  been
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  over eleven years. And those eleven years, we
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  started with
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  a handful of modules, and now we have
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  over 27.
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  Pretty much every department in the acute care
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  and ambulatory is covered by our EMR. So
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  that's a continued commitment
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  to the excellence that we work on.
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  What we have done, as I was mentioning
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  about HIMSS stage seven, it was due for
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  renewal last year. We renewed it.
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  We also established our disaster recovery system in
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  the EPIC with the EPIC in their hosting
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  service.
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  That was something that was
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  initially located locally here in our data centers,
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  and it was one of my
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  strategic initiatives to
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  expand that Doctor capabilities
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  and,
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  store them somewhere
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  where they will be, because we were in
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  the same geographic location. And now knowing that
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  we have a system that is available remotely
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  and also in the hands of Epic, that
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  is, huge comfort for not only myself as
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  the chief health care information technology officer, but
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  also for my customers, that if something happens,
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  bad happens,
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  be it from the security perspective or force
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  majeure,
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  we would still be able to provide services
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  to our care providers and be able
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  to take care of our patients.
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  Besides that,
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  we have multiple initiatives that we continue to
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  work on, which include IT infrastructure improvement
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  and introducing
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  AI in our workflows. We automated some,
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  messaging between the providers and the patients last
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  year,
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  and we did multiple optimization in the epic.
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  So it's been quite a busy year. On
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  any given calendar year, we do,
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  over 50
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  big and small projects.
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  So if I look at the,
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  accomplishments
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  or the deliveries that we have done over
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  the past few years, they are really enormous.
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  And for that,
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  I'm exceptionally thankful to the wonderful team that
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  I lead here.
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  Absolutely.
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  That's very impressive. I have over 50 projects,
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  and it's really great to see your impact
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  the team's making through that commitment to the
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  EMR for over eleven years and then seeing
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  that growth within every department. That's great.
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  So while it is great to acknowledge these
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  wins and, you know, feel so proud of
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  them,
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  Each organization is thinking about where they can
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  grow and evolve and move forward.
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  So that said, where do you see the
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  biggest growth opportunities for your team in the
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  next twelve months?
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  Yeah. Interesting question and very, very relevant
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  and timely.
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  Our acute care
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  health system comprises of three hospital, and we
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  provide provide over 1,100 beds here in the
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  Santa Clara Valley Healthcare.
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  Recently, our county leadership decided to acquire one
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  more hospital
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  that is currently owned by SCA. It's, called
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  Regional Medical Center.
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  And since we are
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  a public service organization
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  and geared towards safety net,
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  It's going to be, strategic
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  strategically, it's gonna be a most important
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  decision that the organization has made. And my
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  job as the technology lead for this organization
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  is to integrate that
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  hospital into our system.
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  This will be one of the most unique
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  and challenging
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  projects ever taken.
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  Generally, the mergers and acquisitions take about nine
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  months to twelve months, which is a norm.
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  We are doing that
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  in less than four months. We actually
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  closed the deal, quote, unquote, in January of
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  this year, '2 thousand '20 '5, and our
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  go live date is April 1, and that
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  is no joke. In four months,
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  we have to make sure that, less than
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  four months, actually, that we
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  migrate that organization.
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  It's about 258
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  beds hospital into our system.
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  So that is going to be the main
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  activity for us, and, obviously, there are different
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  stages and phases for the first quarter. We
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  are bringing that hospital live on our EPIC
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  EMR
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  and some other third party system,
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  but systems, but we'll continue to improve on
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  that and add more capabilities.
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  So that is going to be the focus
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  for us for this entire year of 02/2025.
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  Absolutely. That is quite a challenge to take
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  on the average being nine to twelve months,
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  but to do that in less than four
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  months.
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  So looking at that anticipating
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  challenge and being proactive,
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  are you preparing
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  to try to hit that goal date of
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  April 1?
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  Yeah. We have to make sure that we
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  are rightly staffed,
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  and we are looking at the professional services
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  to augment our staff, at least for a
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  short term, because most of our needs are
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  on the short term basis. We have to
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  make sure that our contracts are put in
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  place well in time, so we can engage
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  with the vendors, and,
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  integrate all the systems that are coming over
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  from this Regional Medical Center into our system.
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  I lead a team of about two sixty
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  people, exceptionally
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  talented individuals,
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  and though not all of them will be
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  working on this acquisition, but majority of the
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  resources are working on this. This is all
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  hands on deck. As I was saying, that
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  this will be one of the most challenging
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  project that any of us have taken. We
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  have done some remarkable work here at the
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  County Of Santa Clara.
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  We have
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  built up a new hospital,
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  and integrated our system from the technology perspective.
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  In less than,
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  eight months, we have acquired two hospital hospitals
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  that we did literally in eight months, which
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  was also a phenomenal task. And now doing
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  this in less than four months. So we
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  have some
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  experience,
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  supporting us, but the continuous focus is going
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  to be that make sure the scope is
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  very well defined. We have resources to carry
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  out that scope, and we have a team
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  that makes sure that vendors are engaged in
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  contractors' contracts updated in in right time.
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  Absolutely. I think that's a great perspective and
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  plan for the road ahead. I particularly liked
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  you saying all hands on deck, you know,
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  recognizing that this could be the most challenging
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  situation for anyone on your team, but to
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  really just have everyone
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  all hands on deck. It's great.
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  So looking back at these accomplishments,
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  opportunities, obstacles that we've discussed,
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  it really does highlight the importance of staying
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  proactive.
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  So with that in mind,
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  what's the number one thing that you're doing
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  right now to set your organization up for
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  long term success? I know we talk sometimes
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  about the short term, but looking at the
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  long term in this case.
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  Yeah. Thank you for that question. I think
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  that, healthcare industry generally and healthcare organizations, whether
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  public or private,
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  have been under the tremendous financial pressure.
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  If you, like me, follow all the Baker's
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  news that comes almost every day,
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  literally, there's no week gone by where you
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  see that certain hospital got closed or a
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  healthcare
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  organization either got acquired or closed, and mostly
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  due to the financial reasons.
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  As bad as it was with the changing
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  political situation, it's getting even more challenging.
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  So for an IT leader,
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  the continued focus would be to balance the
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  budget constraints while continuing to invest in innovation.
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  I believe we cannot operate just to keep
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  the lights on KTLO, as we call them.
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  We have to continue to innovate.
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  On one side, we have to
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  manage the budget constraints.
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  That would mean
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  doing more with the less resources
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  and continue to innovate. But when you talk
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  about doing more with the less resources that
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  many of our organizations have been doing
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  for years, especially post pandemic,
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  there is a danger of burnout, and
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  the retention also has some challenges.
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  So the human side of the healthcare IT
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  is going to be
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  an area where we have to pay close
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  attention.
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  So balance the budget
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  or meet the budget constraints,
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  continue to innovate, and make sure that we
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  continue to take care of the people,
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  whether they are in the front lines taking
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  care of patients
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  or in the back line back end, like
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  myself,
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  managing the technology,
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  because people are the ones that actually make
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  every strategy successful.
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  Absolutely. And I definitely think that being proactive
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  Absolutely.
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  And I definitely think that being proactive like
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  we talked about and noticing and anticipating these
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  financial challenges will help get through them. So
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  thank you so much today for joining us.
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  It's been great hearing your insights on the
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  technological innovation and implementation at
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  Santa Clara House System and where you guys
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  are headed. So thanks again, and we look
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  forward to collaborating with you again soon.
• 12:59
  Thank you. Thank you, Rosie. I appreciate your
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  time.