Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Michael Archuleta, Chief Information Officer at Mt. San Rafael Hospital

Transcript

Michael Archuleta, Chief Information Officer at Mt. San Rafael Hospital · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:00
  - Prepare to dive into the forefront
• 0:02
  of healthcare innovation at our 14th annual meeting coming
• 0:05
  up on April 8th
• 0:06
  through 11th at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, with thousands
• 0:10
  of industry leaders converging over four dynamic days
• 0:13
  of discussions on crucial topics from health IT
• 0:17
  to executive leadership.
• 0:18
  It's where the future of healthcare takes shape.
• 0:21
  We can't wait to connect with you in person
• 0:24
  and engage in these important conversations.
• 0:27
  - This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
• 0:30
  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Michael Archuleta,
• 0:32
  chief Information Officer at Mount St.
• 0:34
  Raphael Hospital. Michael, it's a pleasure
• 0:36
  to have you on the podcast today.
• 0:38
  - It's always an honor to be part of the Becker's family,
• 0:42
  so thank you very much for the invite.
• 0:44
  - Absolutely. And you know, we're always thrilled
• 0:46
  to have you as part of our network too,
• 0:47
  and, um, just really being on the forefront
• 0:50
  of just the big ideas and, and concepts and health it
• 0:52
  and digital transformation.
• 0:53
  So, you know, looking forward
• 0:55
  to our broader discussion on some of the things
• 0:57
  that you're doing at the hospital
• 0:58
  and really how you're seeing technology
• 1:01
  evolving in the healthcare space.
• 1:02
  But before we dive further into that discussion,
• 1:05
  can you tell us a little bit more
• 1:06
  about yourself and your background?
• 1:08
  - Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you very much.
• 1:10
  So again, my name is Michael Ra.
• 1:12
  I'm the Chief Information Officer
• 1:14
  with Mount San Rafael Hospital and Clinics.
• 1:17
  Um, we are a healthcare organization here in southern
• 1:20
  Colorado, and it's just been a phenomenal time
• 1:23
  to really be in healthcare.
• 1:25
  It, I've, we've seen a massive amount
• 1:28
  of digital transformation basically just happen in front
• 1:31
  of us, you know,
• 1:33
  and it's really been one of those items
• 1:35
  to see this industry seeing the importance of
• 1:39
  what digitalization basically brings into an organization
• 1:43
  and really seeing how the overall evolution
• 1:48
  of the chief information officer, the chief digital officer,
• 1:51
  has really evolved
• 1:53
  and has really been a key strategic asset
• 1:57
  to a healthcare organization itself.
• 1:59
  So really excited for this discussion.
• 2:04
  - Absolutely. And you know, first off,
• 2:06
  I was wondering if you could tell me about your most
• 2:08
  successful project over the last year or two.
• 2:10
  What did you do and how did you measure the results?
• 2:15
  - Yeah, absolutely. So one
• 2:17
  of the most successful projects in the past, uh, year
• 2:21
  has been re really implementing a comprehensive
• 2:25
  cybersecurity framework within our organization.
• 2:29
  You know, reorganizing the growing threat landscape
• 2:32
  and critical importance of safeguarding sensitive data.
• 2:35
  I really led a cross-functional team to design
• 2:38
  and deploy a robust cybersecurity measure.
• 2:42
  This overall initiative really involved conducting thorough
• 2:45
  risk assessments, implementing multi-layered defense
• 2:47
  mechanisms, and really providing extensive training
• 2:51
  to employees to enhance awareness
• 2:54
  and to really just improve our complete security protocols.
• 2:58
  One critical element that I've always stated is that
• 3:02
  when we look at the healthcare industry itself,
• 3:04
  we went from the top 10 now
• 3:06
  to the top two most attacked industries out there,
• 3:09
  and it's such a critical issue.
• 3:12
  We as an organization have to continue to basically put
• 3:16
  cybersecurity as a core component
• 3:19
  to our overall organizational strategy if we want
• 3:22
  to continue to basically be successful at what we do.
• 3:26
  And you figure one critical element
• 3:28
  that we're basically looking at here is we continue
• 3:31
  to really try to change the overall aspects of
• 3:34
  what cybersecurity means,
• 3:36
  because cybersecurity always has been one of those elements
• 3:39
  that, you know, everyone says cybersecurity
• 3:41
  is about data security.
• 3:42
  Well, we have to think of it a little bit differently.
• 3:45
  Cybersecurity, yes, is a data item,
• 3:48
  but cybersecurity can also be a matter of life and death.
• 3:52
  I mean, when we look at the medical, um, device industry
• 3:55
  that's basically mandated by the FDA 83%
• 3:59
  of those specific organizations have admitted
• 4:01
  that they have a cybersecurity problem.
• 4:03
  And then when we look at the pacemaker software alone,
• 4:05
  we see thousands of security flaws associated with it.
• 4:09
  So then we ask ourselves, can the heart be hacked?
• 4:11
  And the answer is yes.
• 4:13
  So that's why we have to say
• 4:14
  that cybersecurity isn't just about data security,
• 4:19
  it's also a matter of life and death.
• 4:21
  And truly incorporating cybersecurity as a core component
• 4:26
  to the overall organizational strategy has been a successful
• 4:29
  outcome for myself.
• 4:31
  And one critical element too is that I've really tried
• 4:35
  to refocus
• 4:36
  and rechange is that we can no longer
• 4:41
  look at information technology as a cost center,
• 4:46
  but as a strategic revenue contributor to the organization,
• 4:51
  that is such a critical element.
• 4:54
  We are a strategic specific revenue generator
• 4:58
  for the organization.
• 5:00
  And again, if we are not incorporating those security
• 5:03
  elements, then we really can have some failing points.
• 5:07
  Because when I go to my board of directors, one
• 5:10
  of the critical elements that I've really kind
• 5:12
  of focused on has been FOR, which stands for Financial,
• 5:16
  operational and Reputational.
• 5:18
  What would happen on a financial level if a breach happened?
• 5:22
  What would happen on an operational level
• 5:24
  if a breach happened?
• 5:25
  And what would happen on a reputational level
• 5:29
  if a breach happened?
• 5:30
  These are critical elements
• 5:32
  that have been basically established in our organization
• 5:36
  to show the importance of why we continue to invest
• 5:40
  and why we continue to basically implement these
• 5:42
  comprehensive cybersecurity initiatives
• 5:44
  within our organizations.
• 5:47
  And to answer your additional question, you know,
• 5:49
  to really measure the effectiveness of the projects
• 5:53
  that we've initiated, especially
• 5:54
  with our cybersecurity framework, we utilized a lot
• 5:58
  of various key performance indicators, such
• 6:01
  as the reduction in security incidents, the percentage
• 6:04
  of vulnerabilities mitigated,
• 6:05
  and the level of employee, uh, compliance
• 6:08
  with security policies.
• 6:10
  Additionally, we conducted regular audits
• 6:12
  and assessments to really ensure ongoing hardness
• 6:15
  to the establishments
• 6:16
  of the cybersecurity framework initiatives
• 6:18
  that we've incorporated.
• 6:20
  And that is why it's extremely important, as I stated,
• 6:24
  to really continue to enhance that awareness
• 6:27
  because I was looking at a, an overall nationally
• 6:32
  recognized survey that came out,
• 6:34
  and the survey basically stated that 43%
• 6:39
  of healthcare organizations still don't provide basic
• 6:44
  cybersecurity awareness training to their end users.
• 6:48
  And you figure, if you looked at last year's numbers,
• 6:52
  91% of all ransomware attacks
• 6:56
  that were targeted towards the healthcare, uh, industry came
• 7:00
  through a phishing email.
• 7:02
  And who are they phishing?
• 7:03
  They're phishing our people
• 7:05
  because at the end of the day, the unfortunate thing is, is
• 7:08
  that your biggest risk are your employees.
• 7:11
  And if you're not basically building that comprehensive
• 7:15
  security process within your organization
• 7:17
  or really trying to ize the org
• 7:21
  to really show the importance of digitalization,
• 7:24
  cybersecurity, that can really be a detrimental issue within
• 7:28
  your group itself.
• 7:30
  And we're seeing how the healthcare industry is basically
• 7:32
  being hit on a security standpoint.
• 7:35
  I mean, look at what's happening with change healthcare.
• 7:37
  I mean, there's been so many disruptions in regards to that.
• 7:41
  So it is extremely critical to continue
• 7:44
  to incorporate those specific initiatives,
• 7:46
  and that has really been one of those successful points
• 7:51
  that I have been able
• 7:52
  to really establish within our organization itself.
• 7:57
  - Well, that's fantastic to hear,
• 7:59
  and certainly as you mentioned, such an important area
• 8:01
  to zero in on and feel like you've got the right resources
• 8:04
  behind the right training
• 8:05
  and, um, really a strong infrastructure, as you mentioned,
• 8:09
  um, to do the best you can
• 8:11
  to prevent those kinds of attacks.
• 8:12
  I know, especially in the cybersecurity space, things change
• 8:16
  so quickly and certainly, um, you know, the tactics and,
• 8:20
  and um, capabilities of, of some
• 8:22
  of the bad actors within the cyber, uh,
• 8:25
  cybersecurity spaces, you know, um, just seems like, um,
• 8:30
  can, can change at a rapid speed.
• 8:31
  And so, you know,
• 8:32
  I I really love your perspective on bringing
• 8:34
  that into a strategic imperative for the health system,
• 8:38
  not only, you know, on the IT side, um, but,
• 8:40
  but really, um, that can make a big difference overall.
• 8:44
  Um, you know, when you look at the next 12 months
• 8:46
  or so, what are some of your top priorities?
• 8:48
  What are you really, uh, keeping, um, front
• 8:50
  and center for you and,
• 8:52
  and how do you see all of this evolving?
• 8:57
  - You know, looking ahead to the next 12 months,
• 9:00
  my top priorities really revolve around, you know,
• 9:03
  further enhancing the organization's digital capabilities
• 9:06
  and resilience that is so important moving forward.
• 9:10
  This really includes initiatives such
• 9:12
  as leveraging artificial intelligence
• 9:13
  and machine learning for, for predictive analytics
• 9:17
  and really enhancing the overall cloud infrastructure
• 9:20
  to support scalability and flexibility
• 9:23
  and really continuing to foster a culture of innovation
• 9:27
  and continuous improvements across the organization,
• 9:30
  which is so critical
• 9:32
  because that's why I even made that statement that we have
• 9:36
  to look, you know, away from
• 9:38
  what technology has always been seen as,
• 9:41
  or you know, what, it has always been seen as,
• 9:44
  it has always been seen as what a ticket taker versus
• 9:49
  being a value maker.
• 9:51
  And I think really re culturalizing,
• 9:56
  re fostering, you know, fostering a culture of innovation,
• 10:00
  of digitalization, of the importance of security
• 10:04
  across the organization basically builds strong initiatives
• 10:08
  on who we are as a group.
• 10:10
  Because at the end of the day, I always state that hospitals
• 10:14
  and clinics are digital companies
• 10:16
  that deliver healthcare services.
• 10:18
  We are living in the digital age healthcare,
• 10:21
  and we have to incorporate those specific items within
• 10:25
  our organization itself.
• 10:27
  I mean, you've seen how even the evolution
• 10:29
  of the CIO has really kind
• 10:31
  of come into place in the healthcare industry, you know,
• 10:35
  from crawling to upping up, you know, to walking upright,
• 10:38
  to carrying the organization.
• 10:39
  You know, starting as an advisor,
• 10:41
  starting then going into more of a supportive role,
• 10:44
  more into an enabler, uh, enabler role, then going into more
• 10:48
  of that driver's role, you know, being that overall
• 10:51
  individual that understands innovation, being the economist,
• 10:56
  being that risk manager, that political visionary, you know,
• 10:59
  the project advisor
• 11:01
  to really drive these specific initiatives moving forward,
• 11:04
  which I think is extremely important,
• 11:08
  but really looking at, you know, just fostering
• 11:13
  a culture of innovation is so important
• 11:16
  to really drive your overall process moving forward.
• 11:20
  Because at the end of the day, the healthcare industry,
• 11:24
  it's getting more complex, it's getting harder,
• 11:27
  and we have as an organization have to continue
• 11:30
  to move forward and not backwards.
• 11:32
  And that is so critical to our overall success.
• 11:39
  - That's so fascinating here.
• 11:41
  And you know, definitely I, I, um, can so appreciate just
• 11:44
  that, um, urgency with which moving into the digital space
• 11:48
  and making sure that you've got that culture of innovation
• 11:51
  so you can pivot easily
• 11:53
  and do the best, um, you know, provide the best care you can
• 11:56
  for patients within the system.
• 11:58
  And, you know, when you talk about, um, the IT department
• 12:03
  or the IT functions as a turning into more
• 12:06
  of a value creator or value maker for the health system,
• 12:09
  how does that, um, you really make
• 12:11
  that transition first at the top level of the organization
• 12:14
  with the, your executive colleagues
• 12:17
  to help them understand what that looks like?
• 12:19
  And then, you know, down into, um, just the, the whole rest
• 12:24
  of the health system to understand that, you know, the IT
• 12:28
  side, again, it goes beyond
• 12:30
  what you traditionally would think of
• 12:31
  to really make a huge difference within the overall strategy
• 12:35
  and and buy into that kind of mindset and mind frame.
• 12:40
  - Yeah, absolutely. You know,
• 12:42
  it definitely starts from the top down
• 12:44
  and that's really one of those critical components.
• 12:48
  You know, the the problem is,
• 12:50
  is if you've looked at the complete healthcare landscape, so
• 12:54
  I did a discussion with Columbia University
• 12:57
  and we were talking about the brick
• 12:58
  and mortar theology of healthcare on, um, you know, how
• 13:03
  the healthcare theology of that brick
• 13:06
  and mortar where we operate as a brick
• 13:08
  and mortar organization, really needs to go away.
• 13:12
  And that's why I always state in my statements
• 13:14
  that hospitals and clinics are digital companies
• 13:17
  that deliver healthcare services.
• 13:19
  And then when I go to my board of directors,
• 13:21
  I focus on three elements, financial,
• 13:22
  operational, reputational.
• 13:24
  I really try to develop
• 13:26
  that strong ROI on why we're continuing
• 13:29
  to invest in the overall technology initiatives
• 13:32
  for the organization itself to continue
• 13:34
  to strive to basically.
• 13:36
  Because one critical element that I've always stated too is
• 13:39
  that I don't care
• 13:41
  what position you have in the healthcare organization
• 13:45
  that you work with, you have a new CEO
• 13:49
  and your new CEO is the patient.
• 13:52
  And that's basically the bottom line.
• 13:55
  And as an organization,
• 13:57
  if we are not building asynchronous tools
• 14:00
  that benefit our patients both inside
• 14:02
  and outside of our organizations,
• 14:05
  we are not gonna be successful moving forward.
• 14:07
  And then we're seeing just the mass incorporation
• 14:11
  of individuals taking more care of themselves,
• 14:14
  taking more actions of their overall healthcare needs.
• 14:17
  And you have the new millennial,
• 14:18
  you have the millennial population, you have the, uh,
• 14:21
  gen Z population,
• 14:23
  which is completely focused on digital applications.
• 14:26
  So the thing is is hospitals
• 14:28
  and clinics are digital companies
• 14:30
  that deliver healthcare services.
• 14:32
  We have to realize those specific important elements.
• 14:35
  And I also think though too is, you know, it has been one
• 14:40
  of those specific siloed departments.
• 14:44
  We have to come out of the siloed areas to really show value
• 14:48
  of who we are, promote the specific initiatives
• 14:52
  that we're basically doing, show the amazing items
• 14:55
  that are being accomplished with the digital initiatives
• 14:57
  that we're incorporating into our overall
• 15:00
  organizational practice.
• 15:02
  You know, showing the importance of
• 15:03
  what the technology strategies
• 15:05
  that we throughout there have really improved better patient
• 15:08
  care, like artificial intelligence
• 15:10
  that we've incorporated into our radiology practices
• 15:14
  to really enhance better ways of viewing specific images
• 15:18
  and detecting specific abnormalities
• 15:21
  where a radiologist human eye can't basically capture.
• 15:24
  Using those technology tool sets
• 15:27
  to really create successful outcomes is extremely important.
• 15:32
  And that is why I always say that we have to, we have
• 15:36
  to incorporate it as a core component
• 15:40
  to any organizational strategy
• 15:42
  because honestly, at the end of the day,
• 15:45
  this isn't a business makeover,
• 15:47
  but an actual true revolution to continue to digitalize
• 15:51
  our overall focus
• 15:53
  and create better successful outcomes moving forward.
• 15:56
  Because we have to realize the importance of
• 15:59
  what technology brings.
• 16:01
  And then we've seen the, the huge, you know, improvements
• 16:05
  of better patient care outcomes.
• 16:08
  How are we taking care of our patients?
• 16:10
  That's why I always stated patient care is number one,
• 16:13
  my new CEO is the patient.
• 16:15
  That's basically the bottom line.
• 16:17
  We have to have that mindset.
• 16:19
  What are we doing to really enhance better patient
• 16:22
  care outcomes?
• 16:24
  Patient-centric technology strategies
• 16:27
  that create successful outcomes from your organization
• 16:31
  is such a critical element to move forward.
• 16:36
  - Absolutely. I, I love that.
• 16:37
  I love the passion that you have obviously for this topic.
• 16:40
  And certainly as you've mentioned, it makes a big difference
• 16:42
  for the health system overall.
• 16:44
  Now, before we wrap up here, I was wondering, you know,
• 16:47
  could you talk about how you anticipate your role
• 16:50
  and teams will change in the near future?
• 16:53
  - Yeah, absolutely. You know, in terms
• 16:55
  of really anticipating change in my role in teams,
• 16:58
  I really foresee a continued shift towards
• 17:01
  strategic leadership and collaboration across departments,
• 17:04
  which is so important.
• 17:06
  You know, and as technology continues to evolve rapidly,
• 17:09
  it's essential for CIOs to really stay ahead of the curve
• 17:13
  and adapt to emerging trends and challenges.
• 17:17
  This may involve expanding the scope of responsibilities
• 17:20
  to really include areas such as digital transformation,
• 17:23
  data governance, and regulatory compliance.
• 17:26
  You know, additionally I really anticipating, you know,
• 17:29
  fostering a more agile
• 17:31
  and cross-functional approach within my teams,
• 17:34
  really encouraging collaboration
• 17:37
  and knowledge sharing to really drive collective success
• 17:41
  as an organization itself.
• 17:43
  So it is, I mean, there is a lot of specific
• 17:46
  phenomenal items that I basically see within the
• 17:50
  organization and a lot of different, specific shifts
• 17:53
  that are happening, which is so important.
• 17:56
  And again, though too, you know,
• 17:58
  when I was talking about the overall evolution
• 18:01
  of the healthcare CIO advisor, supportive, enabler,
• 18:05
  and driver, continuing to see the driving success
• 18:10
  of your organization,
• 18:12
  and it has been just, just a phenomenal time again,
• 18:15
  to really be in healthcare.
• 18:17
  It, there's a lot of challenges.
• 18:19
  We continue to incorporate some advanced technology
• 18:22
  initiatives and strategies within our organization itself.
• 18:27
  We understand that cybersecurity continues
• 18:29
  to be a major concern for any organization,
• 18:33
  especially in the healthcare industry.
• 18:35
  And we continue to really understand the
• 18:37
  importance of why we're here.
• 18:39
  And that's really to prove
• 18:42
  and to just have
• 18:43
  that better patient care outcome moving forward,
• 18:46
  which is so critical.
• 18:47
  And that's why I'm so passionate about this is
• 18:50
  because we do the most important thing out there.
• 18:52
  And that's basically dealing with humans, dealing
• 18:55
  with human lives, improving human lives, creating better,
• 18:59
  uh, outcomes for individuals to have a better quality
• 19:03
  of life moving forward.
• 19:04
  So it's really been a good successful outcome.
• 19:07
  We've done some amazing things from building our new
• 19:10
  facility to incorporating cybersecurity
• 19:13
  and technology as that core component.
• 19:16
  We've seen the importance of
• 19:17
  what digitalization basically brings into the organization,
• 19:21
  and we're gonna continue to move forward.
• 19:23
  You know, there's a Spanish word that I like to use
• 19:26
  and it's LAN that means forward.
• 19:29
  We're gonna move LAN
• 19:31
  and we're gonna have some good collaborative
• 19:34
  culturing fostering initiatives
• 19:36
  with different organizations, different people
• 19:39
  to really kind of continue to build
• 19:41
  that strong initiative to move forward.
• 19:45
  And again, it's, it's always a pleasure to be on this,
• 19:50
  on Becker's podcast.
• 19:52
  You guys do a phenomenal job
• 19:54
  and it's always an honor to be part
• 19:56
  of this overall group as well too.
• 19:59
  - Thank you so much, Michael.
• 20:01
  It's always a pleasure to speak with you
• 20:03
  and certainly, um, I learn a lot from hearing, you know,
• 20:06
  just your perspective and everything
• 20:08
  that's going on, um, at the hospital.
• 20:10
  So thank you so much for your time today.
• 20:12
  It is truly an honor to have you on the podcast
• 20:14
  and you know, I look forward
• 20:15
  to connecting with you again soon.
• 20:18
  - Hey, thank you much. I appreciate that.