Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / AI, Digital Transformation, and Building Scalable Innovation in Healthcare with Jason Szczuka

Transcript

AI, Digital Transformation, and Building Scalable Innovation in Healthcare with Jason Szczuka · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - Every health system executive right now is being
• 0:04
  - asked to do something that has no useful
• 0:06
  - precedent,
• 0:07
  - make durable technology decisions in an environment that
• 0:10
  - looks meaningfully different every six months.
• 0:13
  - The pace isn't slowing,
• 0:14
  - the vendor landscape isn't getting simpler, and the
• 0:17
  - cost of missteps
• 0:18
  - keeps rising.
• 0:19
  - Becker's eleventh annual IT and Revenue Cycle Conference,
• 0:23
  - The Future of AI and Digital Health, exists
• 0:25
  - for exactly this challenge.
• 0:27
  - Here, you'll find more than 2,500 executive level
• 0:30
  - attendees,
• 0:31
  - 600 plus speakers, and four days of sessions
• 0:34
  - built around the questions leaders are actually wrestling
• 0:36
  - with.
• 0:37
  - How to scale AI responsibly,
• 0:39
  - how to protect increasingly complex systems,
• 0:42
  - how to wring more performance out of the
• 0:44
  - revenue cycle, and how to make tech investments
• 0:46
  - that hold up over time.
• 0:48
  - Join us September fourteenth through the seventeenth at
• 0:51
  - the Hilton Chicago.
• 0:53
  - You can register on our events page at
• 0:55
  - beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:57
  - by clicking on the events tab in the
• 0:59
  - upper right.
• 1:01
  - This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:03
  - podcast.
• 1:04
  - I'm thrilled today to be joined by Jason
• 1:05
  - Sazuca,
• 1:07
  - who is the chief digital officer of Bon
• 1:08
  - Secours Mercy Health and president of Accrete Health
• 1:11
  - Partners, which is the health system digital investment
• 1:14
  - arm. Jason, it's a pleasure to have you
• 1:15
  - on the podcast today. Thanks for having me.
• 1:18
  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation because
• 1:21
  - I know that you're doing so many interesting
• 1:23
  - things, and, really truly looking into what the
• 1:26
  - future of health care delivery could be like
• 1:27
  - with the technology and innovation that you're doing
• 1:29
  - at Bon Secours Mercy Health. But before we
• 1:32
  - dive in, can you tell us a little
• 1:33
  - bit more about yourself and the organization?
• 1:35
  - Yeah.
• 1:36
  - So my world, both as the chief digital
• 1:39
  - officer and then leading how we
• 1:42
  - work with,
• 1:43
  - outside innovators
• 1:44
  - as both a an investor and and a
• 1:46
  - client,
• 1:47
  - really kinda sits at the intersection of digital
• 1:50
  - transformation
• 1:51
  - because it's really focusing in on our patients'
• 1:54
  - experience,
• 1:55
  - our own operating efficiencies.
• 1:57
  - And then most exponentially helpful to us is
• 2:00
  - our venture partnerships
• 2:01
  - that we create and help scale,
• 2:04
  - across the health care ecosystem.
• 2:06
  - Before BSMH, I was chief digital officer at
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  - Cigna,
• 2:11
  - via its acquisition of a digital health company
• 2:13
  - that I cofounded called Bryter.
• 2:16
  - We're so I'd I'd, served in my role
• 2:17
  - at Cigna for for three years before joining
• 2:20
  - Bon Secours Mercy Health. So I've kinda had
• 2:22
  - the privilege of seeing health care innovation,
• 2:25
  - not only from a start up, a payer,
• 2:27
  - a provider, and an investor,
• 2:29
  - which kind of rounds out the viewpoints that
• 2:32
  - kind of help us
• 2:33
  - more quickly get to the solutions that not
• 2:36
  - only work for us, but that we can
• 2:37
  - also help scale. You know, when I think
• 2:39
  - about BSMH,
• 2:41
  - what I really find exciting about what we're
• 2:44
  - doing is that we're not pursuing technology just
• 2:46
  - for its own sake.
• 2:48
  - We're asking, you know, how can digital tools
• 2:50
  - help people access our care better, help our
• 2:54
  - clinicians and our operators
• 2:55
  - work smarter,
• 2:56
  - and most importantly, help our ministry deliver on
• 3:00
  - its mission more effectively.
• 3:02
  - In thinking through what,
• 3:04
  - where you're at today, I'm curious. From your
• 3:07
  - perspective, what are some of the most powerful
• 3:09
  - forces that are shaping digital health and IT,
• 3:12
  - for you right now? And how do you
• 3:13
  - anticipate they'll evolve in the next year or
• 3:15
  - so?
• 3:16
  - Yeah. That's a that's a great question. And,
• 3:19
  - you know, when I think about it and
• 3:20
  - my focus
• 3:22
  - and what it transcends
• 3:23
  - is really around
• 3:25
  - making sure
• 3:27
  - that Bondscore Mercy Health as the deliverer of
• 3:30
  - care
• 3:31
  - is actually approaching digital transformation
• 3:34
  - in a more practical way,
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  - and we do that by ensuring it's mutually
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  - beneficial
• 3:40
  - across all stakeholders.
• 3:42
  - So we're using
• 3:43
  - AI,
• 3:44
  - digital ventures,
• 3:46
  - and operating partnerships
• 3:48
  - to make sure that we are actually improving
• 3:50
  - access,
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  - experiences,
• 3:52
  - and efficiencies,
• 3:54
  - not just for innovation's sake, but for innovation
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  - that leads to measurable work that actually gets
• 4:00
  - embedded inside our health system.
• 4:02
  - So when I think about that,
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  - you know, at a real macro level,
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  - I boil it down into three
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  - forces that I think are gonna shape digital
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  - health and IT
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  - over the next few years. And that's first
• 4:16
  - is, obviously,
• 4:17
  - when we think about AI,
• 4:19
  - it has to move from experimentation
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  - to accountable workflow redesign.
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  - Otherwise,
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  - it's just AI for AI's sake, and I
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  - think that's where we see a lot of
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  - the slop that's that's permeated
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  - systems early on.
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  - And then second,
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  - the need to improve access and experience
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  - without adding burden to clinicians.
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  - We see so many great ideas
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  - that end up being dead on arrival
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  - because they're not able to complement
• 4:48
  - existing,
• 4:49
  - strenuous workflows
• 4:51
  - that our clinicians are already facing. So we're
• 4:53
  - constantly looking to make sure we complement and
• 4:55
  - streamline wherever pressure.
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  - And third, and let's face it, the most
• 5:00
  - important one is around the financial pressures in
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  - this space.
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  - Digital investments are gonna have to show clear
• 5:08
  - operational
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  - value.
• 5:10
  - The winners are not gonna be the organizations
• 5:12
  - with the most pilots
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  - out and going. They're gonna be the ones
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  - that connect AI and digital tools
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  - to real operating problems
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  - with clear ownership and measurable outcomes.
• 5:24
  - We're now at that stage of the maturity
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  - curve as as a industry
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  - that that is going to be the requirement
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  - as we all plan our budgets year after
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  - year and how we're gonna invest in our
• 5:37
  - digital digital initiatives.
• 5:40
  - That makes a lot of sense. You know,
• 5:41
  - it's so interesting to see that paradigm shift
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  - in AI as you mentioned, you know, going
• 5:46
  - from that pilot experimentation
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  - phase now into how do we actually create
• 5:50
  - adoption across the organization, what does it mean
• 5:53
  - to,
• 5:54
  - truly have that transformation going, and then looking
• 5:56
  - at, you know, where health care is headed.
• 5:58
  - Obviously, a lot of financial pressures
• 6:00
  - today and then likely will compound in the
• 6:03
  - next couple of years given policy and legislation
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  - that's coming through in just the current trends.
• 6:07
  - And so, you know, from your perspective, how
• 6:09
  - are you looking at measuring some of the
• 6:11
  - impact of, the technology you're bringing in, and
• 6:14
  - and what do you see as being the
• 6:16
  - spaces where, you know, you're most likely to
• 6:19
  - to be able to make an impact with
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  - AI and technology versus, you know, needing to
• 6:24
  - build additional,
• 6:26
  - through lines or or kind of the secondary
• 6:29
  - impact from from what the AI is able
• 6:31
  - to deliver?
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  - Yeah. I think when when we think about
• 6:34
  - the problems
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  - that are most important for us to solve
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  - with AI and
• 6:40
  - other technologies right now,
• 6:42
  - I will hone in on AI.
• 6:43
  - But most importantly is it can't become just
• 6:46
  - another dashboard layer.
• 6:47
  - It has to reduce friction. It has to
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  - improve decisions. And and at the end of
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  - the day, it has to create capacity
• 6:55
  - that can be reinvested and redeployed
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  - into the higher quality,
• 7:00
  - lower cost delivery of health care. So the
• 7:02
  - most important problem
• 7:04
  - is moving from AI as a set of
• 7:07
  - promising tools
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  - to AI as a repeatable operating capability.
• 7:12
  - And that means identifying
• 7:14
  - your highest friction workflows,
• 7:17
  - making sure the technology is safe and usable,
• 7:20
  - and then importantly,
• 7:21
  - holding teams accountable
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  - for measuring the improvements that it does or
• 7:26
  - does not deliver.
• 7:28
  - You know, in health care, technology only matters
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  - if it helps someone make a better decision,
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  - get care more easily,
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  - or spend less time,
• 7:39
  - doing work that could be automated.
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  - That's really helpful and definitely makes a lot
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  - of sense when you're thinking about, you know,
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  - where technology and and AI,
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  - has the best use cases and and looking
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  - into where what, is gonna be make the
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  - biggest difference.
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  - Now I'm curious. Is there anything you'd like
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  - to tell us about that you're most proud
• 7:58
  - of from the last year, a big swing
• 7:59
  - potentially,
• 8:01
  - that you took? What did you do and
• 8:02
  - what were the results?
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  - Yeah. I think
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  - my one big swing that I'm, I'm most
• 8:09
  - proud of is actually the culmination of a
• 8:12
  - lot of smaller swings that
• 8:14
  - not only we took at Accrete Health Partners,
• 8:17
  - but we did so with our operating partners
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  - around,
• 8:20
  - Bon Secours Mercy Health. And is that and
• 8:23
  - and that is that we actually were able
• 8:25
  - to continue to mature Accrete Health Partners
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  - as a traditional venture arm. You know, we
• 8:31
  - are a we we are blessed
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  - with the backing of a great health system
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  - like Bondscore Mercy Health
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  - to go out and try things,
• 8:41
  - but we've maintained the discipline
• 8:44
  - of not just going out and trying things
• 8:46
  - just to have a bunch of projects in
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  - flight. We intentionally
• 8:50
  - start with our own health system needs,
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  - knowing that if they're needs of ours, there's
• 8:55
  - gonna be needs for others,
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  - for for interesting
• 9:00
  - technological
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  - solutions.
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  - And as I think about how we go
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  - about doing that,
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  - what becomes
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  - most meaningful
• 9:08
  - and from a largest payoff perspective
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  - is how
• 9:12
  - our operating as a venture arm
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  - results in aligning
• 9:16
  - the stakeholders
• 9:18
  - across our ecosystem
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  - with our own operators
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  - in outside investors, and then most importantly,
• 9:25
  - outside innovators
• 9:26
  - that are able to develop solutions that we're
• 9:29
  - never gonna develop in house, but we're starving
• 9:32
  - to adopt them because we realize the impact
• 9:36
  - that they're gonna have.
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  - So when I think about what I'm most
• 9:39
  - proud of, it's that we're not just pursuing
• 9:43
  - deal activity for deal activity's sakes. We have
• 9:46
  - a really high batting average
• 9:48
  - for a solution that that we take a
• 9:51
  - swing at, not only is a win
• 9:55
  - for the manner in which we deliver health
• 9:57
  - care to our patients and by our providers,
• 10:00
  - but then how that solution then is able
• 10:03
  - to use our success
• 10:05
  - and scale outside of BSMH with with other
• 10:07
  - systems.
• 10:08
  - This has really been a situation where rising
• 10:10
  - tide is raising all boats.
• 10:12
  - That if I had to selfishly say what
• 10:14
  - I'm most proud of, that's it.
• 10:17
  - I love that. I I think it's so,
• 10:19
  - interesting how you're able to build that ecosystem
• 10:21
  - and and really see the value for all
• 10:23
  - stakeholders and then bring them on board. It's,
• 10:25
  - you know, certainly no easy task, to help
• 10:27
  - people understand, you know, truly what is possible
• 10:30
  - with AI and technology and and then have
• 10:32
  - them buy in and adopt it in in
• 10:35
  - a way that's most beneficial. So I think,
• 10:37
  - you know, that's definitely a huge task, and
• 10:40
  - I appreciate that a ton.
• 10:42
  - Before we wrap up here, I am curious,
• 10:44
  - what are you most curious about for the
• 10:46
  - future? What do you is top of mind
• 10:47
  - for you as you're thinking about, you know,
• 10:49
  - what is possible in health care and and
• 10:51
  - what we'll need in order to get there?
• 10:53
  - I that's a that's a great question.
• 10:56
  - I I tend to always tie
• 10:59
  - cure my own curiosity to what I'm most
• 11:02
  - optimistic about. Right? Because that's where I wanna
• 11:05
  - spend my time become being curious.
• 11:07
  - And my my my naysayers would say, well,
• 11:10
  - he's not optimistic enough,
• 11:12
  - and so he should be spending more time
• 11:14
  - thinking about other things. But it's also why
• 11:16
  - I have a really high batting average. So,
• 11:19
  - I'm optimistic
• 11:20
  - about a future in which digital health
• 11:24
  - feels less like a separate channel,
• 11:27
  - at health systems like ours
• 11:29
  - and more like a natural
• 11:31
  - intelligent
• 11:32
  - layer across
• 11:34
  - all aspects of the care experience
• 11:37
  - from the patient that's receiving it to the
• 11:39
  - provider that's delivering it to the operator that's
• 11:42
  - facilitating
• 11:44
  - the platforms that both both of those are
• 11:46
  - operating off of.
• 11:48
  - So
• 11:49
  - I'm now then curious,
• 11:51
  - based on my optimism,
• 11:53
  - about whether health care can actually use AI
• 11:58
  - to redesign
• 11:59
  - work
• 12:00
  - rather than simply automate fragments of the old
• 12:03
  - model.
• 12:04
  - The opportunity is is not just faster documentation
• 12:08
  - or smarter, simpler scheduling.
• 12:11
  - It's about rethinking how patients navigate
• 12:14
  - care,
• 12:15
  - how we can get more high quality clinicians
• 12:19
  - to come into this industry to help deliver
• 12:21
  - it. And then at an at an organizational
• 12:24
  - level, how health systems
• 12:26
  - will continue to partner with innovators
• 12:29
  - so that we can more rapidly
• 12:32
  - produce
• 12:33
  - solutions
• 12:34
  - that will have real adoption.
• 12:37
  - So if there, you know, if there's one
• 12:38
  - thing that I'd I'd leave the listeners of
• 12:41
  - this with and what I'm looking forward to
• 12:42
  - talking with with folks in September and Chicago
• 12:45
  - at your conference around
• 12:47
  - is that, you know, health care innovation has
• 12:50
  - to become more disciplined.
• 12:52
  - We need ambition to be sure,
• 12:54
  - but we need to couple that with the
• 12:56
  - operating rigor so that we identify
• 12:59
  - clear problems.
• 13:01
  - We we couple that with accountable owners
• 13:04
  - for for solving
• 13:06
  - that is actually based on measurable outcomes.
• 13:10
  - And then lastly, that everyone
• 13:12
  - understands
• 13:14
  - there are gonna need to be sustainable
• 13:16
  - partnerships
• 13:17
  - across
• 13:19
  - large health systems like Bon Secours, Mercy Health,
• 13:23
  - across large payers like Cigna and United,
• 13:26
  - etcetera,
• 13:28
  - across large platforms, whether it be Epic or
• 13:31
  - Microsoft
• 13:32
  - or Workday.
• 13:33
  - And then lastly, the innovators that are finding
• 13:36
  - the white spaces
• 13:38
  - amongst those big players
• 13:40
  - and bringing forward
• 13:42
  - innovative,
• 13:44
  - repeatable, scalable solutions,
• 13:47
  - to to fill those white spaces.
• 13:49
  - If we're able to do that, we're gonna
• 13:51
  - make life better for patients,
• 13:54
  - for our clinicians,
• 13:55
  - and for ourselves of as the people that
• 13:58
  - are running the health systems.
• 14:00
  - And that if that doesn't get you excited,
• 14:03
  - then you should call your career quits because
• 14:06
  - that's what's gonna be really cool to work
• 14:07
  - on over these next few years.
• 14:10
  - I love it. Jason, thank you so much
• 14:12
  - for joining us on the podcast today. This
• 14:13
  - has been such a fun and inspiring conversation.
• 14:16
  - Truly amazing to hear about what you're doing
• 14:18
  - with both supporters Mercyhealth and then how you're
• 14:20
  - thinking about the future. And I'm excited to
• 14:22
  - dig in deeper as well at our health
• 14:24
  - IT and revenue cycle conference coming up in
• 14:27
  - September. I know you'll be a speaker there
• 14:28
  - and, truly just, you you know, will be
• 14:31
  - fascinating to be with so many different CIOs
• 14:33
  - and digital leaders,
• 14:35
  - across the spectrum who are making a big
• 14:36
  - difference within their organizations
• 14:38
  - and learning about how they're thinking
• 14:40
  - as well. I'm look I'm looking forward to
• 14:42
  - September. It's it's an important event every year,
• 14:44
  - but it becomes more and more important every
• 14:46
  - year too as as these things become more
• 14:48
  - and more possible for us.