Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Driving Responsible AI Adoption, Cybersecurity and Digital Transformation with Les Clonch

Transcript

Driving Responsible AI Adoption, Cybersecurity and Digital Transformation with Les Clonch · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
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  - leaders right now is not a short list.
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  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
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  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
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  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
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  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
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  - It's the kind of event you leave with
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  - a clear sense of where you stand and
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  - what comes next.
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  - So join us November second through the fifth
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
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  - and come ready to do the hard thinking.
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  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
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  - by clicking on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
• 0:58
  - This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:00
  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 1:02
  - Les Quolge, vice president and chief information officer
• 1:04
  - of Scottish Rite for Children. Les, it's a
• 1:06
  - pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
• 1:08
  - It's good to talk to you. Absolutely. Now
• 1:11
  - I'm excited to dig in and just learn
• 1:13
  - a little bit more about some of the
• 1:14
  - things you're doing at Scottish Rite, highlight some
• 1:16
  - of the successes, and then get your perspective
• 1:18
  - on the future. But before we dive in,
• 1:20
  - can you tell me a little bit more
• 1:21
  - about yourself and your background?
• 1:23
  - Of course.
• 1:25
  - I've been in health care going on thirty
• 1:27
  - years, thirty plus years.
• 1:29
  - I've been on the provider side of health
• 1:31
  - care for just about all of my career,
• 1:33
  - primarily in this role as the chief information
• 1:36
  - officer.
• 1:37
  - I've been a variety of different places, very
• 1:39
  - large health systems,
• 1:41
  - smaller health systems, multi hospital systems with all
• 1:44
  - the trimmings that go with that. And,
• 1:46
  - it's been a great journey and, a lot
• 1:48
  - of wonderful things. I worked with a lot
• 1:50
  - of wonderful people and
• 1:52
  - and they've been so instrumental in in,
• 1:55
  - helping
• 1:56
  - build me as a better leader and, and
• 1:58
  - certainly being able to come to Scottish Rite
• 2:00
  - has been a a wonderful experience.
• 2:03
  - That's great to hear.
• 2:05
  - How fun. Now could you give us a
• 2:07
  - quick state of the union at Scottish Rite?
• 2:08
  - What's going well this year, and what are
• 2:10
  - you focused on for the rest of 2026?
• 2:13
  - Well, I think,
• 2:14
  - I think we've done the year's gone really
• 2:16
  - well here. I think we, we're seeing technology
• 2:20
  - become more embedded in strategy,
• 2:22
  - particularly in the in the operational clinical aspects
• 2:25
  - of our organization.
• 2:27
  - Care delivery and operations have seen some improvements
• 2:30
  - and and opportunities in terms of
• 2:33
  - being able to extend care, more efficiently to
• 2:36
  - our patients and families as well as being
• 2:38
  - able
• 2:39
  - to improve some of the operational,
• 2:41
  - day to day things that we do,
• 2:43
  - because of the the efficiency that automation brings.
• 2:47
  - Going forward, I guess, for the rest of
• 2:48
  - 2026,
• 2:49
  - I I really think I'm just it's it's
• 2:51
  - really a focus more on just increasing the
• 2:53
  - capabilities of our core platforms.
• 2:55
  - We run Epic and Workday and a few
• 2:57
  - things like that.
• 2:59
  - And the thing being
• 3:01
  - thoughtfully,
• 3:02
  - being able to
• 3:03
  - accelerate
• 3:05
  - in a responsible way,
• 3:06
  - AI,
• 3:08
  - primarily coming from our core vendors,
• 3:11
  - but having that,
• 3:13
  - a thoughtful way of of putting that in
• 3:14
  - place.
• 3:16
  - And also, I think as everybody knows, and
• 3:18
  - this is pretty common in health care, and
• 3:20
  - that is trying to improve
• 3:21
  - our cybersecurity posture and resilience. That's always been
• 3:24
  - a top of mind thing here. And then,
• 3:27
  - I think the other thing that we're gonna
• 3:28
  - be doing, going forward is developing a framework
• 3:33
  - to, build out or, I'll call, refresh our,
• 3:36
  - our long term IT plan,
• 3:39
  - so that we have
• 3:40
  - a pretty well articulated
• 3:42
  - and agreed to, roadmap for, for the future
• 3:46
  - of IT and how it can enable our
• 3:47
  - organization more effectively.
• 3:50
  - Got it. That's helpful to understand. And, you
• 3:52
  - know, I I definitely appreciate everything that it
• 3:55
  - takes to, to bring AI into the existing
• 3:58
  - workflows. And, also, you mentioned with Epic, Workday,
• 4:01
  - and others, I can imagine. And, you know,
• 4:03
  - when you look at all of that and,
• 4:05
  - how the technology coming into place, your point
• 4:08
  - about, cybersecurity is very well taken and and
• 4:10
  - what it really means in order to,
• 4:13
  - you know, bring these things in successfully and
• 4:15
  - safely for the broader organization.
• 4:17
  - So I am curious. When you look ahead,
• 4:19
  - what are some of the headwinds that you
• 4:21
  - have your eye on and are preparing for?
• 4:23
  - Well, I think the biggest headwind, and maybe
• 4:25
  - there's a few crosswinds in that as well,
• 4:27
  - is, is just the,
• 4:29
  - the scope and pace of change. I think
• 4:31
  - that's the big one that, I really have
• 4:34
  - an eye on because there's,
• 4:36
  - you know, there's always this constant question,
• 4:38
  - that we ask ourselves is is of all
• 4:41
  - the things we could do, what is it
• 4:42
  - we should do?
• 4:43
  - And, that's a that's a that's a typically
• 4:46
  - hard question to answer because
• 4:49
  - technology has become
• 4:51
  - such a strong enabler. It's it's the evolution
• 4:53
  - of technology as the pace of which has
• 4:56
  - increased and the capabilities of which has increased
• 4:59
  - exponentially. In fact, faster in my, my estimation,
• 5:02
  - in my opinion than it has in many
• 5:04
  - of the years I've been in this business.
• 5:06
  - So it's evolving very quickly and,
• 5:09
  - and especially in the areas of AI and,
• 5:11
  - in cybersecurity,
• 5:13
  - also in the area of how do we
• 5:15
  - manage
• 5:16
  - the way we deliver services, not necessarily
• 5:19
  - delivering a laptop or delivering capabilities, but it's
• 5:22
  - also in deciding what we do or going
• 5:24
  - to deliver in the manner in which it
• 5:26
  - can be delivered now. There's a lot of
• 5:28
  - different options of whether you're doing it internally,
• 5:30
  - doing it,
• 5:32
  - through a cloud based model or,
• 5:34
  - obviously through, the assistance of others.
• 5:38
  - And then the other thing too that I
• 5:39
  - think is changing and that's the,
• 5:42
  - interestingly enough, is the expectations of patients and
• 5:44
  - families now that technology is advancing so fast.
• 5:47
  - And their
• 5:48
  - the pace of of change and their expectations
• 5:51
  - of, how well and how quickly we adopt
• 5:53
  - that is obviously something that's top of mind
• 5:55
  - for me
• 5:56
  - and others in our organization.
• 5:59
  - So the challenge in my opinion, you know,
• 6:01
  - is just is not simply just adopting new
• 6:03
  - tools, but
• 6:04
  - adopting the right tools in a way that's
• 6:06
  - thoughtful and, checks the boxes like
• 6:10
  - it's safe, it's secure, it's compliant.
• 6:13
  - And some of the things we may not
• 6:14
  - think about as strongly, but we should, and
• 6:16
  - that is how do we sustain this change
• 6:19
  - in our organization once we make it?
• 6:22
  - Sometimes we look at projects and and enable
• 6:24
  - initiatives as, oh, we got there. It's done.
• 6:27
  - But it's more about how do we sustain
• 6:28
  - that and build on that as time goes
• 6:31
  - on.
• 6:32
  - And, obviously, all these things have to be
• 6:34
  - very aligned with the the mission and goals
• 6:36
  - and objectives of the organization. So that really,
• 6:39
  - in a not so concise way, is kind
• 6:42
  - of kind of the the headwinds that I
• 6:44
  - I'm facing and and some of the crosswinds
• 6:46
  - that, we're experiencing as well.
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  - Got it. I I think that makes a
• 6:50
  - lot of sense. And from your
• 6:52
  - perspective,
• 6:54
  - I'm curious.
• 6:55
  - How do you really prepare your teams to
• 6:57
  - be that nimble and agile in in,
• 7:00
  - embrace the changes that are coming down the
• 7:02
  - pipe and know that, you know, there's more
• 7:04
  - ahead? I I think, there's a lot of
• 7:07
  - unknowns out there in terms of what the
• 7:08
  - technology could do and and how it will
• 7:10
  - evolve. And to your point, how quickly,
• 7:13
  - patients expect
• 7:15
  - a different experience than the one that they
• 7:17
  - are you know, typically health care has provided.
• 7:19
  - So, when you look into the future, how
• 7:21
  - do you make sure you've got the right
• 7:23
  - teams in place and that nimbleness built in?
• 7:26
  - Well, I think there's a couple of thoughts
• 7:27
  - I I would have around that. One is
• 7:29
  - is
• 7:31
  - is really just
• 7:32
  - organizational
• 7:33
  - strategy. What what's important? How are we going
• 7:35
  - to align what we're doing with the things
• 7:38
  - the organization feels is needed to,
• 7:41
  - truly embrace all the the objectives that we
• 7:43
  - have for that year or even in the
• 7:45
  - in the near future and maybe somewhat of
• 7:47
  - the
• 7:48
  - distant future? How do we position ourselves to
• 7:50
  - effectively address those expectations from our our physicians,
• 7:53
  - our our,
• 7:56
  - our,
• 7:57
  - caregivers,
• 7:58
  - others in the organization, our patients and families?
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  - How do we how do we do that?
• 8:02
  - And I think the other piece that comes
• 8:04
  - along with that,
• 8:06
  - that helps us make those kinds of decisions
• 8:08
  - is governance.
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  - And I think a structured,
• 8:11
  - very thoughtfully put together way of assessing all
• 8:14
  - these opportunities and
• 8:16
  - and outlining,
• 8:18
  - those things and and aligning them again with
• 8:20
  - those objectives and strategies and goals of the
• 8:22
  - organization as a way
• 8:24
  - of distilling down all these opportunities into things
• 8:26
  - that are truly
• 8:28
  - actionable and impactful,
• 8:30
  - in both the the near term and the
• 8:32
  - longer term. And I think that's been one
• 8:34
  - way we've tried to manage all those things
• 8:36
  - and particularly,
• 8:38
  - address the the headwinds and the things that
• 8:40
  - are coming along.
• 8:41
  - I think that that, you know, good governance
• 8:43
  - is, at least in my experience in health
• 8:45
  - care, has been probably one of the most
• 8:47
  - effective ways
• 8:49
  - to help separate those things that are really
• 8:51
  - promising ideas from those that,
• 8:54
  - you know,
• 8:55
  - that that are good, but they don't necessarily
• 8:57
  - timed properly or things we just can't swallow
• 9:00
  - all at the same time. And
• 9:02
  - so that is, very, very key. And then
• 9:04
  - the other thing that goes in line with
• 9:05
  - governance, in my opinion,
• 9:07
  - is change management, and that is
• 9:10
  - helping our organization understand the impact of the
• 9:12
  - changes we're making, helping
• 9:14
  - them digest those changes in in, you know,
• 9:17
  - in in smaller
• 9:19
  - pieces so that we all can do this.
• 9:22
  - They understand what it's gonna do. We all
• 9:23
  - do this well together.
• 9:25
  - And I think that's those are probably the
• 9:27
  - the the tools and techniques we've used here
• 9:30
  - and I and I've
• 9:32
  - used in other places that,
• 9:34
  - truly help us
• 9:35
  - navigate
• 9:36
  - a lot of the difficulties that come with,
• 9:38
  - headwinds and crosswinds and the pace and,
• 9:42
  - and the scope and of the of the
• 9:43
  - changes we're seeing.
• 9:45
  - Absolutely. That's really solid advice and and, such
• 9:48
  - a helpful perspective to have as you're thinking
• 9:50
  - about, you know, the future in setting the
• 9:52
  - team up for success. Now
• 9:55
  - I'm curious, how do you think about growth
• 9:56
  - as well? What do you see some of
• 9:57
  - the big opportunities for the next two to
• 9:59
  - three years or so?
• 10:01
  - Well, I think I think, you know, from
• 10:02
  - from my perspective here at Scottish Rite, you
• 10:05
  - know, I see, growth in several areas. I
• 10:07
  - think one of the
• 10:08
  - the ways we can do,
• 10:10
  - grow
• 10:11
  - is
• 10:13
  - is broader and more effective use of our
• 10:15
  - enterprise data. Obviously, we've got, as a as
• 10:19
  - a teaching and
• 10:21
  - research
• 10:23
  - organization.
• 10:24
  - You know, there's a lot of opportunities, a
• 10:26
  - lot of insights we have, and
• 10:28
  - and information we've captured over time that we
• 10:30
  - try to use to,
• 10:32
  - improve the way we deliver care,
• 10:35
  - to be more
• 10:36
  - aligned with the needs and expectations of our
• 10:39
  - patients and families and, obviously,
• 10:41
  - with the communities we serve.
• 10:44
  - But I think having a better use of
• 10:45
  - that enterprise data in a more effective way
• 10:48
  - is always an ongoing challenge for us and
• 10:51
  - and one that I think will,
• 10:53
  - try to see a lot of growth, particularly
• 10:55
  - with AI and the and the need it
• 10:57
  - has for,
• 10:58
  - solid data.
• 11:00
  - And then,
• 11:01
  - continuing to grow and mature our our analytics
• 11:04
  - and decision support tools
• 11:06
  - and the standardization that goes with those. I
• 11:08
  - think one of the things we try to
• 11:09
  - do is
• 11:10
  - part of our strategy is to
• 11:13
  - make,
• 11:14
  - enable people to to be self sufficient
• 11:17
  - to the extent that makes sense and, and,
• 11:20
  - so that they too we kind of empower
• 11:22
  - them with these tools and these capabilities and
• 11:25
  - and the information and things we capture because
• 11:29
  - putting that at the frontline of care is
• 11:31
  - is one of the most effective ways to
• 11:32
  - truly engage our patients and families and the
• 11:35
  - experiences they have with us.
• 11:37
  - And I think the other thing too is,
• 11:38
  - you know, is is growing our capabilities
• 11:40
  - in, in AI, and that means
• 11:43
  - both investing in the tools and and the
• 11:45
  - and the the systems that are out there
• 11:47
  - that use it, but also
• 11:49
  - investing in the workforce and helping our folks
• 11:51
  - become more comfortable with and knowledgeable of,
• 11:55
  - and and understand how to responsibly use AI
• 11:58
  - in in the process of delivering care
• 12:00
  - and the and the other operational things we
• 12:02
  - do in at Scottish
• 12:04
  - Rite.
• 12:05
  - Continuing to invest and and grow in the
• 12:09
  - in the
• 12:10
  - the capabilities of our electronic health record and,
• 12:13
  - and the other other systems that we have.
• 12:15
  - I mean, it it's empowering our our organization
• 12:18
  - through continued expansion of those capabilities at a
• 12:21
  - pace in a way that, again, aligns with
• 12:24
  - the organization's expectations and their ability to adapt
• 12:27
  - depth to the changes that we have. And
• 12:29
  - I think the other thing too is just
• 12:30
  - looking at at all the services in the
• 12:33
  - manner in which, we
• 12:34
  - deliver service, particularly in an IT perspective,
• 12:38
  - deliver the services we have. We're always trying
• 12:41
  - to make sure that the things we do,
• 12:44
  - are,
• 12:45
  - one, focused on service and support in a
• 12:47
  - way that, one, is expected. But two,
• 12:50
  - also, you know, not everything that IT does
• 12:53
  - is a sweet spot. You know? So we're
• 12:55
  - all constantly looking at better, more effective ways
• 12:57
  - to engage our partners
• 12:59
  - in helping us deliver that, service and that
• 13:02
  - care,
• 13:03
  - to our colleagues and our patients and families
• 13:05
  - and making sure that we're reliable and secure,
• 13:08
  - and proactively do that, not, not reactive in
• 13:11
  - in terms of the things that the organizations
• 13:13
  - need or will need going forward.
• 13:15
  - So it it's really just a a a
• 13:17
  - a really wonderful opportunity cohesively and comprehensively just
• 13:20
  - to grow organizational capacity and capabilities in the
• 13:23
  - areas of technology and service
• 13:25
  - and, be able to kind of create value,
• 13:29
  - which we all agree is in is is,
• 13:33
  - the kind of value we're looking to we
• 13:34
  - need and we're looking to have.
• 13:37
  - And we do that through helping people understand,
• 13:40
  - what we're going to be doing to be
• 13:42
  - able to engage them collaboratively and and outlining
• 13:45
  - what that is,
• 13:47
  - and being able to understand the impact to
• 13:49
  - them and and the way they do things.
• 13:51
  - And then, obviously, effectively knowing how to use
• 13:54
  - those tools and those capabilities. So it's really
• 13:57
  - investing in our workforce and
• 14:00
  - and better use of the tools and capabilities
• 14:02
  - that we, that we have here.
• 14:05
  - Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
• 14:06
  - And, you know, really, it ties nicely into
• 14:08
  - everything else we've talked about today. You know,
• 14:10
  - thinking about, you know, how quickly the technology
• 14:13
  - is changing, what it means,
• 14:16
  - for teams to be ready to leverage it
• 14:18
  - and and deliver the experience patients,
• 14:21
  - desire and will be really important for that
• 14:23
  - going into the future as well. Before we
• 14:25
  - wrap up here, I wanted to ask you
• 14:27
  - about leadership too.
• 14:29
  - Who is a leader that you admire really
• 14:30
  - from any industry and why?
• 14:33
  - That's a great question. You know, I I
• 14:35
  - I'm a pretty voracious reader, so,
• 14:38
  - I do that just constantly. And, obviously, there's
• 14:41
  - always a
• 14:42
  - pearl of wisdom in just about everything I
• 14:44
  - read and and, and the conversations I have
• 14:46
  - and, and the folks I'm I'm, you know,
• 14:49
  - blessed to be able to interact with. But
• 14:51
  - one of the things that stuck out to
• 14:52
  - me was was a book that was introduced
• 14:54
  - to me when I was younger,
• 14:56
  - in my younger days.
• 14:58
  - And that was a book by Jim Collins.
• 15:00
  - And,
• 15:02
  - he he really kind of
• 15:04
  - I don't know how to describe it really
• 15:06
  - well, but he he was in summary, it
• 15:08
  - was kinda like
• 15:09
  - bringing together the idea of of
• 15:13
  - combining humility and and, with professional will, professional
• 15:17
  - focus.
• 15:18
  - And,
• 15:20
  - you know, the way I when I read
• 15:21
  - that book, it was it was more like,
• 15:22
  - you know, it's it's building out and bringing
• 15:24
  - out
• 15:25
  - the best the best leaders as as I
• 15:28
  - inferred from the book was was ones that
• 15:30
  - really,
• 15:31
  - worked with,
• 15:32
  - kind of a mission focused,
• 15:34
  - perspective.
• 15:37
  - They obviously you know, all great leaders surround
• 15:39
  - themselves with with great great teams and, strong
• 15:42
  - teams. And
• 15:44
  - and then the ability to make
• 15:46
  - to to to kinda sift the get the
• 15:49
  - wheat sifted from the chaff and and then
• 15:52
  - make this disciplined decisions over that. I mean,
• 15:54
  - the style
• 15:55
  - I think that kind of style is really
• 15:57
  - relevant in health care because the stakes certainly
• 15:59
  - health care are always high.
• 16:01
  - Everybody has
• 16:02
  - a a very equally important role in in
• 16:05
  - delivering care and and,
• 16:07
  - to the patients and families we're blessed to
• 16:10
  - serve.
• 16:11
  - And but the work that that's done in
• 16:12
  - health care also requires,
• 16:14
  - you know, both the vision for what's possible,
• 16:17
  - but you also have to throttle that with
• 16:19
  - the the restraint
• 16:21
  - to emphasize practical and and, implement,
• 16:24
  - what I call incremental steps to achieve that.
• 16:28
  - So it's it's having the vision, but having
• 16:30
  - the discipline, the humility to know when you're
• 16:32
  - wrong, being able to pivot to what's right,
• 16:35
  - and, working in a creating a culture that
• 16:38
  - allows for that and encourages that. But also
• 16:40
  - the, you know, the practice then, like I
• 16:42
  - say, incremental
• 16:43
  - steps to, to achieve what you envision,
• 16:47
  - where that's incremental success. It doesn't all come
• 16:49
  - at one time. So that's probably the the
• 16:52
  - one I would call out is is that
• 16:54
  - was kind of the foundational
• 16:56
  - insights I gained when I started my, started
• 16:59
  - my career
• 17:00
  - up to today.
• 17:02
  - Oh, that that's amazing to hear. And, you
• 17:04
  - know, I I think that Jim Collins is
• 17:05
  - definitely somebody that we,
• 17:07
  - you know, talk a lot about at Becker's
• 17:09
  - as well and and somebody who's truly got
• 17:11
  - a lot of, great nuggets when you think
• 17:13
  - about leadership and and what's gonna be most
• 17:16
  - effective as you're bringing organizations
• 17:18
  - into growth mode. So, thank you so much
• 17:21
  - for your time today. I really appreciate it,
• 17:23
  - Les, and look forward to seeing you as
• 17:24
  - well this, fall at our events. I know
• 17:26
  - you'll be speaking on a panel, and it'll
• 17:28
  - be truly great to catch up there and
• 17:30
  - see you in person.
• 17:31
  - Well, it's been wonderful speaking with you. Thank
• 17:33
  - you for the opportunity. Have a blessed day.