Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Digital Transformation and Platform Strategy at MedStar Health with Scott MacLean

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Digital Transformation and Platform Strategy at MedStar Health with Scott MacLean · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings health care
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  leaders together to unpack the most pressing issues
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  facing the industry.
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  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
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  and unexpected ways.
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  This April, more than 3,500
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  healthcare executives will return to Chicago for Becker's
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  sixteenth annual meeting.
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  Seven ninety five elite speakers will offer new
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  lessons, new case studies, and predictions about what
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  comes next.
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  Join us April 13 through the sixteenth.
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  For the agenda and event details,
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  visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right.
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  This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  Scott McClain, senior vice president and chief information
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  officer at MedStar Health. Scott, it's a pleasure
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  to have you on the podcast today. Thanks,
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  Laura. I'm really happy to be here.
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  Absolutely. Now I'm excited to catch up with
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  you. I know you've, spoken with Becker's for
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  years and really been a great,
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  resource for us, you know, very much on
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  the cutting edge of technology and everything that's
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  happening in the digital health space. So this
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  will be a great opportunity to catch up,
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  learn a little bit more about
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  how you're thinking about the future as well.
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  But before we dive in, can you just
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  tell me a little bit more about yourself
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  and, you know, MedStar Health overall, especially for
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  our listeners who just started to to join
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  the Becker's podcast?
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  Sure. I have, been at MedStar Health for
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  eight years now, and we are a integrated
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  delivery system in the Baltimore, Washington, DC region.
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  We have 10 hospitals and over 300 ambulatory
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  care sites. We have a Medicaid insurer both
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  in,
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  Maryland and DC,
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  and we're a teaching affiliate of Georgetown University
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  Medical Center. And so
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  we're a a full service,
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  integrated delivery network with, insurer. We have a
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  a research institute, and as well as an
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  innovation
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  area.
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  That's fascinating to hear. You know, I I
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  know there's so much that goes into putting
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  it all together.
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  So, you know, I'm curious. What are some
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  of the big things that you're watching right
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  now, some of the trends that you're most
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  focused on as you're thinking about how you
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  need to prepare for the future?
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  Well, it's a great question. I I think
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  that the
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  strategy is to use platforms. I think a
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  lot of people are talking about the EHR,
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  ERP, the collaboration
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  platforms,
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  and making sure that those are implemented as
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  fully as possible. And we're going through
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  a rationalization of all our applications now as
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  we do our,
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  EHR install
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  and, making sure that we're getting the value
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  out of, those platforms. And then there as
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  you well know, and I'm sure we'll talk
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  about, lots of opportunities to
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  build functionality on top of those platforms and
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  use some of the technologies
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  around artificial intelligence and
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  ambient speech and and various things that will
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  make it easier for our patients and clinicians
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  to, go through the care process and and
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  lots of, good features and functionality in the
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  administrative areas too.
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  Absolutely. I think that makes a lot of
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  sense. And, you know, when you are looking
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  at, that process of doing that
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  rationalization of the applications, thinking through, you know,
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  everything that has to happen and go correctly
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  in order for,
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  it to be done and then continue to
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  add value to the organization overall.
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  What is really important within that process for
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  you and your team to stay focused on?
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  How do you make sure that everybody is
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  doing what they need to do, and you're
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  able to be efficient and effective
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  with that rationalization
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  process?
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  Well, I think it it starts with,
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  good leadership, and our CEO often talks about
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  having a strategy,
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  having leadership, and being able to execute on
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  that. And that's how we
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  approach things at MedStar Health.
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  And as part of this, strategic plan that
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  we're in right now, which,
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  we are
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  looking to, continue our growth and, ability to
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  serve our patients and and make a better,
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  patient access and experience,
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  in this time period.
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  The foundation of that is, organizational
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  transformation,
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  around not just,
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  technology and the EHR platform,
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  but, also
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  what it takes to have people change management
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  and the right standard processes to do that.
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  And
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  so I I think as we talk about
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  these things, you start with core values of,
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  again, making sure that,
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  we have the right approach for our patients,
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  and the access that we want them to
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  have to our caregivers and and system.
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  And then I think that there's a lot
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  of respectful
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  listening. You you can imagine we have a
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  good governance structure set up for our implementation,
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  and, we wanna hear from people about what
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  is important,
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  in the various care areas, the specific,
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  unique
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  locations that we have in different types of
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  hospitals and communities and ambulatory sites.
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  But, holding to those values of,
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  being standard about our approach that we would
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  have,
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  the best, level of quality and safety,
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  in all of our care, areas and things
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  that we do
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  and, the best patient experience from,
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  registration scheduling, handling, billing, and, various other communications
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  that we have with them. So there are
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  a lot of things in the environment that
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  have, come along and have been helpful with
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  the core systems we use today,
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  But we're going through a whole process of
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  evaluating every one of them and can the
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  new platform do that function,
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  at least for a great percentage of it.
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  And and then we're respectfully
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  going through and having conversations with important stakeholders
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  about how our our new platforms are gonna
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  cover the functionality that they they have in
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  existing systems.
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  And then you have to be rigorous,
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  about being able
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  to set up and support,
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  the new platforms
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  and any integrations that need to take place
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  there, but also be very disciplined about eliminating
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  and retiring the, the old systems
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  and making sure that you're
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  not in a place where you're
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  still using things that are confusing for clinicians
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  or patients,
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  or certainly not paying for things that are
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  not in use anymore.
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  Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
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  And, you know, it's really helpful to understand
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  the gravity of everything that goes into,
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  these types of processes,
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  you know, across the system. I think so
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  often it can be,
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  just seen as, hey. You know, we need
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  this to happen, and then,
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  you magically make it happen. But there's a
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  lot of work that actually goes into it.
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  When you think about the last six to
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  eighteen months or so, what work are you
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  most proud of? What are you focused on
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  and excited about?
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  Well, I think, you know, our our mission
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  is to,
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  deliver,
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  very high quality health care in this region.
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  It's a important strategic region in the country
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  with the nation's capital.
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  And, we wanna do that again by being
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  available to the patients that wanna see us,
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  And that's been part of
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  our way of going about things of of
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  being available and having lots of, physical locations,
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  in the region for people to access.
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  And we also have a digital strategy of
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  ways that, patients can connect to us through
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  our, MedStar Health app and, portals.
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  And, so I'm excited about the way that
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  we can can meet our patients for the
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  care that they need and, that that growth,
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  the ability to have good growth, but maintain
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  quality and patient experience,
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  across that that growth in the region.
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  Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. And
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  I'm curious, when you talk about growth and
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  talk about that patient experience
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  and everything else, I I know that encompasses
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  many,
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  departments system wide in many initiatives. But from
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  your seat, and thinking about the digital strategy,
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  what are are are kind of the things
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  that are bubbling to the forefront for you,
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  especially in the next year, that are gonna
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  be critical for that patient experience? How do
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  you really,
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  see your efforts, you know, behind the scenes
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  and then in front to,
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  you know, becoming a big part of that
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  strategic value that you're looking for?
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  Well, I'm gonna go back to the the
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  platform idea and the what we talked about
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  of being able to utilize the functionality. So
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  with our our new EHR platform that we're
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  implementing
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  that we expect to go live in, late
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  twenty twenty seven,
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  we are,
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  looking at the ways that we can configure
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  that platform
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  to take advantage of best practices.
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  And this would
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  involve a
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  better patient experience
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  in terms of how they're able to,
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  seek and,
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  schedule,
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  appointments,
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  access,
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  urgent care or specialty care or, you know,
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  hospital,
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  ED if if needed.
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  And so,
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  that, I think, is what we're we're focused
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  on mostly
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  here and excited about. And I I think
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  that there are I know you're talking to
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  other CIOs and and leaders about the capabilities
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  that,
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  the technology environment is producing, again, with,
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  artificial intelligence algorithms that,
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  need to be experimented with and proven, and,
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  we're looking at at taking advantage of that
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  that functionality as well. Again,
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  hoping to take advantage of what is provided
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  through our core vendors,
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  but then also have some discussions about supplementary
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  interventions that that may not be provided yet
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  by by those vendors.
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  That's helpful to understand. Thank you for digging
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  a little bit deeper there. Now before we
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  wrap up, I wanted to ask you a
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  little bit about leadership.
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  What advice would you give evolving leaders today,
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  especially in the technology space? I know you
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  touched on AI, but that's making a big
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  difference, you know, across the board in health
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  care and everything else. And so how do
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  you, you know, talk, with leaders as they're
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  thinking about growing their careers in the health
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  care and technology space?
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  Well, thanks for asking, Lauren. And as I've
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  been reflecting, it it feels like it wasn't,
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  very long ago, although it was thirty years
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  ago that I was
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  an intern and an applications analyst at at
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  Mass General Brigham and kinda grew up there
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  before coming here to MedStar Health to to
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  be a CIO.
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  And I I just think so much of,
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  what leadership about is relationships.
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  And particularly
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  with clinicians, I find
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  being able to listen to them and,
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  be able to study their workflows and understand
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  what their
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  pain points are and how that they they
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  work and then, adapting technology the best ways
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  that can support them is is really important.
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  But it's,
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  you know, we we lead through teams,
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  sub leaders that,
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  manage a number of associates in in,
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  information services.
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  There are other,
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  administrative leaders that,
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  I need to relate to and and support,
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  as we work through the allocation of resources
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  because we can't do everything at once. Right?
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  So,
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  I I think that's so so important for
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  for younger folks. I always took advantage of
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  organizations like HIMSS and then later on when
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  I became a CIO in Chime.
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  I I think those are are really important
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  ways to get education. There's so much digital
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  online education now as well as the the
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  conferences that happen. So
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  I find, I found in in in my,
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  coming up as a leader participating in those
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  organizations
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  and
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  maybe experimenting with different types of leadership that
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  you wouldn't use at your home shop and
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  learning that way was, also really important.
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  I love that, Scott. Thank you so much
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  for your time today. This has been such
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  a helpful conversation. I I really appreciate the
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  opportunity to speak with you, and I look
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  forward to connecting you again soon.
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  Thanks, Laura.