Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Simplifying Health IT to Improve Care and Unlock Value with Deb Anderson

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Simplifying Health IT to Improve Care and Unlock Value with Deb Anderson · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - Hello and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 0:02
  - My name is Chanel Bunker and I'm recording
• 0:04
  - live at the Becker's eleventh annual Health IT
• 0:08
  - plus Digital Health and RCM conference in Chicago.
• 0:11
  - And today, I am thrilled to be speaking
• 0:13
  - with Deb Anderson,
• 0:15
  - the chief information officer at Endeavor Health.
• 0:18
  - Deb, thank you so much for joining me
• 0:19
  - today. Hey, Chanel. Thank you for having me.
• 0:21
  - I'm looking forward to our discussion. Likewise. Well,
• 0:24
  - to get us started out, could you please
• 0:26
  - tell us a bit about yourself and your
• 0:28
  - background?
• 0:28
  - Yeah. Thanks, Chanel. I am Debbie Anderson. I'm
• 0:31
  - the chief information officer of Endeavor Health. We
• 0:34
  - are an integrated hospital system in the Chicagoland
• 0:38
  - area,
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  - and I've spent my career at the intersection
• 0:41
  - of technology,
• 0:43
  - health care, transformation,
• 0:45
  - and
• 0:46
  - operations.
• 0:47
  - I think that this is a a very
• 0:49
  - consequential time for CIOs
• 0:52
  - in health care,
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  - and that's because technology is fundamental
• 0:56
  - to how care is delivered.
• 0:58
  - It's fundamental to how we work.
• 1:00
  - It's fundamental to how we protect our data,
• 1:03
  - protect our patients. It's fundamental
• 1:06
  - to how we create value.
• 1:08
  - And
• 1:09
  - at Endeavor Health, our north star is safe,
• 1:13
  - seamless, and personal.
• 1:15
  - My job as CIO
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  - is to ensure that we enable that north
• 1:20
  - star for Endeavor
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  - and that we help deliver care,
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  - leveraging the technology and the assets that we've
• 1:27
  - invested in. So that's what I am looking
• 1:29
  - forward to, and that's a little bit about
• 1:31
  - me.
• 1:32
  - It's not for just doing it today. It's
• 1:35
  - for doing it today,
• 1:36
  - but also building for what comes next.
• 1:40
  - Got it. Got it. Now that we have
• 1:41
  - a sense of your background,
• 1:43
  - can you give us a quick state of
• 1:45
  - the union? What has gone well this year,
• 1:47
  - and what are you most focused on for
• 1:48
  - the rest of 2026?
• 1:50
  - Oh my gosh.
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  - Much has gone well at Endeavor Health. We've
• 1:53
  - been a busy health care system by far,
• 1:55
  - and hands down, it has to be Passport.
• 1:59
  - Passport is the integration
• 2:01
  - of our
• 2:02
  - three
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  - EMRs
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  - into one EMR,
• 2:06
  - our electronic health record system.
• 2:09
  - And it's not only about creating a foundation
• 2:12
  - for technology, but what it does do for
• 2:15
  - us, it is looking at how do we
• 2:17
  - create that one Endeavor health. How do we
• 2:20
  - create the single experience
• 2:22
  - for our patients when they come in the
• 2:24
  - door? How do we unlock
• 2:26
  - the value
• 2:27
  - for our
• 2:28
  - team members, for our clinicians? How do we
• 2:31
  - simplify the complexity
• 2:33
  - so that we can improve care? And that's
• 2:34
  - what it really is all about. And so
• 2:36
  - I'm so proud of where we are with
• 2:38
  - Passport. Phase one went extremely well in August,
• 2:41
  - and now we're looking forward onto phase two,
• 2:44
  - which is in November.
• 2:45
  - And
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  - at the end of the day,
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  - it really is about
• 2:50
  - creating
• 2:51
  - a space
• 2:52
  - that unlocks a capability
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  - for us to deliver care
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  - the way our patients and our clinicians
• 2:59
  - are asking us.
• 3:01
  - I love to hear that. And now that
• 3:03
  - we have a sense of what you're focused
• 3:05
  - on and excited about,
• 3:07
  - on the flip side of that, what are
• 3:08
  - the biggest headwinds that you're keeping on and
• 3:11
  - preparing for right now? Chanel, I knew you
• 3:13
  - were gonna ask me that question.
• 3:15
  - And you cannot
• 3:16
  - not ask that.
• 3:18
  - You can't ignore that
• 3:21
  - today. It's consequential being a CIO because we're
• 3:24
  - being asked to transform.
• 3:26
  - At the same time,
• 3:28
  - we're being asked to
• 3:30
  - manage costs,
• 3:32
  - at the same time,
• 3:34
  - become more efficient,
• 3:35
  - and at the same time,
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  - respond to the increasing demands of our clinician,
• 3:40
  - our patients,
• 3:41
  - or our consumers.
• 3:43
  - And those are all challenged.
• 3:45
  - And, you know, while AI
• 3:47
  - introduces
• 3:48
  - tremendous value, it's just a lever.
• 3:51
  - So we have AI. We have automation.
• 3:53
  - We have digital.
• 3:55
  - We have data.
• 3:56
  - Those are all
• 3:58
  - tools that we can use.
• 4:00
  - But when you think about our environment,
• 4:03
  - cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated.
• 4:05
  - We have
• 4:06
  - clinicians and consumers
• 4:08
  - demand higher
• 4:09
  - from a technology standpoint.
• 4:12
  - And from a CIO perspective,
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  - Endeavor Health is focused on
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  - simplification.
• 4:17
  - How do we do that? Technology alone won't
• 4:19
  - solve that. In fact, you can't fight all
• 4:21
  - of those. We're just adding tech.
• 4:24
  - That's counter to what we should be looking
• 4:27
  - at because that increases friction, that increases complexity.
• 4:31
  - Again, at Endeavor Health, we're focused on simplification.
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  - We're focused on
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  - platforms
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  - that address those needs that we already own
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  - and removing the tech debt. We're looking at
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  - how do we ensure that the orchestration and
• 4:46
  - the workflows
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  - map to what our clinicians and what our
• 4:50
  - team members and what our patients need and
• 4:52
  - require
• 4:54
  - all through
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  - a seamless
• 4:56
  - environment.
• 4:57
  - That's how we plan to attack it. And
• 5:00
  - so
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  - if
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  - we can connect
• 5:03
  - the investment
• 5:04
  - to the value that it delivers, to the
• 5:07
  - outcomes,
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  - or the outcomes will be the value. If
• 5:10
  - we can connect
• 5:11
  - those, then we've done something right.
• 5:13
  - But the challenge is becoming more efficient
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  - at the same time of leaning into transformation
• 5:19
  - to deliver care of the way patients.
• 5:21
  - I love how you frame that. And kinda
• 5:23
  - going off that a bit, what is your
• 5:25
  - best opportunity for growth in the next two
• 5:27
  - to three years?
• 5:29
  - Thank you for the question.
• 5:31
  - When I think about our opportunity for growth,
• 5:34
  - I think about how do we extract
• 5:36
  - the value potential
• 5:39
  - that we're enabling
• 5:40
  - for our clinicians.
• 5:42
  - Because at the end of the day,
• 5:44
  - it's not about the tech.
• 5:46
  - At the end of the day, it's about
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  - the people.
• 5:48
  - People use the tech. And so our opportunity
• 5:51
  - for growth is to ensure
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  - that we have made it so simple and
• 5:56
  - as frictionless as possible that we can extract
• 5:59
  - the value and continue
• 6:01
  - to build upon that. If we can do
• 6:03
  - that, capability is ours,
• 6:05
  - and it's limitless.
• 6:07
  - We're only
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  - limited
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  - by how much change we can absorb
• 6:12
  - and take on.
• 6:14
  - Absolutely. And now in this short conversation, I
• 6:16
  - could tell that you're a very driven leader
• 6:18
  - and passionate about what you do.
• 6:20
  - And kinda going along with that, who do
• 6:23
  - you admire as a leader from any industry
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  - and why?
• 6:27
  - I admire
• 6:29
  - my CEO,
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  - JP Gallagher.
• 6:31
  - He's his chief executive officer
• 6:34
  - of Endeavor Health.
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  - One of the things that
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  - most
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  - impresses me
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  - by
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  - JP
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  - is
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  - his ability
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  - to maintain high character
• 6:48
  - in the face
• 6:49
  - of challenges and headwind of running a health
• 6:52
  - system,
• 6:52
  - of patient care,
• 6:54
  - of cyber threats, of all of the industry
• 6:58
  - dynamics that are occurring,
• 7:00
  - while also
• 7:01
  - balancing
• 7:02
  - people first.
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  - It's not really about the tech. It's not
• 7:06
  - really about finances.
• 7:08
  - It's not really
• 7:09
  - about the buildings. While all of those are
• 7:11
  - important,
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  - his character is one of the highest I've
• 7:14
  - ever seen in a CEO.
• 7:17
  - And I think
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  - when you apply character and purpose,
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  - accomplishing
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  - miracles, if you wanna say,
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  - accomplishing
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  - just
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  - huge
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  - goals
• 7:31
  - are within your reach.
• 7:32
  - And I watch him.
• 7:34
  - I watch how he deals with it, and
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  - I admire him because he's my modern day
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  - one quality hero. He's a modern day hero.
• 7:41
  - I love that. Well, Deb, I wanna thank
• 7:43
  - you for your time today. But before I
• 7:44
  - let you go, is is there anything else
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  - that listeners should know?
• 7:47
  - Yeah. Thank thank you for the last question.
• 7:49
  - I believe that,
• 7:51
  - again, CIOs
• 7:53
  - have an extraordinary
• 7:54
  - opportunity.
• 7:55
  - We have technology
• 7:57
  - that can
• 7:58
  - transform how care is delivered.
• 8:00
  - We have technology that can transform how we
• 8:03
  - work.
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  - We have technology that can advance
• 8:06
  - the pace
• 8:07
  - of how we deliver care.
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  - And for me,
• 8:11
  - staying focused
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  - on enabling
• 8:14
  - our clinicians, our patients through
• 8:17
  - understanding that it is really about the people.
• 8:20
  - That's what I would like to leave us
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  - with. Not about the tech. It's really about
• 8:25
  - the people who use. Well, that's a great
• 8:27
  - note. And, Deb, I wanna thank you once
• 8:29
  - again for your time today and for joining
• 8:31
  - me on the Pickers Healthcare podcast.
• 8:33
  - Thank you. Thank you for having me.