Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Darrell Bodnar, Chief Information Officer of North Country Healthcare

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Darrell Bodnar, Chief Information Officer of North Country Healthcare · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Join us April 13 through the sixteenth.
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  upper right.
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  Hello, everyone. Welcome to Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm
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  Scott King. Thrilled today to be joined by
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  a very special guest, Daryl Bodner, chief information
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  officer, North Country Healthcare. Daryl, how are you
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  doing today? Thanks so much for joining us.
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  I'm doing I'm doing great, Scott. Thank you
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  so much for having me. No. It's great
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  to have you. I know we're gonna dive
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  into a lot of kind of big topics,
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  facing health care right now and and some
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  trends and even some news. But before we
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  get into all that, I was just wondering
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  if you could please tell us a little
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  about yourself and your, career journey.
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  Yeah. Sure. My name is Daryl Bodner. I'm
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  a chief information officer for North Country Healthcare.
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  North Country Healthcare is a group of three
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  critical access hospitals and a home health agency.
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  I've been the CIO in this role for,
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  about six years now, but I've actually been
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  in health care IT for a total of
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  thirty six, if you can believe it at
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  this point.
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  But it's, we're we're a really interesting use
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  case where three critical access hospitals functioning independently
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  without a tertiary affiliation.
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  And it it makes us,
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  unique in the sense that we can we
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  can really control,
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  our own destiny without having to worry about
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  some of those, but there's, of course, risks
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  involved with that without having some some additional,
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  support in the mix. But it's a very
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  interesting use case, and we've made some some
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  pretty impressive,
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  impressive statistics over over our time in the
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  last six years.
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  Appreciate you sharing all that background info, Daryl.
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  Let let me ask you. As your as
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  the CIO of your org, what what do
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  you see as your biggest responsibility right now?
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  So right now, I think, as we continue
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  to move forward, trying to navigate the the
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  changes going on, from a regulatory perspective,
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  and and some changes coming out of Washington
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  that we're trying to adapt and handle.
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  The Rural Healthcare Transformation Fund is a big
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  one as we're trying to look to position
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  ourselves in alignment with the state,
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  of New Hampshire to be able to look
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  at how we'll leverage those dollars.
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  But, you know, from that perspective internally, I
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  think a lot of it's the technology,
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  the rapid deployment of of artificial intelligence, machine
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  learning, those types of technologies,
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  and responsibly
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  making sure those have a place to fit,
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  appropriately within the organization.
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  What was the most important initiative you led
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  last in the past year?
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  And, you know, what did you do for
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  that, and what were the results?
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  Well, I'd have to say it'll go back
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  to some of the AI deployments that we've
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  done. And in particular, I'm sure like everybody
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  else, the the the rapid adoption of, ambient
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  voice technologies
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  within the patient interaction space, primarily in our
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  primary care offices, but also in specialty practices
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  and other areas.
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  We saw,
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  a huge deployment and a huge adoption of
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  it quickly.
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  And honestly, we started to see improved
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  outcomes on two areas that we wanted to
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  see. One was provider satisfaction.
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  The deployment of this technologies was never about
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  productivity, but it was clearly focused on trying
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  to ease some of the providers burden,
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  and the challenges they have. And we've also
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  received surprisingly a lot of positive feedback from
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  the patient population because now they feel more
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  engaged with their providers as the providers talk
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  to them as opposed to, you know, provide
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  care over the top of a laptop screen.
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  As you look ahead, what are the big
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  priorities that, in headwinds, you're focused on for
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  for this year, for 2026?
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  I would have to say it's probably
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  in the area of balancing innovation and and
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  sustainability.
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  You know, as we look at a a
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  changing payer market, we look at, a lot
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  of,
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  payers leaving, the the the marketplace in terms
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  of ACA,
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  and some of those challenges with with, Medicaid,
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  patients.
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  Those all create risks for a rural hospital
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  organization where, you know, we see a big
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  part of our paramedics being those government funded.
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  That along with the need to increase technology,
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  to increase
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  the efficiency and effectiveness
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  of our
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  staff, clinically, but also in in the operational
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  space as well. To me, that is, like,
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  our biggest priority is just trying to keep
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  that balance going because there's a lot of
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  unknowns of what's gonna happen over the next
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  one to two years as we plan this
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  out.
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  You know, I I it's just interesting. I've
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  been interviewing people on the payer side this
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  week as well. And, you know, certainly, with
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  that relationship, there's always a lot of, give
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  and take. But do do you find also
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  that from the payer side, they're also kind
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  of in the same situation as providers in
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  that they're facing so
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  many regulatory
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  elements that sometimes in that relationship, do you
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  feel like it's kinda like, alright. Look. We
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  both we both have have a full load
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  here. Let's just see what we can get
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  done. Let's try to work together on x
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  y z.
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  Absolutely. And it's and it's odd. You know,
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  I I realized that they're having some of
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  the same regulatory changes that are occurring in
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  in their models.
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  And, what we're what we're starting to see,
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  and and I think this is finally maybe
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  the catalyst that gets us to a place
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  we should have been, was to work closer
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  with the payers. It's been,
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  without a doubt, it seems adversarial at times,
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  through even through negotiations,
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  and feelings of, of, you know, what's prior
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  auth, what isn't, and how complex can we
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  make that process so that we, you know,
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  you you you get these, these, you know,
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  procedures approved or not.
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  But I'm starting to see that they're working
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  through that. And I also think the introduction
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  of AI
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  in a lot of spaces and making it
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  more transparent. So, as we go through and
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  there's, you know, specific requirements,
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  we're leveraging technology to to meet those requirements.
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  And in turn, I think the, you know,
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  the insurance companies, the payers are are doing
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  the same.
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  I'm hoping at some point we can make
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  that entire process objective as opposed to the
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  subjectivity that's currently,
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  you know, spread across the board when it
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  comes to those types of of service approvals.
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  Yeah. So I think that would be great.
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  Absolutely.
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  What's the hardest thing you'll have to do
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  this year, you think, Darryl?
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  Well, I think I think making sure that
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  we we try to better understand how the
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  the, the payers are gonna work and how
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  reimbursement's gonna work.
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  The the challenges for rural health care, I
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  think, we we just don't have the depth
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  that I think a lot of of PPS
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  hospitals and larger organizations have. And trying to
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  maintain those deliverables,
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  with with the unknown surrounding it. Because we
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  we we have yet to see what it's
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  gonna look like with the changes of the
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  ACA
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  for the market. We haven't seen what the
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  Medicaid cuts are gonna look like, and we're
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  just starting to see what the rural healthcare
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  transformation fund dollars are gonna look like. So
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  for me, trying to navigate the uncertainty is
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  the biggest thing. I think in in in
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  twelve months, we'll have a much better feeling
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  for where they are, but I'm a planner
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  by nature. You know, I I I wanna
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  make sure I have a good understanding. And
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  when there's uncertainty, it it sort of makes
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  me uneasy. So trying to watch spending,
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  but still deliver what the organization needs is
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  probably the biggest challenge.
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  Where do you see the best opportunities for
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  organizational growth?
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  God. I I think I think the intersection
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  I'm gonna keep going back to it, Scott,
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  on this one. I'm gonna keep going back
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  to where where technology,
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  and care delivery and the workforce meet,
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  is where I I see the biggest the
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  biggest opportunities to to go.
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  I I hate to keep using the term
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  AI because everybody uses it, but when I
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  think of the technology space and some of
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  the advancements that we're seeing, just to corral
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  that and get that into a place
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  where we can start to make operational and
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  clinical differences,
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  and and eventually get to some some some
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  hopefully, some substantial changes and outcomes.
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  That is what I I really think is
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  is is one of the biggest opportunities for
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  growth. I see that growth continuing for the
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  next few years, but it's more about the
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  responsible adoption
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  and the actual true, you know, business use
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  cases
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  than it is for some of the the
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  the the shinier objects that are out there.
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  I mentioned ambient, but now we're looking at
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  documentation intake and document summarization to make an
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  easier burden and more accurate depiction for the
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  patient, for the providers.
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  Very grassroots, very, very easy to understand technologies.
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  But to fully deploy and adopt it takes
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  an effort, and I think that's where you'll
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  see our continued focus.
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  And the last question I wanna ask you,
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  Daryl, how do you think you you have
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  evolved as a leader?
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  Oh my god. So as as as an
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  organization, and I think this is probably typical
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  of every CIO that's that's out there,
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  is that you you, by default, become the,
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  you know, the CTO and the CIO are
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  one and the same. You you have to
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  work hand in hand. There's also, a a
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  more pronounced seat if there wasn't one, at
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  the leadership table,
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  because technology plays such an important role.
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  And as you start to look at operations,
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  they're becoming more and more impacted by by,
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  technology. So I see the role being more,
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  diverse. I see us, being being spread across
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  multiple areas more so than we ever were
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  before
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  and really trying to make coordinated business decisions,
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  with with the direction of the organization and,
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  honestly, the direction of health care in general.
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  Daryl, thanks so much for joining us on
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  the podcast. It was a great conversation. I
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  look forward to working with you again soon.
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  Oh, thank you so much for having me,
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  Scott. I really appreciate it.