Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Chris Carmody, Chief Technology Officer at UPMC

Transcript

Chris Carmody, Chief Technology Officer at UPMC · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:00
  This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:02
  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 0:04
  Chris Carmody, chief technology officer at UPMC. Chris,
• 0:07
  it's a pleasure to have you on the
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  podcast today. Thanks for having me, Laura. It's
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  great to talk with you again.
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  Now I'm looking forward to our broader discussion.
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  I know every time we have you on,
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  I learned so much. And, really, our listeners
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  take away a lot of the nuggets and
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  tidbits that you've learned along the way for
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  any of the processes and,
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  changes that you're making. But before we dive
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  in, can you tell us a little bit
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  more about UPMC and what makes it unique?
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  Sure.
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  UPMC
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  is the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, just
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  to spell out that acronym.
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  But we are a a very large
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  academic medical center with
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  a few add ons,
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  in terms of our core mission, which includes
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  being an insurer in the different communities and
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  and areas that we serve,
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  provide and provide patient care.
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  We also have a an arm of our
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  institution which focuses on
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  commercialization and emerging technologies called UPMC Enterprises,
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  which, again, works very closely with
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  the core technology groups and teams and operations
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  and helps identify and or create new solutions
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  and looks to commercialize them.
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  And then lastly, we have an international arm
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  at UPMC,
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  which we have a number of hospitals located
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  over in Ireland and Italy and,
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  are are building, some sites in Croatia right
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  now that export our clinical expertise
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  in those different,
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  countries and and helps,
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  share some of the great,
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  knowledge and, again, medical care that we provide
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  at UPMC.
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  So
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  all those different aspects really make us who
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  we are at UPMC.
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  We are primarily in Pennsylvania. We're the largest
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  nongovernmental
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  employer in Pennsylvania, around a hundred thousand employees.
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  So we are large,
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  but we are very much all focused on
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  providing the best patient care that we can
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  to all the patients that we see and
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  all the communities that we serve.
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  That's amazing to hear. I know UPMC, as
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  you mentioned, has grown over the years into
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  really a strong enterprise and having different
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  global reaches and those kinds of things. And
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  so,
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  I I think that's really amazing to kinda
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  see some of this progress and then, you
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  know, look ahead.
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  But I'm curious, first and foremost,
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  could you tell us a little bit about
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  an accomplishment that you're most proud of from
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  the last year or so?
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  Yes. And it's not quite finished yet, but
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  just,
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  about a year and a half ago, UPMC
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  embarked on the largest transformation project that we've
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  ever taken, at least in my twenty six
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  plus years at UPMC.
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  And that is
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  to help transform how we deliver care across
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  UPMC.
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  And, really, the the basis for that is
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  implementing a single electronic health record,
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  at UPMC.
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  So today, as we sit here
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  at the February,
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  we currently operate 10 different electronic health records
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  at UPMC
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  based upon a a best of breed approach,
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  which we instituted years and years ago,
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  as well as through some acquisitions more recently
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  with different hospitals and physician practices.
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  And, of course, with every EHR that you
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  have, there's numerous ancillary systems that
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  are attached or interface with that core EHR.
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  So we have
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  well over a thousand
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  ancillary systems,
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  touching those
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  10
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  EHRs.
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  And quite honestly, it was during COVID
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  when we were trying to be nimble and
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  and change direction and meet all the different
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  requirements that were constantly evolving and changing,
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  where
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  we were encountering the difficulty of making a
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  change and having to replicate it in different
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  systems was
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  quite challenging.
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  And
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  just
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  to provide what appears to be a seamless
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  experience to our clinical users and our patients
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  utilizing our technologies,
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  our IT teams
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  have done monumental work
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  just to give that appearance and and build
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  interfaces
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  and and move data around
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  to
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  do the best we can with the technology
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  that we have. And and like I said,
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  we've done an amazing job over these years
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  to provide that experience, but,
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  you know, we feel most of the time
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  like we're sprinting a marathon.
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  And our talented,
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  knowledgeable
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  experts in IT, we can be using utilizing
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  their skill sets
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  to work on more advancements quite honestly in
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  different technology. So
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  all these different reasons led us to moving
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  forward with this single project, which we are
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  now in a very critical our first
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  wave go live is later this year in
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  September that we're preparing for.
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  And so, really, that accomplishment, getting back to
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  your question,
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  is all the prep work that we've done,
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  forming the team,
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  building the relationships, and and defining how we're
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  gonna deliver care consistently and standardized across all
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  VPMC leveraging this one EHR.
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  That's amazing to hear, you know, and a
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  huge undertaking. Impressive to see that you've been
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  able to develop over the last few years
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  the plan and start implementing it. And then
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  I know the go live is,
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  coming up here in just a couple of
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  months. From this whole process, do you have
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  any advice for other health systems that are
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  going through a similar thing? I know,
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  you know, you taking this on after the
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  pandemic and realizing the value of it is
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  huge, but others are are seeing a similar,
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  similar trajectory in terms of how they're thinking
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  about their technology in EHRs as they grow
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  bigger. So what advice would you have for,
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  IT leaders as they're embarking on this process
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  or, you know, really,
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  aiming to refine what they've already done?
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  Yeah. I think it it starts with the
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  planning process.
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  The the the more you plan, the more
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  open discussions, transparent discussions you have with all
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  the key stakeholders,
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  the better position an organization will be in.
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  And I think that's what's
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  helped facilitate our success so far in this
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  project is the relationships and and the leadership
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  that we partner with
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  both from a clinical perspective and operational perspective,
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  revenue cycle,
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  patient access, all the different areas across your
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  institution
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  need to be engaged and involved in in
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  the decision process
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  and helping define
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  collectively how the organization moves forward. This is
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  not an IT project by any means. It's
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  enabled by IT, but this truly is an
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  organization transformation
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  that we're embarking upon. And and a lot
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  of the other
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  big health care systems that are in the
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  same boat that are that are moving to
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  one EHR or doing this transformation.
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  As we talk and discuss and and we
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  have that opportunity,
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  at different events and just reaching out based
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  upon our professional relationships, talking to one another,
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  You know, we're able to share some of
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  those insights and information, what works well, what
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  doesn't work well.
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  But the more information, the more planning can
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  do is the the the
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  positions your organization to help
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  minimize the risks and minimize the issues as
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  you move forward. There's gonna be things that
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  come up,
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  and you you're best prepared by planning for
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  them,
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  because the project is never gonna go exactly
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  as planned. It doesn't work that way. Not
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  no project ever has,
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  especially one of this size and scale.
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  That's helpful to know. Thank you so much,
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  Chris, and glad that you're able to find
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  colleagues to support throughout this journey, because I
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  can imagine it it takes,
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  as much, as you said, information and support
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  as
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  possible. Now looking ahead for the next twelve
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  months or so, what are the big growth
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  opportunities you're looking for,
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  for your team as well as the health
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  system altogether?
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  Yeah. I mean, it it again, it starts
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  with
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  that that the core transformation. Our our wave
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  one, we're gonna,
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  deploy across about a little over 40% of
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  the organization,
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  you know, and go through that
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  post,
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  post go live world where we're supporting and
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  fixing any issues or,
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  you know, questions that users may have. And
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  then we're gonna move right into our wave
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  two, which will happen in the probably closer
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  towards the end of the second quarter of
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  twenty twenty six,
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  where the rest of our organization will go
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  live.
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  So that's really our our main focus right
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  now is preparing and ramping up for both
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  waves as we refer to them.
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  But we don't lose sight that we're still
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  delivering care
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  24 by seven in our institution. So
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  we continue to,
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  you know, focus on what are the operational
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  needs today.
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  How do we prioritize that work and make
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  sure that from a timing perspective,
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  you know, when does it make sense
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  to connect to the existing environment,
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  maybe a new technology, or
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  wait and and position a new technology to
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  be tied into the new single EHR platform?
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  So that's where
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  a lot of our focus and effort's gonna
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  be.
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  And, again, on the IT side of the
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  program is making sure that we're testing and
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  validating everything along this journey
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  and partnering with
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  our clinical and operational leaders to make sure
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  that
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  the their our end users are ultimately ready
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  and prepared for when we flip that switch
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  and move them over to the new system
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  and environment.
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  So a a lot of communications, a lot
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  of planning, a lot of meetings, discussions.
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  But,
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  for us at UPMC, I feel very,
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  confident that we're gonna be successful because of
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  those partnerships, because it's not an IT project,
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  as I mentioned before,
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  that,
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  everyone has skin in the game. Everyone is
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  laser focused on what the outcome of this
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  is gonna be, which is
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  a much better opportunity, much better tools and
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  technology for all of our clinical users to
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  use to deliver patient care more effectively, more
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  efficiently, and ultimately impact the quality of care
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  that we're delivering.
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  That's great to hear. And, you know, an
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  amazing picture that you're painting of what things
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  will look like once this is all rolled
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  out, once you have that single instance of
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  the EHR or being better able to serve
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  patients as well as, a better experience for
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  clinicians too.
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  But I'm curious. There has to be challenges
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  that you're,
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  anticipating or or things that you're troubleshooting right
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  now.
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  Could you tell us a little bit about
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  some of those challenges that you found or,
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  headwinds that you really see coming up in
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  the future?
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  Yeah. I mean, right now, from, the the
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  project itself, a a lot of it is
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  just working through you know, we we went
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  through the planning process, the planning phase. We
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  went through a significant build phase for many
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  different organizational decisions were made, and that constitutes
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  change
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  for our end users. So, what we're what
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  we're working through in a very
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  detailed level is identifying what are those what
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  are those changes and how how does that
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  influence or,
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  customize our training materials. So when we're out,
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  close to go live and we're training everyone,
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  they know what you know, this is what
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  you this is how you did in the
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  past, and this is how you're gonna do
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  it in the new system. So making sure
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  we close those gaps
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  and and properly train and and prepare everyone
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  is probably,
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  you know, front of mind right now. On
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  the IT side, it's,
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  working through some of the challenges with, you
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  know, dealing with existing data and ingesting that
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  data into the new environment or
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  archiving and moving that data out and making
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  it available
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  to make sure that from an analytics and
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  reporting perspective, we have that full longitudinal record
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  on all of our patients,
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  where where we need it. So we're working
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  through a a lot of those details.
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  We're we're
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  ingrained in all that work right now.
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  So those and and, again, it's just the
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  the volume, as I mentioned before, is probably
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  what creates the the challenges and the complexity
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  of our environment
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  that that is creating,
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  you know, the the awareness that we we
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  gotta
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  double and triple check our work
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  as we move forward to make sure that
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  we don't miss anything or,
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  you know, as issues arise that we we
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  fix them. And that's the whole purpose of
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  going through this process. That's why you, you
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  know, work
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  collectively together to plan and and build and
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  define the environment and then testing it, which
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  is where we're at to to validate that
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  things are working or you know, again, you
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  don't wanna test your your environment and be
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  a % correct out of the gate. You
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  wanna find those those issues or or,
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  you know, defects before you go live. And,
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  you know, that's that's where we're at right
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  now, and that's a normal natural process,
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  that we're going through. The other thing too
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  is the continual care and feeding of our
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  teams. Everyone's, you know, heads down working very
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  hard. We don't want folks getting burned out.
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  So we really spend a lot of time
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  communicating and reaching out and making sure that
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  they feel they have the support of the
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  leadership team. If they have questions, concerns
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  that, you know, they they feel comfortable raising
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  their their their hand and, you know, asking
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  for that help or asking for us as
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  leaders
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  to remove any barriers or issues that might
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  be in their way. So that's that's, I
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  I I think, a very key part of
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  advice I'd give
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  to those going through this this journey that,
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  you know, from a leadership perspective,
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  you you have to be front and center
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  and present and and, you know, remove those
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  barriers and obstacles for your teams to be
• 13:42
  successful.
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  And that is great advice. And a really
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  strong point, you know, looking at just the
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  amount and gravity of this transition, this change,
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  and then,
• 13:53
  having to do, I can imagine, the big
• 13:54
  picture strategic work as well as the detail
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  oriented,
• 13:57
  aspects of it, making sure you have the
• 13:59
  right people on your teams to execute on
• 14:01
  that,
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  in a meaningful way.
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  You know, I can imagine now
• 14:07
  it looks different potentially than it will,
• 14:09
  once the rollout is complete and you've got
• 14:12
  that single instance and and can focus
• 14:14
  on other things. But, right now, it seems
• 14:16
  like, as you mentioned, having that detail orientation
• 14:18
  and just being able to support the team
• 14:19
  in whatever way you can, is really, really
• 14:22
  important.
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  Absolutely.
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  Before we wrap up here, I'm wondering,
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  could you talk a little bit about just
• 14:30
  the number one thing that you're doing right
• 14:31
  now to set your organization up for long
• 14:33
  term success?
• 14:35
  Yeah. I mean, obviously,
• 14:37
  remove the EPIC or the EHR specific project.
• 14:40
  We are moving EPIC, by the way, if
• 14:42
  I didn't mention that, but,
• 14:43
  it's it's pretty well documented. But I think
• 14:46
  the the one thing, the one piece that
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  we're focusing on is our people.
• 14:51
  And it gets back to my last statement
• 14:53
  of making sure that we have that that
• 14:55
  the proper engagement,
• 14:57
  that we're providing the different opportunities and training
• 15:00
  and and really career paths for them. The
• 15:03
  the toughest thing in our business of health
• 15:04
  care IT is, you know, developing and and
• 15:07
  retaining
• 15:08
  great staff and and great leaders in our
• 15:11
  organization. So we spend a considerable amount of
• 15:13
  time outside of that project
• 15:16
  talking through and planning,
• 15:18
  from a people and organizational perspective on what
• 15:20
  we can do, what we can do better,
• 15:22
  how we we can better support them, how
• 15:24
  we can create new opportunities,
• 15:25
  how we can better align
• 15:27
  our teams to be most successful with the
• 15:29
  business.
• 15:30
  And when you have new emerging technologies like
• 15:32
  artificial intelligence coming, that that's a great area
• 15:36
  where the market's kinda driving,
• 15:38
  obviously, a lot of clinical and operational users
• 15:41
  to wanna adopt AI.
• 15:43
  And we as IT teams and leadership have
• 15:45
  to be ready and prepared to align, our
• 15:48
  teams and give them the right training and
• 15:50
  position them to be successful and help support
• 15:52
  in the organization moving forward. So, you know,
• 15:55
  we we we spend a considerable amount of
• 15:57
  time focused on in doing those activities. You
• 16:00
  know, it's not just the, hey, once a
• 16:01
  year performance evaluation kind of stuff. It's having
• 16:04
  conversations. It's being accessible and and having conversations
• 16:07
  with teams, with individuals
• 16:09
  to make sure that, you know, we're listening
• 16:12
  to them and their needs and their concerns,
• 16:15
  or or their suggestions on how we can
• 16:17
  do things better and then applying that. So
• 16:19
  we we take that very seriously. And, again,
• 16:22
  I think our our people are the number
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  one area that we focus in on and
• 16:27
  will continue to focus in on moving forward.
• 16:31
  Technology, as we all know, is comes and
• 16:33
  goes, and there's gonna be new trends and,
• 16:37
  new emerging technologies that are can continue to
• 16:40
  be thrown at us. If you don't have
• 16:42
  good people, strong people that can problem solve,
• 16:45
  that can work together, that can communicate,
• 16:47
  that feel the support of their leadership team,
• 16:50
  you're not gonna be successful. So that's that's
• 16:53
  where it starts and ends from my perspective.
• 16:56
  That's amazing to hear. And, you know, really,
• 16:58
  really a strong message in terms of supporting
• 17:01
  your team, making sure you have what you
• 17:02
  need, and then,
• 17:04
  have letting them, you know, do the best
• 17:06
  work they possibly can. Chris, thank you so
• 17:08
  much for joining us on the podcast today.
• 17:10
  This has been a great conversation, and I
• 17:11
  look forward to connecting with you again soon.
• 17:14
  Sounds great, Laura. Thank you.