Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Dr. John Chelico, System VP & Chief Medical Information Officer/Physician Enterprise at CommonSpirit Health

Transcript

Dr. John Chelico, System VP & Chief Medical Information Officer/Physician Enterprise at CommonSpirit Health · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  Would you like to exchange best practices and ideas to improve care,
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  enhance operational efficiency,
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  and address financial challenges with your peers?
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  Becker's Healthcare is facilitating these conversations at their eighth annual
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  health IT Digital health and RCM meeting.
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  You can check your eligibility for complimentary attendance at the Lincoln,
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  the description. We are excited to welcome you in October.
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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 Dr. John cco,
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  assistant Chief Medical Information Officer at Common Spirit Health. Dr. Cco,
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  it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  Thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here.
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  Now, I know we have a lot of ground to cover.
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  There's so many exciting things happening in IT and clinical digital
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  transformation. But before we dive into the broader questions,
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  can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background?
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  Yeah, I would. Um, I am, I was a computer science, uh, student,
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  uh, software developer prior to go to medical school. Um, uh,
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  worked for two Health IT startups during, um, that time,
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  ended up going to medical school,
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  ended up pursuing formal training in internal medicine with formal training and
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  informatics. I like to say I, uh, trained in informatics before it was cool,
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  but since then I've been sort of a career cm. I, uh,
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  chief Medical Information Officer for a number of large health systems in, uh,
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  New York State, uh, including the Health and Hospitals Corporation,
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  NYU Lango Medical Center in the past 10 years at Northwell Health.
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  About a year ago, I joined Common Spirit Health, um,
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  as the system chief Medical Information Officer within our physician enterprise.
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  Our, uh, our medical group that essentially is across 22 states. Um,
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  but Common Spirit Health, um, just a little background is, um,
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  one the largest nonprofit health system in the country at this point with about
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  35 billion in revenue. But we, uh, practice in about 150 hospitals,
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  uh, across 22 states. Um,
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  we have about 1500 practice locations, and we work with, um,
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  either employee or work with about 25,000 doctors across the country.
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  So very exciting to be there. And, uh,
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  sort of in my year anniversary, um, I'm continuing to learn more about,
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  uh, what's happening across this, uh, wonderful health system that we have.
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  Absolutely. Well, congratulations on your year at Common Spirit.
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  I know it's been a big year, um,
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  and definitely a lot of exciting things to come.
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  So what are the big opportunities you see right now as well as the headwinds
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  that you have your eye on?
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  Yeah, no, I think we have opportunities, I think post Covid, um,
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  and Covid has definitely taught us a lot, um, taught us how to do things, uh,
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  a little bit differently. Um, but I think post to Covid,
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  I think we are dealing with a healthcare sort of system at large,
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  not just common spirit that is seeing significant staff storages in physicians,
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  nurses, frontline staff, even folks in in sort of doing,
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  running the business and everything else. Um, within our health system.
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  We also see sort of a decrease in volume, in revenue, um, that I think we're,
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  we're sort of dealing with as far as headwinds. Um,
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  but I think these are opportunities for us to sort of think a little bit
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  differently, uh, and,
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  and really see things a little bit differently in how we can approach, um,
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  sort of these age old problems that we sort of keep recurring in healthcare.
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  Absolutely. I I think that's such a, a great point.
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  I know all health systems and hospitals across the country are trying to get
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  used to what it takes, um, to keep running and serving patients.
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  A amid some of these shortages is definitely on the sa especially on the
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  staffing side. So how do you think about from the technology angle and,
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  and what you can do, um,
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  bridging that gap between technology and clinical care to really allow for your
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  teams, um, to serve patients the best they possibly can,
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  even amid some of these shortages?
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  Yeah, no, I think we have to think of new ways of doing things. I mean,
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  as a health, as a large health system,
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  and I learned this when I was at Northwell Health,
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  and I'm definitely learning how we can do this across, you know,
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  22 states of Common Spirit Health is the ability to see what things we can
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  actually, um, do at a,
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  at a system level that can sort of deal with staff shortages. So things like,
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  um, our call center strategy across the organization, um,
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  things like referral management that we can do at a, at a larger level.
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  But the idea is, the idea is that, um, you know,
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  if we can actually have a centralized function that would answer phones and, um,
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  deal with patient questions, um, at a system level,
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  we can do that for a group of physicians or, or across the country.
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  And I think the, the idea is that the folks in the, in, at the front lines,
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  whether it's in our, in a hospital location or a clinic, um,
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  somewhere in our organization is already taxed with a million things to do.
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  And I think whatever we can do to sort of, you know,
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  have that same interaction with our patients and that the same feeling
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  for our patients, that they're connected to our local practices,
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  but at the same time create a structure where they're really sort of speaking to
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  someone who's not just covering one part of the organization but maybe covering
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  multiple locations at the same time.
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  And that's sort of where we can really develop sort of economies of scale at a
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  system level and to really kind of deal with some of these, uh, issues,
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  to be honest.
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  Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense.
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  And definitely it sounds like a great strategy to really support the team you
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  have on the ground and do what you can, like you said at the system level. Now,
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  is there any other ways you look at, um,
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  from your vantage point adding value in growth to the organization as a whole?
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  Uh, what really stands out to you,
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  whether it's on the staffing side or just one of the myriad other ways that, um,
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  you know, you can really add value to a, a system like Common Spirit?
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  Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think, I think, um, we have a way to go to actually,
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  you know, use the oppor, use our electronic health record systems,
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  our technology partners to actually, you know, improve the care that we deliver.
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  Um, one of the things that, you know, I am I'm looking at,
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  at a national level is really like really creating standards, um,
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  by which we want to interact with our physicians, our nurses,
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  our care providers, our uh, and our patients really. Um,
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  and understanding how we can do that in multiple different environments. Now,
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  common Spirit Health is a large health system.
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  We have a number of large vendors, um, you name it, um,
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  Cerner, epic, Meditech, um, eClinical Works, Allscripts,
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  we have 'em all in some way, shape or form. And we are working towards,
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  you know, getting to a single platform and uh, you know,
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  at least getting to a smaller list of, of platforms. But until then,
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  we sort of at a,
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  at a national level need to sort of create standards by which we say, well,
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  every patient should have a virtual registration.
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  Meaning that every patient should be able to sort of do a number of things that
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  they normally would do with the front desk staff, but be able to do that online,
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  whether it may be through their portal or maybe through some robotic process
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  automation and HIPAA compliant text messaging solution.
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  But the ability for us to sort of, you know, deliver on that promise that,
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  you know, we can, we can get rid of the burden or that,
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  that work that has to be done by our front desk staff to collect, um, you know,
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  registration information, insurance information, collect copays,
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  collect consents, all of these things, uh,
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  have the ability and to even collect rudimentary clinical information for your
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  visit, um, can all be done sort of prior to the person even arriving at the, at,
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  within the, the, the office visit. Um,
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  it can be done for a procedure or it can be done for many other things,
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  but I think, you know, thinking about how we can sort of do that and,
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  and do that electronically, you know, it does sort of take burden off the staff,
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  gives much more satisfaction to the patient cuz they can do it in a more relaxed
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  environment and sort of,
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  I wanna say there's even an expectation for some of our patients that this is
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  the way you do things. I mean,
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  if you normally sort of now go shopping or call a taxi
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  or or you name everything else, everything else on your top, uh,
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  you know, six apps on your,
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  on your smartphone these days or deal with your bank,
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  you generally have an interaction that is maybe, you know,
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  asynchronous or online, um, before you actually do the in-person sort of,
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  um, tasks. And, and I think that's,
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  that's something that we want to do and how we deliver that in different
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  environments throughout the organization may be different,
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  but the feeling should be the same. And I think this is both for our patients,
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  but also sort of, you know, significantly, um, improves the care that, you know,
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  frontline staff are, are providing.
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  Got it. I I love that.
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  I think it makes a lot of sense and definitely great to know that, you know,
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  the technology's out there and just being able to leverage it and, uh,
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  get you into a space where the whole organization is, uh,
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  working like a well-oiled machine. I know it's easier said than done,
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  but at the end of the day, um, having that opportunity speaks volumes.
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  Now I know we've talked a little bit about some of the challenges,
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  whether it's staffing shortages or other areas that, um, you know,
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  really make now a,
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  a a challenging time in healthcare and certainly all resources are precious,
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  but where do you see us being still important for hospitals and health systems
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  to invest and, and maybe even take risks this year, um,
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  to make sure that they're set up for success in the future?
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  Yeah, no, definitely. It's a great question. Um, no, well, number one,
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  for a health system like ours, we may have some nuances in the sense that,
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  you know, as we came together as common health, we have a number of sort of, um,
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  you know, larger platforms that we work on,
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  whether it's in rev cycle or revenue cycle or our clinical systems or
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  even sort of the, the, you know, I would say, uh,
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  hundreds if not thousands of bolt-on systems that we have.
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  I think the one thing that we know that we need to deliver on from a technology
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  group for our organization is more efficiency and the ability to sort of make
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  changes. And with that in mind,
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  we're trying to really consolidate platforms so that our IT partners can sort
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  of, you know,
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  serve our staff and frontline providers much more easily.
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  And, and not being able to sort of like, uh,
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  having to make one change that's, uh, in, in 30 different systems but,
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  you know, make one change and maybe a handful of systems.
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  I think that's one thing that we're sort of coping with, um,
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  at Common Spirit Health. But I think, um,
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  we are well on our way to kind of get that to a common platform and a common
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  standard. I think that, you know,
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  we have the ability to sort of use some of our, you know, technology partners.
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  Um, one thing that kind of comes to mind is robotic process automation and the
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  ability to sort of again, um, you know,
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  decrease some of the burden from what we normally do,
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  the mundane stuff that we can do day in and day out to improve things in revenue
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  cycle, improve things in understanding cancer screening, uh,
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  and quality metrics and gaps in care. Um, and if we can sort of have, uh,
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  a robot sort of rung every night to, to really do all the,
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  the things that a doctor would otherwise need to do prior to sort of opening a
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  chart or prior to seeing a patient, um, you know,
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  why can't the robot go in and sort of understand where a patient may lie in
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  their, in their cancer screening and what gaps, um, are are there, um,
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  in their care,
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  but sort of deliver that to the provider as a task and a question to sort of
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  say, Hey, you know, this patient hasn't had their colonoscopy in 10 years,
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  or now they meet the age criteria for, for their colon cancer screening. Um,
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  and just really kind of lay that up, um, so the provider can sort of just,
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  you know, review it and, and, and move on with the patient that way. It's,
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  it's one less thing to sort of be burdened by, but it's one less, um,
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  one more importantly 1, 1, 1 very important thing for our patients to sort of
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  make sure that they got done. Um, there's countless sort of opportunities, um,
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  using those things, um, which, you know, we would need, you know,
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  hundreds and thousands of people in our workforce to sort of be able to sort of
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  automate and robotic process automation does have some promise in us, in in,
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  in what we are doing, um, at Common Spirit Health from a technology perspective.
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  Absolutely. I think that's amazing to hear and definitely it seems like it is a,
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  a great boost, um, to both the clinical as well as administrative workforce,
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  um, to, to really boost efficiency and especially as you mentioned times where,
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  um, you know, there can be shortages or, or challenges with stress and burnout.
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  That really seems like it'll be helpful. So I think before I wrap up here,
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  I wanted to look into the future.
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  Where do you see some of the best opportunities for growth and development from
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  your vantage point of C M I O as well as the teams that you work with?
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  Yeah, no, I, I mean, I think, um,
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  I see that the ability for us to use the data that we have within our,
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  our electronic health record platforms and all our systems to really understand
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  the data around the 20 million lives that we touch across the country.
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  There's been statistics like we take care of almost one in four patients across
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  the country or something to that effect, but whatever the case may be,
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  we ha we sit on, uh, sort of our treasure chest of data, um,
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  both sort of in understanding the structured data and how we collect it,
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  but really understanding how we can utilize that to improve the care of
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  populations that we sort of serve. Uh,
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  and the ability to sort of bring that, um, to the, to the forefront, um,
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  for our patients, uh, bring that and improve quality improvement,
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  but also bring it to our patients in,
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  in the form of research and being able to sort of contribute back to, you know,
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  in real world evidence or,
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  or even clinical trials with our life sciences partners.
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  The ability for us to sort of harness this large treasure chest that's of data
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  is gonna be something that we need to capitalize on. Now,
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  much of the data is sort of in our unstructured chart,
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  and I think that's something we need to sort of overcome with through good
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  partners and natural language processing, but I think we are definitely going,
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  getting further along in,
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  in the ability to sort of us to sort of query that part of the chart and,
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  and utilize it. I think the ability for us, um,
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  as a second thing in common Spirit Health is to use, um, some technology.
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  You know, common Spirit Health has some large tertiary quaternary care centers,
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  some academic centers that are, you know, are at the top of mind, um,
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  across the country. But at the same time, we also have small hospitals,
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  critical access hospitals throughout the country that, you know,
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  don't have access to the same care that we normally deliver in our qury tertiary
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  care hospitals.
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  And the ability for us to sort of bring the specialist to where the specialist
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  can't be or bring the specialist to the place where, you know,
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  there's no care setting for another three,
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  400 miles in places in the country is something that I'm excited for and part of
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  the mission of Common Spirit Health, and we can't do this without technology,
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  and the ability for us to sort of have that same feeling and interaction with
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  our patients or for our providers, um,
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  in those care settings is gonna be very important. Um, and as part of the, the,
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  the thread of what Common Spirit is all about and making sure that every patient
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  sort of gets the,
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  the same care no matter how they interact with our health system.
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  And I think we can only do that through technology and,
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  and through telemedicine and,
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  and virtual visits and even asynchronous e-visit and other things. We'll,
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  we'll definitely see a, a, a future, um, where, you know, common spirit, uh,
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  it doesn't matter where you walk into our organization,
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  you'll sort of expect and get the same sort of experience.
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  And however we can make that as frictionless as possible in our interactions
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  with our patients, um, I think we'll be, we'll,
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  we'll sort of carry a lot of weight for our patients and for our providers the
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  same.
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  Absolutely. I love that.
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  I think it makes a lot of sense and definitely it seems to be where healthcare
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  is headed in terms of just the efficient connections on multiple platforms and
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  on multiple levels. Dr. Cco,
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  thank you so much for being here on the podcast today.
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  I've really enjoyed speaking to you and I'm looking forward to seeing you in
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  person as well at our Health IT digital health or revenue cycle event in
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  October.
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  I know there'll be the specific C M I O forum that we're excited to have you
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  there, as well as at the broader event too. Um,
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  speaking on many of these themes. And,
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  and I can imagine at that point the discussion will be, you know,
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  even more interesting, um, with the way technology's evolving.
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  I am looking forward and honored to participate. Thank you so much.
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