Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Susan Goodson, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Information Officer at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Transcript

Susan Goodson, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Information Officer at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - There's a version of AI in health care
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  - pilot programs, partnership announcements,
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• 0:11
  - And then there's the version that lives in
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  - the work, the CIO trying to get a
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  - the revenue cycle leader weighing automation against accuracy,
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  - Becker's eleventh annual IT and revenue cycle conference
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  - AI, cybersecurity,
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  - revenue cycle performance, and digital health.
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  - Join us September 14 through the seventeenth.
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  - For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
• 1:00
  - This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:03
  - podcast.
• 1:03
  - I'm thrilled today to be joined by Susan
• 1:05
  - Goodson, senior vice president and chief digital information
• 1:08
  - officer at Anne and Robert h Lurie Children's
• 1:11
  - Hospital of Chicago. Susan, it's a pleasure to
• 1:13
  - have you on the podcast today.
• 1:15
  - Thank you, Laura.
• 1:17
  - Now I'm excited for our conversation. I know
• 1:19
  - we've got a lot to talk about. You
• 1:20
  - know, health care is moving so quickly and
• 1:22
  - technology,
• 1:24
  - really truly is redefining health care delivery. And
• 1:26
  - so I'm looking forward to getting your perspective
• 1:29
  - on everything that's happening at the hospital and
• 1:31
  - how you're thinking about the future. But
• 1:33
  - then, can you tell me a little bit
• 1:35
  - more about yourself and Lurie Children's Hospital?
• 1:39
  - Sure. So you said I'm Susan Goodson, the
• 1:41
  - senior vice president and digital,
• 1:43
  - chief digital information officer here at Lurie Children's.
• 1:46
  - At Lurie Children's, we are dedicated to the
• 1:49
  - health and well-being of all children.
• 1:51
  - Our mission is really focused around four key
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  - pillars,
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  - clinical care,
• 1:57
  - advocacy for kids,
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  - research, and education.
• 2:01
  - In my role, I get to oversee enterprise
• 2:04
  - technology strategy.
• 2:06
  - I oversee the day to day IT operations,
• 2:09
  - data and analytics,
• 2:10
  - health information management, and our virtual care and
• 2:14
  - digital care capabilities.
• 2:16
  - Our technology team here at Lurie is focused
• 2:18
  - on the service of enterprise objectives to provide
• 2:21
  - safer
• 2:22
  - and more coordinated care for kids and their
• 2:24
  - families.
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  - I love that. And what an important service
• 2:30
  - to the community and and,
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  - so many folks that you make a big
• 2:35
  - difference in their lives every single day. Now
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  - can you tell me a little bit about
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  - some of the most powerful forces that are
• 2:41
  - shaping digital health and IT
• 2:43
  - at Lurie Children's?
• 2:44
  - How do you anticipate they're going to evolve
• 2:46
  - as well as where are they at today?
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  - I'd love to talk about that.
• 2:51
  - Of course, in today's environment, I have to
• 2:53
  - start with AI.
• 2:55
  - There are so many emerging AI technologies in
• 2:58
  - the market, and some of them, like Ambient
• 3:00
  - Scribe, that were emerging just twelve, eighteen months
• 3:03
  - ago, are now becoming table stakes for most
• 3:05
  - provider organizations.
• 3:07
  - The market is moving so fast.
• 3:10
  - And the way I'm thinking about this is
• 3:12
  - that the force is really discipline
• 3:15
  - and making sure that we are investing in
• 3:17
  - a smaller number of really high value
• 3:21
  - use cases that do not introduce excessive risk.
• 3:24
  - Risk is something that we think a lot
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  - about here at Lurie Children's as we are
• 3:28
  - deploying
• 3:30
  - AI. We need to do all of that
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  - while keeping
• 3:32
  - operational and technical considerations
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  - in line. This rapid shift to tokenized licensing
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  - is something that I've been watching very closely.
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  - The cost of using these tools has to
• 3:43
  - be sustainable given the margins that we operate
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  - within in provider health care.
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  - As the technology leader for Lurie, I'm working
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  - with our leadership team to create enough structure
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  - so that innovation can thrive without becoming a
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  - cost or a risk problem.
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  - The second force that I'm thinking about is
• 4:01
  - the importance of experience and workflow for both
• 4:04
  - our employees and our patients and families.
• 4:07
  - We are doubling down on trust. Trust has
• 4:10
  - to be at the center of all of
• 4:11
  - it. Our clinicians and staff are looking for
• 4:14
  - simpler,
• 4:15
  - more intuitive workflows that reduce their cognitive load,
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  - And our families are expecting seamless consumer grade
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  - digital experiences that still feel personal and safe
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  - for them.
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  - So all of that really translates into not
• 4:28
  - just adding more tools,
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  - but we have to redesign end to end
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  - workflows
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  - across in person, virtual, and at home care.
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  - And we have to do it in close
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  - partnership with our clinical and operational leaders.
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  - So my goal is to have technology disappear
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  - into the background and have people feel like
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  - the system is working for them and not
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  - the other way around.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. And, you
• 4:51
  - know, it's so important to remember because as
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  - you've mentioned,
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  - there are so many right now different companies
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  - and applications coming out for artificial intelligence that
• 5:00
  - it seems, you know, lots of good potential,
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  - evolutions, but at the same time, you have
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  - to remember,
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  - how adoption is gonna go and and the
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  - human element of health care is so important
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  - too.
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  - Now, from your perspective, can you tell us
• 5:16
  - about a big swing that you took in
• 5:17
  - the last year that paid off? What did
• 5:19
  - you do and what were the results?
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  - I don't know that I described the last
• 5:24
  - year as one single
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  - moonshot or big swing. I would characterize it
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  - for me as a series of base hits
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  - that translated into a big swing
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  - in how we run our digital and technology
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  - at Lurie Children's and how that is paying
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  - off.
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  - So,
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  - I started with governance, and this is still,
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  - in process. But we have made tremendous progress
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  - in creating a formalized and unifies intake and
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  - prioritization
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  - process so that our work is clearly tied
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  - to our enterprise goals. It's not just about
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  - who is asking the loudest.
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  - We stood up clear governance around AI and
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  - advanced analytics in addition to
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  - clinical and business systems so that new ideas
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  - are evaluated through the same value,
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  - lens of risk,
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  - readiness, and workflow impact.
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  - We also aligned our virtual care and digital
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  - access work into a more coherent
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  - product model instead of a series of of
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  - pilots.
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  - What I'm seeing is that we have better
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  - alignment between clinical and operational leaders on what
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  - we invest our time and our capital into.
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  - An important part of that has been how
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  - we invest in and support
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  - our information management teams.
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  - I've really been focused on clarity of priorities,
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  - recognition,
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  - leadership development,
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  - and creating a culture where people feel heard
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  - and connected to our mission.
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  - Mission. Over the last year, I've seen our
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  - attrition and I'm dropped from about 15%
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  - to around 6%.
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  - That's a big win for stability,
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  - trust, and our ability
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  - to deliver on the digital agenda for Lurie
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  - Children's.
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  - So taken together, it's less about one flashy
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  - project and more about building the kind of
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  - discipline
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  - and people centered operating model that can sustain
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  - the work that's coming to us over the
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  - long term.
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  - That makes a lot of sense.
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  - And I love the idea of being able
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  - to have those clear priorities, making sure that
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  - everyone is aligned on what's gonna make the
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  - most sense and really cutting down on on
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  - some of the chaos around AI and enduring
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  - it on the things that truly make the
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  - biggest difference,
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  - in a coordinated way.
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  - From your experience, what do you think now,
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  - as you're looking into the future, will be
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  - the most important
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  - problem you're trying to solve with AI and
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  - technology? At Lurie, we are focusing on using
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  - AI and technology to
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  - decrease clinician and staff burden.
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  - Specifically,
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  - I'm really motivated to give people time back
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  - while also improving
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  - safety and quality. I look at AI as
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  - a force multiplier.
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  - Can it reduce the cognitive overhead for our
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  - clinicians so that they can spend more time
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  - with the kids, really focusing on
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  - our patients and their families and less time
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  - wrestling with with a computer.
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  - So this shows up in a couple of
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  - practical ways. One, we've already deployed AmbientScribe
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  - and generative tools for in basket messaging
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  - to summarize conversations,
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  - draft documentation,
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  - or emails,
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  - for clinical review.
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  - We have primarily focused in the ambulatory care
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  - setting to date, and we're starting to evaluate
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  - expansion into other workflows and areas.
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  - But what we're seeing is that the clinical
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  - practice that is well suited to this technology,
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  - there is really strong adoption and meaningful decrease
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  - for our physicians' time and notes.
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  - We're also using
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  - AI and advanced analytics to surface the right
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  - information at the right time and using it
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  - for what it's good at. Searching large volumes
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  - of chart data and summarizing it in a
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  - way that might be difficult with traditional reporting
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  - of our search tools.
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  - Automating
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  - routine and repetitive
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  - back office functions so our staff can focus
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  - on the human and more complex parts of
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  - their job is also something that we're we're
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  - leaning into, pretty hard. I like to say
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  - that we are solving some boring problems so
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  - that people can focus on the more interesting
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  - aspects of their their day to day.
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  - And at the same time,
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  - we're building a clear governance model.
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  - Who sponsors each use case? How are we
• 9:33
  - gonna evaluate safety and bias? And how are
• 9:35
  - we gonna monitor the performance?
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  - Without that,
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  - the introduction of these AI tools just creates
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  - a lot of risk to manage and not
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  - as much value. So
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  - with all of that together,
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  - trust has to be at the center of
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  - everything for both our employees and our patients
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  - and families.
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  - Internally, we're dialing in our organizational change management
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  - focus to clearly communicate and assess the impact
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  - of of AI capabilities.
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  - And, externally,
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  - our clinical care teams are really focused on,
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  - talking with our patients and families very transparently
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  - on how AI is being used in their
• 10:13
  - care.
• 10:16
  - That's helpful to understand it and really cool
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  - that you can use technology,
• 10:21
  - in a variety of different ways to support
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  - patient care and as well as the clinician
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  - experience. I think that's something
• 10:28
  - many organizations are trying to improve and figuring
• 10:30
  - out the right levers to pull,
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  - to truly transform the way doctors and nurses
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  - and other clinicians are operating and relieve some
• 10:39
  - of that administrative burden.
• 10:41
  - Now in looking ahead, what are you most
• 10:43
  - curious about for the future?
• 10:45
  - That's a great question.
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  - I think I'm really most curious and honestly
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  - really excited about whether we can use this
• 10:52
  - moment to truly transform
• 10:54
  - how we operate and to create efficiencies for
• 10:56
  - our
• 10:57
  - teams. Workflow has to be at the center
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  - of everything
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  - that we're doing here. And I I truly
• 11:02
  - believe that AI can accelerate our business strategy.
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  - And if we use it thoughtfully, it can
• 11:07
  - actually help bend the curve on workforce force
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  - burnout rather than add to it.
• 11:12
  - I'm also really curious about how far we
• 11:14
  - can go in personalizing care without overwhelming clinicians
• 11:17
  - and families with with information.
• 11:20
  - So one of the questions that I'm thinking
• 11:21
  - about is, can we surface the right insights
• 11:24
  - at the right time in the right channel
• 11:27
  - so that the care feels more tailored and
• 11:29
  - proactive, but still simple and
• 11:32
  - easy enough to digest and not be overwhelming
• 11:35
  - for the kids that we take care of
• 11:37
  - and their families.
• 11:38
  - And the last lever that I'm watching closely
• 11:40
  - is how AI changes the way we work
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  - together culturally.
• 11:44
  - It's going to require most much closer collaboration
• 11:47
  - among clinicians,
• 11:49
  - technologists,
• 11:50
  - data analysts,
• 11:52
  - operational leaders. We're all gonna have to work
• 11:54
  - together to co design these solutions.
• 11:57
  - And I'm very interested to watch and whether
• 12:00
  - or not we can truly shift to this
• 12:02
  - interdisciplinary
• 12:03
  - rapid development
• 12:05
  - cycles where digital and data and clinical expertise
• 12:09
  - are all sitting together at the same table
• 12:11
  - from day one.
• 12:15
  - I love that. Susan, thank you so much
• 12:17
  - for joining us on the podcast today. This
• 12:18
  - has been such a fun conversation. I really
• 12:21
  - learned a lot and am inspired by everything
• 12:23
  - you're doing at Lurie Children's. We look forward
• 12:25
  - to connecting with you again soon. I I
• 12:27
  - know you'll be speaking at our health IT
• 12:29
  - digital health and revenue cycle conference coming up
• 12:31
  - in September, where we'll truly dig into these
• 12:34
  - topics and talk much further about AI
• 12:37
  - and and clinician burnout and thinking through what's
• 12:39
  - gonna be the right strategy to,
• 12:42
  - govern AI and and more. So, thank you
• 12:45
  - for your time today, and I look forward
• 12:46
  - to seeing you in September.
• 12:48
  - Thank you so much, Laura. It was a
• 12:49
  - real pleasure to talk with you.