Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Gregory Bryant, Chief Information Officer at Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital

Transcript

Gregory Bryant, Chief Information Officer at Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:01
  The Becker's team is excited to announce the
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  launch of our new CFO and Revenue Cycle
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  podcast.
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  Tune in for conversations with finance experts from
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  the top hospitals and health systems. We'll discuss
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  key trends and ideas to drive meaningful change
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  in the industry. Look for Becker's CFO and
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  revenue cycle podcast wherever you listen to episodes.
• 0:24
  This is Rosie Talago with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  Greg Bryant, IT director of North Texas Medical
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  Center. Greg, it's a pleasure to have you
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  on the podcast today. Well, thanks for having
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  me, Rosie. We have a great conversation in
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  store today diving into cut some of the
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  key opportunities and challenges shaping health care. But
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  before we get into it, I'd love for
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  our listeners to get to know Greg a
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  bit better. Greg, can you please start by
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  sharing a little bit about your background and
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  your journey to your current role?
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  Sure. Yeah. I've been doing health IT for
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  over fifteen years now. I started working at
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  a vendor,
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  been doing consulting, then doing consulting on my
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  own, and then going back to working for
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  health systems. That's kinda led me back to,
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  where I am today as a director here
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  in North Texas.
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  Great. Thank you so much for that introduction.
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  Now that we've heard a little bit about
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  your background, let's get into the background of
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  North Texas Medical Center. So could you tell
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  us a bit about your health system and
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  what makes it unique?
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  Yeah. So one of the unique things is
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  that we're a, rural hospital in a rural
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  area, but we're independent. We're not affiliated with
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  any major health systems that you see around
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  the country.
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  So that's kind of a a different thing
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  that
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  we kinda strap kinda hang our hats on.
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  We we we still operate as a entity
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  for our community
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  and not abide by any other,
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  other hospitals in the major metropolitan areas.
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  Great. That's really awesome to hear.
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  It seems like you have a great presence
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  in the community that you that you're located
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  in.
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  So looking more closely
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  into
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  what makes your organization stand out, you know,
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  being that
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  strong independent
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  entity in your community,
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  let's look at some of the key milestones
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  that you've hit recently. So looking back at
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  the past year, I know that you just
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  started your time there, but what's a recent
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  accomplishment of the medical center that you're proud
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  of?
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  Actually, it's something that it started last year
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  and is going into this year is,
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  implementing a virtual environment
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  and adopting,
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  using AI,
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  in some of our
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  day to day task. We adopted Google Gemini
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  to be used, which was kind of a
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  new venture for us, and we're still,
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  you know, getting more and more comfortable with
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  every day. The other thing is having a,
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  a virtual machine,
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  for our hospital, which cuts down on our
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  our hardware footprint, which saves money on energy
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  because you don't have the power of certain
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  machines. So those are two things that we've
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  done that we're I'm pretty proud of.
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  Those are great achievements. It's great to see
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  the impact you're making with AI and transforming
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  it into a virtual environment and especially very
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  cool to see the impact that it's making
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  on energy as well.
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  So thinking about how your
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  organization can continue to grow and evolve, whether
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  that be in this virtual environment or elsewhere,
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  where do you see some of the big
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  growth opportunities for the next year?
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  I see us growing,
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  service lines. I think being a rural hospital
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  trying to attack patients and trying to
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  get them to not go to the major
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  metropolitan areas, I I want us to grow
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  more service lines here to where that patient
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  doesn't have to travel
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  forty, fifty miles away. They can stay here
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  at home and get the same care they
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  would be,
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  as opposed to the metro area. Now can
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  we do everything that they can do in
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  a big city?
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  Probably not. But there's some some things that
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  we can do here that,
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  could improve our patient satisfaction
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  and increase our volume, frankly.
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  Absolutely. Having those
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  goals of volume and patient satisfaction,
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  really being that place patients can rely on
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  in their own neighborhood and community, that's great.
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  So when you're looking at becoming kind of
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  that cornerstone
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  or attracting patients opposed to them going to
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  the nearest city, how are you preparing to
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  tackle maybe the challenges
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  of their decision between the two?
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  Being we're a small area, one of the
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  issues we have is, talent acquisition.
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  It's more of just having enough people, enough
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  hands to do the job.
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  Especially in the IT world, you have issues
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  with
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  trying to keep patient or keep
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  employees and staff
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  in the rural areas as opposed to being
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  attracted with the higher salaries of a metro
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  area. So for me, the it's not always
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  a fight of trying to attract talent.
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  Absolutely. And what are some of the methods
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  that you're using to combat that, to really
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  make people want to
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  be at your organization?
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  You have to sell the idea that you
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  can you can
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  have more room to grow, which is true,
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  actually. It's not a really selling idea,
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  as opposed to being siloed off in a
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  big facility. I've worked in big facilities, and
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  you're kinda siloed off to one thing. Here,
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  you can wear many hats and learn many
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  things
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  that you can take with you in your
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  career if you're just starting out. Or if
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  you're older in your career, it's gonna be
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  somewhere where you may wanna retire to and
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  not have built the hustle and bustle of
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  a big city.
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  That's great. I really like the idea of
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  having more room to grow and wearing many
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  hats. I think especially for the new folks
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  entering the workforce,
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  health care workforce, it's it's a great place
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  to get a lot of experience.
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  So,
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  looking at
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  the
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  accomplishments, opportunities, obstacles we've discussed,
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  when looking at staying proactive,
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  to really capitalize on more opportunities
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  and
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  avoid some of these obstacles.
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  What's the number one thing right now,
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  to set your organization up for long term
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  success?
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  Well, I think I touched on it earlier.
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  Our getting on the virtual
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  platform,
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  helps us out a lot, reducing energy and
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  being able to be more mobile and agile
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  with new systems.
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  Also, we've really shared of our cybersecurity.
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  It's always a threat.
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  And I always say, if not if, it's
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  not if, but when it happens.
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  But we do everything to keep that win
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  from happening
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  at any point, especially in my tenure. So,
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  those are the things I'm trying to set
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  us up for for success is to minimize
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  downtime, minimize cyber attacks,
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  and get us on twenty first century technology
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  to make us more agile.
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  Absolutely. That's great. And I think that just
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  being as proactive as possible, especially when you
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  discuss the cybersecurity efforts,
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  being mobile and agile is all that you
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  can do at this time, and I really
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  like how you said not if, but when,
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  but, you know, doing everything to prevent that
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  when. It sounds great.
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  So thank you so much, Greg, for joining
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  us on the podcast today. It's been great
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  hearing your insights on Texas
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  North Texas Medical Center and where it's all
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  headed. So thank you again, and we look
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  forward to collaborating with you again soon.
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  Alright. Thanks for having me.