Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Navigating AI, M&A, and System Transformation at Union Health

Transcript

Navigating AI, M&A, and System Transformation at Union Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  When it comes to today's RCM, we know
• 0:02
  the challenges,
• 0:03
  complexity of claims, talent shortages,
• 0:05
  low funding, and lagging tech.
• 0:08
  That's why we built MedMetrix.
• 0:10
  We have the expertise and advanced tech to
• 0:13
  give you that edge on your revenue cycle.
• 0:15
  We're a partner who will relentlessly raise your
• 0:17
  yield, a partner who's on your side because
• 0:20
  they've been operator side, who knows your battles
• 0:23
  and will make sure you win from start
• 0:25
  to finish, end to end. MedMetrix,
• 0:28
  be exceptional.
• 0:30
  This is Madeline with the Becker CFO and
• 0:32
  revenue cycle podcast, and I'm excited to be
• 0:34
  joined today by Ian McDonald, CFO of Union
• 0:37
  Health and Terre Haute.
• 0:39
  Ian, thanks for joining me. Yeah. Pleasure to
• 0:41
  be here. Thanks for having me.
• 0:43
  Yeah. So before we kick things off, do
• 0:45
  you mind sharing with our listeners just a
• 0:47
  little bit more about yourself,
• 0:49
  your background, and more on Union Health?
• 0:52
  Yeah.
• 0:52
  Well, so as you said, I'm Ian McDonald.
• 0:54
  I'm the CFO here at Union Health. I'm
• 0:57
  fairly new to the system. My background, I
• 1:00
  was at the University of Utah for about
• 1:02
  the last fifteen years.
• 1:04
  I'd say
• 1:05
  I came into finance through
• 1:08
  a little bit different trajectory
• 1:10
  than is
• 1:11
  probably common for CFOs. I kinda came in
• 1:14
  from a IT background and a data background.
• 1:18
  And so the
• 1:20
  kind of the way I view finance is
• 1:22
  a subset of data science, which I think
• 1:24
  is
• 1:25
  becoming a little more prevalent in
• 1:28
  the kind of the financial
• 1:29
  world as analytics and finance combined.
• 1:33
  But unions at a really interesting
• 1:36
  point in its history.
• 1:38
  We've just acquired,
• 1:41
  through a COPA,
• 1:43
  regional
• 1:45
  hospital Terre Haute Regional Hospital.
• 1:47
  And so COPA, I wasn't familiar before I
• 1:50
  came here, but it's a certificate of public
• 1:53
  advantage.
• 1:54
  And,
• 1:55
  essentially, that's just us guaranteeing that,
• 1:58
  although we have
• 2:00
  a near monopoly over the local
• 2:02
  area, we're agreeing to make sure that it's
• 2:05
  in the best interest of the local area.
• 2:08
  So that that that's brought a lot of
• 2:10
  kinda interesting elements to this.
• 2:13
  And then I'd say the other thing that's
• 2:14
  really interesting about this system right now
• 2:17
  is we're simultaneously
• 2:19
  going through a epic rollout
• 2:21
  and a workday rollout
• 2:23
  this year. So
• 2:25
  all that's happening
• 2:26
  all at once. So really a transformational
• 2:29
  time right now.
• 2:31
  Yeah. I mean, goodness. You guys are definitely
• 2:33
  busy, and I'm excited to dive into some
• 2:35
  of those things. So appreciate you breaking that
• 2:38
  down.
• 2:39
  Ian, first thing I do wanna get to,
• 2:41
  though, obviously, you know, as you mentioned, you
• 2:43
  kinda have a a different background
• 2:45
  from from maybe some other CFOs in the
• 2:47
  industry,
• 2:48
  just with that IT lens. So could you
• 2:50
  share maybe some financial trends or shifts you're
• 2:53
  keeping a close eye on right now and
• 2:54
  why that is so important to you?
• 2:57
  Well,
• 2:58
  sure, anyone that's listening to this is, gonna
• 3:01
  cringe slightly when I say it, but
• 3:03
  the prevalence of,
• 3:05
  artificial intelligence
• 3:07
  and
• 3:08
  how much that's going to impact
• 3:11
  analytics
• 3:12
  and finance,
• 3:14
  I I just don't think can be,
• 3:16
  overstated
• 3:17
  right now.
• 3:19
  I think everything from
• 3:21
  kinda
• 3:22
  block and tackle accounting functions
• 3:25
  to
• 3:26
  all manner of revenue cycle are going to
• 3:29
  be impacted.
• 3:30
  I think
• 3:32
  there's a lot changing on the
• 3:34
  in the compliance arena too. And so
• 3:37
  keeping up with this shifting regulatory environment
• 3:41
  and then the shifting
• 3:42
  technology environment, you're kinda in this
• 3:45
  interesting
• 3:46
  technology race with
• 3:49
  with other,
• 3:51
  health care industry
• 3:53
  partners,
• 3:54
  payers, hospitals,
• 3:56
  providers.
• 3:57
  All all of them are being impacted in
• 3:59
  ways that are difficult to
• 4:02
  anticipate,
• 4:03
  by this really, really rapidly changing technology landscape.
• 4:07
  And so
• 4:09
  what's interesting, I think, is the interplay between
• 4:12
  those interactions, not only is it difficult to
• 4:14
  see
• 4:15
  what will happen as a second and third
• 4:17
  order impact of these
• 4:20
  technology shifts within a domain, but then where
• 4:23
  it gets really interesting is the cross domain
• 4:26
  where you have these massive shifts in
• 4:29
  in multiple domains simultaneously,
• 4:32
  all kind of driven by the same core
• 4:34
  technologies.
• 4:36
  And my thought here too is, you know,
• 4:38
  there's obviously so much going on in in
• 4:40
  technology and and advancements that we're seeing. From
• 4:43
  the CFO seat, where are you finding it,
• 4:46
  like, best to invest in certain technologies versus
• 4:49
  others? I'm sure there's just so much going
• 4:51
  on. You guys have to keep up to
• 4:52
  date.
• 4:53
  How do you decide what's best to invest
• 4:55
  in?
• 4:56
  That's a great question.
• 4:58
  I would say that,
• 5:00
  really, if there was ever a moment to
• 5:03
  pause and
• 5:05
  think about the fundamentals, this is it. And
• 5:08
  so it's all about
• 5:10
  thinking
• 5:11
  through what information
• 5:12
  do we need to render sensible decisions,
• 5:16
  and how do we get
• 5:18
  the support to our operations
• 5:21
  that we need. And so I think there's
• 5:23
  we're really at a moment where
• 5:26
  there's the shiny new thing across, you know,
• 5:29
  all these services and all these bespoke software
• 5:32
  solutions and all these grand promises.
• 5:36
  And so
• 5:37
  the important thing is there's
• 5:39
  find the the noise the signal in all
• 5:42
  of that noise and say, what really matters?
• 5:45
  That if you if you take a principled
• 5:47
  approach,
• 5:49
  that is what will guide you then to
• 5:50
  sensible decisions.
• 5:52
  Yeah. That's some good advice there. Sure. I'm
• 5:54
  sure that resonates with a lot of our
• 5:55
  listeners.
• 5:57
  I do wanna pivot a little bit now
• 5:58
  and talk about growth and even just a
• 6:00
  little bit of last year. As you mentioned
• 6:02
  in the beginning of the podcast,
• 6:04
  Union,
• 6:05
  acquired Terre Haute Regional Hospital.
• 6:08
  I believe that was December thirteenth of of
• 6:10
  twenty twenty five.
• 6:11
  And and for listeners that might not know,
• 6:13
  that was a HCA Healthcare facility.
• 6:16
  So could you kinda just share with me
• 6:19
  how things are looking right now in that
• 6:21
  space,
• 6:21
  any updates you can provide?
• 6:23
  What's that kinda look like for you guys?
• 6:26
  Well,
• 6:27
  I think
• 6:28
  there's kinda two components to that. One is
• 6:32
  the
• 6:33
  what I would say would be kind of
• 6:35
  a common thing, which is
• 6:37
  whenever you merge two systems,
• 6:39
  the ideal way to do it is to
• 6:41
  draw upon
• 6:42
  the best of both and to not impose
• 6:45
  on either either one
• 6:47
  a certain way of doing things. You know?
• 6:49
  And so we're a not for profit, and,
• 6:53
  HCA, of course, is a for profit.
• 6:55
  And so
• 6:56
  going in and and making sure that we
• 6:59
  learn
• 7:00
  what lessons there are to learn with our
• 7:03
  coworkers that came over. We had about, I
• 7:05
  believe, 500 or so employees
• 7:08
  join union. And so
• 7:10
  learning from their wisdom,
• 7:13
  I think is a huge opportunity and something
• 7:16
  something we're doing.
• 7:17
  Operational stability, they're about five miles from us.
• 7:21
  And so coordinating,
• 7:24
  patient transfers among both campuses,
• 7:27
  that's we're very much in the thick of
• 7:29
  that, making sure we're optimizing
• 7:31
  optimizing our
• 7:32
  capacity
• 7:34
  utilization.
• 7:35
  We're because,
• 7:37
  we're switching to Epic, we actually are running
• 7:40
  two different EMRs,
• 7:42
  one at Regionals Campus and one here, and
• 7:45
  then we're moving to then Epic. So we've
• 7:47
  got Cerner here, Meditech there. And then in
• 7:50
  a year, a little less than a year,
• 7:52
  we'll be on Epic. And so
• 7:54
  coordinating
• 7:55
  the the records and this the flow of
• 7:57
  information between these systems in the environment we're
• 8:01
  in is
• 8:02
  is a is a real challenge, to be
• 8:03
  frank. So system wide you'll be on Epic
• 8:06
  in less than a year. Do you have,
• 8:07
  like, a specific date for that? Yep. January
• 8:09
  9.
• 8:11
  Alrighty. Well, that's
• 8:12
  crazy to think that's less than a year
• 8:14
  from now.
• 8:15
  Yep. We're just we're we're working through it,
• 8:17
  and it's a we're all excited about it,
• 8:19
  and it's a lot of work, but it's
• 8:20
  gonna be great. Well, I gotta ask you
• 8:22
  too. I mean, you joined, like you said,
• 8:23
  in October, and then you hit the ground
• 8:25
  running, and then you had this merger. So
• 8:28
  what may what's maybe a lesson that you
• 8:29
  took away from this that you learned?
• 8:32
  I
• 8:33
  would say
• 8:34
  just the importance of
• 8:36
  trusting
• 8:38
  the teams
• 8:39
  you have, especially especially when you're when you're
• 8:42
  new. But in a system this size or,
• 8:45
  and certainly larger systems, you can't do it
• 8:49
  all yourself. You have to trust your teams.
• 8:52
  And,
• 8:53
  it's kind of
• 8:55
  a micro version of what I said. Learn
• 8:57
  from the wisdom they have. Right? Like, I
• 8:59
  have a very different background. I'm,
• 9:01
  came from a major academic medical. This is
• 9:03
  a community hospital here. Yeah. And so really
• 9:07
  coming in and learning what works before
• 9:10
  changing things, I think, is,
• 9:12
  is an important piece of being successful in
• 9:14
  this sort of navigating this sort of environment.
• 9:17
  Yeah. And just for myself and for the
• 9:19
  listeners, this acquisition or this merger here, this
• 9:23
  makes
• 9:23
  the third hospital under Union Health. Is that
• 9:27
  accurate?
• 9:27
  That's right. We have,
• 9:29
  the
• 9:31
  Terre Haute Hospital. That's kind of our our
• 9:33
  flagship. Then we've got Clinton and now, Terre
• 9:37
  Haute Regional.
• 9:38
  And that's exciting. And I also have to
• 9:40
  ask this, just in terms of future growth,
• 9:42
  do you see any opportunities
• 9:44
  to continue to expand? I know this is
• 9:46
  such a new acquisition, but just, you know,
• 9:49
  looking putting that future lens on.
• 9:52
  I would I wouldn't really comment on that
• 9:54
  right now. What I will say, though, is
• 9:57
  Epic and the way it is set up
• 9:59
  with, Epic Connect sites Yeah. We could do
• 10:02
  a lot of good in the region
• 10:04
  by by leveraging some of those
• 10:07
  advantages
• 10:08
  that Epic affords us. And so, certainly,
• 10:11
  you know, if you if you define expansion
• 10:14
  different sorts of ways, certainly from that angle,
• 10:16
  I see huge opportunity.
• 10:19
  Yeah. That's exciting. Is there anything else, you
• 10:21
  know, apart from this that you're excited about
• 10:23
  right now at Union Health,
• 10:25
  even maybe looking into to next year?
• 10:28
  Well, I think
• 10:30
  yes. Of course. I'm looks like
• 10:32
  stabilized on these,
• 10:34
  technologies, and I'm excited
• 10:36
  to really be able to serve the community
• 10:38
  in ways that we just haven't been able
• 10:41
  to because we've been capacity constrained. And Yeah.
• 10:44
  I think, you know, the community here and
• 10:46
  then in the surrounding region, we can do
• 10:49
  immense amounts of good. And so I'm just
• 10:51
  exciting on excited to realize that.
• 10:55
  Yeah.
• 10:56
  No. It definitely does sound like such a
• 10:57
  great time of of change, but all good
• 10:59
  things at Union Health. So, again, Ian, it
• 11:01
  was such a pleasure getting to break all
• 11:03
  of this down with you, and I'm sure
• 11:05
  the listeners took a lot away from this
• 11:07
  as well. So look forward to touching base
• 11:09
  again sometime soon. Thank you so much, Maddie.
• 11:12
  Thank you.
• 11:14
  When it comes to today's RCM, we know
• 11:16
  the challenges,
• 11:17
  complexity of claims, talent shortages, low funding, and
• 11:21
  lagging tech.
• 11:22
  That's why we built MedMetrix.
• 11:24
  We have the expertise and advanced tech to
• 11:27
  give you that edge on your revenue cycle.
• 11:29
  We're a partner who will relentlessly raise your
• 11:32
  yield, a partner who's on your side because
• 11:34
  they've been operator side. Who knows your battles
• 11:37
  and will make sure you win from start
• 11:39
  to finish, end to end. MedMetrix.
• 11:42
  Be exceptional.