Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / 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 Digital Health + Health IT

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