Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Dr. Tinu Tadese, Vice President and Enterprise Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Boston Medical Center

Transcript

Dr. Tinu Tadese, Vice President and Enterprise Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Boston Medical Center · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by doctor
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  Tina Tadeshe, who is the system CMIO
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  at Boston Medical Center. Doctor Tadeshe, it's a
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  pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  Thank you very much. I'm excited to be
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  here.
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  Absolutely. Well, I'm looking forward to our conversation
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  because I know there's a lot happening at
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  Boston Medical Center right now, and particularly as
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  you're bringing on some new hospitals and just
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  a lot of transformation. So I'm excited to
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  learn more. But before we dive in, can
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  you tell us a little bit more about
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  yourself and your background?
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  Yeah. I'll be glad to. Thank you. My
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  name is Tinutadeh.
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  I'm a physician executive,
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  currently serving as a vice president and system
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  CMIO,
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  at Boston Medical Center.
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  I got into health IT,
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  about fourteen years ago,
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  and, I am originally trained as a pediatrician.
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  And today, my passion lies in building the
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  informatics
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  structures
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  and
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  multidisciplinary
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  teams that support the complex health care system.
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  So that's where my passion lies.
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  I'm really committed to raising the next generation
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  of informaticians,
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  especially physicians.
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  So,
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  that's my focus right now at this point
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  in time, making sure our clinical and operational
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  sides of health care
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  and health IT all all work well together.
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  That's a little bit about myself. I'm sure
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  we'll talk more.
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  Absolutely. Well, that's fantastic to hear. And I
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  know, you know, there's so much need for
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  especially that bridge between the clinical and IT
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  side, and so it's fantastic to hear that
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  you're so committed to growing in that space.
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  Now what opportunities and headwinds do you have
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  your eye on right now?
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  So, that's a great question.
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  One of the most exciting opportunities
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  where I work right now
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  is is is it's a little complex, but
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  but I'm excited about it.
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  Right now, we're focused on scaling and integrating,
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  all our informatics structure to to so to
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  support this very
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  diverse health system.
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  So
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  our health system, we have a health plan.
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  We have several things going on. So
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  when you think about it, we have two
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  new hospitals we have just on onboarded or
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  we're onboarding.
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  We're blessed to have, Boston Medical South.
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  We used to call it Good Sam or
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  Good Samaritan. It's now called Boston Medical South.
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  And then we also,
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  onboarded, and part of our family now is
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  Saint Elizabeth. So we call it Boston Medical,
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  Center Brighton.
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  And then our WellCents health plan, our Clearway
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  Health, and we just have a lot going
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  on with community health centers. So with that
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  kind of complex,
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  environment,
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  we do face headwinds, of course.
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  Right now, we are,
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  expanding our EHR to this new hospitals we've
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  just acquired,
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  and,
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  yet we continue to to provide,
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  great patient care. That's our plan with this
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  new hospital. So
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  the opportunities
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  are ahead of us, making sure we're able
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  to do this speedily so our our physicians
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  and other clinicians can work
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  and so that we can continue to provide
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  great care for for our patients.
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  So
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  my headwinds,
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  not headwinds like we can't solve it, but
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  how to
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  expand our informatics structure
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  across these two hospitals, our health plans, our
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  community health centers,
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  and build teams that will,
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  continue to support not just, patient care, patient
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  experience, patient safety,
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  but also make sure that we're reimbursed
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  appropriately
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  as we deliver this care.
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  So
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  headwinds in a way,
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  very complex challenges trying to make sure that
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  we keep the cultures
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  alive
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  and yet be integrated
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  as one.
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  So that's where my head is right now.
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  That's what I'm focused on, and it's exciting
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  but challenging.
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  Absolutely. Wow. There a lot going on there
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  for sure, especially
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  looking at, you know, just trying to make
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  sure you've got that great patient care, bringing
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  on the new hospitals,
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  and then,
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  forming a team and a culture that is
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  excited about,
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  providing that experience for patients. And and really,
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  truly, I know technology supports a lot of
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  that. So how are you thinking about growth
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  and adding value for the organization in the
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  future?
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  So,
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  that's another good question.
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  Growth for me and,
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  for my team
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  in in this health care space would be
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  making sure that we have the right people
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  in the right place. So make making sure
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  that we're investing
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  in in our physician,
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  informaticians,
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  and,
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  informatic structures, and our non physicians as well
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  to make sure that they can actually bring
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  all this vision to pass.
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  When you think about it, creating quality,
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  safety, and equity, it's it's not just about
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  the tools. It's more about the work flows
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  and an understanding
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  of who our patients are,
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  making sure that whether they're underserved,
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  population
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  or whether they they're robust
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  financially,
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  making sure that patient care does not suffer.
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  That will give them great care. That's our
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  mission at at Boston Medical Center. But then
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  you now need folks who can who can
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  deliver this. We have great physicians, great nurses,
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  but you need great
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  physician informaticians.
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  So I am thinking that we need to
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  not just have what we have in house,
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  but we need to grow it. I'm looking
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  forward to growing a pipeline of physician informaticians,
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  at our,
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  health system,
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  looking into our medical school, Boston University's,
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  affiliated with us, looking into our,
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  ACGME
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  programs, making sure that we're creating pathways for
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  residents and fellows who might be interested in
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  this,
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  and and just mentoring them and and and
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  also making sure that we're well,
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  integrated with our clinical operations,
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  our revenue cycle space, and and that we
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  have a very tight culture when it comes
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  to health IT.
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  So that's how I I foresee us adding
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  growth and value,
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  to our health system at this point in
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  time.
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  I love that. I I think it's such
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  an important thing to remember
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  as you're looking at that pipeline of new
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  physician informaticists
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  and figuring out a way that you can
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  bring that level of, connectivity to them right
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  from the beginning when you're mentoring them as
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  residents and fellows.
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  Fellows and and developing,
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  not only the clinical and technology expertise, but
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  then also understanding how revenue cycle comes in.
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  I I know you mentioned earlier just some
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  of the challenges with reimbursement and figuring out,
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  how you can, you know, truly
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  capture all the the pay that's,
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  there and available for you. So I think
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  that's, amazing to hear, and what a great
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  way to,
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  set up the program. Now from your perspective,
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  what is one risk or investment that's still
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  worth making this year? Even as though I
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  I know, you know, there are a lot
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  of hospitals and health systems are facing tight
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  margins and some uncertainties,
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  what would you still say is crucial for
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  hospitals and systems to invest in as they're
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  thinking about digital transformation in the future?
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  Yeah. That's a great question too. I when
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  I look at it and,
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  in informatics,
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  the field of clinical informatics especially is is
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  pretty young when you compare it to the
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  rest of,
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  the specialties and subspecialties
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  in medicine.
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  So this is an opportune time for us
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  to expand it more,
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  practically.
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  So when we cut back, and we are
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  cutting back in every way, just like other
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  health systems are, just just the headwinds in
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  the in the country right now as we
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  try to become more fiscally responsible
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  in every way as a nation,
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  one of the things that I think we
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  can pull back on is, again, developing
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  the next generation of informatics leaders.
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  I know folks think about technology
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  as, oh, you're in the EHR space, you're
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  in the tech
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  space. At the end of the day, people,
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  humans actually use this technology,
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  and you got to get folks in there
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  that understand
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  clinical informatics. That is you understand the clinical
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  side, but you have to design systems that
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  work. So
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  if I'm gonna make any investment this year
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  as we get into the new physical year,
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  it will be in people,
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  People that support our physicians,
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  our nurses,
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  making sure that
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  even if I don't add a new application,
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  new technology,
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  I invest in folks that can support
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  our clinicians,
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  make sure that what we're doing is helping
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  our rev cycle space,
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  it's helping our finance space.
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  But I also wanna invest in physician informatic
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  leaders,
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  make sure they're well mentored, they're well trained,
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  make sure we give them the materials they
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  know they need to grow.
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  So that would be my investment. It's worth
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  making. You will reap the benefits,
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  for for many years to come.
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  Technology
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  and AI, all of these things come. They're
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  very shiny, but they do pass away because
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  new things replace them. But for people, when
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  you invest in them and you develop them,
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  they give you,
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  a lot of,
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  I guess, return on investment over in the
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  next years to come. So that's where my
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  head is, investing in people and developing new
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  physician informatic leaders.
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  That's fantastic to hear. You know? And, certainly,
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  it makes a lot of sense when you
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  look at where the future is headed and
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  how technology is integrating into basically every aspect
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  of the health care system.
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  Now when you look for yourself, where do
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  you see some of the best opportunities for
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  growth in the future? How are you continuing
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  to elevate,
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  from your role as the system CMIO?
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  Well, for myself, looking inwards, the same thing
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  I would want for for my team and
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  people around me is is development.
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  I must continue to evolve. I must continue
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  to develop.
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  I must continue to understand the new technologies,
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  that we have. Understand
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  AI.
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  I'm into that space. But understand beyond AI.
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  Get beyond the shiny
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  new objects into the practical details of how
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  does this help us, how can we make
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  it so useful that,
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  it drives our systems, but it does not
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  replace
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  our people.
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  You will always need a human. There's just
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  nothing that can replace a human, but then
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  yet I still need to understand this new
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  technology. So that's where I see myself developing,
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  understanding how I can use this support to
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  support our population health initiatives.
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  It it it's new in the health care
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  space.
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  We've been driving this for a while since
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  my days,
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  when I just started in
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  in informatics,
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  in one of the vendor spaces where there
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  was a lot of development,
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  in in mass machine learning.
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  There there's a lot going on now. It's
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  front and center for everyone,
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  but
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  we need to move beyond, oh, I wanna
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  use AI into
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  let's start to get a return on investment
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  on that. So I wanna develop in that
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  area
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  AI, but more in the area of actually
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  having practical,
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  tangible
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  ROIs,
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  in the AI space.
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  And it's it can't just be,
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  a catchphrase
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  where using AI, it has to be, we
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  used AI and in pop health, this is
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  what we delivered with it. With our primary
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  care physicians, this is what we delivered with
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  a tangible ROI. That's where I see myself
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  growing
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  and and just invest in my own time.
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  That's amazing to hear. Doctor Tadeshi, thank you
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  so much for joining us on the podcast
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  today. This has been a a really amazing
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  conversation. I've learned a lot, and I I
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  look forward to,
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  connect continuing the conversation again soon.
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  Thank you so much. I am grateful for
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  this opportunity.