Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Kunjan Divatia, Vice President of Digital Technology Solutions at Yale New Haven Health

Transcript

Kunjan Divatia, Vice President of Digital Technology Solutions at Yale New Haven Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Philips is a health tech leader focused on
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  innovation that improves the health and well-being of
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  people. Our health care technology and informatics solutions
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  help care teams diagnose, treat, and manage more
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  patients with greater precision, speed, and confidence across
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  the care journey. With Philips, clinicians are empowered
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  with streamlined insights in the moments that matter
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  for every patient. Better care for more people.
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  Philips.
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  This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast, and we are recording live at the
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  tenth annual health IT digital health and RCM
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  meeting. I'm currently joined by Kunjan Davadia, who
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  is the vice president of digital technology solutions
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  at Yale New Haven Health. Kun Jin, thanks
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  for being here. Let's have you start off
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  by sharing a little bit more about yourself
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  and your work in health care. Well, thank
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  you for having me. It's it's been a
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  wonderful conference so far and looking forward to,
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  the rest of the day today and tomorrow.
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  My health care journey actually started back in
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  college when I was an EMT.
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  That early experience really gave me a sense
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  of how critical
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  hospital operations are
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  and what it takes to actually provide care
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  in a health care setting.
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  Over the last twenty plus years, I've been,
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  with one health system,
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  out of which the two last 12 were
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  in a leadership role.
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  I've held a variety of, roles across the
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  industry
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  and supporting,
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  a range of work from large EMR implementations,
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  and EMR transformation,
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  ERP transformations,
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  and driving improvements,
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  in both pharmacy technology and revenue cycle.
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  The last five years, my focus has shifted
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  more towards employee experience,
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  and enterprise applications,
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  things like ServiceNow, workforce management,
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  ERP, Microsoft desktop technology.
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  Really looking at how these technologies can help
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  create a better experience for the caregivers,
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  at the on the floor.
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  And let's start our conversation
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  speaking about AI as nearly half of medical
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  practices reported using AI in some capacity in
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  the past year, and it remains a key
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  topic for health IT leaders.
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  So from your perspective, what are the use
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  cases that are making the most difference right
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  now, and how are you leveraging them in
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  your organization?
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  AI has really moved from
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  being a buzzword
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  to having measurable impact,
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  in health care.
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  One of the biggest game changers,
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  was ambient listening has been around for a
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  little while now. But with AI,
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  the creativity
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  of how quickly
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  it can take
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  a good note for providers,
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  in the EMR is just,
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  fascinating.
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  And, providers are expecting it. Health systems are
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  double downing on it, to create efficiency in
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  a space that's been a pain point for
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  a very long time.
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  Another area where, AI is,
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  I see AI being leveraged,
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  significantly is, drafting in basket messages.
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  Depending on your EMR,
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  you know, artificial intelligence
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  is doing a really good job creating that
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  first draft
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  response for the patient messages,
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  which saves time for our clinicians,
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  and,
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  and for direct patient care.
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  Of course, diagnostic imaging,
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  has been,
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  using AI well ahead of, the rest of
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  the areas within health care,
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  screening,
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  images,
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  and,
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  you know, expediting
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  how quickly,
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  the impressions are completed.
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  And last but not least,
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  the last about
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  four to five years, I'm seeing a significant
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  improvement
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  in how AI is helping
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  revenue cycle,
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  specifically coding, to make sure the coders are
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  accurately,
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  billing and, and being compliant.
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  I would say the last but not least,
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  the the
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  introduction of large language models,
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  like OpenAI
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  are really opening the door for some really
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  creative
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  opportunities.
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  Couple things that we're focusing on is,
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  using building our own, large language model to
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  have users
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  really be provide insights,
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  into everything that's happening with that patient.
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  We're also using AI to spot anomalies in
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  an EKG that otherwise would be missed,
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  and to create, more personalized chemotherapy regimen
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  for a patient rather than defaulting our standard
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  protocol. It's an exciting time in my opinion.
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  We're just scratching the surface of how, these
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  tools can improve both the provider experience and
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  the patient outcome.
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  And as virtual care expands
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  from AI enabled tools and remote monitoring to
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  broader digital health platforms, introducing these new technologies
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  does bring challenges. So what advice do you
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  have for leaders navigating everything from governance to
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  patient engagement?
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  And can you share an example of how
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  your organization has balanced innovation with operational constraint?
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  Absolutely.
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  You know, it's amazing that we're still talking
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  about the impact of COVID five years later,
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  but the reality is that it's reshaped health
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  care in ways that will be long lasting.
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  Virtual care is a great example. It's here
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  to stay,
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  not just because of reimbursement,
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  but because of the convenience.
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  The ability for a provider to quickly see
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  a patient,
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  triage what's needed,
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  or even replace an in person appointment
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  is incredibly powerful.
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  On the governance side, most health systems have
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  a all today already have a a virtual
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  care strategy.
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  First, my advice to the leaders would be,
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  make sure you have a patient engagement forum
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  so you understand the patient's
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  needs and,
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  requirements.
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  Second,
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  virtual,
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  visits shouldn't be an afterthought. They should be
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  baked into the provider's templates,
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  with,
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  a spread of in person visits and virtual
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  visits
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  into the same day.
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  This enables this, the entire virtual adoption to
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  be a lot more seamless,
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  and not an afterthought.
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  In our own organization,
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  we've been using virtual care for a very
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  long time,
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  particularly with specialty consults.
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  For example, at some of our smaller community
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  hospitals,
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  that, you know, patients don't need to drive
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  forty minutes to see a specialist.
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  Instead, while they're admitted locally,
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  they can connect with a specialist virtually.
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  That not only improves the patient experience, but
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  also helps them move the care plan a
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  lot more quickly.
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  So for us, the focus has been balancing
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  innovation with operational needs,
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  and embedding virtual care into
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  sort of everyday practice,
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  in a way that improves,
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  patient access and care.
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  And how are you seeing recent legislation, both
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  state and federal, affect health care organizations and
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  health care IT specifically, and have you adjusted
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  strategies in response to that?
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  I'm gonna go off the cuff a little
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  bit here, and it's it's a very interesting
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  time for this question to be asked at
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  Becker's conference.
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  At a time, we're going through a government
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  shutdown.
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  At a time the artic the headlines are
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  saying
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  virtual care reimbursements
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  are paused.
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  So just wanna take a moment that this
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  is, a very interesting time to answer this
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  question. But government shutdowns have happened in the
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  past. We will get past it, and I
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  strongly believe virtual care is here to stay.
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  Legislation
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  at both the state and federal levels are
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  have always influenced health care. But I would
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  say it's,
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  its impact has never been as significant as,
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  it is today.
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  Financial pressures are already tied across the industry.
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  For health systems with a high percentage of
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  Medicare and Medicaid,
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  it's the challenge is even greater.
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  For, we're also beginning to see AI related
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  legislation out of Washington, DC,
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  and we're watching that very closely.
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  Our priority is making sure governance, monitoring, and
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  audit processes are aligned
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  so that these regulations become requirements we're ready.
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  In terms of strategy, our fundamentals haven't changed.
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  We're still focusing on delivering care in the
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  most efficient way possible.
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  This means keeping patients engaged with their primary
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  care,
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  having them use our urgent care facilities where
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  possible,
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  and reducing the need for ED utilization where
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  possible,
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  and discharging patients,
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  safely as early as we can.
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  Looking ahead, I think legislation around AI, data
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  privacy,
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  and reimbursement models will start to directly shape
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  how health systems invest in digital platforms, which
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  is why we're all here.
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  Over the next few I I would say
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  three to five years,
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  leaders who can balance compliance
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  with,
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  innovation,
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  embedding virtual care, automation, and AI into their
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  everyday
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  operations
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  will be the ones that will get and
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  sustain the financial pressures that we're all dealing
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  with and still maintain good patient outcomes.
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  And final question as we wrap our conversation.
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  What is your top piece of advice for
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  health care leaders as they prepare for further
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  advancements in technology and rising demands for care?
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  My advice would be to start with data.
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  Across the country, we're seeing relentless financial pressures,
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  and rising costs in health care.
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  New legislation will only add to the more
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  strain,
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  especially for rural health systems
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  who may have to decide,
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  which services they can continue to provide.
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  It's it's very real, and we're starting to
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  hear about those situations.
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  At the same time, we can't ignore the
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  workforce challenge.
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  The AMA is projecting a shortage of hundreds
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  of thousands of providers in the coming years.
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  And when you combine that shortage,
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  with reality of decision fatigue, providers making thousands
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  of decisions in a day,
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  and that fatigue that kicks in after a
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  long shift,
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  the risk to both clinicians and patients becomes
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  very real.
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  That's where technology has to step in.
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  My message to leaders
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  is embrace AI
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  and advanced digital tools,
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  but do it safely,
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  securely, and with purpose.
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  We need to use these solutions
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  to take routine repetitive tasks off of clinicians
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  plates to surface critical insights,
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  from charts and notes to put the right
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  information in front of providers at the right
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  time. That's how we reduce burnout, improve care,
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  make sure technology's serving people and not the
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  other way around.
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  Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking
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  the time to join me today on the
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  Becker's Healthcare podcast. Again, we are recording live
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  at the tenth annual health IT, digital health,
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  and RCM RCM meeting. Thank you for having
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  me. It's been wonderful having this chat.