Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Improving Patient Experience Through Digital Health and Responsible AI with Dr. Bradley Locke

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Improving Patient Experience Through Digital Health and Responsible AI with Dr. Bradley Locke · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:00
  - Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
• 0:02
  - My name is Chanel Banger and I'm recording
• 0:04
  - live at the Becker's eleventh Annual Health IT,
• 0:07
  - Digital Health and RCM Conference in Chicago. And
• 0:10
  - I'm thrilled to be joined by Doctor. Bradley
• 0:12
  - Locke, the Chief Medical Information Officer at Prevea
• 0:15
  - Health, who joins us today to talk about
• 0:17
  - his background, headwinds he's keeping an eye on
• 0:19
  - and a bit more. Doctor. Locke, thank you
• 0:21
  - so much for joining me today. Thanks for
• 0:22
  - the invite. Perfect. Well, before we dig in,
• 0:25
  - could you please tell us a bit about
• 0:26
  - yourself and your background? Hi. My name is
• 0:28
  - Brad Lock. I'm a chief medical information officer
• 0:31
  - for Prevea Health. Prevea Health is a
• 0:34
  - multi specialty organization that's physician owned and physician
• 0:38
  - led. We have over 450
• 0:40
  - physicians and clinicians.
• 0:41
  - As the chief medical information officer, I help
• 0:44
  - to bridge the gap between the clinical world
• 0:47
  - and technology that we use to take care
• 0:48
  - of our patients.
• 0:50
  - Got it. Got it. And now to dig
• 0:51
  - into the meat of the podcast a bit,
• 0:54
  - can you give us a quick state of
• 0:55
  - the union? What has gone well this year,
• 0:57
  - and what are you most focused on for
• 0:58
  - the rest of 2026?
• 1:00
  - Yeah. We've had a lot of great successes
• 1:02
  - over the last year. We're really focusing on
• 1:05
  - the overall patient experience in bringing technology to
• 1:07
  - them.
• 1:08
  - We've done a handful of projects over the
• 1:11
  - last couple of years looking at supporting our
• 1:14
  - physicians, clinicians, and nursing staff,
• 1:16
  - but now trying to move more into the
• 1:18
  - patient experience.
• 1:20
  - Whether we believe it or not, patients,
• 1:23
  - believe
• 1:24
  - that their experience,
• 1:26
  - they compare us more not to health care
• 1:28
  - organizations, but to their everyday life. So every
• 1:31
  - experience that they have online with different companies
• 1:34
  - about,
• 1:35
  - shopping and getting things sent to their house
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  - next day
• 1:38
  - or being able to simply fill a grocery
• 1:41
  - store order on their phone and go pick
• 1:43
  - it up hours later. That's who we're being
• 1:46
  - compared to, not to other health care organizations.
• 1:49
  - It makes a lot of sense. And kind
• 1:50
  - of on the flip side of that, what
• 1:52
  - are the biggest headwinds that you're keeping an
• 1:54
  - eye on and preparing for?
• 1:55
  - Yeah. Probably the biggest,
• 1:57
  - headwind that we're facing.
• 1:59
  - AI has been
• 2:00
  - in every discussion,
• 2:01
  - that I get involved with, and it's been
• 2:04
  - great. We've been able to offer a lot
• 2:06
  - of new options
• 2:08
  - for both our internal staff as well as
• 2:10
  - externally to our patients.
• 2:12
  - But one of the problems that we wrestle
• 2:14
  - with is how to pay for this.
• 2:16
  - And so really just dealing with the tokenization
• 2:19
  - of
• 2:20
  - AI and how we deploy it responsibly
• 2:22
  - and then making sure that all the information
• 2:24
  - that we are obtaining from patients or using
• 2:27
  - internally,
• 2:28
  - making sure that that's all secure.
• 2:30
  - Got it. Got it. And can you talk
• 2:32
  - about what is your best opportunity to grow
• 2:35
  - in the next two to three years?
• 2:37
  - I think our biggest opportunity to grow is
• 2:39
  - really focusing
• 2:41
  - on,
• 2:42
  - our patients.
• 2:43
  - And so
• 2:44
  - we're really trying to expand our service area.
• 2:47
  - A lot of
• 2:49
  - consolidations and mergers have taken care... Taken place
• 2:52
  - in health care,
• 2:53
  - over the last several years, especially in our
• 2:56
  - area. And so
• 2:58
  - there are a wide array of patients who
• 3:00
  - are just not engaged with their health care
• 3:02
  - provider as much as they might want to
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  - be. And so that's where we're using a
• 3:07
  - lot of technology to engage with them better
• 3:09
  - and allow them to communicate with us more
• 3:11
  - effectively.
• 3:12
  - I know myself, if I am unable to
• 3:15
  - book an appointment
• 3:17
  - through an app on my phone
• 3:19
  - or reach out to,
• 3:21
  - schedule something or ask a question,
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  - I don't like picking up the phone and
• 3:25
  - calling somebody. And so I think the majority
• 3:28
  - of our patients,
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  - especially our younger patients, that's the way that
• 3:32
  - they're looking out to reach to us.
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  - So trying to involve them more in their
• 3:36
  - health care. People want to be able to
• 3:37
  - ask questions,
• 3:39
  - to our nurses and to our physicians.
• 3:42
  - So being able to get the answer to
• 3:44
  - them appropriately
• 3:45
  - and in the manner that they wanna communicate.
• 3:48
  - That makes a lot of sense. Well, Doctor.
• 3:50
  - Locke, I'd love to hear your perspective on
• 3:52
  - this. What advice would you give to emerging
• 3:55
  - leaders looking to have the same impact and
• 3:57
  - drive in their careers as you have?
• 3:58
  - Yeah, so I've been in my role for
• 4:00
  - about four or five years, and probably the
• 4:03
  - thing that I have learned in this role
• 4:05
  - is
• 4:06
  - don't be afraid to tell your boss no.
• 4:10
  - So a lot of times, if
• 4:12
  - our boss tells us to do something or
• 4:14
  - believes that that's the direction, a lot of
• 4:16
  - people will row in that direction, which is
• 4:18
  - great. But at the same point, being comfortable
• 4:20
  - in your own skin and being able to
• 4:22
  - articulate why we should not do something or
• 4:25
  - cannot do something,
• 4:26
  - being that voice of what are the barriers
• 4:28
  - to operational success, I think has added a
• 4:31
  - lot to this role. Well, doctor Locke, I
• 4:32
  - wanna thank you once again for your time
• 4:34
  - today and for sharing your insights on the
• 4:35
  - Becker's Healthcare podcast. Thank you so much. Thank
• 4:37
  - you so much.