Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Innovation, AI and the Future of Hartford HealthCare with Jeff Flaks

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Innovation, AI and the Future of Hartford HealthCare with Jeff Flaks · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  At Vituity, we're transforming
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  Learn more at bituity.com.
• 0:30
  This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:32
  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 0:34
  Jeff Flax, chief executive officer of Hartford HealthCare.
• 0:37
  Jeff, it's a pleasure to have you on
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  the podcast today. Thank you, Laura.
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  Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation because
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  we're gonna be talking a lot about some
• 0:45
  of the cool things you're doing at Hartford
• 0:46
  HealthCare and really how you've been able to
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  grow and expand so much over the last
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  couple of years, some of your key initiatives.
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  I I know Hartford now spans more than
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  500 locations and 185
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  towns and cities across,
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  your catchment area. You have 48,000
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  dedicated colleagues and, you know, looking for a
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  really bold vision for the future. So I'm
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  excited to learn a little bit more about
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  that. But before we dive in, can you
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  just tell us a little bit more about
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  yourself and Hartford HealthCare?
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  Yeah. Thank you, Laura. Look. It's such an
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  honor to be here, and to be a
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  part of Hartford HealthCare. You know, we have
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  the most amazing people,
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  the best culture.
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  As you described, we have 48,500
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  colleagues who are dedicated,
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  who give such incredible discretionary effort,
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  serving our communities, and we're really, really excited,
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  to have the honor of doing so.
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  That's amazing to hear. And, you know, I
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  also wanted to ask really quickly before we
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  get into the questions. I know you were
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  the recipient of the inaugural Press Ganey Innovators
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  Awards. So can you tell us a little
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  bit more about that? And I really, love
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  to hear some of the things that, went
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  into, you know, doing that as well as
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  the Quest for Quality Award.
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  You know, how are you kind of,
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  what what did you do to position yourself
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  to be in such the forefront of everything
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  in the health care space? First, it was
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  a great honor to receive this from Press
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  Ganey, from their chairman and CEO, Pat Ryan,
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  who I have such immense respect for as
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  a great innovator in his own right.
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  But I accepted this award on behalf of
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  our organization all and all of our people.
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  There's a culture in Hartford HealthCare,
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  to innovate, to disrupt the status quo,
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  a recognition that in so many ways, this
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  is the best health care's ever been, and
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  at the same time, an understanding how much
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  better it can be and that we have
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  a mandate for change.
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  And in our health system, Laura, we work
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  every day not to protect the status quo,
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  but to recognize that we need to disrupt
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  it. So for us, this was a really
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  beautiful point of validation
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  because my my personal belief is that this
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  is the best moment we've ever had in
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  health care. And I say that in the
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  context of, look, we have very significant headwinds
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  across the
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  country, you know, facing health care, and they're
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  legitimate.
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  But if we can look beyond that over
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  the horizon,
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  you can see that there's never been a
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  moment we could get better faster than we
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  can right now. So the opportunities
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  to advance health care, to make it more
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  accessible, to make it more affordable,
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  to improve the issues around health equity,
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  to address the issues around consistency of quality
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  that focus on never events,
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  this is really the best moment because, historically,
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  technology and health care made things more bureaucratic,
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  slower,
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  less productive. It made our providers' jobs harder,
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  and it made care in many ways less
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  human.
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  But today, it's the opposite. What's occurring with
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  AI, what's occurring,
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  with the technology that's being developed in the
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  forefront every day is making health care more
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  human. It's making it better, more efficient.
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  It is making the provider's job easier and
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  better, and it's returning kind of people to
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  the top of their license to deliver true
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  health care. So that's why I'm so excited.
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  That's why we were so honored to receive
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  that recognition
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  and to receive, you know, the quest for
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  quality prize from the American Hospital Association.
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  It's a reflection of having incredible people
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  working in an aligned fashion who we understand
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  the quality and safety is is job one,
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  and the results they're delivering are really exceptional.
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  I love that. And I I think it
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  just really speaks a ton to what you've
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  been able to do with the health system.
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  And as a team, what you've been able
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  to accomplish to serve the community, have that
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  great patient care and experience and just truly,
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  truly impressive, especially given the challenges and very
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  real challenges that are in the health care
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  space today. But I want to zero in
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  on that just a little bit and think
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  about the last year or so. Can you
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  tell me about projects or initiative that, you
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  know, you led that had great results? What
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  did you do, and how did you make
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  sure that you were pulling these things through
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  the finish line?
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  Laura, this moment, this is the art of
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  the possible.
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  You know, this this recent
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  experience, we and so many other organizations
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  similar to ours are doing things that would
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  have been unimaginable,
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  and we're addressing
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  problems that were, in many ways, intractable
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  historically
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  that can be solved today. So I could
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  just give you a few examples. One,
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  you know, we launched with K Health HHC
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  twenty four seven.
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  So today,
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  we have patients,
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  consumers,
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  making appointments with our providers
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  Sunday night at 02:00 in the morning, Wednesday
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  afternoon, 2PM from their conference room. We We
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  have stay at home parents who are making
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  appointments at all hours of the day, never
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  leaving their home. Right? Never needing to go
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  to bricks and mortar centers and are able
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  to see their providers
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  and get the their health care that they
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  need and desire
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  in the comfort of wherever they are.
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  It's completely changing access to health care. We're
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  serving underserved areas now in ways that we
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  never could before because we're able to apply
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  twenty four seven,
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  in that in our HHC app, and make
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  it available to all people under all circumstances.
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  So we're announced we've seen over 40,000 people
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  since March
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  who and more than 250 to 300 people
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  every single day who are getting this level
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  of health care. We're seeing through products like
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  ADOC
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  incredible,
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  efficiencies
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  in acceleration of health care within our emergency
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  departments,
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  where all patients are having their images now
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  read more comprehensively
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  faster through artificial based technology where it can
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  then be validated by our radiologists.
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  So accelerating health care, improving efficiency,
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  expanding, in this case, the level and capability
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  of the service that could be available, you
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  know, based on this, on the size and
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  scope of the imaging, it's revolutionary.
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  And then, you know, seeing technologies like a
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  bridge,
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  like what we're seeing with a bridge is
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  amazing.
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  It's totally transforming
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  the patient experience when they go to their
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  provider,
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  their physician. They're now talking to the physician.
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  The physician's no longer entering data in the
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  computer,
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  and the abridge technology is able to ensure
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  proper documentation,
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  proper recording accurately of the conversations and of
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  the symptoms and of all of the, patient
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  needs and and experiences,
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  completely transformative. And it puts the power of
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  that information back in the hand of the
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  patient immediately.
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  Just incredible.
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  We're seeing things with Cadence Health where we're
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  putting remote patient monitoring now in all of
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  our patients' homes who who who have,
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  you know, specific issues like diabetes, high blood
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  pressure, chronic kidney disease, heart failure so that
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  we can monitor these patients' real time early
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  intervention.
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  We can eliminate, you know, expensive hospital visits,
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  return people to higher qualities of their life.
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  So I'm telling the lord, I can go
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  on and on. I have so many wonderful
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  examples,
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  to give you, but I'm respectful. I'm not
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  overwhelming our on this podcast, but that's why
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  I'm so excited, and that's why I see
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  so many great things happening.
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  This is the dawn of an incredible moment
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  in health care,
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  and it's happening. It's happening all across America.
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  It's certainly happening here at Hartford HealthCare.
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  Absolutely. That's amazing. You know? And I really
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  appreciate you calling out all the different
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  technologies and partnerships and that mindset of, you
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  know, being ready to, change so quickly and
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  evolve and and have an organization that, can
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  do those things because I I know it's
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  not easy,
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  but it's exciting time for sure in health
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  care. And, you know, when you look to
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  the next year or so, what are some
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  of the biggest opportunities that you're seeing as
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  well as headwinds,
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  that that you're thinking about and keeping top
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  of mind as you're developing your strategies and
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  next steps forward? First of all, we're gonna
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  see chatbots,
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  right, start to become really trusted assistants and
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  help navigate health care more effectively,
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  help people, you know, schedule, help people coordinate,
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  eliminate friction in health care,
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  provide
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  customized personalized information
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  more effectively. So I'm very excited about those
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  types of developments.
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  You know, I see health care getting more
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  personalized. I see it being more well navigated,
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  more well coordinated.
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  I see us eliminating barriers to health care
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  accelerating access,
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  being able to manage total cost of care,
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  making it more affordable by being able to
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  manage care so we get the health care
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  early, early interventions in the right place. We
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  ensure better compliance with things like medications,
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  faster and better response times. So, again, that's
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  what I'm saying. These are difficult times, and
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  I don't want to to to not be
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  respectful of that. And we have real issues
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  from a public policy standpoint that have to
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  be worked through. We've gotta find good solutions
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  to. But at the same point,
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  this is such a great moment. Right? There's
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  so many things happening. There's so much opportunity
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  to make health care better. And, you know,
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  Laura, we've said this before at Becker's many
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  times. Hartford HealthCare's mantra, right, is we work
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  to be the best at getting better. Right?
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  Not to be the best. Right? To what
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  end? To what purpose? It's a moment in
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  time. So being better today than we are
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  than we were yesterday,
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  but being better next year than we are
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  this year. And I do think as you
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  look at the outlook for this coming year,
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  health care will be significantly better next year.
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  There's much to be done, but I also
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  wanna be respectful. There's also really significant issues
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  at a national and state level,
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  that have to get worked through that could,
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  if not well addressed,
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  significantly impede the progress I'm describing.
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  Absolutely. I think that's such a great point.
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  And, you know, when you look into this
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  next year, thinking about the technologies, thinking about
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  everything else that is coming down the pipe,
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  what do you think the hardest thing you'll
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  have to do in the coming year will
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  be? Look. A lot of this is change
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  management. Right? A lot of it is is
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  is making good judgments, good decisions,
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  small tests of change,
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  piloting things properly,
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  failing forward, you know, as we think about
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  innovation.
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  But, you know, I certainly look at some
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  of the great challenges. It's it's it's trying
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  to create alignment,
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  in ensuring that these things are being well
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  coordinated and being coordinated around the consumer and
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  around the people we care for. Right? I
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  mean, people are always consumers, and they're sometimes
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  patients.
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  So we have to figure out ways
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  to make certain that we do this
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  with with the consumer and the patient at
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  the center of everything that we do. And
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  we have to make health care better for
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  our colleagues.
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  Right? I mean, over the course of years,
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  the compounding impact
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  of layering on technologies that made their jobs
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  harder, more bureaucratic, more difficult,
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  this is the moment in time where we
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  can start rolling that back and returning people
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  to working at their highest, you know, nature
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  of their license
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  and creating that human interaction, right, where where
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  where the people who are with the highest
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  level of training can care for the people
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  who need help and need these services,
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  and to do it in a more personalized
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  way. So, you know,
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  to to coordinate this, to to roll these
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  types of things out,
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  requires
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  a a great deal of very specific and
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  purposeful effort.
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  But to me, it is about the ultimate
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  purpose of making health care more consumer friendly,
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  in in in helping people get what they
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  want when they want and need it on
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  demand, so to speak, and to drive the
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  cost of care down and raise quality at
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  the same time.
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  Absolutely. Then that's, you know, kind of the
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  the golden ticket, I guess, in health care
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  is figuring out where that quality beats the
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  the cost compression too. And in that happy
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  medium. And something you said earlier in the
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  conversation and looking at how you're connecting folks,
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  getting ahead of diseases and issues and trying
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  to get through prevention, working with patients, you
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  know, in in all of these different things
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  that you can tell now with, the sophistication
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  of data and information in health care. So
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  I guess I'm curious when you're looking at
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  all of these things in the way that
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  your teams and health care, the model is
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  evolving, what do you think are some of
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  the biggest changes for clinicians in in in
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  the health care system in general as they're
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  thinking about the model of care shifting from
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  the way it always has had been in
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  the past, to from sick care into this
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  more of, like, how do we keep the
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  patients well? Yeah. Well, first of all, it
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  begins with, right, the the technology.
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  The providers don't work for the technology. Right?
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  The technology has to be there to serve
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  and support our providers, our caregivers,
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  so that they can do their jobs more
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  effectively and deliver better health care. And that's
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  what is starting to happen.
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  And that that is one of the things
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  I'm so encouraged about. I'm so excited about.
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  But, look, we have a lot of data.
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  There's we we've historically had a lot of
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  data, but it hasn't been well utilized, and
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  it hasn't helped us at the level it
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  can
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  optimize and help us manage health care better.
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  So one of the things that is happening
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  right now, health systems like ours
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  are starting to be able to use information
• 13:13
  to care for people with chronic disease more
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  effectively,
• 13:16
  to build systems and processes and deploy coaches
• 13:19
  and other types of support structures and infrastructure,
• 13:22
  to help people live their healthiest lives. Right?
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  And we're we're starting to have the evidence
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  that we can do it. It's the right
• 13:28
  thing to do, and it's really the necessary
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  thing to do.
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  I love that. Makes a ton of sense.
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  You know? It is so such a helpful
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  lens to look into next couple of years.
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  And speaking of that, where else do you
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  see some of the big opportunities for growth
• 13:41
  and development?
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  I'm excited. So we we just joined Memorial
• 13:45
  Sloan Kettering. So we have become their first
• 13:48
  care partner.
• 13:49
  And it's a wonderful advancement for Memorial Sloan
• 13:51
  Kettering. It's something I'm very excited about. We're
• 13:53
  honored to to to be the effectively the,
• 13:56
  quote, unquote, cofounder, you know, with Memorial Sloan
• 13:58
  Kettering in terms of building this together.
• 14:01
  But I think this can change cancer care
• 14:03
  across America.
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  You know, with Memorial Sloan Kettering now, we
• 14:06
  will be bringing their clinical trials,
• 14:09
  their leading edge research.
• 14:11
  We will be building kind of disease management
• 14:13
  teams that we'll be able to oversee and
• 14:15
  manage and coordinate care,
• 14:17
  to ensure that the tremendous capabilities of Memorial
• 14:20
  Sloan Kettering, the best in the world in
• 14:22
  so many ways, that those capabilities can be
• 14:24
  more well deployed
• 14:26
  and really democratizing that type of service and
• 14:28
  capability so they can get to more people.
• 14:31
  We're doing it here, and I hope it'll
• 14:32
  happen and expand in other parts of the
• 14:34
  country as time goes forward as well. So,
• 14:36
  look, there's so many new ways to do
• 14:37
  things.
• 14:38
  There's new ways to unlock potential.
• 14:41
  Right? And that's what this is about, and
• 14:42
  this is but another good example of it.
• 14:45
  I love it. Jeff, thank you so much
• 14:47
  for joining us on the podcast today. This
• 14:49
  has been such a fascinating conversation. I can
• 14:51
  really tell you're passionate about what you do
• 14:53
  and really being on the cutting edge that
• 14:55
  optimistic outlook for this moment in health care,
• 14:58
  is not like nothing else. So I'm excited
• 15:00
  about that and looking forward to seeing you
• 15:01
  as well at our annual meeting. I know
• 15:03
  you'll be speaking, doing a fireside chat with
• 15:05
  us and really just digging deeper into a
• 15:07
  lot of the themes we talked about today.
• 15:08
  So I'm excited about that too. Oh, Laura,
• 15:10
  we love being at the Becker's meeting. So
• 15:12
  many great people coming together, the convergence of
• 15:14
  so many ideas, so much to learn. So
• 15:16
  we're proud to be contributing to it and
• 15:18
  to be to be participants at it, and
• 15:20
  I look forward to being there. Thank you
• 15:21
  so much.