Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Patrick O'Shaughnessy, President and CEO, Catholic Health

Transcript

Patrick O'Shaughnessy, President and CEO, Catholic Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
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• 0:30
  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 0:34
  My name is Will Riley with r one.
• 0:36
  I am joined this morning by Patrick O'Shaughnessy.
• 0:40
  Patrick is president and CEO of Catholic Health.
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  Patrick, welcome to the podcast. Will, thanks for
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  having me here. It's great to be here
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  this morning. Thank you. So tell us a
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  bit about yourself, your role. Tell us a
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  bit about Catholic Health. Of course. So,
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  I've been at Catholic Health now for nearly
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  twenty years. My background initially is in emergency
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  trauma medicine, and I practiced that for about
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  fifteen,
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  ran clinical operations for the health system, and
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  now I'm about in, my fifth year in
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  the role as president and chief executive officer.
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  And it's truly an honor and a privilege,
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  to lead alongside such an amazing team of
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  professionals.
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  Our health system is based in Long Island,
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  New York. We have six hospitals. We have
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  an integrated physician
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  rehabilitation care centers, home care hospice,
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  so and a robust ambulatory network that's expanding
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  across Long Island. We care for about 25%
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  of the Long Island population extending from Queens,
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  New York way out into the forks and
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  the tips of the Hamptons as you may
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  have heard. Mhmm.
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  We are not for profit faith based organization,
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  so we're mission central and critical to everything
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  we do.
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  And, we're very proud to be providing best
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  in class care,
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  across the line with some of the top
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  and highest quality scores and outcomes in the
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  region. Excellent. Thanks for the intro. So you
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  have a pretty diverse community that you're serving
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  by the sounds of it. Yes. Can you
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  tell us maybe just tell me a little
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  bit more about that and tell tell me
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  some of the the big initiatives that are
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  on your mind as you think about that
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  community and how to serve them going into
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  next year? We're very blessed. We we're we,
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  we care for so many different populations across
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  Long Island,
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  and our programs extend really,
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  from beginning of life to to end of
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  life.
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  We're connected to the communities we serve and
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  through our ambulatory outreach, our community health programs,
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  and quite frankly, our emphasis on population health.
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  Really, how do we help
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  our populations
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  stay and get healthier
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  While we still provide the very best in
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  disease based care, I am very passionate about
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  bending the disease curve.
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  So on top of all the incredible programs
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  we do to screen patients, catch patients across
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  the diverse communities we serve that have
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  disease or need access to care.
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  We're really out in the community,
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  really investing in programs,
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  such as food insecurity. How can we help
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  people get access to good healthy food and
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  doing innovative cooperative programs,
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  with,
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  like as an example another nonprofit organization called
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  Smile Farms where we actually work with the
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  community
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  and we have organic
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  farms that we cooperatively
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  farm and then give that food back to
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  the community.
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  So we're very well connected,
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  to all the communities we serve, and I
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  think we're making a great impact. Awesome. Okay.
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  Great. Thank you. Thank you. So I want
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  to cover a few topics with you today.
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  I'd like to start with technology, if that's
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  okay, and and artificial intelligence. Healthcare's
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  traditionally moved pretty,
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  conservatively
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  or slowly, one could say Yes. Around adopting
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  new technologies. It's been a cautious approach. Yes.
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  It feels like that's different with AI. Right?
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  It feels like that is, not the case.
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  It's going much more quickly. Yeah.
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  Do you do you see that, and why
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  do you think that is? I do. And
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  I think because for us in the health
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  care industry, for us to be able to
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  be successful,
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  we need to innovate. We need to adapt.
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  We need to execute, you know, quite,
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  rapidly.
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  AI is an incredible tool that allows our
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  health care teams, our executive teams,
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  to reach the best decision
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  quicker. And I think that's why the adaptability
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  curve is different than what we've seen traditionally
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  in health care. I mean, if you think
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  about it, it's not all that long ago,
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  after high-tech era and the Affordable Care Act
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  that we were all implementing electronic health records.
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  Right. And to various degrees of success and
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  or failure or clunkiness,
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  interoperability
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  challenges, all these things. But AI, it's kind
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  of interesting. It's the opposite. Right? We're actually
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  now saying, hey, wait a minute. We need
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  to slow this down just a touch. Make
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  sure we have good governance, good control over
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  it. And at least from our perspective at
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  Catholic Health, we're very,
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  focused on the human element. And so our
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  our strategy is more along augmented AI. How
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  do we help our people perform better,
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  not necessarily autonomous AI where we're replacing people.
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  So we're very excited about the opportunities here
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  for, AI implementation
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  in the clinical arena,
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  and also in back office and things like
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  revenue cycle and things. So we're really taking
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  a broad stroked approach here. Excellent. I'd like
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  to dig into a bit of those, in
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  a minute with you. I'm I'm curious about
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  how you're approaching some of that innovation.
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  In health care, you we hear about sort
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  of two archetypes. Right? Incumbents,
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  the large
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  payers, the large providers, the large technology vendors
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  Mhmm. Who have the data and the the
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  the control, the infrastructure.
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  And you hear about insurgents
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  Mhmm. Up and coming new technology
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  companies or or other kinds of companies who
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  are taking a much more disruptive approach.
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  How are you thinking, you know, as you
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  think about those two archetypes, how how how
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  are you how are they playing out for
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  you?
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  It's interesting. I I think it's a mix
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  of of of both. I think, you know,
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  we're really looking to form more collaborative partnerships
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  with,
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  if you will, both archetypes because of our
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  position.
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  We're about a $3,600,000,000
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  health system, so we're by far not the
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  biggest. But we're also not
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  small and,
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  relative to,
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  the market. And I would say we're looking
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  at both types of solutions, but really leveraging
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  our biggest investment technology wise we've made to
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  date, which is our electronic health record.
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  And, so many of these companies and we
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  work with our payers and we work with
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  independent spin offs that have best of breed
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  type bolt on technologies. But if you're not
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  careful,
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  you wind up building a Frankenstein
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  that does not necessarily
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  achieve your mission objectives.
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  And it costs you a lot of money,
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  not just to just install it, but then
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  to maintain it with all the operating agreements.
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  So I I'd say we're taking a combination
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  approach and it's mixed.
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  It's aggressive, but also at the same time
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  cautious and trying to be fiscally responsible
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  as to using what we've already implemented and
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  turning on those switches and activating it and
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  then involving our administrative leaders and our clinicians
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  to say, what are the best solutions that
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  we have today? And if we don't have
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  it, let's go to these partners and see
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  what we can do to innovate and bring
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  these technologies to our health system. Yeah. Okay.
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  Can you tell me a little bit about
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  some of the things that you've been doing?
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  You mentioned some clinical use cases. You mentioned
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  administrative use cases. Yeah. Sure. So one of
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  the biggest I'll say on the clinical side,
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  one of the biggest,
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  negative feedbacks we still hear, and we're not,
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  naive in electronic
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  health record implementation. We've been at it for
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  nearly twenty years, eighteen years now. We've, we've
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  been electronic paperless.
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  So we still hear from providers, you know,
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  despite all the optimization,
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  despite all the workflow changes, it's still clunky,
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  and it and it and it takes too
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  much time. Mhmm. So, Ambient Voice AI technology
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  is one of the things that's been a
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  game changer. So we've been able to implement,
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  technologies, and we're rolling this out now in
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  select service lines in areas across the health
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  system. We're literally just like as we're having
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  a conversation here today on your podcast,
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  our providers in the rooms when Ambient AI
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  voice is activated,
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  the conversation with the patient
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  is recorded.
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  It is actually,
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  then tailored
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  specifically for the medical encounter and placed in
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  the medical record. So it saves a tremendous
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  amount of time. And it also,
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  I think leads to higher satisfaction,
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  with the providers in our health system.
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  On the administrative side, when you look at
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  the back office functions such as revenue cycle
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  and what we can do more effectively
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  to work with our payers to reduce denials,
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  make sure we have good reg revenue integrity,
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  we've had additional technologies that we've put in
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  place that automate a lot of that function.
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  And, actually, we'll work with our payers using
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  AI to help make sure that we're getting
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  reimbursed appropriately,
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  which is still a big, big issue in
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  our industry, as you know, in terms of
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  denials and the amount of money we spend
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  to recover money that is rightly owed to,
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  our health system.
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  You mentioned that, these projects are sort of
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  proliferating
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  and drew a contrast between, like, previous eras
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  of technology.
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  Yeah. It's interesting. This this stuff just seems
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  to work. Yes. It does. Doesn't it? Right?
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  And people see it and they're like, they
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  want more of it. Yes. It does. You
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  know what's interesting? I'm also a pilot and
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  I think a lot of times about the
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  way that avionics have changed the aviation industry.
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  And there's a lot of glass cockpit flying
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  as you would want and expect, but you
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  also can't lose your human skills. You have
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  to always have the person integrated
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  with the technology.
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  And I think that's been our approach at
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  Catholic Health. You know, how do we make
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  our people better? And but also, how do
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  we make sure that we are doing what's
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  right morally, ethically, always, foundationally as a mission,
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  central organization,
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  and making sure we're improving the health and
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  outcomes of the populations we serve. So this
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  is where I think governance is critically important
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  in how we're looking at the application of
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  these technologies
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  beyond installation and what the impacts are on
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  outcomes of care. Are we really bending the
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  disease care, curve? Are we getting
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  to patients sooner in their disease processes? Are
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  we
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  delivering the best in quality,
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  evidence based care quicker for them, getting them
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  down their diagnostic
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  path sooner? That that's our goal. And I
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  think without strong governance
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  around purpose first, Why are we doing this?
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  What problem are we trying to solve? And
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  then making sure you have the right people
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  around the table. People that are not afraid
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  to say, hey, wait a minute. We need
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  to pump the brakes here. This is this
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  is something that doesn't look right, feel right.
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  I think we should go in a different
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  direction. Yeah. Have you set up new sort
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  of structures in the c suite or around
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  the c suite to help you manage that?
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  Can you tell us about it? Yes. Of
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  course. We we have. We've built a IT
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  executive board k. That actually will govern not
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  just a day to day lights on operations
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  and things, but then innovation
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  and an innovation subgroup
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  that actually meets where AI lives for us
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  and really will help us,
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  guide the right decisions,
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  for the health system. What we're going to
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  optimize, what we're gonna buy best of breed,
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  what we're gonna roll out and when, and
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  and specifically what is the indication for doing?
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  What problem are we trying to solve? And
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  it's worked well. I I think, you know,
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  without that governance structure,
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  I think it's a little bit of the
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  wild west. And, certainly people in my position,
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  my CFO, my COO,
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  would get inundated
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  with requests for best of breed spin off
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  technologies, and
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  and, I think it becomes quickly,
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  unsustainable. Yeah. Okay. Okay. You mentioned revenue cycle
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  and you the promise of sort of cleaner
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  claims, let's say. How do you think that's
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  gonna change the dynamic with payers? And what
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  maybe what is what's been the payer dynamic
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  for you over the last couple of years?
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  And is it changing?
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  What's the role of technology in that? You
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  know,
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  unfortunately, I I don't know that it will
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  change. Okay. I think it's still a little
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  bit of cat and mouse, and I think
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  at the end of the day, unfortunately,
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  we still have between one and three and
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  one and four cases be denied
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  in our health system and yet our win
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  rate approaches seventy percent. Wow.
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  So, you know, it it is incredibly frustrating
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  and I think the two things that unfortunately
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  payers and others are using AR for is
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  how do we increase denials? How do we
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  deny more care? And I think the pre
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  auths and denials are two things that are
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  problematic. And I think, you know, all of
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  my colleagues would agree. And how do we
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  get to better, fair tactics where we're,
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  we're leveraging right level of care, right level
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  of pay. We're working on our end to
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  actually be as transparent as possible and to
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  make sure that we're doing everything we need
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  to do to make sure that the medical
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  record substantiates
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  the level of care that was provided,
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  that it is medically necessary, and then that
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  we receive timely payment. But, unfortunately, I I
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  don't believe that the, the outcomes are gonna
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  change much, and I think the tactics on
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  the payer side, unfortunately, are more to deny
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  care, and then we have to fight to
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  recover the monies we're owed.
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  Okay. Okay.
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  Now let's let's end perhaps with,
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  a a nod to patients because we've talked
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  a bit about some of these new technologies
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  being received so well by by physicians.
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  Right? We've talked about administrative potential.
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  How how do you see the future from
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  a patient experience perspective?
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  So I think one of the things that
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  we're very passionate about is going outside of
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  our industry and me in particular and learning
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  from other consumer based industries. I am obsessed
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  with being the number one consumer oriented health
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  system in our in our region.
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  And I think we as an industry in
• 13:45
  health care have a lot to learn. Think
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  about how you order your meals. Think about
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  how you experience a hotel experience or travel.
• 13:52
  And so,
• 13:53
  we've actually personally connected in with, with, folks.
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  I'm I'm grateful to them at Delta Airlines
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  as one example,
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  about how do we create a better
• 14:02
  employee engagement initiative to connect our people
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  better, to the care, the Delta app. If
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  you've seen how they navigate through and there's
• 14:10
  a lot of, ease of use
• 14:12
  for consumers
• 14:13
  to book a service, we've actually taken some
• 14:16
  of that and implemented that into our digital
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  program at Catholic Health and then also looking
• 14:21
  another company like American Express and that digital
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  experience. And if you can think about how
• 14:26
  a bot that you're chatting with, you have
• 14:28
  really an incredible experience. You get the end
• 14:31
  result you need and in a matter of
• 14:32
  seconds.
• 14:33
  And and how do we adapt that into
• 14:36
  our workflows?
• 14:37
  So, you know, we've been very passionate about
• 14:39
  this going outside industry thinking about how we
• 14:41
  look at best of breed companies and what
• 14:44
  they've done and to say, hey, why can't
• 14:46
  we learn from them and bring that into
• 14:47
  our system? And we're doing that now, which
• 14:49
  is really exciting. Awesome. Okay. Great.
• 14:51
  Patrick, we're approaching the end of our time.
• 14:53
  Is there anything else that you wanted to
• 14:54
  to that's on your mind that you want
• 14:56
  to share? I think, unfortunately,
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  today's
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  conference and the conference here, it's a great
• 15:02
  conference. I think we're gonna hear a lot
• 15:03
  about the fiscal cliff in health care that
• 15:05
  we are on, and I think we're continuing
• 15:08
  to navigate down a very, very slippery slope,
• 15:11
  as I fear,
• 15:13
  with the current cuts and challenges that we're
• 15:15
  all facing fiscally, we're going to have additional
• 15:18
  substantial pressures to just even maintain,
• 15:21
  many of our operations across the entirety of
• 15:23
  the industry, which means those that are disadvantaged
• 15:25
  and not have access to care are gonna
• 15:27
  really, unfortunately, take the brunt of, some of
• 15:29
  the challenges we're facing.
• 15:31
  So I am confident though in that, health
• 15:34
  care administrative leaders are some of the most
• 15:35
  talented women and men in the industry. We're
• 15:38
  always engineered to think about how we do
• 15:40
  more with less. And that each and every
• 15:41
  day we get up out of bed in
• 15:43
  the morning with the with the mission and
• 15:44
  goal, which is what really lights our fires.
• 15:46
  We're here to serve the the patient and
• 15:48
  to serve our communities and all people.
• 15:51
  So, I think despite the challenges we're facing,
• 15:53
  we'll navigate through, but it is gonna be
• 15:55
  harder,
• 15:56
  in the in the coming weeks, months, and
• 15:58
  years if things don't change. Patrick, thank you
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  so much for spending time with us. Thank
• 16:02
  you so much. Thanks. Thanks.