Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Driving Quality and Value at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances with Dr. Deepthi Bollineni

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Driving Quality and Value at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances with Dr. Deepthi Bollineni · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:00
  Hi, everyone. This is Scott King with the
• 0:01
  Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by doctor
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  Deepti Bolenini
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  of Christos Health Trinity Mother Frances Hospital serving
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  as the medical director
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  quality and regulatory.
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  Doctor Bolenini, how are you doing today?
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  I'm good. Thank you for having me, Scott.
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  How are you? I'm good. Thanks so much
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  for joining us. I know we're getting into
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  a lot of kind of the big issues
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  in health care and and all the really
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  unique things,
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  you're doing with your role. But before we
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  get started, do you mind just telling us
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  about your role and and your background?
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  Certainly.
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  I'm Deepti Bolenini. I'm an on-site physician advisor
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  and medical director for quality regulatory at CHRISTUS
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  Trinity Mother Frances Hospital.
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  It's in Tyler, Texas, the flagship hospital for,
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  CHRISTUS Health System.
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  I'm a board certified internist by background, and
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  I have been practicing hospital medicine for past
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  seventeen years.
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  Over the years, I have developed interest in
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  regulatory,
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  financial, and quality aspects of health care,
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  and, I have had the opportunity to grow
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  into these roles that bridge both bedside and
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  boardroom.
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  What drives me is the belief that high
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  quality care and operational excellence are not mutually
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  exclusive.
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  They must go hand in hand, and I'm
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  passionate about bridging those gaps, enhancing integrated approach
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  between disciplines,
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  advancing value based care, and driving evidence based
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  decision making that is patient centered.
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  I I think that's a great point that
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  those those things are not mutually,
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  exclusive.
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  What opportunities and headwinds do you have your
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  eye on right now?
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  Well, that's a good question. Right now, health
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  care is at a pivotal crossroads with both
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  incredible opportunities and significant headwinds.
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  One of the opportunities
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  is the continued push towards value based care.
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  More organizations
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  are realizing that fee for service isn't sustainable,
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  and there's a momentum towards aligning incentives with
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  patient outcomes.
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  While adoption has been uneven,
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  models like ACO reach and bundled payments are
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  promising for achieving financial and clinical alignment.
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  There's also technology that's one of the opportunities
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  where, it's creating its pathways for transformation,
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  which we couldn't have imagined a decade ago.
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  AI is already starting to reshape, the workflow's
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  clinical decision support and patient engagement.
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  However, if it it has to be implemented
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  thoughtfully with transparency
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  and guardrails,
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  and AI could help solve long standing issues
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  like inefficiencies
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  in care delivery and clinician burnout.
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  But we also face,
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  serious headwinds. The most pressing is,
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  the
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  financial pressure that is intensifying.
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  The margins are razor thin, and, yeah, I
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  the other day, I saw in the Becker's
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  news, like, the hospitals closing.
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  And with with current inflation and increased labor
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  costs and reimbursement
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  pressures,
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  many systems are struggling to stay solvent, especially
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  safety net providers.
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  We're gonna see a great need for
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  innovation in operating models, partnerships, and capital deployment.
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  The other major headwind is the workforce crisis,
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  with early retirements and staffing shortage shortages across
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  health care,
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  which, you know, limit services.
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  This this isn't just about, filling roles. It's
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  about redesigning
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  the way teams work and finding sustainable models
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  of care.
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  So we are balancing immense opportunity
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  with real structural challenges, and leaders need to
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  be approach need
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  to approach this both with urgency and long
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  term thinking,
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  I believe.
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  You mentioned
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  technology
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  and AI there.
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  How how much testing
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  and and kind
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  of thinking or mapping out does your system
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  do before you adapt to and start regularly
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  using a new technology or a new feature
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  of AI?
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  We certainly have a test period over many
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  months before we incorporate,
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  it as for real and take feedback from
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  our teams and our leadership. So it's not
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  a one day decision making. We have lot
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  of tools available now, and they're emerging.
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  So,
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  we do go with the a testing period
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  and see how adaptable it is, how easy
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  it is to maneuver by the staff, take
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  feedback from them, and then implement it if
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  it's bringing value.
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  I think that sounds great. Thanks so much
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  for sharing that. Mhmm. Also curious,
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  how do you think health care organizations
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  should be thinking about growth and value creation
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  in today's environment from the perspective
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  of a physician adviser?
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  Sure.
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  As a physician adviser, I see growth and
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  value creation through the lens of clinical alignment,
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  care quality, and operational efficiency.
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  While in today's environment, growth along with expanding
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  service lines or increasing patient volumes, it's about
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  creating systems that support clinicians in delivering high
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  value care.
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  That starts with clinical documentation integrity where I
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  play a major role,
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  appropriate utilization management, and ensuring that care decisions
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  are both medically necessary and are aligned with
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  best practices.
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  One of the most impactful ways to drive
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  value is by bridging the gap between clinical
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  teams and administrative goals.
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  In my role as a physician adviser, I
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  help translate these clinical realities into
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  actionable strategies for improving outcomes,
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  optimizing resource use, and supporting reimbursement integrity.
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  This alignment is crucial,
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  especially in value based care, which is coming
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  or which is the current,
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  challenge that the hospitals are facing,
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  where quality, efficiency, and patient outcomes are interconnected.
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  There's also an opportunity to leverage data more
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  meaningfully, whether it's identifying variation in care or
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  targeting avoidable admissions
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  or reducing denials through stronger documentation and peer
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  to peer collaboration.
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  Growth comes from improving not just what we
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  do, but how consistently and efficiently we do
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  it.
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  Well, ultimately, adding value means empowering care teams,
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  aligning clinical and financial goals, and building systems
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  that support
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  evidence based patient centered care.
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  That's where the role of a physician adviser
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  becomes a catalyst
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  and not just for compliance, but for strategy
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  growth.
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  We we've heard you discuss the opportunities and
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  headwinds
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  in health care you have your eye on
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  right now.
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  What's one risk
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  or
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  investment worth making this year that might deal
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  with those opportunities or headwinds?
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  Well, I would say, as a from my
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  perspective as a physician adviser, one of the
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  most worthwhile investments this year is,
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  intelligent automation, particularly in areas like clinical documentation,
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  utilization review, and administrative workflows.
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  Healthcare is still playing catch up, when it
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  comes to AI,
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  especially compared to other industries across.
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  But with growing workforce pressures and operational complexity,
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  we really can't afford to keep relying on
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  manual processes that slow down care.
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  I see real potential in tools like ambient
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  documentation, which our organization uses, which can reduce
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  the burden on physicians and improve documentation quality
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  at the same time.
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  There's also growing use of AI in streamlining,
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  medical necessity reviews, prior authorizations,
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  and revenue cycle tasks. These are areas where
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  a small amount of automation can lead to
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  outsized gains in both efficiency and accuracy.
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  Not to replace human,
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  touch to it, but it it definitely improves
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  the efficiency,
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  cut downs the
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  brings out more productive time for, our staff.
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  Of course, the risk is that, we adopt
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  these tools without engaging clinicians or without clear
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  guardrails,
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  and that can lead to mistrust or misuse.
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  But as a physician adviser, I see my
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  role as helping guide those conversations and making
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  sure we are implementing technology in ways that
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  support and not replace clinical judgment.
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  And I believe if we do this right,
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  we not only improve operational performance, but we'll
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  give our providers more time to focus on
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  what really matters. That's patient care.
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  You mentioned the human touch. How important is
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  it to you and your system,
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  you think, to make sure a human is
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  there for a lot of these AI usages
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  and kind of overseeing things and making sure
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  things are going well?
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  All the time. All the time. AI does
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  screen cases,
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  and gives us a more preliminary data, but
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  it's the main, the nurse or
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  the physician or the advanced care practitioner who
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  is making the ultimate call. So, so that
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  they are not spending time on on a
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  manual label where they are going case by
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  case, but it the AI helps screen through
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  the cases and brings up the more
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  main, main cases that that the staff can,
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  screen through.
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  So it's always there. The human touch is
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  always there. It's it's more it's helping us
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  complement our workflow and, bring us back our
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  productive time.
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  And the last question I have for you,
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  I just wanted to ask, where do you
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  see the best opportunities for growth in the
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  future?
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  From my perspective as a physician adviser, some
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  of the biggest opportunities for growth in the
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  future will come from improving
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  how we align clinical care with operational strategies.
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  One area I see real potential is better
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  leveraging clinical data to drive decision making,
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  not just at the bedside, but at the
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  system level.
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  As physician advisers,
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  we are in a unique position,
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  to identify the patterns and utilization,
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  how the resources are being used,
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  documentation,
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  and outcomes.
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  So that insight can inform everything from care
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  redesign to value based contracting.
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  So another opportunity I see is, standardizing
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  and optimizing care pathways.
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  There's still a lot of unwarranted variation in
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  care among the,
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  across, so which impacts both quality and cost,
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  by
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  by helping teams implement evidence based practices,
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  regular education,
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  and lunch and learns. It ensures that, it
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  and ensuring that medical necessity
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  is,
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  what is taken into account, and we can
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  improve consistency and reduce waste and ultimately deliver
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  more value. That's where I feel my role
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  is very pivotal.
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  I also, think that there's a big opportunity
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  in bridging silos between clinical teams, case management,
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  revenue cycle, and compliance
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  because growth isn't just about external expansion. It's
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  also about internal integration.
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  When these teams are aligned and integrated,
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  patient get more seamless care and clinicians are
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  better supported, and the organization can run more
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  efficiently.
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  And finally,
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  we can't talk about growth without addressing the
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  workforce.
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  As a physician adviser, I see growing value
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  in investing in clinician engagement and education,
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  especially around documentation
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  and quality metrics and evolving care models.
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  When we empower our physicians and advanced care
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  practitioners
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  with the right tools and knowledge, they become
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  the active drivers of improvement and innovation.
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  So for me, the growth the future of
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  the growth lies in smarter alignment of data,
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  people, and processes,
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  all rooted in clinical integrity.
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  Well, doctor Boni, thank you so much for
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  joining us on the podcast. I think it
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  was a great discussion, and I look forward
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  to working with you again soon. Thank you,
• 11:36
  Scott. Thank you for having me. Have a
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  good day.