Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building Trust in Healthcare Through Better Data with Priya Bathija & Lauren Riplinger

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Building Trust in Healthcare Through Better Data with Priya Bathija & Lauren Riplinger · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
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  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
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  - It's the kind of event you leave with
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  - what comes next.
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  - So join us November second through the fifth
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
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  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Health
• 1:00
  - Care Podcast. I am thrilled today to be
• 1:03
  - joined by two brilliant leaders.
• 1:05
  - We're joined today by Warren Ripplinger
• 1:08
  - and Warren's with the American Health Information Management
• 1:10
  - Association,
• 1:12
  - AHIMA. And then we've also got Priya Pathia,
• 1:15
  - and and Priya is a brilliant lawyer and
• 1:18
  - leader,
• 1:19
  - I think the CEO and founder of Mu.
• 1:21
  - And I I don't know if I'm pronouncing
• 1:23
  - that correctly,
• 1:24
  - but just a wonderful person. She's also a
• 1:27
  - teacher, a professor. I've been at her request
• 1:29
  - a couple different times at at Loyola University
• 1:32
  - in Chicago as well as at Ohio State,
• 1:35
  - and a wonderful, wonderful person and leader. I'm
• 1:37
  - gonna ask each of you,
• 1:39
  - Warren, Priya, to introduce yourselves, and I know
• 1:42
  - we've got a special subject today. You'll tee
• 1:44
  - us up on what that is today. Warren,
• 1:46
  - could you take a moment to introduce yourself
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  - and tell us about AHIMA and also about
• 1:50
  - what you're working on? And then, Priya, I'll
• 1:52
  - ask you to do the same.
• 1:54
  - Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks, Scott. Thanks for having us
• 1:56
  - on today.
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  - So as Scott mentioned, I'm Lauren Riplinger. I'm
• 2:00
  - the chief public policy and impact officer for
• 2:02
  - AHIMA, which is a professional association
• 2:05
  - that represents health information professionals
• 2:08
  - that really focus on ensuring the accuracy,
• 2:10
  - completeness, and usability
• 2:12
  - of health data while keeping it, confidential and
• 2:15
  - secure.
• 2:16
  - And so in my role, I oversee
• 2:18
  - our policy and government affairs as well as
• 2:20
  - our programmatic efforts in Washington DC.
• 2:23
  - And one of the things we're really focused
• 2:25
  - on that I know we're gonna talk a
• 2:26
  - little bit about today is, our effort and
• 2:29
  - initiative called data for better health, which is
• 2:31
  - really focused around how do we improve the
• 2:33
  - collection, sharing, and use of social determinants of
• 2:36
  - health data to improve health outcomes.
• 2:39
  - Thank you so much. And we'll follow-up on
• 2:41
  - that in a moment. Priya, let me ask
• 2:43
  - you to introduce yourself. Tell us about your
• 2:45
  - career and also about new health,
• 2:48
  - if you don't mind.
• 2:49
  - Great. Well, Scott, thank you so much
• 2:52
  - for having us on the podcast today.
• 2:54
  - And in my career, I wear a number
• 2:57
  - of hats.
• 2:58
  - All of them are centered around improving access,
• 3:02
  - outcomes,
• 3:03
  - and patient experiences.
• 3:05
  - So as you mentioned, I am the CEO
• 3:08
  - of New Health
• 3:09
  - where we help health care organizations
• 3:12
  - reimagine and expand
• 3:14
  - the services that they offer to women.
• 3:17
  - I'm also the host of the Women's Health
• 3:19
  - Playbook
• 3:20
  - where we are making navigating and accessing health
• 3:23
  - care a little bit easier for women.
• 3:26
  - And then for the past four years, I've
• 3:28
  - had the privilege
• 3:29
  - of working with the AHIMA team,
• 3:32
  - to help build and execute on their initiative
• 3:35
  - data for better health. And prior to that,
• 3:38
  - I spent
• 3:39
  - a number of years at the American Hospital
• 3:41
  - Association
• 3:42
  - and a number of years practicing health law.
• 3:45
  - And as you mentioned, Scott, I teach at
• 3:47
  - two different law schools and
• 3:50
  - really try to stay connected with
• 3:52
  - the work I've done throughout my career,
• 3:55
  - as we talk about things like health care
• 3:57
  - payment and policy,
• 3:59
  - health equity, and then women's health law and
• 4:01
  - policy in those courses.
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  - Thank you so much. And and and let
• 4:05
  - me ask you this question. Lauren, let me
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  - turn to you.
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  - The effort around
• 4:10
  - data
• 4:11
  - for for
• 4:12
  - focused on data governance and data collection for
• 4:15
  - social determinants of health,
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  - Talk a bit about how this became an
• 4:18
  - AHIMA priority
• 4:20
  - and why it's so important.
• 4:23
  - Yeah. Absolutely. You know, I think,
• 4:25
  - based on where our members sit in the
• 4:28
  - health care ecosystem
• 4:29
  - and really focusing in on that, you know,
• 4:32
  - data governance, data accuracy, usability,
• 4:35
  - and and making sure it's kept private, confidential,
• 4:37
  - and secure
• 4:38
  - really positions them well to think about,
• 4:41
  - you know, what is the full picture of
• 4:43
  - the patient and how do we make sure
• 4:45
  - that documentation
• 4:46
  - and and coding related to it is accurate.
• 4:49
  - But I think one of the things that
• 4:50
  - we recognize through the course of our data
• 4:52
  - for better health work is that improving trust
• 4:55
  - is is at the core of that work.
• 4:58
  - You know, a care team is not necessarily
• 5:00
  - gonna understand the full picture of a person's
• 5:02
  - health if they don't understand where they live,
• 5:05
  - work, and play. And if the patient doesn't
• 5:08
  - feel comfortable with sharing information about that, you're
• 5:11
  - not gonna have complete data when you when
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  - that patient comes through your door.
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  - And I think one of the challenges that
• 5:17
  - we've seen is that trust is on the
• 5:19
  - decline in health care.
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  - You know, since 1975,
• 5:24
  - the confidence that individuals have in their health
• 5:26
  - care organizations has dropped by 50%.
• 5:29
  - And then when we think about kind of
• 5:31
  - nonmedical,
• 5:33
  - information
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  - like social determinants of health, less than 50%
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  - of people actually feel comfortable
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  - with their information being shared with other members
• 5:43
  - of their care team.
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  - And there's certainly many different reasons
• 5:46
  - for lack of trust, but we came to
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  - the recollection
• 5:50
  - realization
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  - that we cannot separate
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  - data collection, use, and sharing,
• 5:56
  - from the conversation around trust. And that's why
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  - we've really focused a lot of attention and
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  - believe that our members are well positioned
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  - to help, inform and and guide and and
• 6:06
  - promote these conversations.
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  - Thank you so much. And and take a
• 6:11
  - moment on your career at HEMA
• 6:13
  - in in in the role that you have
• 6:15
  - today involved in public policy and so forth,
• 6:17
  - such an important role. Talk a bit about
• 6:19
  - your career and any advice that you would
• 6:21
  - give to emerging leaders about having such an
• 6:23
  - impactful career.
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  - That's a great question. You know, I what
• 6:28
  - I I didn't share before is I've spent
• 6:30
  - a little over twenty five years in politics.
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  - And so I think being able to,
• 6:36
  - have conversations
• 6:38
  - with different organizations like AHIMA,
• 6:41
  - has really that that background in working on
• 6:43
  - Capitol Hill,
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  - has really allowed me to have,
• 6:47
  - good conversations,
• 6:49
  - with
• 6:50
  - associations like AHIMA and understanding,
• 6:53
  - you know, what our members need,
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  - in order to drive these kind of larger
• 6:57
  - macro issues. I think we're having a a
• 7:00
  - larger conversation around trust,
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  - particularly when it comes to the, introduction of
• 7:06
  - AI in these conversations. And so,
• 7:08
  - just having that experience and and knowledge has
• 7:12
  - really,
• 7:13
  - allowed me to
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  - to represent our members in these conversations when
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  - we're talking to policymakers.
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  - That is a fantastic and remarkable and what
• 7:22
  - an interesting time in politics today, quite frankly.
• 7:26
  - And and,
• 7:27
  - Priya, talk a little bit about your interest
• 7:30
  - in data governance and social determinants of health.
• 7:32
  - I know you do so much in the
• 7:34
  - women's health world, such an important area, such
• 7:38
  - an underserved area, quite frankly. Talk a bit
• 7:40
  - about your interest here and what brings you
• 7:42
  - and AHIMA together on on this effort in
• 7:45
  - the in the excitement year.
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  - Yeah. So I think the common through line
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  - is this work on improving
• 7:52
  - outcomes and experiences
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  - for patients. Right? And when we think about
• 7:57
  - work related to social determinants of health, it's
• 8:02
  - it's a commonality
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  - in all of the work I'm doing, whether
• 8:05
  - it's addressing social determinants of health for women
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  - or addressing social determinants of health more broadly.
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  - And I spent many years at the American
• 8:15
  - Hospital Association working on
• 8:17
  - these types of efforts,
• 8:19
  - that focus on making sure
• 8:22
  - that
• 8:23
  - health care providers have the information they need
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  - about their patients to be able to provide
• 8:29
  - care
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  - in the best way possible. Now before coming
• 8:33
  - to this work with AHIMA, I spent a
• 8:35
  - lot of it looking a lot of my
• 8:37
  - time looking at this from the perspective of
• 8:39
  - those individuals that are working on population health
• 8:43
  - or community health or the clinicians that are
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  - actually engaging
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  - with patients on the ground in health care
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  - organizations.
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  - What I've enjoyed and learned from this work
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  - with health with AHIMA is that health information
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  - professionals also play a key role in this
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  - work and, really, they are the through line
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  - that
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  - takes this data from collection to use to
• 9:08
  - sharing. And they are an important
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  - piece of this work and need to be
• 9:13
  - at the table,
• 9:14
  - when we have these conversations
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  - about just the processes and procedures we use
• 9:20
  - to gain a full picture
• 9:23
  - of a patient's story as well as as
• 9:26
  - we think through
• 9:28
  - trust, as Lauren talked about in our most
• 9:30
  - recent white paper, what role can health information
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  - professionals play
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  - along this spectrum to actually help organizations
• 9:39
  - build that trust between patients and care teams?
• 9:43
  - Thank you so much. And and and I'm
• 9:45
  - gonna ask each of you, when you look
• 9:47
  - at the next six months of this year,
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  - Warren, I'll ask you first.
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  - What are you most excited
• 9:52
  - about and focused on for this next six
• 9:54
  - months of 2026?
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  - And then, Priya, I'm gonna ask you the
• 9:57
  - same question. What are you most focused on
• 9:59
  - and excited about?
• 10:00
  - Yeah. I I think it's a great question,
• 10:02
  - Scott.
• 10:03
  - And I I think about the white paper
• 10:05
  - that Priya mentioned and kind of our nine
• 10:07
  - step framework for how do we build trust
• 10:10
  - with patients, care teams, and health information professionals.
• 10:13
  - And in particular, that role that health information
• 10:16
  - professional can play in improving that collection sharing
• 10:19
  - and use the social determinants of health data.
• 10:21
  - And so for me, it's really thinking about,
• 10:25
  - how are we kind of,
• 10:27
  - focusing on policies and procedures and workflows
• 10:32
  - that help data move at the speed of
• 10:34
  - trust. So, you know, how do we further,
• 10:37
  - spread the work related to the gravity project
• 10:40
  - and driving
• 10:41
  - consensus driven terminology and technical standards that people
• 10:45
  - can use in their EHRs to collect this
• 10:48
  - data.
• 10:49
  - What are those break the glass procedures that
• 10:51
  - we need to develop specific to social determinants
• 10:54
  - of health? Because we know that's really sensitive
• 10:57
  - and personal information,
• 10:59
  - that, you know, in the event of a
• 11:00
  - major incident or emergency,
• 11:02
  - those care teams can get access to that
• 11:05
  - information.
• 11:06
  - But also thinking about, you know, what are
• 11:09
  - those data sharing policies we need to think
• 11:11
  - about when we're sharing nonmedical
• 11:14
  - information
• 11:15
  - with community based organizations
• 11:17
  - like a food pantry,
• 11:19
  - that might be able to provide services to
• 11:21
  - that to that patient,
• 11:23
  - and their family,
• 11:25
  - in a way that that information is kept
• 11:28
  - confidential and secure so it doesn't further erode
• 11:30
  - trust with patients.
• 11:33
  - Thank you so much. And and, Priyat,
• 11:36
  - I'm gonna ask you, where are you most
• 11:38
  - focused and excited the next six months? And
• 11:40
  - then I'm gonna ask each of you for
• 11:43
  - a bit of leadership advice
• 11:44
  - for emerging leaders.
• 11:46
  - Which one or two piece of advice you
• 11:48
  - would give to emerging leaders
• 11:50
  - in health care or generally about leadership? But
• 11:53
  - Priya first, where are you most focused and
• 11:54
  - excited this next six months?
• 11:57
  - Yeah. You know, I echo a lot of
• 11:58
  - the things Lauren said. I'm really excited to
• 12:01
  - have this trust framework from Mahima out in
• 12:03
  - the world.
• 12:05
  - I'm excited to build on it with more
• 12:07
  - case studies,
• 12:09
  - more conversations about trust,
• 12:12
  - AI
• 12:13
  - and the role that it plays in trust,
• 12:15
  - the role different health care professionals can play
• 12:18
  - in these conversations.
• 12:20
  - But I'm also excited to take this conversation
• 12:23
  - beyond
• 12:24
  - social determinants of health and health information professionals.
• 12:28
  - So for anyone who picks up this white
• 12:30
  - paper, the information included in it goes beyond
• 12:33
  - social determinants of health and health information professionals,
• 12:37
  - and it's really a nice primer
• 12:40
  - on how to improve trust between patients and
• 12:42
  - care teams. And so when I think about
• 12:45
  - the work that I do across a number
• 12:48
  - of issues,
• 12:49
  - it applies to everything. Right? In every area,
• 12:52
  - we see
• 12:53
  - challenges in our health care system on
• 12:56
  - how we listen to patients, how we take
• 12:59
  - into account lived experiences,
• 13:01
  - how we make sure that they feel respected
• 13:05
  - when they come into
• 13:06
  - the four walls of an organization
• 13:09
  - or they engage with an organization through a
• 13:12
  - website, through virtual care, through AI in some
• 13:15
  - form or fashion. So I'm really just excited
• 13:17
  - to take the lessons that Lauren and I
• 13:19
  - learned from
• 13:21
  - researching and writing this paper on building trust
• 13:25
  - and spreading it as far and wide as
• 13:27
  - I can.
• 13:29
  - Thank you so much. I I I love
• 13:31
  - that. And and, Priya, let me start with
• 13:33
  - you.
• 13:34
  - One or two thoughts or advice that you
• 13:36
  - would get you teach so much. You do
• 13:38
  - so much student teaching. I'm also just enamored
• 13:40
  - with you as a leader and person. You're
• 13:42
  - a force of nature.
• 13:44
  - Advice that you would give to
• 13:47
  - young leaders, emerging leaders, what was your piece
• 13:49
  - of advice that you'd give to them? And
• 13:50
  - then, Lauren, I'll ask you the same question.
• 13:53
  - Yeah. So one piece you know, a lot
• 13:56
  - of times in health care, Scott, and I
• 13:58
  - I know Lauren and you have seen this
• 13:59
  - throughout your careers,
• 14:01
  - but we think that patients should trust us.
• 14:04
  - Right? They should just
• 14:06
  - come in, do what we need them to
• 14:08
  - do for their care,
• 14:10
  - and then go about their days. And
• 14:13
  - when patients don't trust us, we somehow feel
• 14:16
  - like it's their fault.
• 14:18
  - But I think the reality that the data
• 14:21
  - Lauren cited to the research we did in
• 14:23
  - this paper shows
• 14:25
  - that we actually as healthcare organizations need to
• 14:28
  - become more trustworthy,
• 14:30
  - and we have a lot of work to
• 14:32
  - do in that regard.
• 14:34
  - So I would, you know, just put this
• 14:36
  - out there for young health leaders, experienced,
• 14:40
  - health leaders that trust isn't something that's given.
• 14:43
  - It's something that we need to earn over
• 14:45
  - time.
• 14:46
  - That even when you earn it, it could
• 14:49
  - be lost at any time. So, it is
• 14:51
  - something that we need to work on continuously
• 14:55
  - as healthcare organizations.
• 14:57
  - And just some questions I think that healthcare
• 15:00
  - leaders
• 15:01
  - should be asking are what can we do
• 15:04
  - to be more trustworthy?
• 15:05
  - How can we ensure that we're listening and
• 15:08
  - actually hearing and understanding
• 15:10
  - what patients are sharing?
• 15:12
  - How can we pay attention
• 15:14
  - to patients' lived experiences?
• 15:16
  - How can we keep the commitments that we
• 15:18
  - make to patients and communities? And so, those
• 15:22
  - are some questions I think that should be
• 15:23
  - top of mind as,
• 15:26
  - healthcare leaders come to work each day and
• 15:28
  - as they work to improve healthcare outcomes and
• 15:32
  - experiences
• 15:33
  - for their patients and communities.
• 15:36
  - Thank you so much. And I and I
• 15:37
  - and I love that. And and, Lauren, let
• 15:39
  - me ask you this. You've had this magnificent
• 15:40
  - career in politics and now leadership at AHIMA.
• 15:44
  - Take a moment on what are one or
• 15:45
  - two pieces of advice that you would give
• 15:47
  - to emerging leaders?
• 15:48
  - Yeah.
• 15:49
  - You know, the first thing I'd say is
• 15:51
  - I I wholeheartedly agree with with everything that
• 15:53
  - Priya has said, and I wanted to both
• 15:55
  - click on something that she mentioned before, and
• 15:58
  - that is very much that building trust is
• 16:00
  - a team sport.
• 16:02
  - I don't think that there's one department, one
• 16:04
  - individual that really owns that relationship. And so
• 16:07
  - I think we have to recognize whether
• 16:10
  - you're a health information professional, a part of
• 16:13
  - that care team, or you're, you know, working
• 16:15
  - in a health a local health information
• 16:17
  - exchange, all of us own a piece of
• 16:19
  - that trust.
• 16:21
  - And to Priya's point, we have to recognize
• 16:24
  - that it it takes time to build that,
• 16:26
  - and we all have a sense of ownership
• 16:28
  - and responsibility
• 16:29
  - over that. And so we can't lose sight
• 16:31
  - of that,
• 16:33
  - particularly as, you know, health care is undergoing
• 16:36
  - rapid change and and also recognizing, you know,
• 16:39
  - when we think about policy,
• 16:41
  - public policy at a more macro level, we
• 16:43
  - have to take that into consideration.
• 16:45
  - Thank you so much. Warren and Priya, what
• 16:48
  - a pleasure to visit with the two of
• 16:49
  - you. Two great leaders. Thank you so much
• 16:52
  - for taking the time with us today on
• 16:53
  - the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 16:55
  - Always a pleasure. Warren, great to visit with
• 16:57
  - you, and Priya, always fantastic to visit with
• 17:00
  - you. Thank you both so much for joining
• 17:01
  - us. Thanks for having me. Scott.