Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Divya Pathak, Chief Data & AI Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals

Transcript

Divya Pathak, Chief Data & AI Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:00
  Philips is a health tech leader focused on
• 0:03
  innovation that improves the health and well-being of
• 0:06
  people. Our health care technology and informatics solutions
• 0:09
  help care teams diagnose, treat, and manage more
• 0:12
  patients with greater precision, speed, and confidence across
• 0:16
  the care journey. With Philips, clinicians are empowered
• 0:19
  with streamlined insights in the moments that matter
• 0:21
  for every patient. Better care for more people.
• 0:25
  Philips.
• 0:29
  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Health Care
• 0:30
  podcast recorded live with the 9th annual health
• 0:33
  IT digital health and RCM conference. I'm joined
• 0:36
  today by Divya Pathar, chief data and AI
• 0:38
  officer at NYC Health and Hospitals.
• 0:41
  Divya, to get us started, can you please
• 0:43
  tell us a little bit about yourself, your
• 0:44
  background, and your role at your organization?
• 0:46
  Absolutely. And, first of all, thank you for
• 0:48
  this opportunity. My name is Divya Pathak. I'm
• 0:51
  the chief data and AI officer at New
• 0:52
  York City Health and Hospitals, the largest public
• 0:55
  health care delivery system in the country.
• 0:57
  I have over 18 years experience
• 1:00
  in data, AI, and analytics
• 1:02
  in health care, and I've worked with with
• 1:04
  variety of diverse stakeholders
• 1:06
  across health systems, academic medical centers,
• 1:09
  payers, digital health, and pharmaceutical
• 1:12
  companies.
• 1:13
  Perfect. Well, AI adoption is exploding in health
• 1:16
  care right now. In your view, what's the
• 1:18
  most significant or promising application of this technology
• 1:21
  right now, and how is this informing your
• 1:23
  organization's innovation strategy?
• 1:26
  I agree. AI adoption in health care is
• 1:28
  rapidly advancing, and we are seeing a significant
• 1:31
  impact on both the clinical and the nonclinical
• 1:33
  areas even within health and hospitals.
• 1:35
  On the clinical side, AI powered decision support
• 1:38
  systems and personalized care models are enhancing the
• 1:42
  diagnostic, the treatment plans, and patient outcomes
• 1:45
  by
• 1:46
  integrating complex data sources like the medical records,
• 1:48
  the imaging, and the genomic data that provides
• 1:51
  us a vast opportunity to actually understand the
• 1:54
  patient population
• 1:56
  and also serve the patients better.
• 1:58
  Ambient listening technology is another one that we
• 2:01
  hear quite a bit, recently that's actually
• 2:04
  has multiple
• 2:05
  efficiencies in terms of reducing the documentation burden,
• 2:08
  improving the patient experience,
• 2:11
  leading to better scheduling optimization
• 2:13
  for the patients,
• 2:15
  and most importantly, reducing the clinical burnout. And
• 2:18
  we're seeing a lot more focus on that
• 2:19
  in our systems.
• 2:21
  On the nonclinical
• 2:22
  side, AI is driving major efficiencies and revenue
• 2:25
  cycle management
• 2:26
  by streamlining
• 2:27
  streamlining
• 2:28
  billing claims and optimizing revenue.
• 2:31
  Additionally, we've started using AI to support workforce
• 2:34
  management, provide predictive maintenance, and improving the overall
• 2:37
  operational efficiencies on the non clinical areas. To
• 2:40
  me, I think these advancements are not just
• 2:42
  shaping the industry, but also shaping New York
• 2:45
  City Health and Hospital's innovation strategy
• 2:47
  as we're trying to focus on
• 2:50
  care delivery, improved care delivery, and operational efficiencies
• 2:53
  and effectiveness across the whole system.
• 2:55
  So on a daily basis, health care leaders
• 2:57
  are managing greater volumes of data and more
• 2:59
  devices across a growing number of care settings
• 3:01
  and populations.
• 3:02
  In this complex environment, what clinical data integration
• 3:05
  tools or practices are you seeing drive improvements
• 3:07
  in patient outcomes and operations? And do you
• 3:09
  have an example or 2 you can share?
• 3:11
  So if you look at today's health care
• 3:13
  data,
• 3:15
  according to a recent survey, it constitutes to
• 3:18
  almost 32%
• 3:19
  of world's data volumes.
• 3:21
  So that's huge. So we're living in an
• 3:23
  explosion era.
• 3:25
  And,
• 3:26
  thanks to all the variables and other additional
• 3:28
  devices that's Bluetooth enabled, that increases just the
• 3:30
  volume on a daily basis.
• 3:32
  So it's important for us to understand the
• 3:34
  digital presence of this data that's focused on
• 3:36
  a patient's well-being and wellness. Mhmm. And one
• 3:39
  of the most impact ful tools that we
• 3:41
  have embraced within health and hospitals is
• 3:42
  the cloud based data platform, Snowflake Mhmm. Which
• 3:44
  is allowing us to have seamless integration of
• 3:45
  this diverse data sources, including the EHR, variables,
• 3:47
  and imaging data. And we're also adding genomics
• 3:50
  to it. So these platforms not only enable
• 3:54
  and we're also adding genomics to it. So
• 3:57
  these platforms not only enable real time analytics,
• 3:59
  but also enable more
• 4:01
  personalized care delivery Mhmm. That's required to our
• 4:04
  population.
• 4:05
  Another example I would give from our organization
• 4:08
  using this data platform
• 4:09
  is how we integrate the patient, the, data
• 4:12
  across various settings to enhance chronic disease management.
• 4:16
  By leveraging data and predictive analytics, we've been
• 4:19
  able to identify high risk patients earlier,
• 4:22
  enable timely interventions,
• 4:23
  and improve the long term outcomes Mhmm. Leading
• 4:26
  to reduced readmissions and improved outcomes for those
• 4:29
  patients. So this approach not only enhances patient
• 4:32
  care at health and hospitals, but it's also
• 4:34
  an important one to also optimize the resource
• 4:36
  allocation across the system. Perfect. Well, how can
• 4:39
  health care organizations better support IT and clinical
• 4:42
  teams as they carry out innovation efforts? And,
• 4:44
  what are some of the common pitfalls here?
• 4:46
  I think we are living in an evolving
• 4:47
  era where we're constantly learning how to adapt
• 4:50
  to the changing,
• 4:51
  situation and both in terms of the technology
• 4:53
  and the workforce. So I think it is
• 4:55
  important for healthier organizations
• 4:57
  knowing the uncertainty we are living in to
• 5:00
  foster stronger collaboration,
• 5:02
  provide the right resources
• 5:03
  and support of the talent needed, and more
• 5:05
  importantly, encourage a culture of innovation and continuous
• 5:08
  learning.
• 5:09
  Clear communication between IT and clinical teams is
• 5:12
  essential to ensure that the technology solutions align
• 5:16
  with the work streams and the clinical needs,
• 5:19
  and providing adequate training,
• 5:21
  and change management support is also critical. So
• 5:24
  there's a lot of cultural
• 5:25
  aspect to also embracing AI Right. Right. In
• 5:28
  ecosystems.
• 5:30
  So with your experience, what's your top piece
• 5:32
  of advice for other health care leaders as
• 5:35
  they prepare for further advancements in technology and
• 5:37
  greater demands for care?
• 5:39
  My top piece of advice would be embrace
• 5:41
  the randomness,
• 5:42
  prioritize agility and adaptability in both in the
• 5:45
  technology and the workforce development.
• 5:48
  And why is this important? Because as we
• 5:50
  look at advancements in AI, data integration and
• 5:52
  also telehealth, it's rapidly shaping the care delivery
• 5:55
  models. We're moving from
• 5:57
  brick and mortar style, and thanks to COVID,
• 6:00
  we reimagine healthcare. We've moved to more virtual
• 6:03
  delivery models. So it's important to enable that
• 6:06
  culture of continuous learning and cross functional collaborations.
• 6:10
  And, it's also important to be mindful of
• 6:12
  the growing complexity in the care settings and
• 6:15
  the data management.
• 6:17
  Additionally, I would say that investing in robust
• 6:19
  data governance, which is foundational to everything AI
• 6:23
  and security measures is very important for health
• 6:25
  care organizations.
• 6:26
  So balancing the technology
• 6:28
  advancements with strong governance and clinical clinician engagement,
• 6:33
  I think, is is a good sustainable
• 6:35
  growth path for bringing and adopting health care.
• 6:38
  Yeah. Well, Divya, thank you so much for
• 6:41
  joining us today on the Becker's Health Care
• 6:42
  podcast. I really appreciate the conversation. You have
• 6:44
  an absolutely lovely rest of your day. Thank
• 6:46
  you so much for this opportunity.
• 6:48
  Pleasure.