Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Jon Mason, Director of Enterprise IT Learning, Quality Assurance, Patient Education, and Community Connect at NewYork-Presbyterian

Transcript

Jon Mason, Director of Enterprise IT Learning, Quality Assurance, Patient Education, and Community Connect at NewYork-Presbyterian · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:00
  Imagine this. You're in the heart of Chicago
• 0:02
  mingling with the brightest minds in health IT.
• 0:05
  You've arrived at the 9th annual Health IT
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  plus Digital Health Plus RCM conference taking place
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  October 1st through 4th at the luxurious Hyatt
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  Regency Chicago.
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  Picture the excitement as you collect countless business
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  cards, forging invaluable connections with over 25 100
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  executive level attendees.
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  Feel the buzz of ideas flowing as you
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  engage in meaningful conversations about the future of
• 0:29
  healthcare technology.
• 0:30
  Envision yourself attending sessions led by over 415
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  elite speakers,
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  gaining insights that could transform your organization.
• 0:39
  From digital transformation and telehealth to clinician burnout
• 0:42
  and cybersecurity,
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  each topic is designed to spark new ideas
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  and provide actionable takeaways, but it doesn't stop
• 0:49
  there. Imagine sitting in a packed auditorium listening
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  to motivating keynotes from some of the biggest
• 0:55
  names in sports. Four time Super Bowl champion,
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  Rob Gronkowski,
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  WNBA
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  champion, and author, Lisa Leslie, and NFL legend
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  and ESPN analyst,
• 1:06
  Eli Manning, will be there sharing their stories
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  and inspiring you to reach new heights.
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  All around you, the future of Health IT
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  unfolds, and you're not just a spectator.
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  You're an active participant.
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  Don't wait. You can find the event website
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  and get registered by visiting beckershospitalreview.com
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  and clicking on the events page. That's the
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  beckers hospital review.com
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  events page.
• 1:32
  This is Laura Dirdle with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:34
  podcast.
• 1:34
  I'm thrilled today to be joined by John
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  Maidstone, director of IT Learning, QA, patient education,
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  image community connect, and clinical IT shared services
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  at New York Presbyterian.
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  John, it's a pleasure to have you on
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  the podcast today.
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  A pleasure to be here. Hi, Laura.
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  Now I'm looking forward to our conversation because
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  I think it'll be really interesting to hear
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  more about what you're doing at New York
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  Presbyterian
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  and certainly share with our broader audience. Right
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  now, there's so much happening in health care,
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  and truly,
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  you know, it is a transformational
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  time. So I'm excited for our conversation. But
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  before we dive into my questions, can you
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  tell us a little bit more about yourself
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  and your background?
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  Yeah. Sure. So,
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  as you mentioned, I'm John Mason. I get
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  to live in the incredible,
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  Brooklyn, New York and work at New York
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  Presbyterian
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  as the director on their electronic health record
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  platforms team in our clinical IT shared services
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  group.
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  What that means is I see oversee a
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  couple different groups. 1 is our epic learning
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  team, which teaches our clinicians and administrative staff
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  how to get the most out of our
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  electronic health record investments,
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  our software quality assurance team, which makes sure
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  that we have a safe, reliable change management
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  process that protects our EHR platform so that
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  we continue to give the best and most
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  reliable tools to our caregivers,
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  patient education, which really focuses in on making
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  sure our patients have the tools they need
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  to be successful at managing their health and
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  outcomes after they leave our facilities,
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  and our,
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  our community connect team, which is actually a
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  team that
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  resells our Epic platform to private practices throughout
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  the New York market, which allows us to
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  ensure that we have this great shared record
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  of patient clinical data from across multiple care
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  facilities, whether it's our own at New York
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  Presbyterian,
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  Weill Cornell, and Columbia,
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  or if it's from your doctor down the
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  street that you prefer to go see. So
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  that's an avenue for us to make sure
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  that we have the most comprehensive
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  electronic health record available for our patients here
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  in New York City.
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  I'm really fortunate to have worked in health
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  care now for 14 years. And
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  as you mentioned,
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  things are always changing. I don't know if
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  I've recalled a point in time where we
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  got to take a break and catch our
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  breath and and let status quo kinda be
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  the normal. That doesn't seem to be something
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  in health care, but
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  I've really had a lot of good fortune
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  working in this industry. I started out my
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  career at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio
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  and then joined HSS in New York, and
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  now I'm with New York Presbyterian.
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  And I've got to see so much and
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  learn a tremendous amount over that time period
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  and do the piece that I can do
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  to help transform patient care and hopefully make
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  an impact. So
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  I'm very excited by the work that we're
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  doing, and I'm happy to share even more
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  with you.
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  Well, that's amazing to hear and certainly a
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  really
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  a great career journey to bring you to
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  where you're at today.
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  Now as you mentioned, I wanted to get
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  your perspective first on some of the different
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  opportunities and headwinds you have your eye on
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  right now. What what's really top of mind
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  for you?
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  Well, I think that right now, one of
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  the biggest headwinds is the regulatory
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  environment.
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  I don't wanna get into politics, but across
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  our country right now, things are changing rapidly
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  depending on, laws that are going into place
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  or or laws that are being rolled back.
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  And
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  I think that's going to create a lot
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  of challenges both for the patient as well
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  as for the health care delivery organization.
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  You know, we're seeing things where they want
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  certain parts of the electronic health record to
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  potentially
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  be walled off from other segments of the
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  electronic health record in New York by way
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  of example.
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  And
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  those sort of
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  ideas, which come from a good place and
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  can hopefully,
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  or are are intended to hopefully create,
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  better solutions for the patients or safer solutions
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  for them,
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  actually ends up impeding a clinician's ability to
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  see the comprehensive
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  patient record in front of them if we
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  go down this route of, you know, blocking
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  off certain access to information such as HIV
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  status or abortion or certain medical care that
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  a patient has received.
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  We we need to see that whole medical
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  record to do the best job that we
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  can at supporting our patients. And so I
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  think these headwinds coming from this regulatory activity
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  is going to be
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  very interesting to watch
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  and certainly something that I think a lot
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  of people should be really concerned with and
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  advocating for themselves for.
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  I think that's such a great point. And
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  definitely,
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  you know, I'm thinking about those regulatory changes.
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  I can imagine anytime there's a new,
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  law or or policy that comes up or
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  is removed, you know, has a lot of,
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  unintended consequences.
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  So it's just fascinating to hear. I know
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  you had some opportunities. You wanna go through
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  it as well?
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  Yeah. Absolutely. I think a big opportunity that
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  exists is health justice.
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  You hear a lot about equity in modern
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  times, whether it's from, you know, staffing equity
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  from an HR perspective. But, you know, in
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  health care, we talk about health equity, and
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  at New York Presbyterian, we talk about health
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  justice.
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  And
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  what that really means is it's not just
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  ensuring that everybody has access to the same
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  services,
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  but it means that we take a look
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  at these systemic problems that exist in our
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  society,
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  and we try to determine how we can
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  best affect change
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  to get rid of some of those systemic
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  problems.
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  So what can we do in order to
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  boost health equity at New York Presbyterian to
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  make sure that our patients from a variety
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  of backgrounds and areas, we have patients that
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  come to us from all across the world,
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  how do we ensure that the care that
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  we deliver
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  is targeted
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  and specific
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  and approachable
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  for
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  each one of those individual patients. And it's
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  a big challenge to address the disparities that
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  exist because you have to really have your
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  blinders off and constantly scan the environment to
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  see what's happening all around us.
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  In New York City, we're really fortunate,
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  but also very challenged by the fact that
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  we have probably the most diverse patient population
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  in the world. We're really the crossroads
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  for
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  the rest of the world to come to
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  us, and
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  we get to encounter so many different people
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  with different languages, religious beliefs, backgrounds, identities. And
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  so
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  when we think about
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  everything that person brings with them, this whole
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  history of belief systems and things that have
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  guided their lives,
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  we need to be better at determining how
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  we can meet that person where they are
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  and identify the solutions or the treatments that
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  are going to make the most meaningful impact.
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  You can prescribe the right medication to help
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  a patient get better. But if they can't
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  afford that medication,
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  then really we're not doing anything to take
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  care of their problems. So we have to
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  look a lot more deeply at these situations
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  that are presented to us and not look
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  at things from a transactional nature. Just because
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  we've prescribed doesn't mean that we've done enough
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  there. And our DALIA Center For Health Justice,
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  I think, is such an important tool
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  to ensure that we are doing the best
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  job we can
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  to improve lives for our patients and to
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  deliver better outcomes.
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  So, I think that's a great opportunity that
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  we're really passionate about and something that I
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  think we're really innovating on at New York
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  Presbyterian
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  and
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  something that the rest of the country, I
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  think, is going to start growing their presence
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  in as time goes on.
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  Well, that's really cool to hear and definitely
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  seems like a great opportunity for patients as
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  well as the entire health care system.
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  Now I'm wondering when you look at your
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  role and responsibilities
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  currently, how are you thinking about growth and
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  adding value to the organization overall?
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  I think that
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  with the teams that I have the pleasure
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  to lead,
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  we can make a tremendous impact
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  across our enterprise.
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  Looking at our EPIC learning team by way
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  of example,
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  they help our clinicians and administrative staff learn
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  how to use this electronic health record technology.
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  So going to a class to learn how
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  to use Epic, it's really boring. It's not
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  a great experience, but it's something you have
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  to do because this is a central tool
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  in health care delivery nowadays.
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  But what can we do, or how do
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  we look past that and see
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  something a little bit more connected as far
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  as what we are able to affect from
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  a training perspective.
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  We know right now that physician and other
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  clinician
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  well-being
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  is something that is of
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  tremendous concern.
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  Burnout, especially after the pandemic,
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  is at an all time high.
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  And so our training team is being asked
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  to look at how can we better educate
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  those who serve
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  in order for them to
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  have minimal interaction
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  using this technology to focus more of their
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  time on patients, to get them then home
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  for dinner
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  so that they can spend time with their
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  families and have a more balanced life instead
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  of spending all of their time as a
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  physician in front of a computer after hours
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  catching up on documentation.
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  So, yes, a lot of people talk about
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  documentation
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  efficiency, and that is going to continue to
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  be an area that everyone focuses in on
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  from how we design the systems to how
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  the users interact with them.
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  But it's really important that I, as a
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  leader, talk with my team
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  about how do you see your part in
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  this
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  to help that clinician get more out of
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  the technology
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  and get more out of themselves so that
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  they can deliver world class care, but also
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  take care of themselves too.
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  So that's one way that I think not
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  only is that adding value back to our
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  organization,
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  but it's going to allow the organization to
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  grow If you allow people to refresh themselves
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  and invest in themselves and have the energy
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  to go about thinking of new ways of
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  doing things and thinking about new services that
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  we can provide or ways we can provide
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  better care, that's going to ultimately lead to
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  growth. And that's just what our learning team,
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  I think, can help do. We can support
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  those processes for,
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  out helping them happen.
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  With the,
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  patient education team,
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  I think that patient education is an area
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  that's going to have a spotlight on it
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  that just grows more over time.
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  Helping patients understand the care that they're receiving
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  and then how to handle aftercare
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  is of paramount importance.
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  We don't want to see our patients being
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  readmitted to our health care systems after we've
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  provided the corrective treatment for them.
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  We need them to understand
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  how to access resources that are available to
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  them within their communities,
• 12:43
  what kind of support they should be looking
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  for from friends and family,
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  and what kind of tools should they be
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  accessing as well to keep themselves healthy.
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  Patient education is interesting because
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  I think it's an area that hasn't been
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  at the forefront
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  of conversation
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  in the past.
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  But what we're seeing, kind of like what
• 13:04
  we saw with electronic health record vendors, is
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  that there's a lot of consolidation
• 13:08
  going on for those companies that offer patient
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  education products that help your organizations then purchase.
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  And so you see all of these companies
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  kind of acquiring each other and,
• 13:21
  launching their services.
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  But
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  are those services the right fit for your
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  organization? And so what I think I've observed
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  is that you'll see a health care system
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  that has dozens of patient education systems that
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  they've purchased because one suits a certain service
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  line really well,
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  but another doesn't suit other service lines at
• 13:43
  all. And so you have a best of
• 13:45
  breed situation happening with patient education.
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  And I think we need to
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  consider
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  not only the economic cost of doing that,
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  but, also,
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  what is the voice that we wanna have
• 13:59
  as a health care institution when we interact
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  with our patients?
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  Do these tools align with that voice? Do
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  they have the character that best represents us?
• 14:09
  And is the education
• 14:11
  consumable in a way that's right for our
• 14:13
  diverse patient population?
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  These are really difficult questions,
• 14:19
  and I think that we are doing the
• 14:21
  best job we can right now to identify
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  all of the tools that exist to educate
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  our patients across our massive enterprise
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  and consolidate where it makes sense and where
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  we can.
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  But,
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  ultimately, this is going to need to be
• 14:35
  a focus area as time goes on, and
• 14:37
  I think we're gonna start to see a
• 14:38
  lot of innovation happen in that marketplace for
• 14:42
  the vendors that create these products
• 14:44
  as we move forward.
• 14:46
  That makes a lot of sense. So, you
• 14:48
  know, it is a really helpful
• 14:50
  perspective when you're thinking about how to move
• 14:51
  forward. I know there are so many different
• 14:54
  opportunities out there and, like you said, vendors
• 14:55
  to work with them, potential partners,
• 14:58
  that are really trying to tackle a lot
• 14:59
  of these challenging issues for clinicians as well
• 15:01
  as, creating a better patient outcomes and experience.
• 15:04
  And so
• 15:05
  finding the right one and then identifying who
• 15:07
  can be the best partner for you and
• 15:09
  create the right results,
• 15:10
  is really meaningful.
• 15:12
  Now, you know, as we are talking through,
• 15:15
  especially this idea of,
• 15:17
  making connections and and, you know, finding partners
• 15:20
  and investing in new technologies or capabilities.
• 15:23
  I know that for many organizations,
• 15:26
  finances are still tight. Margins are still thin.
• 15:28
  And so when you look at,
• 15:31
  needing to or wanting to make the right
• 15:33
  types of partnerships and investments, what is still
• 15:36
  really important in in our risk score investment
• 15:39
  that's worth making this year?
• 15:42
  So I think we've learned a lot about
• 15:44
  vulnerabilities that exist over the past few years.
• 15:47
  Thinking about the SARS CoV 2 pandemic,
• 15:50
  ransomware,
• 15:51
  hacking of various entities in the health care
• 15:53
  industry,
• 15:54
  acts of terrorism, and even natural disasters.
• 15:57
  It's probably one of the most difficult times
• 15:59
  in history to be a leader
• 16:01
  and to determine how to build the best
• 16:04
  resiliency
• 16:05
  you can have in your organization.
• 16:07
  The threats in front of us are numerous,
• 16:09
  and they're barely predictable.
• 16:12
  And we've worked so hard to push health
• 16:15
  care forward
• 16:16
  by modernizing and digitizing our processes, and that's
• 16:19
  been the right thing to do. And it's
• 16:21
  paid dividends for us. But along the way,
• 16:24
  we started to forget the old ways of
• 16:26
  doing things in order to make way for
• 16:28
  the new.
• 16:30
  Right now, I think we need to keep
• 16:32
  moving towards the health care of tomorrow
• 16:34
  while also looking back at how we did
• 16:37
  things before adopting these different technologies.
• 16:40
  If we had to run a hospital from
• 16:42
  a 100 years ago, what would that look
• 16:44
  like?
• 16:45
  Our health systems today are vastly larger in
• 16:48
  size and complexity than what existed in the
• 16:50
  19 twenties. So navigating our current environment without
• 16:54
  modern tools and conveniences,
• 16:56
  it's almost unthinkable.
• 16:58
  But that's what we must be thinking about
• 17:00
  and where we must invest and focus our
• 17:03
  energy.
• 17:04
  We need better plans, backup systems, and tools.
• 17:08
  We need more MacGyvers
• 17:10
  and less crypto bros to rise to the
• 17:13
  challenges before us and answer questions like, how
• 17:15
  do we continue executing our essential services when
• 17:19
  our systems are in an extended downtime?
• 17:22
  What is the best standard of care we
• 17:24
  can deliver when weather events cause bridges to
• 17:26
  be washed out and trains inaccessible,
• 17:29
  and we can't get our caregivers
• 17:30
  to our campuses
• 17:32
  to report for duty?
• 17:34
  These are really difficult questions and and not
• 17:36
  something that is a core competency of a
• 17:38
  healthcare leader to just
• 17:40
  determine the best path forward. It takes a
• 17:43
  lot of extensive forethought,
• 17:45
  planning, and investment.
• 17:47
  So
• 17:48
  the investment worth making this year, I think,
• 17:51
  is focusing in on how you best prepare
• 17:55
  for those downtime situations
• 17:56
  when technology is inaccessible
• 17:59
  or when natural events like natural disasters
• 18:03
  happen. How does your organization
• 18:06
  retool itself immediately
• 18:08
  to react and and continue to deliver that
• 18:11
  vital care to the patient population.
• 18:13
  If you haven't created those plans,
• 18:16
  if you haven't looked into the backup systems
• 18:18
  that you may need to navigate this,
• 18:21
  that's something that I think needs to be
• 18:23
  brought to the forefront and prioritized
• 18:26
  from an investment perspective.
• 18:29
  That's fascinating to hear. You know? And, certainly,
• 18:31
  like you said, when these
• 18:33
  disasters happen and needing to go without technology,
• 18:36
  I can imagine it's quite a different situation
• 18:38
  than it was 10 years ago with, you
• 18:40
  know,
• 18:41
  a
• 18:42
  a percentage of the team that never worked
• 18:44
  off of pay paper records are always having
• 18:46
  technology at their fingertips.
• 18:49
  Yeah. I was having a conversation with our
• 18:51
  COO, Brian Donley. And doctor Donley, when he
• 18:54
  started out delivering care,
• 18:56
  he was doing it on paper, but very
• 18:58
  quickly Cleveland Clinic was an early adopter of
• 19:00
  Epic, So he very quickly transitioned to using
• 19:03
  an EMR in early 2000 I think it
• 19:05
  was around 2001 that it was implemented at
• 19:08
  Cleveland Clinic.
• 19:09
  So he has that perspective
• 19:11
  of how do you go back and work
• 19:13
  in a paper chart. But if you think
• 19:15
  about our new nurses or our new residents
• 19:18
  coming,
• 19:19
  onto the floors of our hospitals, they haven't
• 19:21
  had that experience. So how can we
• 19:24
  very quickly educate them?
• 19:27
  How can we restore those paper tools that
• 19:29
  existed in the past?
• 19:31
  And how can we make sure that these
• 19:33
  things can be operationalized
• 19:35
  in a snap? Because, again, these things aren't
• 19:38
  predictable
• 19:39
  when
• 19:40
  a a hacker attacks your network and everything
• 19:42
  goes down. You don't have the insight of
• 19:45
  when that's going to happen. So you need
• 19:47
  to be ready today in this moment to
• 19:49
  flip a switch and be ready to transition.
• 19:53
  And I think that's a huge area of
• 19:55
  opportunity for everyone to really focus in on.
• 20:00
  That makes a lot of sense. Thank you
• 20:01
  so much for, digging deep in there. Now
• 20:04
  before we wrap up our conversation, I'm wondering
• 20:06
  where do you see some of the best
• 20:07
  opportunities for growth in the future?
• 20:11
  I'm not sure if I'll ever answer this
• 20:12
  question without first saying that it's by investing
• 20:15
  in your
• 20:16
  people. I I feel very strongly
• 20:18
  that people are
• 20:21
  the best tool you have to be successful
• 20:24
  as an organization.
• 20:25
  And if you invest in them, that's helping
• 20:28
  them attain or unlock new knowledge, skills, and
• 20:31
  abilities that they bring back to your organization.
• 20:34
  So they help you see new things, new
• 20:37
  opportunities.
• 20:38
  And
• 20:39
  I think investing in your human capital
• 20:41
  is what's going to help you traverse the
• 20:43
  turbulence of a VUCA world nowadays.
• 20:47
  Organizations really are just collectives of people. So
• 20:50
  to me, it doesn't make sense to prioritize
• 20:52
  investing anywhere other than in those individuals who
• 20:55
  comprise your firm.
• 20:57
  But aside from people really being,
• 21:00
  the growth catalyst,
• 21:02
  I see a tremendous amount of growth coming
• 21:04
  from new avenues of care delivery.
• 21:07
  I was talking about running a hospital from
• 21:09
  a 100 years ago,
• 21:11
  But if you think about things, a lot
• 21:13
  of care has transitioned over the past few
• 21:15
  decades where you used to go to a
• 21:17
  hospital to have all of your needs met.
• 21:20
  And now we have a plethora of options
• 21:22
  as patients to seek out our care.
• 21:26
  But what's really interesting, I think, are the
• 21:28
  advances in robotic process automation,
• 21:32
  which I think is going to significantly
• 21:34
  drive down costs in both manufacturing and logistics,
• 21:38
  which I think means that we'll be able
• 21:39
  to get more tools and supplies to patients
• 21:41
  wherever they are, more seamlessly than ever.
• 21:45
  And so when we think about concepts like
• 21:47
  hospital at home, I think that's going to
• 21:49
  make that more attainable as time goes forward
• 21:52
  and more affordable for health care organizations
• 21:56
  to build those services and make them available
• 21:58
  to patients.
• 22:00
  But there's other interesting things happening too.
• 22:03
  Some companies like Amazon and Zipline started to
• 22:07
  experiment with using drones a few years ago,
• 22:10
  and they,
• 22:11
  tested out delivery of prescriptions
• 22:14
  to patients,
• 22:15
  which is really cool. And I think it's
• 22:16
  really interesting, and it it's just one method
• 22:19
  that could better enable us to meet patients
• 22:21
  where they are and help save or improve
• 22:24
  lives.
• 22:25
  And thinking about that drone concept,
• 22:27
  you know, health care is really hard. In
• 22:29
  in New York City, in some ways, it
• 22:30
  can be a lot harder here. Between traffic
• 22:33
  and train delays, sometimes we have immediate needs
• 22:36
  that can't be easily met.
• 22:38
  So what if our blood bank in Brooklyn
• 22:41
  had a b negative blood that's vitally needed
• 22:44
  at our campus in Washington Heights ASAP?
• 22:47
  Well, in the future, could we have drones
• 22:50
  that pick up that a b negative blood
• 22:52
  from our one campus
• 22:54
  and quickly fly it to our campus all
• 22:56
  the way up towards the top of Manhattan
• 22:58
  so that we can address the patient's needs
• 23:00
  that immediately.
• 23:02
  Whereas had we put it in a vehicle
• 23:04
  and tried to drive it across town, it
• 23:05
  could be an hour or more.
• 23:08
  I think these things are really cool. I
• 23:10
  think they're very difficult to execute on,
• 23:13
  but it's something that I really get excited
• 23:16
  about because I think it's going to really
• 23:18
  transform
• 23:19
  care delivery when we look at how these
• 23:22
  new tools open up new avenues for us
• 23:25
  to deliver care or to just build out
• 23:29
  additional logistics that didn't exist for us before,
• 23:32
  which makes delivering care for us even easier
• 23:35
  as a health care enterprise.
• 23:38
  John, thank you so much for joining us
• 23:40
  on the podcast today. This has been such
• 23:41
  a fascinating conversation, and I look forward to
• 23:44
  connect with you again soon.
• 23:45
  It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much,
• 23:47
  Laura.