Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Omkar Kulkarni, MPH, Vice President and Chief Transformation & Innovation Officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Transcript

Omkar Kulkarni, MPH, Vice President and Chief Transformation & Innovation Officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  See you there.
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  This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 0:42
  Omkar Kulkarni,
• 0:43
  vice president and chief transformation officer as well
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  as chief innovation officer at Children's Hospital Los
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  Angeles. Omkar, it's a pleasure to have you
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  on the podcast today. Thank you for having
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  me.
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  Now I'm excited for our discussion. I know
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  we'll be digging into some of the cool
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  things you've done in the last year or
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  so as well as your perspective on the
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  future. But before we dive in, could you
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  tell us a little bit more about Children's
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  Hospital Los Angeles and what makes it unique?
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  Absolutely.
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  Children's Hospital Los Angeles is an amazing organization.
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  We are, the largest,
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  children's hospital,
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  out here on the West,
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  in California,
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  and, we are top 10 children's hospital.
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  We provide multidisciplinary
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  care,
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  in,
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  in in various subspecialties
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  across pediatrics.
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  What's incredible to me about Children's Hospital Los
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  Angeles is we are not only an exceptional
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  organization for
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  health
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  care delivery. Our clinical care is some of
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  the best in the country.
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  And, also, we are a safety net hospital.
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  So,
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  we are unique in that sense in that
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  we take care of the safety net in
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  terms of the children of Los Angeles and
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  broader Southern California,
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  meaning we will,
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  take care of patients
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  regardless of of their insurance and their ability
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  to pay.
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  And that is incredibly important to me and
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  and every one of the the thousands of
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  people who work here.
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  It is part of our mission. It is
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  part of kinda who we are, and it
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  makes it a fun place to work and
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  and a rewarding place to work. I'll tell
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  you that.
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  Absolutely. That's amazing to hear. You know? And,
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  certainly, what a great mission to serve children
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  and promote health within the community.
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  Now from your perspective and looking back on
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  the last year or so, what are the
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  accomplishments that you're most proud of?
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  So we have really jumped
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  two feet in into
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  the world of artificial intelligence.
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  We we've done many, many things,
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  not just AI, but one of the things
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  I'm really proud of is our approach towards,
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  evaluating
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  and then prioritizing
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  and then,
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  you know, implementing the piloting and implementing
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  AI solutions here at the Children's Hospital.
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  I say that because there's been in the
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  industry and you know this, there's been so
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  many,
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  incredible new technologies that have been introduced in
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  just the last, you know, year or two.
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  And it can be hard for a hospital
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  or a health system to,
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  you know, make sense of all that,
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  information and all that, you know, sometimes noise
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  coming in as it relates to all these
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  different amazing companies and their technologies.
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  And we've done a great job,
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  you know, starting with the problems
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  that we're trying to solve, always problems first
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  and
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  using that as our guide to help us
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  figure out how best we can solve the
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  solution. So instead of being kind of about
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  the technology, we are we've always been this
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  way with from with regards to innovation,
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  but especially with regards to AI. We've been
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  incredibly disciplined about being problem first.
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  And as a result,
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  we've come up with some great,
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  deployments
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  of technologies
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  that leverage AI and are making an impact.
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  I love that. I I think it's, really
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  cool to
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  to know that you're looking at AI. I
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  know that's something that so many different hospitals
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  and health systems are trying to make sense
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  of and and really figure out where the
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  value is going to be. So, you know,
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  when you look at, the biggest problems or
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  challenges that AI is taking on, how do
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  you measure its success? How are you really
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  incorporating that into workflows and taking that from
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  a pilot into more of a a scalable
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  operation or initiative?
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  They're really good really, really good question. Right?
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  So every single one of our projects that
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  we do in innovation,
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  especially those that leverage artificial intelligence,
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  we are carefully looking at,
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  you know, pre and post data. Pre data
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  meaning what is what is the metric that's
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  going to evaluate the
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  the efficacy of a specific process?
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  You know, how effective is it before you
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  introduce the technology
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  and then carefully evaluating, you know, post
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  AI deployment.
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  How is that how is that process been
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  improved?
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  Often it is a productivity measure. Often it's
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  a financial measure, clinical measure as we think
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  about
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  different ways in which the AI can be
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  used, but being really concrete about what the
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  baseline data is and what the improvement is.
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  I know that sounds simple. It's basic kinda
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  innovation one zero one, but it's been a
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  really key part of
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  of the process for us. We've also introduced
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  in all of our AI projects this kind
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  of phase zero
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  in which we are
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  validating
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  and testing the models,
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  using our own data before it actually goes
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  live to patients or staff depending on the
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  use case. So we are evaluating
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  these technologies,
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  leveraging retrospective data,
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  you know, in a really
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  in a really
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  controlled manner to really make sure we're comfortable
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  with the output of the product before we
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  make it available to
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  end users who will ultimately be using it.
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  So that that approach of kind of incorporating
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  this kind of pre pilot phase zero, whatever
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  you wanna call it, is really helpful to
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  help us really understand,
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  and and make sure these the tools are
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  are really delivering on what what the promise
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  is before we introduce them to to real
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  workflows.
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  That's really helpful context to understand. Thank you
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  so much for digging a little bit deeper
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  in there for us. Now when you look
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  into the future, where are you thinking about
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  the biggest opportunities for growth and development,
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  for your team?
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  So there's a few areas that are interesting.
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  Right? So I think,
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  within
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  within the space of
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  one of the most exciting things about artificial
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  intelligence, let's start there. And I can answer
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  broadly about things that are, you know, technology
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  in general. But with regards to AI, one
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  of the things that appeals to me the
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  most
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  is there are many ways that you know,
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  organizations
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  and hospitals
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  specifically like ours
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  could build our own AI solutions
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  in a safe and and, you know, efficacious
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  way
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  without expanding a ton of resources. Right? That
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  may not have been possible a decade ago
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  as we thought about other technologies that you've
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  been the hospital wanna build. But with AI,
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  there's a lot of opportunities for us to
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  build
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  small, simple
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  tools. You know, nothing that's gonna commercialize and
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  be massive, but something that solves a real
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  problem for us here, either clinically or administratively
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  or in our research enterprise or our teaching
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  enterprise,
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  something that solves a problem that we can
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  build in house and perhaps
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  even get to a place in the next
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  few years where, you know, people who aren't
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  kind of computer scientists could even
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  stand up simple solutions that could either work
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  for their own workflows or for their team
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  or department. So this whole world of,
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  you know,
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  build within AI
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  is really interesting for us as we think
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  about solutions that we can build in house,
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  in partnership with some of our key stakeholders.
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  But then the broader piece, I think,
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  for me is
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  I think we're getting to a place where
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  where a lot of this technology, a lot
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  of which is enabled by AI,
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  is enabling us to
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  optimize the the output of our,
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  of our workforce,
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  which is so crucial. Right? So by that,
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  it could be that we're improving productivity as
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  some of our administrative team members.
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  We could be making we could be helping
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  our clinicians,
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  make better, you know, even even better
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  decisions based on intelligence and and data.
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  We we could be enabling for care to
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  be delivered faster
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  or or improving access so that more people
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  can access the the clinical care they require.
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  So I'm just really excited about that element
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  of where we're headed.
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  It's not all gonna be AI. Some of
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  it it can be in it can involve
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  a variety of different technology modalities, but I
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  think we're getting to a place. We've been
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  on this road for a while, but we're
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  getting to a place where, you know, the
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  demands of our kind of primary service areas
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  individually are our population essentially.
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  The health care demands of our populations
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  just continue to exceed what our workforce can
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  deliver, which is relating to all these access
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  issues, but it's also relating to workforce issues
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  relates to burnout and it relates to experience.
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  And I'm really hopeful that we can design
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  and prioritize solutions
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  with technology and AI specifically in the next,
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  you know, few years, if not sooner, they
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  can really they can really make an impact
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  on both those things. Let's increase patient access.
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  Let's give patients answers,
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  good high quality answers to what they're looking
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  for, you know, sooner,
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  and let's enable our clinicians
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  to, you know,
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  have assistance and help so they can really
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  focus on what they got into medicine for,
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  which is to to help save lives and
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  to help treat people.
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  And, you know, and and at the same
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  token, let's help our health systems,
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  you know, do the administrative work required to,
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  you know, keep our doors open. So I
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  I think there's this trifecta that's that's
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  really close, and we're we're getting close to
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  kind of figuring it out.
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  That is amazing to hear. And what
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  a cool future that you have painted for
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  us in terms of being able to utilize
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  and leverage AI better in a more specific
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  basis and and having the teams and expertise
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  available, as well as the technology
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  to really improve health care and the outcomes
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  of of patients and populations across the country.
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  I'm curious when you look at that and
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  and knowing that the technology is coming, how
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  do you, really build your teams or educate
• 10:48
  your current, workforce to make sure that they're
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  ready for that, for that future and for
• 10:53
  a time when, you know, AI can be
• 10:55
  used in such a a more sophisticated way?
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  So really, it's a it's a really important
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  part of the innovation process, which is kind
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  of tilling the earth in a sense. Right?
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  Getting the the soil ready for the future.
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  The soil and as you describe it in
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  this analogy would basically be our workforce and
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  and included in that is not just our
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  workforce, but our patients and families. Right? How
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  do we enable people to to get comfortable
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  with this? So a lot of it is
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  exposure. So exposing them, exposing our our our
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  staff, our clinicians to what's happening in the
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  industry. Like, what are other examples of children's
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  hospitals who have proven
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  value using certain new innovative technologies, whether it's
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  AI or digital health or virtual care? What
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  are examples? What are papers? What are studies
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  that have been done?
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  Building that evidence base is really crucial. That's
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  how medicine is you know, that's
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  how medicine is really
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  medicine in general has advanced over, you know,
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  hundreds of years, which is someone discovers something
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  new, they generate evidence around it, and they
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  disseminate that to their peers, and that then
• 11:56
  builds and moves everybody forward. It's not it's
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  not all that different as we think about,
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  you know, technology adoption. If we that's what
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  I do. Right? We we try to find
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  and surface,
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  including through your own organization and all the
• 12:07
  great work that you you surface. Right? There's
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  a great,
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  you know, Becker's article about this that someone
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  else is doing, sending it to different people
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  who I imagine are gonna be part of
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  that, you know, team that's gonna help us
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  do it in the future at our hospital
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  that those little elements of exposure are key.
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  The other is really picking the right problems.
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  Right? So we wanna make sure that we're
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  picking the problems that are gonna be most
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  impactful.
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  And as we do so, making sure that
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  the people who we are going to include
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  in the process or people like you described
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  who are ready for that change.
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  And so, you know, that is helpful. We've
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  got an amazing, our chief data officer,
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  has chief enterprise data officer has has a,
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  you know, an analytics program
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  that he has, got people across the organization
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  kind of doing. So there's some actual hard
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  skills that we've got,
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  people learning as it relates to intelligence, data,
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  analytics, AI.
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  So there there's there's both, you know, didactic
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  learning, exposure,
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  and then just change management that are, I
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  think, all key to getting that workforce and
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  community ready for the changes that are ahead.
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  Got it. That's, amazing to hear. And, you
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  know, I I really love that analogy as
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  you talked about, you know, building the soil
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  and getting it ready for the future. And,
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  certainly, it takes a lot of time, effort,
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  energy on the technology as well as the
• 13:24
  people side, but truly, truly,
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  with great outcomes,
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  as the potential rewards. So that's awesome to
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  hear. I know we've talked a lot about
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  some of the opportunities and the cool things
• 13:34
  that could come,
• 13:36
  from the technology side of health care, especially
• 13:38
  AI, but I'm curious from your perspective,
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  what are some of the challenges you have
• 13:41
  your eye on as well? What do you
• 13:43
  see as being, potential headwinds or things you'll
• 13:46
  have to overcome in the future to to
• 13:48
  reach this ideal state?
• 13:50
  So I think
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  what's exciting is the technology is being developed
• 13:54
  so quickly. The challenge is that
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  unless you have really
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  high performing,
• 14:02
  consistent
• 14:03
  and somewhat sometimes standardized processes,
• 14:06
  across your organizations,
• 14:08
  if you don't have those in place,
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  putting
• 14:12
  a
• 14:13
  a nice, exciting new technology on top of
• 14:16
  the current state is just not going to
• 14:18
  it's not going to be great. It's not
• 14:19
  going to work well. It's really complicated to
• 14:21
  do. And especially as we think about the
• 14:23
  new technologies coming out now, they really rely
• 14:26
  on having
• 14:28
  strong core operational processes.
• 14:30
  And so as we think about it, I
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  mean, we all we all in our organizations
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  have varying,
• 14:36
  you know, levels of
• 14:38
  process,
• 14:39
  you know, cleanup to do. But that's a
• 14:41
  key part of, I think, the success is
• 14:43
  making sure
• 14:45
  that that the the processes
• 14:48
  that that, you know, they're underneath all these
• 14:51
  exciting new technologies
• 14:53
  that they're
• 14:54
  as highly
• 14:56
  functional as they can be. So that when
• 14:58
  you layer on the technology,
• 15:00
  you are you're doing so in a way
• 15:02
  that is optimizing the value of that technology.
• 15:05
  So that's one. The other
• 15:08
  is and it goes to your previous question.
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  I still think there is
• 15:12
  a sizable
• 15:14
  change management element that we need to navigate.
• 15:16
  And it's not just around do we trust
• 15:19
  AI? But I think people generally any technology
• 15:23
  it changing from their current workflow to a
• 15:25
  new workflow,
• 15:26
  unless it's really not, you know, noticeable change.
• 15:31
  Change for people, especially in our industry, is
• 15:34
  not easy. And and we need to really
• 15:36
  think about, you know, some of the core
• 15:39
  core basics of change management as we think
• 15:41
  about,
• 15:42
  how we're going to, you know,
• 15:44
  get the maximum value out of these innovations.
• 15:50
  That is absolutely crucial and definitely being able
• 15:53
  to double click and and zero in on
• 15:55
  those spaces where there could be
• 15:57
  additional challenges or or ways that, success could
• 16:00
  be hindered. It makes a lot of sense
• 16:02
  and then truly moving forward in an optimized
• 16:04
  fashion. Before we wrap up here, I'm curious.
• 16:07
  What is the number one thing that you're
• 16:08
  doing right now to set up Children's Hospital
• 16:11
  Los Angeles for long term success?
• 16:15
  I think one thing, and and it can't
• 16:18
  it's not a me. It's a we. Right?
• 16:20
  This is not there's no
• 16:22
  there's no unique thing that I do. I
• 16:24
  I I help lead, but there's a team
• 16:26
  that does this.
• 16:28
  We we've we've established, I think, a really
• 16:31
  great process around technology
• 16:34
  evaluation.
• 16:35
  And it's not just looking at kind of
• 16:37
  vendors and solutions that are out there, but
• 16:39
  what we do
• 16:40
  is we kind of understand the current process,
• 16:43
  determine,
• 16:44
  you know, is that process in a place
• 16:46
  where we feel like it's ready for for
• 16:48
  innovation?
• 16:50
  And if it is,
• 16:51
  you know, what are the core problems that
• 16:53
  we're trying to solve? And then we, you
• 16:55
  know, we
• 16:56
  work with stakeholders to figure out what are
• 16:59
  within those problems, what are the most important
• 17:01
  problems and what are the ones that are
• 17:02
  gonna result in an ROI. And then we
• 17:04
  go find innovative technologies that solve those problems
• 17:07
  and building that robust,
• 17:10
  you know, toolkit
• 17:11
  pathway around,
• 17:13
  you know, identifying innovation solutions, I think is
• 17:16
  a really key
• 17:18
  important discipline, especially as I said at the
• 17:20
  very beginning of this conversation.
• 17:22
  There's so many amazing solutions out there that
• 17:24
  it can be really easy to get distracted
• 17:27
  by, you know, the the next kind of
• 17:29
  great thing that you get pitched.
• 17:31
  And so having the discipline around looking at
• 17:33
  the process, looking at readiness, looking at problem,
• 17:37
  you know, prioritization,
• 17:38
  it's really key as we think about the
• 17:42
  the ultimate goal, which is
• 17:44
  picking a handful of projects that we think
• 17:46
  are gonna deliver the maximum value across our
• 17:48
  organization with the maximum amount of adoption.
• 17:51
  So I think we've been able to put
• 17:53
  that process out there, and I think that
• 17:55
  process
• 17:55
  is really gonna help us.
• 17:57
  It is it is already helping us, but
• 17:59
  I think it will help us in the
• 18:00
  future continue to make disciplined decisions as it
• 18:02
  relates to innovation.
• 18:04
  I love that. Omkar, thank you so much
• 18:06
  for joining us in the podcast today. This
• 18:07
  has been a really fantastic discussion, and I
• 18:09
  look forward to connecting with you again soon.
• 18:13
  Thank you for having me.