Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Dr. Suparna Dutta, Chair of the Medicine Department at Hartford HealthCare

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Dr. Suparna Dutta, Chair of the Medicine Department at Hartford HealthCare · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders
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  together to unpack the most pressing issues facing
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  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
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  This April, more than 3,500
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  For the agenda and event details,
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  visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right.
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  This is Scott Becker with the Becker Healthcare
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  Podcast.
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  We're thrilled today to be joined by a
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  brilliant physician leader
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  from a brilliant system. We're joined today by
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  doctor Suparna
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  Datta,
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  and doctor Datta is is both a doctor.
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  She's a graduate of the School of Public
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  Health at Yale,
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  Dartmouth.
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  Brilliant, brilliant background,
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  and she's at Hartford
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  HealthCare. And and for those that are not
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  familiar with HHC,
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  Hartford HealthCare,
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  it's one of the systems that over the
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  last couple decades has become one of the
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  great systems in America.
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  Doctor Dunna, you serve as a department chair.
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  You've also spent time at Roche. Tell us
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  a bit about your background and where you're
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  most focused today.
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  Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Scott, thank you
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  so much for having me on,
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  for the lovely introduction.
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  I am the the chair of medicine at
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  Hartford Hospital, which is the the flagship hospital
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  of of Hartford HealthCare here in Connecticut.
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  And,
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  my job essentially is
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  kind of overseeing the inpatient and ambulatory medical
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  services across our our large integrated system, especially
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  on our our Hartford Hospital campus.
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  So my role is focused
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  really on innovating and building systems of care
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  delivery that kind of ensure high quality,
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  high value, equitable care, and and reliable access
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  for our patients and our community by aligning
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  teams across our institution and various care settings.
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  So we've been very intentional about designing care
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  so teams can work together seamlessly rather than
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  in silos.
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  And you've spent a lot of time at
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  some of my favorite institutions in in at
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  at Rush, which is local to Chicago where
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  I happened to be this
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  morning, Hartford HealthCare, which has had this incredible
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  growth over the last several years,
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  and then University of Miami where we have
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  a stepdaughter at medical school. So we're we're
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  Uh-huh. We've, it's a we we try and
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  track with all the things you're doing.
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  Talk to us a little bit about the
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  the trends that you're watching currently and at
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  at Hartford HealthCare just in in in what
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  you do. What what trends are you most
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  focused on?
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  Yeah. It's a it's a fascinating time to
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  be in health care.
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  I think when I'm a hospitalist by training,
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  so I've spent most of my career in
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  the inpatient setting. And what's really different from
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  when I started working to to where we
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  are as health care in general in The
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  United States today is
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  kind of how we've gone from very discreet
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  locations of care delivery to really having ownership
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  across the continuum of care. So now as
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  a hospitalist, if I discharge a patient, it's
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  not I'm discharged and my work is done,
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  but I'm still accountable for what happens to
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  the patient afterwards. And I have to make
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  sure that I've created a plan for the
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  patient that they can adhere to, and they
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  have a place to go for follow-up and
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  all of those things. And that accountability
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  across the continuum of care, I
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  think, is is a new development
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  in in the practice of medicine. So
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  I think that's part of,
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  something that we've been really pushing on. I
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  think another
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  big trend is
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  just social determinants of health and really understanding
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  that this is a huge part of what
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  our patients have to deal with day to
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  day.
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  And as health care, we can never get
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  our optimal outcomes unless we help our patients
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  get to the point where we can we
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  can help them make sure they have food
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  and the medications they need and heat and
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  all of those things. So things traditionally that
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  health care in general didn't get involved in,
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  I think slowly health care is realizing we
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  have to have some some
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  ownership around for our patients.
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  And then I think the other thing is
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  just value based care. I think rather than
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  focusing on volume, we're really shifting the focus
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  to how well are we providing care,
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  which kinda goes along with the population health
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  and and care beyond boundaries.
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  I think the final thing which everyone's talking
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  about is how do we use technology to
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  kinda help us achieve our goals of a
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  of a high quality, high value, equitable care
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  system.
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  And I think it's gonna be really interesting
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  over the next, you know, couple years or
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  so to see how we're gonna use AI
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  to our benefit and use technology as an
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  enabler of of the work that we do.
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  Thank you so much. And and and talk
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  a bit about where on the technology side
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  are are you seeing the most impact or
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  most excited?
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  You know, for me, I think I mean,
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  right now, I feel like there's AI
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  that can
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  do just about anything. I think where the
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  biggest
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  opportunities are are really operational. I think a
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  lot of health care has kind of been
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  bogged down the past
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  couple of decades just by the extra stuff
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  that came along with the with the provision
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  of care. And not in a bad way.
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  I think as we started focusing more on
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  quality metrics, What happened, especially in our early
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  stages, is that we had to document the
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  metrics or add in make sure we're putting
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  in certain things in the electronic medical record.
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  And often a lot of that fell on
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  the care teams to do that work. And
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  where I think technology can help is really
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  taking away that onerous data entry work for
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  for providers
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  and care teams and really allow
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  technology to do that so you get the
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  information that you need to do your job
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  at the highest level of your license in
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  the best way possible. That takes away a
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  lot of the typing after
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  outpatient visit and allows them to really actually
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  look at their patient and talk to their
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  patient rather than kind of inputting things into
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  the computer over the course of a visit.
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  So I think that's really the biggest win
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  for for AI right now
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  and where I think we can make the
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  biggest difference.
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  And, doctor Dutta, as you look towards 2026,
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  and we're just starting it right now,
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  what are you most excited about? What what
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  are you most excited about? What gets you
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  going in the morning and and most excited
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  about what you're doing?
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  Yeah. That's a great question. I think,
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  you know, sometimes I think health care,
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  as it is historically, is this big messy
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  room with a lot of great things in
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  the room, but it's all kinda all over
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  the place, and it's it's a big mess.
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  And I love the concept just mentally of
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  cleaning up that room and making it
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  so clear where all the great things are.
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  And so anyone could walk into that room
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  and figure out how to get anywhere and
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  get what they need out of that room.
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  So
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  what's really exciting that I think all of
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  health care is really
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  getting on board with that vision,
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  of building these connected systems of care where
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  nobody's siloed and we're all really focused on
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  the actual patient and how they're dealing with
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  their illness and how we can support them.
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  I'll give you an example.
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  I think I had mentioned social determinants of
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  health. And I think for a long time,
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  I think we as care teams knew that,
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  you know, if my patient can't afford heat
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  or they're getting evicted from their apartment,
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  I can tell them to take all the
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  blood pressure medications I want. They're not gonna
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  that's not the top of their priority list.
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  And so we know this, but there wasn't
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  a whole lot that we could do about
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  it because we're not
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  really
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  given instruction in how to help someone through
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  the eviction process or what to do in
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  terms of navigating that. And so now I
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  see, like, at Hartford, at our hospital, we've
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  created a a partnership, a medical legal partnership
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  with the University of Connecticut,
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  where we have a law professor and some
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  law students on-site. So if I am seeing
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  a patient and they tell me, you know,
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  I'm worried about getting evicted from my apartment,
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  I don't know how I'm gonna be able
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  to take care of myself, I can send
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  them to the the medical legal clinic to
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  see if there's something that can be done
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  to support the patient.
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  We also have a food for health clinic
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  that, you know, we have food insecurity that's
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  a a big issue in our patients' lives.
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  We have a place that we can send
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  them where they will get help in terms
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  of getting groceries that are actually grown on
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  our hospital roof and also cooking lessons on
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  how to optimize and make sure that they're
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  creating healthful meals. So a lot of things
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  that in the past that we knew impacted
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  our patients and how we cared for our
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  patients, but we were pretty helpless around
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  how to help our patients through that. Now
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  I think we're starting to to build networks
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  to to support people to do that sort
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  of thing. The other thing that is really
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  exciting for me when I think of, like,
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  cleaning that room is care transitions.
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  I think, historically, a very messy period of
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  time, like when the patient leaves the acute
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  care setting or the ED setting. And then
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  before, they're kind of picked up on the
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  other end by the the primary care doctor
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  or the specialist that follows them. And especially
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  with access after the pandemic, that space got
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  even messier and led to a lot of
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  the emergency department overcrowding and things that we've
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  seen over the past couple of years that
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  everyone in this country has been dealing with.
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  And so we've really started creating a transitional
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  care infrastructure
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  to ensure that everyone gets timely access to
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  care. So we created a clinic called our
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  Center for Transitional Care, which is essentially there
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  for patients coming out of the hospital or
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  the emergency department that aren't able to get
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  in to see their primary care doctor in
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  a timely fashion or maybe don't have a
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  primary care doctor. And so we will get
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  these patients in within seven to ten days,
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  follow-up from the acute care setting. So that
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  allows the patients to get out of the
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  hospital, which is never the the best place
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  for a patient to stay long for a
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  long period of time anyways, lets them get
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  on with their life and but still make
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  sure that they have the care that they
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  need for their illness. And so what our
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  clinic does is
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  helps the patient navigate the system and get
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  a primary care doctor if they don't have
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  one or connects them back to their own
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  primary care doctor.
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  So that's been really, really exciting to watch
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  that clinic grow and and help our our
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  patients and how it's been adopted by our
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  our teams here in the hospital.
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  I think we've also
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  created offshoots of the transitional care work. We
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  have an addiction services,
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  both an inpatient consult service, which I was
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  really excited about.
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  Opioid use and and alcohol use disorder are
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  are things that everyone deals with in the
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  inpatient setting. I think
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  our county here in Connecticut had the the
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  second highest
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  rates of opioid use and alcohol use disorder
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  coming out of the pandemic. And so having
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  a team that's,
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  boarded in addiction medicine and was really able
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  to bring the most up to date treatment
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  plans and protocols to our order sets in
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  the hospital and advise our primary teams on
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  how to help our patients both in the
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  acute medical setting in terms of withdrawal and
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  and
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  getting them started on medications to stay clean.
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  And now we have an outpatient transitional clinic
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  for addiction medicine,
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  where if they can't get the medications,
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  that they need from other community resources,
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  they will be seen in this clinic and
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  given the medications until we can hook them
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  up with long term care. So that's been,
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  something that I've been really, really excited about.
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  We also have a similar concept with our
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  endocrinology
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  transition clinic. So diabetics that were really tough
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  to control in the hospital,
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  We have a clinic where they can be
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  seen pretty quickly after they're discharged from the
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  hospital to make sure that they're on track
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  before getting them back to their regular endocrinologist.
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  Other things that I'm really excited about that
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  we're working on here at the hospital and
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  in our region is just how we're starting
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  to partner outside of just the hospital with
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  community groups
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  around the city of Hartford
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  in terms of creating just comprehensive plans for
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  our patients and putting together all our resources
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  to support our patients where they are,
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  and really creating equitable outcomes for, for our
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  patients. We started a initiative in our outpatient
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  clinics around population health and to optimize the
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  blood pressure and, and A1Cs of our patients.
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  In our community clinics,
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  it's a fairly underserved population. And, historically, we
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  did not do a great job of that
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  and
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  worked really hard to meet patients where they
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  were. So, for example,
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  if patients couldn't come to our clinic during
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  the day because they had to work, we
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  tried an evening clinic. We tried a virtual
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  clinic, which helped get access for patients.
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  We,
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  met the patients where they were coming. So
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  if they were coming to our food for
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  health clinic to pick up some groceries, we
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  met them there with a blood pressure cuff
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  and check their blood pressures. We got our
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  other
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  specialty community clinics to to partner and check
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  blood pressures and notify our clinic if patients
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  were high. So I think
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  a lot of this is just
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  really creating a culture that aligns everyone
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  that
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  works with the patients
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  on the same page of of it's about
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  the patient and their outcomes and how can
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  we help them get there.
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  I'm gonna ask you, doctor Dade. Mhmm. If
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  you're ready for this,
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  the toughest question of the day, and you
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  have to let me know if you're ready
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  and prepared for this. I'm ready.
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  Okay. So here is the question.
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  You went to three
• 13:08
  fantastic
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  academic institutions,
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  Public School of Health at Yale, did a
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  master's in public health Mhmm. A couple since
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  at the University of Buffalo,
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  and then time at Dartmouth for undergraduate, I
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  take it. Mhmm. Correct? Yes. Okay. So here
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  is the question.
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  Where were the people the nicest?
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  That's a great question. I am a a
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  native Buffalonian,
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  so
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  I'm gonna always have to go with with
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  Upstate New York. But, you know, there's a
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  lot of,
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  similarities between New England and Upstate New York.
• 13:45
  So I can't say that there's huge regional
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  differences.
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  Well, fair enough. But I think you handled
• 13:51
  that very well. The, the the the the
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  last question, you've been a lifelong learner.
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  You're a leader. You're a physician.
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  Any advice that you give to emerging leaders?
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  Yeah. I mean,
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  I think the the biggest thing for me
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  has always been
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  the knowledge that one, I don't have all
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  the answers. And and knowing that
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  and
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  realizing that my job is really to kind
• 14:15
  of be the person that brings the ideas
• 14:17
  together. So really tapping into the expertise of
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  the amazing people all around me, I think,
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  has really helped me knowing that I alone
• 14:25
  am not gonna be able to solve these
• 14:27
  problems. But when I have this amazing team
• 14:29
  that's doing this work day in and day
• 14:30
  out, they're saying things and they know things
• 14:32
  that when they bring them to the surface
• 14:34
  and they are working in an environment where
• 14:36
  they feel
• 14:37
  empowered to to own the outcomes,
• 14:39
  I think a lot of great things can
• 14:41
  happen. So I think
• 14:43
  really allowing
• 14:44
  these
• 14:45
  insanely talented, motivated people that work in health
• 14:48
  care to
• 14:50
  own the the ideas and then really seeing
• 14:54
  my job as kinda taking the ideas and
• 14:56
  helping people make their ideas into reality
• 14:59
  and, you know, helping make their work workflows
• 15:02
  easier so that they can really do the
• 15:04
  work that they they signed up to do.
• 15:06
  I think we're really, really lucky in health
• 15:08
  care that it's a special type of person
• 15:10
  that wants to work in this world.
• 15:12
  It's hard work, and there's a lot that
• 15:15
  we have to to work to kind of
• 15:17
  struggle with in terms of helping our patients
• 15:19
  get what they need
• 15:21
  in terms of just our overall system. And
• 15:23
  so being able to find the people that
• 15:26
  are willing to do this work and select
• 15:28
  for it and get them to do what's
• 15:30
  right by the patient and put them in
• 15:32
  a position to be successful is is incredibly
• 15:34
  rewarding.
• 15:35
  So I hope that answered your question.
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  No. I I I love it. And and,
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  doctor Datta, what a pleasure to visit with
• 15:42
  you. What a magnificent career. Thank you. Thank
• 15:44
  you for taking the time with us on
• 15:46
  the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. They thank you so
• 15:48
  much. Yeah. Thank you for having me. I
• 15:50
  really appreciate it.