Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Dr. Chris DeFlitch, Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer at Penn State Health

Transcript

Dr. Chris DeFlitch, Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer at Penn State Health · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  This is Laura Dierdo with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by doctor
• 0:43
  Chris DeFletch,
• 0:44
  vice president and chief medical information officer at
• 0:46
  Penn State Health as well as professor at
• 0:48
  Penn State College of Medicine
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  and emergency medicine physician at Milton s. Hershey
• 0:53
  Medical Center. Doctor DeFletch, it's a pleasure to
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  have you on the podcast today. Hey, Hey,
• 0:57
  Laura. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
• 0:59
  Absolutely. Well, I'm looking forward to our conversation.
• 1:01
  I know we have a lot to talk
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  about, and, certainly,
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  Penn State Health is going through a huge
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  transformation with EHR as well as, bringing in
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  new technologies and doing some really cool things.
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  And so I'm excited to talk about that.
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  But before we dive in, can you tell
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  us a little bit more about Penn State
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  Health and what makes it unique?
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  Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
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  You know, proud to say I've been at
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  Penn State Health for, for more than more
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  than two decades,
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  practice in emergency medicine the whole time and,
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  being able to to serve as the chief
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  medical information officer. You know, we've really grown
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  from
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  a single hospital,
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  Milton Hershey Medical Center, to now,
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  depending on how you count it, seven hospital
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  systems across all of,
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  Central, Pennsylvania.
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  We're we're lucky really enough to be able
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  to to to be able to take care
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  of all of our patients
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  in the Penn State area and the Penn
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  State region. We're talking,
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  an area that that you can get any
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  type of care that you want right here
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  at home. You don't gotta travel to Pittsburgh.
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  You don't gotta travel to Philadelphia.
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  You know, it's it's all done here, whether
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  you need it in the community
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  in Berks County or, you know, further west
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  or up north of the state college. And,
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  you know, we're academic tertiary care into Penn
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  State. So, you know, we're we're coming off
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  one of our,
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  really,
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  flagship moments.
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  Penn State
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  THON was this past weekend. And for those
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  of you who aren't familiar with THON,
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  it's the largest run student run philanthropic
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  events,
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  in the nation.
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  The university
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  students
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  raised over $17,000,000
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  for direct care for patients
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  pediatric patients suffering from cancer in the four
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  and so it's called the four diamonds fund.
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  And so
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  all of our,
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  pediatric patients who
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  are getting treated,
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  for cancer
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  get it get it taken care of by
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  the four diamonds fund. You know, you hear
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  things like, other companies who who do this
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  and they don't have care, but it's only,
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  you know, for people who aren't in clinical
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  trials. For us, it's everybody.
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  Anybody who comes to Penn State,
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  who has
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  a a child suffering from from cancer and
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  gets treated at our children's hospital gets it
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  done for free. And this is really on
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  the backs of these students. It's it's an
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  incredible
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  event that's turned out to be an event
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  for all the high schools in the area
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  as well. So they have mini thons
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  at all of our high schools, and they'll
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  build, you know, 10,000, 20 thousand dollars in
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  each one of these high schools,
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  in addition to the 17,000,000
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  that,
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  Penn State bond students do. It's it's it's,
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  it's heartwarming. It's it's incredible
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  that and it goes directly to care. There's
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  no intermediary. There's no other people. It's really
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  students collecting money for the care of these
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  these these, these pediatric cancer patients. And, you
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  know, that's one of many things that, that
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  Penn State, makes Penn State special.
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  That's amazing to hear. And what a unique
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  situation you have. Great to hear that the
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  students are so passionate about raising that money
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  and providing care for pediatric patients in the
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  community.
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  I think it's truly impressive and,
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  very indicative of the community you have there,
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  at Penn State Health.
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  It's the reason I've been here for so
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  long is it's it's about people taking care
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  of people, and that's all they care about.
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  I mean, it's it's you know, there's lots
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  of things in medicine, lots of technology, and
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  we're gonna get into that. And there's lots
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  of this sort of stuff. The other day,
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  it's about people taking care of people, and
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  and
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  and and Penn State students see that. And
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  and people who work at Penn State Health
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  see that. And and it's, it's it's really
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  it's it's really an honor, kind of incredible
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  to be around.
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  Well, absolutely. Yeah. And and I think, to
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  your point, I mean, it's something that, you
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  know, a lot of organizations
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  aspire to but have not been able to
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  achieve. So is there anything that you see
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  that makes Penn State Health special in that
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  way, the culture, the community?
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  You know, what really has been grown and
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  fostered there for years that, has created, you
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  know, this ability to truly, truly, support the
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  effort that you're doing and have that type
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  of community feel. Yeah. It's it's, what's it's
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  it's very interesting. We've gone through a lot
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  of transition at at Penn State Health over
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  the over the decades,
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  you know, starting off with, you know, the
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  philanthropic thought processes of,
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  of the Hershey Company, starting off the Milton
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  s Hershey Medical
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  Center with a single phone call and $50,000,000,
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  you know, back in the sixties to creating
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  a, a medical center and a medical school
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  that I went to,
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  in the middle of a cornfield in Hershey,
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  Pennsylvania,
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  really growing the town, right, and growing the
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  area about who we take care care of
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  and why we take care of it and,
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  and creating this
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  academic medical center that has now expanded to
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  a health academic health system,
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  across the region. It's really been incredible to
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  see. And at the core, it's about, you
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  know, people taking care of people. It's about,
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  us staying at home. It's about us taking
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  care of people in our region.
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  You know, we have to be able to
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  make ends meet. We have to be able
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  to
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  ensure that, you know, we can do what
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  we need to do to take care, take
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  care of patients from a financial perspective. It's
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  about the care. And one of the, the
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  ways that, you know, one of the, one
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  of the prouder things, I think. Over the
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  last couple of years, for me
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  is that ability to connect,
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  that strategic vision from the board to the
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  executive level,
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  down to the practical.
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  How do you go from, you know, theory
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  to practicality in a way? And it's hard.
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  I mean, it's really hard,
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  but the connection of people who, you know,
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  really, you know, grew up here, live here,
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  work here, have family members cared for in
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  our hospital is really what drives us. And
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  how we go about doing that.
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  That activity is such a, is, is such
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  a big deal.
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  So, so for me, it's, you know, setting
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  that strategic vision, aligning to it. Don't be
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  afraid to fail. I mean, if you, if
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  you go after something and you don't do
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  it well, that's okay. Let's go back after
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  it again.
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  Tying in the university and
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  research and activities
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  into it is such a big deal. You
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  know, give an example where, you know, I've
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  been lucky enough to serve on, a board
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  at, at Penn State University in the, in
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  the College of Engineering, really the Department of
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  Industrial Engineering, Industrial Manufacturing Engineering.
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  We actually were able to create,
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  an undergrad and a graduate degree in service
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  engineering.
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  Now that sounds funny,
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  but ultimately nowadays.
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  The United States is a service industry. Healthcare
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  is a service industry.
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  And, you know, while we do have some
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  manufacturing,
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  continuing across here, it's really about service. So
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  we've been actually,
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  able to create.
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  A degree at Penn state university,
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  in service engineering. So how do you, you
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  know,
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  manage projects? How do you understand the use
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  of input, throughput, output, and lean sig sig
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  the symbols inside of,
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  health care delivery processes and apply them in
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  a real practical sense? And so it's that
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  connection between
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  the academics and the practicality, I think, that
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  makes, is really a difference maker at Penn
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  State.
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  That's amazing to hear. Thank you so much
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  for sharing that history with us and certainly
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  how it's grown and developed into what it
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  is today. And, I'm curious, you know, thinking
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  through the last year or so, especially,
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  could you tell us a little bit about
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  the accomplishments you're most proud of?
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  Well, I you know, I think there's nothing
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  nothing bigger than the decision to to move
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  from, Cerner slash Oracle Health to, to Epic,
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  as our, health care delivery platform.
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  We didn't take that lightly. You know, we're
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  a long term,
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  Cerner client, actually,
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  over twenty,
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  years actually, about thirty years,
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  working with Cerner,
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  and the decision to, to, to move,
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  towards epic,
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  was significant
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  and, you know, not undertaken lightly. And really,
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  I think shows the ability of our organization
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  to say, you know, we've really had great
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  partnerships
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  with companies in the past, and maybe it's
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  just time to, to, to move, into a
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  different area. We've had great success with, Oracle
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  health and, and Cerner over the years, and,
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  you know, I'll continue to help,
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  you know, different groups like the VA VA
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  and DOD and others, to be successful,
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  with that platform. For for Penn State, it
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  made most sense. We've got a lot of
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  surrounding community hospitals,
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  who have EPIC, and exchange of information with
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  those companies is really an important thing for
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  the care of our patients. And so the
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  real coordinated decision,
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  to move in that direction,
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  you know, driven by some of our our
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  physicians and and clinical staff,
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  heard by our executive group,
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  really run through our,
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  administrative,
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  and and boards and the board, you know,
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  making the decision to move in that direction.
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  I think I'm really proud of that just
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  because it was such an inclusive conversation,
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  and it was done with the motivation
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  of the patient in the center,
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  which, again, it is our core. Again, people
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  taking care of people and how can we
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  do that most effectively and efficiently. And so,
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  you know, we don't do that lightheartedly. We've
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  got, you know, thirty years of data in
• 9:58
  a Cerner system.
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  We've been taking care of patients, you know,
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  on that platform for a period of time.
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  So now we're on, we're on our epic
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  transformation journey. And, and, and I'm really,
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  and, and I'm really, really excited to, to
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  to help lead that.
• 10:11
  Well, that's amazing to hear. And, certainly, you
• 10:13
  know, looking at a project like that takes
• 10:16
  a lot of,
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  time, effort, and resources from the leadership team
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  and and everyone on the front lines as
• 10:22
  well of planning, that and then and then
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  making the transition. So I'm curious.
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  You talked about the discussions being inclusive and,
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  making the decision,
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  to make the switch as being, you know,
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  something that, you didn't take lightly or the
• 10:37
  team didn't take lightly.
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  I think especially
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  knowing,
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  how much goes into a transition like this.
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  I guess, how did you balance
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  or how are you balancing,
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  the input with the potential output and and
• 10:53
  sharing that, change management with the broader team?
• 10:56
  Sure. Sure. You know, again, patient's always in
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  the center. No question. How do we get
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  that patient the the the best information for
• 11:05
  code decision making, making, for be able to
• 11:07
  take care of them in a most effective
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  and efficient way, to be able to engage
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  them
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  in their home, to be able to
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  incorporate,
• 11:15
  the ongoing data for,
• 11:18
  management of populations over time. All these things
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  come into play. And,
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  you know, we've we've again, we've had some
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  great success with with, Cerner and Oracle in
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  the past. And, you know, there was just
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  some areas that that we thought that that
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  Epic had a little bit of an upper
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  hand on. And,
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  again, with the interoperability
• 11:37
  with other systems,
• 11:38
  the ability to incorporate into, you know,
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  data that would be, able to be used
• 11:44
  across systems,
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  to to be able to coordinate with other
• 11:48
  systems and research and development for education and
• 11:51
  and,
• 11:52
  and research activities. We just thought really it
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  was the time.
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  You know, and so,
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  it made the most sense for us. I
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  think individual hospitals and health systems have to
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  make their own decisions independently of what the
• 12:07
  needs are at that time.
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  But, you know, for us, you know, we
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  went through a process of
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  engaging our staff and demonstrations
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  and
• 12:16
  know, opportunities. Some of them kinda had come
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  from other Cerner sites. Some of them come
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  from other EPIC sites. And, you know, we
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  take their, input very,
• 12:25
  strongly, and that was really a driver
• 12:27
  for the whole thing. And then, well, if
• 12:29
  the if the,
• 12:31
  if the working community and and patients and
• 12:34
  things are sort of asking for that activity,
• 12:36
  it's our obligation to look into it in
• 12:38
  great detail, and that's what we did. And
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  in a in a really comprehensive
• 12:43
  long term investigation and, you know,
• 12:46
  costing and transformation
• 12:48
  and and and all of the work that
• 12:50
  needs to be done, we decided that was
• 12:52
  absolutely the best thing for us. And, and
• 12:55
  we're, again, looking very much forward to this,
• 12:57
  this transformational activity.
• 13:00
  That's great to hear. Thank you for digging
• 13:02
  a bit deeper in there. Now
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  I'm wondering,
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  I can imagine some of the big growth
• 13:07
  opportunities for the next twelve months or so
• 13:09
  are also tied to the EHR transition. How
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  are you thinking about growth and and development,
• 13:14
  especially during this time of a lot of
• 13:16
  change?
• 13:17
  Yeah.
• 13:18
  So, you know, I I think,
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  I think, change is such a neutral word.
• 13:22
  Sometimes people think it negative, something is positive.
• 13:25
  I see advancements,
• 13:26
  rather than change.
• 13:28
  And so, you know, people that just move
• 13:30
  from one thing to a next just for
• 13:31
  the sake of change, it's not really worth
• 13:33
  doing.
• 13:34
  You have to take advantage of where the
• 13:35
  advancement is, whether it's a technology or the
• 13:38
  people on processes. More importantly for me, it's
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  the people in the process. How can I
• 13:42
  simplify the experience of the patients?
• 13:44
  How can I simplify the experience of our
• 13:46
  physicians and nurses and APPs and and and
• 13:49
  registration staff,
• 13:51
  so that they can provide that better experience
• 13:53
  inside of here? So for for us, it's
• 13:55
  really about how do we advance our organization.
• 13:57
  And we think this this platform helps
• 13:59
  us, advance the organization. I think there are
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  other,
• 14:03
  components of it that, you know, we rally
• 14:05
  around, again, patients being first, but it could
• 14:08
  also mean, you patients who are on clinical
• 14:10
  trials,
• 14:11
  patients who,
• 14:13
  maybe,
• 14:14
  need additional support at home in a unique
• 14:17
  way.
• 14:18
  So it's not only just the, the EPIC
• 14:20
  transformation and advancement that we have with
• 14:23
  that EMR platform. But it's also other technologies
• 14:26
  that that be able to do that. So,
• 14:28
  you know, advancing your telehealth or or,
• 14:31
  you know,
• 14:32
  hospital home programs, which has been been very
• 14:35
  well received in our our community and, you
• 14:38
  know, people able to,
• 14:41
  take care of each other at home with
• 14:42
  the support of Penn State's hospital at home
• 14:45
  program, I think, has has been a big
• 14:47
  difference.
• 14:48
  I think there's some advancing technology in, you
• 14:51
  know,
• 14:52
  quote, unquote AI. I'm sure we'll get into
• 14:54
  that a little bit because that's the, you
• 14:56
  know, that's the catchphrase related to it, but
• 14:58
  it's really about how can technology be leveraged
• 15:01
  to improve
• 15:03
  the care and outcomes of our patients. And
• 15:05
  and
• 15:07
  so for us, you know, change you know,
• 15:09
  changing our core platform is one of it,
• 15:11
  then being able to build upon that,
• 15:14
  taking
• 15:15
  advantage
• 15:16
  of our university, and how can we incorporate
• 15:18
  those
• 15:19
  thinkers and knowledge into,
• 15:21
  our health system in a way that we
• 15:23
  haven't before in this new platform
• 15:25
  to maybe develop
• 15:26
  some technologies that haven't been seen before. But
• 15:29
  more importantly, I think for us, it's it's
• 15:31
  partnering with good companies,
• 15:34
  who
• 15:35
  want to, you know, have the same,
• 15:38
  moral compass, that same
• 15:40
  sort of ethic,
• 15:42
  that it's about the patients and the patients
• 15:44
  first. And, you know, we've been lucky to
• 15:46
  find a number of those companies out there
• 15:48
  that have,
• 15:49
  associated
• 15:50
  AI or other machine learning technologies that we
• 15:53
  think, you know, may be a great partnership
• 15:55
  with us to to advance
• 15:57
  the needs of our patients in in our
• 15:58
  area.
• 16:00
  That's amazing to hear. And, you know, certainly,
• 16:03
  a lot, as you mentioned, happening to improve
• 16:06
  patient care, especially given technology, the data,
• 16:10
  telehealth, virtual hair care, hospital at home,
• 16:13
  really great advantages for health care providers to
• 16:16
  continue to expand what they're doing and provide
• 16:18
  a better experience for patients. And I know
• 16:20
  you mentioned AI is something that is top
• 16:23
  of mind. I know a lot of hospitals,
• 16:25
  health systems, and organizations are, you know, looking
• 16:28
  at the best use cases for AI ways
• 16:30
  that they can really provide value through it,
• 16:32
  but also understanding, you know, there are risks
• 16:34
  involved there. So
• 16:36
  what are those tech conversations like when you
• 16:38
  look at new a AI technologies and and
• 16:40
  governance and those kinds of things? Is that
• 16:42
  something that you've,
• 16:44
  broached in a meaningful way with the leadership
• 16:46
  team?
• 16:47
  Yeah. We have. You know? And and, again,
• 16:49
  we we do this together. I think there's
• 16:50
  sort of, you know, AI is kind of
• 16:53
  a catchphrase now. And and
• 16:55
  in my heart of hearts, I'm an engineer,
• 16:57
  and I'm an emergency physician. So I I
• 17:00
  I'm I'm very tied to the practical. What
• 17:02
  is it going to make a difference for
• 17:04
  me or my patients
• 17:06
  to do this? Not the I love talking
• 17:09
  theory, and I love in my
• 17:11
  research space to be able to I've got
• 17:14
  a center at Penn State called
• 17:16
  the Center for Healthcare Organization
• 17:18
  Transformation, which studies,
• 17:20
  you know, systems systemness and and health care
• 17:23
  delivery science and things like that. And I
• 17:25
  love being able to think about that. But
• 17:26
  but as a CMIO, an emergency physician, I
• 17:29
  I really wanna say there's lots of these
• 17:31
  people out here with the word AI. What
• 17:32
  do they really mean by it? Right? Digging
• 17:34
  into the technology, what does it make sense
• 17:37
  to do? And, you know, there are some
• 17:39
  that are just using the words
• 17:41
  and not really understanding what it is. There
• 17:43
  are some, you know, who will say, yeah.
• 17:45
  We're using the catch phrase to get in
• 17:46
  the door, but it's really, you know, basic
• 17:49
  clinical decision support or machine learning to a
• 17:51
  degree
• 17:52
  rather than truly creating new,
• 17:55
  new information. Right? So for for us, we
• 17:58
  try and categorize it into, you know, is
• 18:00
  it in the discovery space?
• 18:04
  Space? Where's the data sits?
• 18:06
  How does that data get incorporated into practicality?
• 18:09
  Who owns that data whenever it gets generated?
• 18:12
  And, ultimately,
• 18:14
  is this an advantage
• 18:15
  over,
• 18:16
  what we're doing today or what we could
• 18:18
  be doing today based upon other basic technologies?
• 18:22
  I think the AI is real. I think
• 18:24
  it has
• 18:25
  tons of opportunity.
• 18:26
  I think it's a little bit overblown right
• 18:28
  now,
• 18:30
  but we'll come back to some semblance of
• 18:32
  reality. We did
• 18:33
  lots of piling and piloting in the generative
• 18:36
  AI space a few years ago.
• 18:38
  Actually,
• 18:39
  about five years ago, we were trialing some
• 18:41
  stuff. And two years ago, we got deep
• 18:43
  into a trial.
• 18:45
  I think about now is the time that
• 18:46
  we're starting to see it really have enough,
• 18:49
  accuracy
• 18:51
  and,
• 18:52
  benefits
• 18:53
  that you're starting to see some
• 18:57
  efficiencies
• 18:58
  gained
• 18:59
  in the and we're really talking about the
• 19:00
  document generative AI,
• 19:02
  space. I think we're starting to see it
• 19:04
  too in some of the,
• 19:06
  imaging and pixelation activities in regards to diagnostics.
• 19:09
  I think there's a lot of opportunity in
• 19:11
  that space.
• 19:13
  I think there's a lot of opportunity
• 19:15
  in the,
• 19:18
  NLP,
• 19:20
  to AI
• 19:22
  activities in,
• 19:23
  nondiscrete data. I think we're probably gonna start
• 19:26
  seeing some discovery in that,
• 19:28
  over the next couple of years. And, you
• 19:30
  know,
• 19:31
  say it before, I'll say it again. Health
• 19:33
  care is about people taking care of people.
• 19:36
  And, like, working in this discovery space,
• 19:39
  the people who you work with is such
• 19:41
  a big deal. So I'm I'm you know,
• 19:42
  at Penn State, I've got a great informatics
• 19:45
  team, and I've I've got a great research,
• 19:48
  group and a great college of medicine set
• 19:50
  of leaders who are really, you know, advancing
• 19:53
  the thought process at the college of medicine.
• 19:55
  And same way within our our our health
• 19:58
  systems of innovative leaders who are saying, okay.
• 20:01
  Yep. We're We're gonna spend a lot of
• 20:02
  our focus on epic and the transformation activities.
• 20:05
  But, you know, we've got a couple of
• 20:07
  these other spaces that, that we're gonna take
• 20:09
  care of as well.
• 20:11
  It's a lot.
• 20:13
  But it's an exciting
• 20:15
  time, to be able to be in health
• 20:17
  care
• 20:17
  and to see all of this stuff start
• 20:20
  to come to fruition.
• 20:21
  I I I joke a little bit. I've
• 20:22
  been doing this such a long period of
• 20:24
  time. I remember when
• 20:25
  people used to say, oh, just going to
• 20:27
  electronic records is gonna make things so much
• 20:29
  better and more efficient and more effective.
• 20:32
  Ask your normal doc on a daily basis
• 20:34
  with, you know, who've
• 20:35
  written handwritten notes and, and handwritten orders compared
• 20:39
  to
• 20:40
  CPOE and and electronic notes today,
• 20:43
  and ask them, is there really a difference,
• 20:46
  or not? And I think they may tell
• 20:48
  you,
• 20:49
  they may have a little bit of a
• 20:51
  different experience. So with that knowledge and and
• 20:53
  having done it for for such a period
• 20:55
  of time, it is the
• 20:58
  adaptation of the technology and the adoption of
• 21:00
  it is such a big deal because at
• 21:01
  the end of the day, it's people first,
• 21:03
  it's process second, and it's technology third. And,
• 21:07
  if I think if most people keep that
• 21:08
  in mind,
• 21:10
  keep their moral compass on something that makes
• 21:11
  a difference for their patients, you'll see the
• 21:14
  benefit to not only the people that you
• 21:17
  influence on a daily basis, but your health
• 21:18
  system.
• 21:20
  I mean, that's really powerful stuff. And and,
• 21:22
  you know, such an important lesson to remember
• 21:25
  how, you know, the technology and health care
• 21:27
  space has evolved.
• 21:28
  I know a lot of opportunities ahead, but
• 21:30
  challenges as well. Could you,
• 21:32
  talk a little bit about some of the
• 21:33
  challenges,
• 21:34
  that you're seeing and planning for in the
• 21:36
  next couple years?
• 21:38
  Sure. Sure.
• 21:39
  I I think, you know,
• 21:41
  we we talk about,
• 21:42
  what some people like to call social determinants
• 21:45
  of health. I like to call them maybe
• 21:47
  social indicators of of health outcomes,
• 21:50
  really talking about the impact of the day
• 21:53
  to day,
• 21:54
  and how it then affects there.
• 21:56
  I think we've got a whole generation
• 21:59
  of
• 22:00
  folks who grew up in the pandemic
• 22:02
  and who are struggling,
• 22:04
  with,
• 22:05
  you know, day to day activities, whether it's,
• 22:08
  depression, anxiety.
• 22:10
  You know, we've got a whole generation that
• 22:12
  are dealing with with that coming out of
• 22:14
  the pandemic. We've got an economy that is
• 22:17
  challenging for these
• 22:19
  young folks who are coming out maybe with,
• 22:21
  you know, lots of lots of debt from
• 22:23
  school or,
• 22:25
  you know, can't afford to put a down
• 22:26
  payment on the house because,
• 22:28
  you know, eggs cost $8 a a a
• 22:32
  dozen.
• 22:33
  You know, they're worried about feeding themselves. To
• 22:35
  me,
• 22:36
  that's where they're, you know, them then now
• 22:38
  they're thinking about how do I even get
• 22:40
  health care, or is health care even on
• 22:42
  that list of things when I have all
• 22:43
  these other things that are that are there?
• 22:46
  Here's where I think,
• 22:48
  we can make a difference. Here's where I
• 22:50
  think technology can advance things. I think that,
• 22:53
  you know, like, the hospital home has started
• 22:56
  blurring that line between taking care of patients
• 22:58
  in just the four walls of a hospital
• 23:00
  to,
• 23:01
  you know, the same type of care but
• 23:03
  within their home. I think we've gotta, you
• 23:05
  know, really get back to the basics of
• 23:07
  that with,
• 23:09
  with that type of care for
• 23:12
  patients at home. You know, the reality is
• 23:14
  in healthcare,
• 23:15
  it's episodic. You know, you may have one
• 23:18
  hospitalization, two primary care visits, and an emergency
• 23:21
  department visit in a year. That's a lot.
• 23:23
  Most people don't have one of those things.
• 23:26
  But yet
• 23:27
  the habits that they have or the need
• 23:30
  for care or
• 23:32
  need for, behavioral health or social support exists.
• 23:35
  So I think that it's our obligation,
• 23:38
  as a healthcare industry, especially healthcare IT, to
• 23:40
  see how can we leverage this technology to
• 23:42
  support
• 23:43
  patients in a way that they haven't been
• 23:45
  supported
• 23:46
  in the past. And for me, behavioral health
• 23:49
  and, you know,
• 23:51
  underlying anxiety, depression, and how can we provide
• 23:53
  support services in that space as part of,
• 23:56
  a community service, not necessarily fee for service
• 24:00
  or event activity.
• 24:02
  I think, there's a lot in there. I
• 24:03
  think AI has a a lot to do
• 24:05
  in that space. I think you could do
• 24:07
  the same thing with some other chronic diseases.
• 24:09
  I think you could do the same thing
• 24:10
  with medication management.
• 24:13
  So I think there's gonna be a lot
• 24:14
  of this,
• 24:16
  incorporating,
• 24:17
  you know,
• 24:18
  the people
• 24:19
  into the patient population. So instead of having
• 24:23
  one or two or three episodes of care,
• 24:25
  you know, at Penn State health in a
• 24:27
  given year,
• 24:29
  you you are a partner in health with
• 24:30
  Penn State. And,
• 24:32
  we help you through you and your family's
• 24:35
  journey,
• 24:36
  whether it happened to be through, you know,
• 24:38
  pediatric cancer that's getting paid for by the
• 24:40
  four diamonds fund, or
• 24:42
  unfortunately, you break your leg and you come
• 24:44
  visit me in the emergency department or
• 24:46
  or some other treatment.
• 24:48
  And so I think it's that,
• 24:50
  that community
• 24:52
  that that we have at Penn State Health.
• 24:53
  I think it's that community that we grow
• 24:56
  that you're not taking people, you know, out
• 24:58
  of town or flying them great distances because
• 25:01
  that's the only place that has that specialty
• 25:03
  and really provide that care, not only at
• 25:05
  your home, but having, you know, home care
• 25:07
  done at the local facility. So I I
• 25:09
  think that's where, you know, we're getting back
• 25:11
  to basics again, and I I think that's
• 25:13
  where technology can get us.
• 25:16
  I love that. And and, you know, such
• 25:17
  a really amazing picture that you paint of
• 25:20
  health care as it's moving,
• 25:22
  in a direction, again, closer to patients, but
• 25:24
  supported by technology and all the different types
• 25:27
  of investments that health care organizations are able
• 25:29
  to make.
• 25:30
  I'm wondering before we wrap up here, with
• 25:33
  our last minute or two, what is the
• 25:35
  number one thing that you're doing right now
• 25:36
  to set Penn State Health up for long
• 25:38
  term success?
• 25:39
  Yeah. It's really the basics. And and and
• 25:42
  building that epic foundation,
• 25:44
  for Penn State Health over the next eighteen
• 25:46
  months is really our priority.
• 25:49
  You know, we'll build upon that platform.
• 25:51
  We'll gain upon that knowledge,
• 25:53
  and,
• 25:54
  you know, we'll be lucky enough to leapfrog
• 25:56
  a couple of different areas in regards to
• 25:58
  the deployment in and of itself. But then
• 26:01
  it's the add ons on top of there.
• 26:02
  It's the how do we leverage our students
• 26:04
  and
• 26:05
  and and, and college of medicine? How do
• 26:08
  we leverage our university?
• 26:09
  How do we leverage the amazing,
• 26:12
  you know, physicians who are innovated in in
• 26:14
  and of themselves and allow them to innovate
• 26:16
  and give them platforms to do so, whether
• 26:18
  it's
• 26:19
  generative AI or, you know, pixelization
• 26:22
  of of,
• 26:23
  pathology
• 26:24
  specimens or or what whatever it happens to
• 26:26
  be. You know, give them a platform to
• 26:28
  be able to build upon the our our
• 26:30
  new epic,
• 26:32
  transformative
• 26:33
  baseline,
• 26:34
  to be able to to
• 26:36
  engage,
• 26:37
  their patients in a way they haven't been
• 26:39
  able to engage them before.
• 26:41
  So I I, you know, it's it's really
• 26:43
  gonna be about rebuilding that foundation and then
• 26:45
  then leapfrogging on top of that new foundation.
• 26:49
  That's amazing to hear. Doctor Defletch, thank you
• 26:51
  so much for your time today. It's been
• 26:53
  a great conversation. I learned a lot, and
• 26:55
  I look forward to connecting with you again
• 26:57
  soon.
• 26:58
  Great. Thanks thanks for having me. And I
• 27:00
  I, you know,
• 27:01
  started off with this, and I just wanna
• 27:03
  thank everybody,
• 27:04
  you know, at Becker's, but but most of
• 27:05
  the people at Penn State who've, you know,
• 27:07
  allowed Penn State to be so successful over
• 27:09
  the years. And it's really, all the people
• 27:11
  that I work with and the the the
• 27:13
  patients that I get to take care of
• 27:14
  and that we get to take care of
• 27:16
  at Penn State that allows us to to
• 27:18
  be so successful. And, man, I look forward
• 27:20
  to, just doing some great things over the
• 27:22
  next couple of years.