Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Tina Esposito, Senior Vice President and Chief Data Officer at Advocate Health

Transcript

Tina Esposito, Senior Vice President and Chief Data Officer at Advocate Health · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  - Prepare to dive into the forefront
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  of healthcare innovation at our 14th annual meeting coming
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  up on April 8th
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  through 11th at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, with thousands
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  of industry leaders converging over four dynamic days
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  of discussions on crucial topics from health IT
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  to executive leadership.
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  It's where the future of healthcare takes shape.
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  We can't wait to connect with you in person
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  and engage in these important conversations.
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  - This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Tina Esposito,
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  senior Vice President and Chief Data
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  Officer at Advocate Health.
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  Tina, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  - Thank you, Laura. Thanks for having me.
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  - Now, I am really looking forward to talking
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  with you further about some of the big things
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  that you're doing at Advocate Health
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  and you know, what you're looking ahead for.
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  But before we dive into that question,
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  can you tell me a little bit more
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  about yourself and your background?
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  - Sure. Happy to. So, yes, thanks for having me.
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  Tina Esposito, chief Data Officer for Advocate Health.
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  Uh, I've been with a legacy with, with the organization,
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  with a prior to that legacy organization.
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  Um, so I've been affiliated with, with this, um,
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  organization for 25 years.
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  I celebrate my 25th anniversary March 1st of this year.
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  Uh, I came to this role, uh, I had started, if you will, uh,
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  in one of our hospitals, advocate Lutheran General Hospital.
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  Um, and I always say, uh, I was doing data
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  before data was a thing.
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  Um, and so I've been really been able to see firsthand, um,
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  how the organization has evolved both in understanding
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  of the benefit and value of data, information reporting,
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  analytics, et cetera.
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  Uh, and now has been able,
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  and I've also been able to kind of have a hand, if you will,
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  in, in enhancing that and improving, uh, our ability
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  and capability around that effort as well.
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  - Well, that's great to hear. And certainly, uh,
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  like you mentioned, a long legacy of having
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  that data-driven healthcare, um, which is exciting to see.
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  I know so many different health systems right now are trying
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  to figure out how to incorporate the immense amount of data
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  that they can gather today into the healthcare system.
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  So I'm excited to learn from your perspective
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  how things have evolved and
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  what you're really doing at Advocate Health now.
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  Could you tell me about one
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  of your most successful projects from the last year or two?
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  What did you do and how did you measure the results?
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  - Sure, sure. So I think
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  that there's a couple that come to mind.
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  As I mentioned, uh,
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  and perhaps as, as listeners are aware,
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  advocate Health is a relatively new entity.
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  It was formed, uh, with the merger
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  of Atrium Health in the southeast
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  and advocate Aurora Health in the Midwest.
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  Uh, so we've been, we've been sort of at this, if you will,
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  for a little over a year.
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  And a lot of the work that has gone on, and,
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  and I'm very proud of this, we have been very thoughtful in
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  how we are approaching our integration.
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  Um, and that, um, you know, that
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  that comes across in, in a number of ways.
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  In, in my world, in my area, we've focused on ensuring
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  that there is frameworks, uh,
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  and a framework around, uh, coming together as it relates
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  to data governance, to, um, ai, you know,
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  being responsible in how we consider AI as a tool for us,
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  and how we would, you know, uh, innovate and, and deploy it.
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  Um, very thoughtful in
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  how we were bringing legacy teams together
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  and ensuring that we were aligning ourselves accordingly.
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  Not as legacy organizations, but rather a new entity.
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  Uh, and given the size, certainly kind of the,
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  the changing strategy, if you will, as as that has evolved.
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  So I, I would say I'm very I of that.
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  I think the way to, to measure that is really to ensure
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  that, um, I, I think
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  that you've got a strategy moving forward,
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  a cohesive strategy, you have teammate experience that is,
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  is good, um, that people are, are understanding the value
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  that they bring to the organization.
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  They understand where they belong in the organization.
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  I would also point to some of
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  our outcomes really off the gate.
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  Um, you know, our safety
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  and health outcomes, for example, has,
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  has surpassed even some of the legacy efforts that we had.
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  So I, I think there's different ways of measuring it,
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  but I also think it's important just to be thoughtful
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  as we come together, uh,
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  before we actually do, let's think thoughtfully about
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  how we're gonna do it, uh, before we sort of hit go.
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  So I, I would say I'm, I'm probably most proud about that.
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  I think the other area, maybe more tactically, um,
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  that we've spent quite a bit of time on is, is sort of our,
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  our move to the cloud and,
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  and creating a modern data platform.
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  So as we think about, um, not only modernizing our data,
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  but creating a platform that will enable us, uh,
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  both from sort of an advanced data science perspective,
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  a digital perspective, an AI perspective,
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  uh, bringing that together.
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  Uh, it's been a couple years of,
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  of really thoughtfulness planning.
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  Uh, and we've really been able to realize, uh, ensuring
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  that we are, uh, enabling the organization through kind
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  of this cloud-based approach with, with data and,
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  and sort of the accessibility of it.
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  - That's great to hear. And certainly
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  that transition in the cloud
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  and being able to have a,
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  a cohesive platform I know can really, um,
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  make a big difference, as you were saying, um, to
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  how you're able to gather and corral some of that data
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  and then use it in a very meaningful and thoughtful way.
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  From your perspective and,
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  and given how quickly things are changing in the healthcare
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  field, how, what are your top priorities right now
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  and for the next 12 months, what are you really seeing
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  as being important and essential top of mind today?
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  - Sure. Well, I think it does go back to a, a couple, I,
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  I have a couple in mind.
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  I think first, uh, continuing to build out our,
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  our cloud strategy, moving more data into the cloud.
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  'cause what that does is it really enables you to pull, uh,
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  disparate sources together in, in sort of a,
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  a very technical, technically appropriate way,
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  but then also enabling it
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  and exposing it to the right folks so
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  that they can leverage it as part of their work, whether
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  that's, you know, operations or strategy or what have you.
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  So certainly that the other area
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  that I'm really interested in, um, is thinking about
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  how we better collaborate with, uh, our operators.
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  And so as we think about, um, all of the, whether that's,
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  you know, resources, we have, um, efforts that we,
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  how do we sort of better engage in a, in a,
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  in a more meaningful conversation
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  to really identify priorities?
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  What is value add?
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  Um, I think there's often this back
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  and forth that is a little bit more order taking,
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  and then we sort of are disconnected.
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  And so how can we strengthen
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  that a little bit in terms of how we do our work?
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  How do we ensure that operations has line of sight
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  and to maybe what we might be dealing with and,
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  and vice versa, how do we get ourselves much more in the
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  operator's shoes so that we can better partner, uh, in a way
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  that will help them be successful as well?
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  So a lot of work going on as it relates to triaging,
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  as it relates to staffing, as it relates to how we, um,
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  connect and how we sort of have those conversations
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  and ultimately identifying what kind
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  of the most important work needs to be done.
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  - That really makes a lot of sense.
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  And, you know, I can imagine it's easier said than done
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  to bring together a organization with the breadth
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  and depth that you have,
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  and then too to become, uh, better partners and,
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  and like you were mentioning, have
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  that operational efficiency that can be so meaningful.
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  - Yeah, absolutely. I, I think you have
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  to be very broad in terms of your thinking
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  and sort of taking a step back
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  to understand the big picture, but then also getting very
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  deep and very practical, um, to ensure that, you know,
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  even at the local level, folks have what they need to,
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  to do their, do their work and, and run their day.
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  - Absolutely. Um, that makes a ton of sense.
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  And along those lines, you know, as times grow
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  and evolve, how do you anticipate your role
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  and teams will change based on the needs of the rest
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  of the system and the patients that you're serving?
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  - Well, I think we have to be really flexible.
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  I think the business of healthcare is changing.
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  I think there's still a core that needs to be, um,
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  about the patient and always, uh, as such.
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  But, um, these organizations have become incredibly complex,
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  uh, and there's affiliations
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  and there are other, um, you know, aspects of the business
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  that we just really need to make sure
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  that we're aligning ourselves accordingly and,
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  and, you know, how we've always been doing the work may not
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  be the way that we should be doing it.
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  Uh, in the future. I'm excited, for example, on maybe, um,
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  things that could be enabled by technology, whether
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  that's AI or something else.
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  And so how can we quickly pilot, understand
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  and incorporate, uh, new technology or,
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  or sort of kind of novel ways of, of doing our work
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  to ultimately make us more efficient?
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  Uh, I think that there's value, for example, in ensuring
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  that we are very focused on doing what the data,
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  not just pulling the data.
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  So how do we make that clear?
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  How can we better guide, how can we better consult so
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  that ultimately, um, things are action oriented in a,
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  in a way that would deem us successful
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  or help us close the gap
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  or, you know, um,
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  perhaps realize the strategy that we are deploying.
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  - That's fascinating to hear.
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  And you know, as you look at this change
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  and face these changes head on, especially going from,
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  you know, just providing the information, providing the data
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  to then making it actionable and,
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  and ensuring that people are following up
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  and, you know, having that, um, taking those actions
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  and those steps, how do you change the culture on that?
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  What is really from a leadership perspective, essential
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  to do, um, to get the results that you're looking for
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  and get the actions that you're looking for from the team?
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  - I think that's a great question. I'm not sure anyone's
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  cracked that nut, but I think some of what we intend
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  to do is really double down a bit on data literacy, um,
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  to ensure, I, I think even just raising this as something
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  that is an opportunity and ensuring that there is a, uh,
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  an understanding, a mutual understanding
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  between the business and IT or data and analytics.
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  You know, in my world it's data and analytics,
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  but I think you can replace that with any sort
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  of support service that exists.
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  I think having meaningful conversations on how
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  to be successful together, uh,
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  makes a huge difference in the data and analytics space.
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  I think a, a, a huge component of this is data literacy, um,
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  and sort of this notion of understanding what, um, needs
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  to occur in order for something
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  to be very successful with data.
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  So, and what I mean by that, and I,
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  and I, I know I referenced this earlier,
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  but, uh, for example, understanding very clearly
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  as a data leader
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  or as a, a data support, what's the question?
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  What's the business issue that we're trying to solve
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  for when I know context, I can much rather,
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  I can much better help support them from a data perspective.
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  Um, what you might need, right?
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  If I only have a, a request for a report
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  or a piece of information,
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  I may be missing the bigger picture.
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  So having that conversation with operations
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  and together understanding, okay, what's, what are the,
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  what's the business question we're trying to solve for now?
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  Let's together figure out what would actually get us there.
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  You know, what is the, what is the piece of data,
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  the reporting, the analysis, whatever insert,
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  whatever there, um, to help better support you.
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  So, um, certainly, certainly I think an opportunity for us.
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  I think also sometimes, um, you know, trying to figure out
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  what that balance is between centralized resources
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  and decentralized resources is, is often very important.
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  I think there are efficiencies that
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  that can be gained centralizing, um, infrastructure,
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  centralizing governance, centralizing aspects that ensure
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  that from a decentralized approach,
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  if someone is accessing this information,
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  they can be assured that it's correct, that it's valid,
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  that it's governed, uh, that, you know,
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  changes in the database have been incorporated and,
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  and sort of they don't have to think about that
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  and that makes their job easier as well.
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  So, uh, I think that also is,
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  is a huge component in understanding what is that line.
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  Sometimes it's a little blurry, um,
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  but if done well, I think it can be the most efficient way
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  for an organization to ensure
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  that they're leveraging their data.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. Tina, thank you so much
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  for joining us on the podcast today.
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  This has been a fascinating conversation.
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  I learned a ton and I look forward
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  to connecting with you again soon.
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  - Thanks so much, Laura. Appreciate it. I.