Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Partnering for Progress: How Collaboration Elevates Healthcare IT

Transcript

Partnering for Progress: How Collaboration Elevates Healthcare IT · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Hi, everyone. This is Chanel Banger with Becker's
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  Healthcare. Thank you so much for tuning in
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  to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
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  Healthcare IT teams are stretched thin, often stuck
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  in daily operations instead of driving strategy.
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  This episode explores how the right IT partner
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  can take on essential maintenance so internal IT
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  leaders, especially those in rural and community hospital
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  settings, can focus on modernization
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  and long term planning.
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  We'll discuss why IT struggles to gain strategic
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  influence,
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  how partnership adds stability and expertise, and how
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  reducing reactive workloads and adding scalable support can
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  shift IT from a support function to a
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  strategic asset. Joining me for today's discussion is
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  Phil Sobel, CCO at Cerricor.
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  Phil, Phil, thank you so much for joining
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  me today. Oh, Chanel, happy to be here.
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  Perfect. Well, to get us started, for people
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  who may not be familiar with Cericor,
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  what do you do, and what truly differentiates
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  you from other health care IT companies?
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  So Cericor is an IT professional and managed
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  services firm, and we focus exclusively
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  on the
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  provider space from a health care perspective.
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  So we offer IT and application support. We
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  offer EHR
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  implementation
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  and optimization
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  across the three major platforms that exist today,
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  Epic, Oracle Health, and Meditech.
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  Technical networking services,
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  both from a hosting perspective in a private
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  cloud as well as the public cloud,
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  outsourced IT and cyber leadership, and then just
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  general IT contingent labor as well.
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  When you look at our differentiators,
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  I would say it starts with the fact
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  that we're we're really focused
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  and born out of the provider space. So
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  we take a little bit of a different
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  look and perspective,
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  really provider first versus technology services firm first,
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  And that makes all the difference in the
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  world. A vast majority of our employees have
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  worked in the hospitals,
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  and that's that's the kind of their heritage
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  and their genesis. And so
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  the way we look at things is truly
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  as an extension
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  of our clients' team.
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  And, you know, our tagline is being the
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  link to life saving care,
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  and we really challenge our employees
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  to be able to clearly articulate just what
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  that means in the role that they play
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  day in and day out. How does how
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  do they impact it maybe one step away,
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  two steps away?
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  What's happening at the bedside? And that's that's
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  kind of our differentiator.
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  Got it. Got it. And now getting into
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  the meat of the podcast a bit, rural
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  and community hospital leaders often wear multiple hats
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  with little backup.
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  What does meaningful practical support look like for
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  leaders in that environment?
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  Rural has always been a challenge. I I
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  think it's continuing to to get
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  harder.
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  And, really, it starts with
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  understanding.
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  And I think that goes back to what
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  I talked about a little bit earlier, which
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  is becoming truly becoming an extension of their
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  organization. So it's coming in and understanding the
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  community,
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  understanding their challenges,
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  understanding,
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  you know, where they're trying to take that
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  rural hospital
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  health system practice,
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  understanding the makeup of the board,
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  and and really building that trust,
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  not
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  only for the just a short term gain,
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  but really for the long term. And so
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  I shared,
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  just a few weeks back,
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  on a, a webinar, with with Becker's,
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  a story about one of our clients,
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  in Texas, a rural hospital,
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  about 45 beds.
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  You know, we've been working with them now
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  for over seven years.
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  When we showed up, they they had a
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  lot of challenges going on. The board had
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  just replaced,
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  the c suite
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  because
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  the the previous one wasn't getting the job
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  done, and they they turned to us and
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  said we need some help.
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  And so we came in and partnered with
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  them, and it took it was a five
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  year plan from where they were to IT
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  modernization,
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  which then allowed them to be on a
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  current platform
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  that was sustainable
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  going forward, and that makes all the difference.
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  That's amazing to hear. And now staffing shortages
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  are hitting hospital IT teams hard. How do
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  you help stabilize operations and fill gaps without
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  forcing clients into a constant cycle of hiring
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  and retraining?
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  Yeah. Great great question, and it's a challenge
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  that is,
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  top of mind for everyone, particularly in the
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  not just in in the IT space, but
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  across the board for rural, but in particular
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  for IT. I think some of that challenge
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  was really
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  exacerbated with COVID, where all of a sudden
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  this whole push work from home,
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  you you found that even the talent that
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  was in the rural
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  communities was getting scooped up in a remote
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  capacity by organizations
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  that were
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  many instances hundreds of miles away.
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  And so that that made the the problem
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  just exponentially worse. And then the the, you
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  know, when you look at the amount of
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  time it takes to recruit for some of
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  these positions,
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  and then if you can't find them from
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  a talent perspective,
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  train. And then by the time you get
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  them trained,
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  they're on to the next thing. You know,
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  in many instances,
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  these larger organizations
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  are paying, you know, 30%
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  more. So it's a challenge. And and, really,
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  it's a it's a mindset
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  set shift a little bit for the c
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  level when it comes to,
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  do I need to have all these people
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  local,
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  Or can I work with a partner who
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  has access to the talent
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  and, you know, maybe use some of that
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  in a fractional capacity?
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  Or
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  in some cases, you know, maybe for a
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  year or two from a stabilization
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  standpoint.
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  And and so
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  if you can get through that mind shift
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  to say, okay. Wait a minute. Here's what
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  my organization
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  needs. I can't find it locally, so how
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  do I turn to a partner organization
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  that has that capability,
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  who brings to the table
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  perspective,
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  experience,
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  and that talent,
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  and who will work with the organization,
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  understanding, buying into the mission,
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  but in a in such a way that's
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  respectful
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  of the local organization,
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  the local team,
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  and the budget constraints.
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  And if you can find a partner like
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  that, then all of a sudden, those talent
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  woes
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  go away, and you can have access to
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  the right talent
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  for the right duration at the right time.
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  For sure. And say a hospital does decide
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  to partner with you guys. When Cericore steps
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  in to support day to day IT operations,
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  what typically changes first, and what kind of
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  strategic work do leaders finally have the space
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  to focus on?
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  Yeah. I I I think the first thing
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  that changes
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  is we come in and we do an
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  evaluation
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  and an assessment,
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  and then we document
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  everything.
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  So everything from
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  the inventory, the applications,
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  the processes,
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  the workflows,
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  because you have to know what you're starting
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  with in order to then build
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  the road map going forward and to then
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  to be able to educate senior leadership and
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  the board as to here's where you are,
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  here's where you need to go, and here's
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  the why.
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  And then working through and saying, okay.
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  Here are the top priorities that need to
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  be addressed.
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  Let's work together
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  on those. Here's what that investment looks like.
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  Here's what that return looks like. And so
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  it truly becomes a collaborative process, but you
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  can't do that without
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  the baseline.
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  And we have never walked into an organization
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  that had all that documented in the in
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  rural health. It just it it's it's a
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  challenge for urban as well.
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  But in rural health especially because they just
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  don't have the time
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  to do it. And when you don't have
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  the time, you can't lay out that plan,
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  and so you get stuck a little bit
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  in just
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  paralysis.
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  And so that's really the first thing. And
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  then once
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  once we come in and do that, it
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  really does then free up leadership to be
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  able to make decisions,
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  to have a clear vision and road map
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  of as to
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  how they can modernize and what it's gonna
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  take to modernize.
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  And once you have that clear plan,
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  it it brings the anxiety down. Yes. Is
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  there a lot to do? Sure. But you
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  have a a documented,
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  well thought out road map to execute on.
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  Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. And
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  now I have one more question for you.
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  IT is often viewed as a cost center.
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  How do you help health care leaders reframe
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  that narrative with their boards toward quality, safety,
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  and patient outcomes? Yes.
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  You know, I think over the years, we
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  we've made
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  progress in this, but there's still a ways
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  to go.
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  Technical folks love to talk in terms of
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  IT. They love to talk in terms of
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  systems and technical platforms,
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  but that's not what resonates, particularly in in
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  rural health where you've got a board of
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  directors that they, one, that they're not technologists.
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  Two, they're probably not really all that familiar,
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  more or less, with hospital operations. They they
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  own the local
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  restaurants. They own the local, maybe hotel, motel,
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  you know, pillars of the community,
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  but this isn't what they do on a
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  day in and day out basis.
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  And so
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  you have to speak to them in in
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  in terms, and I would say, stories
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  that resonate. And the stories that are gonna
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  resonate with them
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  are stories
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  about how
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  IT
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  supports
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  the patient experience
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  and how IT supports the clinical
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  experience as well for clinicians because they all
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  know, hey. We have to have those doctors,
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  from a local standpoint. Otherwise, we're we're in
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  deep trouble. And so they're very, very cognizant
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  of that. And so it it it goes
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  to speaking to the stories,
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  not the technology.
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  Because
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  IT
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  really is one of the main driving forces
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  that allow for modern health systems to be
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  able to deliver
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  safe and reliable care.
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  Anymore IT is the underpinning
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  for all of that, but you have to
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  tell the story.
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  And I think
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  recently, we had,
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  we had this big push with Ambient.
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  Right?
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  And I think that's a great story for
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  folks to tell. And it's not about the
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  technology
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  per se, but it's about
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  what the technology
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  did transformationally
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  to truly help with not only the clinician
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  experience,
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  but what that meant
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  for the patient experience as well. Now all
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  of a sudden as a patient,
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  your clinician, your physician is looking at you.
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  They're having a conversation
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  with you. They're not
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  sitting there typing.
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  They're not looking at the screen. They're actually
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  having the conversation with you, and then all
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  of a sudden you feel as a patient
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  seen,
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  heard,
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  understood.
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  And that's the underpinning. That's the value of
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  IT. And so it's leveraging and using those
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  stories
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  effectively
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  to the c suite and to the board
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  of directors. And when you can do that
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  as an IT leader,
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  you're much better off. I love how you
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  frame that. Well, Phil, I wanna thank you
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  for your time today. But before I let
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  you go, is there anything else that listeners
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  should know?
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  You know, I just think that
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  at the end of the day,
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  we all face these challenges,
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  and and we all have choices to make.
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  And, you know, the choices in technology,
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  choices in, you know, what service lines we
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  have to add. But, ultimately, the underpinning is
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  what's best for the community, what's best for
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  the the patients that we serve. And it's
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  picking
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  partners
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  that come alongside you in that journey that
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  buy into your mission
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  that can truly make an impactful difference for
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  you. Absolutely. Well, Phil, I wanna thank you
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  once again for your time and insights today,
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  and we also wanna thank our podcast sponsor,
• 12:07
  Ceracor.
• 12:08
  You can tune in to more podcasts from
• 12:09
  Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast page at
• 12:12
  beckershospitalreview.com.