Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Kayce Degenhardt, Vice President of Clinical Applications at Inova Health System

Transcript

Kayce Degenhardt, Vice President of Clinical Applications at Inova Health System · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders
• 0:05
  together to unpack the most pressing issues facing
• 0:07
  the industry.
• 0:08
  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
• 0:11
  and unexpected ways.
• 0:13
  This April, more than 3,500
• 0:15
  healthcare executives will return to Chicago for Becker's
• 0:18
  sixteenth annual meeting. 795
• 0:21
  elite speakers will offer new lessons, new case
• 0:24
  studies, and predictions about what comes next. Join
• 0:27
  us April 13 through the sixteenth.
• 0:29
  For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:34
  and click on the events tab in the
• 0:36
  upper right.
• 0:38
  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 0:40
  My name is Chanel Banger. Today, I have
• 0:42
  the pleasure of speaking with Casey Degenhardt,
• 0:44
  the vice president of clinical applications at Inova
• 0:47
  Health System, who joins the podcast today to
• 0:49
  share insights in the health care trends she's
• 0:51
  keeping an eye on, advice for leaders, and
• 0:53
  a bit more. Casey, thank you so much
• 0:55
  for joining me. Thank you for having me.
• 0:57
  Perfect. Well, to get us started out, could
• 0:59
  you please introduce yourself and tell us a
• 1:01
  bit about Inova Health System?
• 1:03
  Yes. So my name is Casey Degenhardt, and
• 1:05
  I'm the vice president of clinical applications at
• 1:08
  Inova
• 1:09
  for the last last two years.
• 1:11
  Inova is a large non for profit health
• 1:14
  system in Northern Virginia,
• 1:16
  and we operate
• 1:17
  five hospitals and more than 300
• 1:20
  clinics,
• 1:21
  and we serve over 2,000,000 patients annually.
• 1:25
  Under our CEO, doctor Stephen Jones' leadership,
• 1:29
  Inova
• 1:30
  became the first large US health system to
• 1:33
  have every hospital rated five stars by CMS.
• 1:36
  And, actually,
• 1:38
  last year, we were
• 1:39
  named twenty twenty five health system of the
• 1:42
  year by Press Ganey.
• 1:44
  Got it. Got it. Thank you so much
• 1:45
  for the introduction. And now moving into the
• 1:47
  meat of the podcast a bit, what trends
• 1:50
  are you currently watching in health care in
• 1:52
  your role today?
• 1:54
  I think that's a great question.
• 1:56
  The biggest backdrop right now,
• 1:59
  I think, is the uncertainty
• 2:00
  in health care, particularly
• 2:02
  around reimbursement.
• 2:05
  So you see the layoffs and the cost
• 2:06
  cost cutting headlines almost daily,
• 2:09
  in in Becker's that comes out,
• 2:11
  and,
• 2:12
  the pressure is forcing health systems
• 2:15
  to rethink how they operate.
• 2:18
  So there are
• 2:20
  three key trends
• 2:21
  that I'm watching specifically.
• 2:24
  The first one being around AI and automation,
• 2:27
  which is clearly the biggest buzzword in the
• 2:30
  industry and has been for the last couple
• 2:32
  of years, but the things like ambient listening,
• 2:36
  auto generated patient messaging,
• 2:38
  early imaging reads.
• 2:41
  But the real questions are around how we
• 2:43
  govern it in the clinical space,
• 2:46
  how we evaluate whether it's truly improving
• 2:49
  care,
• 2:51
  how we achieve a real return on investment,
• 2:54
  and then also funding the teams that we
• 2:56
  need to support it
• 2:58
  safely and sustainably.
• 3:00
  The second
• 3:02
  trend that I'm watching,
• 3:04
  is not only how AI and automation are
• 3:07
  being applied to the clinical use cases,
• 3:09
  but how are they being applied to operations
• 3:12
  and the business of health care?
• 3:15
  So with those cost pressures that we're facing,
• 3:17
  how do we eliminate waste, simplify workflows with
• 3:20
  automation?
• 3:22
  So
• 3:23
  the goal isn't automating individual tasks,
• 3:27
  but orchestrating
• 3:28
  workflows throughout the system in a more intentional
• 3:31
  way
• 3:32
  to reduce some of that overhead that we're
• 3:34
  seeing
• 3:35
  that also increases
• 3:37
  the the cost of care.
• 3:39
  And then the last thing
• 3:41
  that, I'm I'm watching is how we protect
• 3:44
  our people in this world,
• 3:47
  managing burnout.
• 3:48
  So
• 3:49
  a mentor
• 3:50
  once reminded me that you're not just responsible
• 3:53
  for the people you lead, but but their
• 3:54
  families too.
• 3:56
  And I don't think that there is a
• 3:57
  health system,
• 3:59
  in the country right now that's untouched by
• 4:01
  the pressures.
• 4:02
  So using AI and automation to help
• 4:05
  the back end operations
• 4:07
  and support project management and administrative work,
• 4:10
  I think is is critical into
• 4:13
  help
• 4:14
  helping to create
• 4:16
  a more sustainable environment,
• 4:18
  for our teams.
• 4:20
  Absolutely. Thank you so much for walking us
• 4:22
  through that.
• 4:23
  Obviously, a lot going on in health care
• 4:25
  today. And with that, I'm looking forward into
• 4:28
  as we go into 2026,
• 4:30
  can you talk about what you're most focused
• 4:32
  on and excited about at Anova Health System?
• 4:35
  Yes.
• 4:36
  So
• 4:37
  I'm most focused on and really excited about,
• 4:42
  retooling access,
• 4:44
  and specifically through a value based care lens.
• 4:49
  So when you look at other industries,
• 4:51
  like travel, I think is the easiest comparison.
• 4:55
  You can book a flight. You can plane
• 4:57
  change plans. You can,
• 4:59
  get your real time updates without ever talking
• 5:03
  to a person,
• 5:04
  which I think is what,
• 5:06
  the world is is looking for right now.
• 5:09
  And it's built around transparency,
• 5:12
  self-service,
• 5:14
  and respect for the consumer's time.
• 5:18
  And from my perspective,
• 5:20
  health care access is still behind on that.
• 5:23
  Patients don't always know where to go, how
• 5:25
  to get in, or it takes
• 5:27
  forever.
• 5:28
  They have to talk to a person,
• 5:31
  just because it's not really intuitive.
• 5:34
  And so
• 5:36
  if you think in a value based world,
• 5:39
  the friction isn't just experience
• 5:41
  an experience issue.
• 5:43
  I think it directly impacts outcomes and the
• 5:45
  total cost of care,
• 5:47
  And so delaying or confusing access
• 5:51
  has much more downstream effects, like more ED
• 5:55
  visits,
• 5:56
  mispreventative
• 5:56
  care,
• 5:58
  and avoidable down other downstream utilization.
• 6:02
  So
• 6:03
  what excites me about that is
• 6:06
  having a a way
• 6:08
  to get patients to the right care at
• 6:10
  the right time
• 6:12
  in the right setting
• 6:13
  with fewer handoffs,
• 6:15
  less potential points of failure,
• 6:18
  and,
• 6:19
  I think it can also help with predictable
• 6:22
  capacity for the system.
• 6:23
  So if we can get access right,
• 6:27
  everything else works better.
• 6:30
  Absolutely. And now that we've looked looked into
• 6:31
  the future of it, looking back at the
• 6:33
  last or 2025,
• 6:35
  maybe even 2024,
• 6:36
  can you talk about maybe an initiative or
• 6:39
  a project or just something that you're proud
• 6:40
  of from that time period?
• 6:43
  I'm proud of my team
• 6:45
  without question.
• 6:47
  So I stepped into this role
• 6:49
  two years ago,
• 6:51
  and
• 6:52
  we were working incredibly
• 6:54
  hard, but we weren't consistently able to articulate
• 6:57
  what our value was and show progress in
• 7:00
  a clear and measurable
• 7:02
  way to the system.
• 7:03
  So when I came in, I did a
• 7:05
  deep dive and we rebuilt some internal structures,
• 7:09
  cleaned up processes,
• 7:11
  reorganized
• 7:12
  teams
• 7:14
  to better be able to support the organization.
• 7:17
  From that shift,
• 7:19
  we were able to work with the organization
• 7:22
  and tie outcomes
• 7:24
  to everything that we did,
• 7:27
  and asking that each initiative,
• 7:29
  how it would benefit patients, how it would
• 7:32
  create efficiencies,
• 7:33
  contribute financially,
• 7:35
  or improve
• 7:36
  care delivery in a tangible way.
• 7:40
  And so with that shift,
• 7:43
  we saw
• 7:45
  significant
• 7:46
  outcomes.
• 7:47
  So our provider documentation
• 7:49
  time
• 7:50
  decreased by 35%,
• 7:52
  saving more than nine hundred hours every month.
• 7:55
  And now clinicians can either reinvest in patient
• 7:58
  care or spend time with their families if
• 8:00
  it was outside of hours.
• 8:02
  And we also saw
• 8:03
  our advanced imaging appointment wait times
• 8:08
  decreased by six full days.
• 8:11
  So helping to accelerate the the diagnosis and
• 8:14
  the treatment. So those are two major outcomes
• 8:16
  that we saw from it. In addition to
• 8:19
  that, our team was recognized,
• 8:21
  within the EPIC community
• 8:23
  for,
• 8:24
  achieving
• 8:26
  gold stars configuration level 10 and utilization level
• 8:29
  eight.
• 8:30
  We were voted number two
• 8:33
  EHR by our nurses this year,
• 8:35
  and then we we also achieved
• 8:38
  the EPIC honor roll, summa cum laude,
• 8:42
  the highest
• 8:43
  award for their their grant program.
• 8:46
  And we did that
• 8:48
  in six months.
• 8:50
  And most organizations, it's taking thirteen months
• 8:54
  to get there, and they don't always achieve
• 8:56
  the highest. And so
• 8:58
  I'm really proud of my team
• 9:00
  who has who has embraced me
• 9:03
  and embraced the clarity, accountability,
• 9:06
  and the and the outcomes. And we've really,
• 9:09
  turned that focus into real impact for clinicians
• 9:12
  and patients.
• 9:13
  That's amazing to hear. Well, Casey, I wanna
• 9:15
  thank you for your time today. But before
• 9:17
  I let you go, health care is evolving
• 9:19
  rapidly. And with that and all of your
• 9:21
  experience, I'm curious to know what advice do
• 9:23
  you have for the next generation of health
• 9:24
  care leaders stepping into the field today?
• 9:28
  So
• 9:29
  the advice that
• 9:31
  I'd give to evolving leaders
• 9:34
  is to focus on connecting the human and
• 9:37
  the technology worlds.
• 9:39
  I think
• 9:41
  effective leadership today isn't about having all of
• 9:44
  the answers.
• 9:46
  But if you can listen
• 9:47
  and you can decode what people are really
• 9:50
  saying
• 9:51
  and synthesize that
• 9:53
  into a clear,
• 9:55
  actionable direction,
• 9:58
  I think that
• 9:59
  you really connect on all of the levels.
• 10:02
  Because in in health care, you have clinicians
• 10:05
  and operators
• 10:06
  and technologists,
• 10:07
  and they all speak different languages.
• 10:11
  So
• 10:11
  from my perspective,
• 10:14
  the leaders who make the biggest impact are
• 10:16
  the ones that can translate between all of
• 10:18
  those worlds,
• 10:20
  listening to frontline realities,
• 10:22
  understanding operational and technical constraints and possibilities,
• 10:27
  and then to convey clarity in a way
• 10:30
  that aligns
• 10:31
  everyone
• 10:33
  and drives
• 10:34
  progress.
• 10:35
  So I think if you can listen with
• 10:38
  empathy
• 10:39
  and synthesize with intention,
• 10:42
  communicate more clearly,
• 10:44
  then you can create that momentum
• 10:47
  and enable change that actually sticks.
• 10:51
  Excellent advice. And a great note to end
• 10:53
  on, Casey, I wanna thank you once again
• 10:55
  for your time today and for sharing your
• 10:56
  insights on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Thank you
• 10:59
  so much. Thank you so much.