Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building a Consumer-Centered Future for Healthcare with Deb Muro

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Building a Consumer-Centered Future for Healthcare with Deb Muro · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - There's a version of AI in health care
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  - that lives mostly in press releases,
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  - pilot programs, partnership announcements,
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  - theoretical
• 0:10
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• 0:11
  - And then there's the version that lives in
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  - the work, the CIO trying to get a
• 0:15
  - model into production without breaking a dozen workflows,
• 0:19
  - the revenue cycle leader weighing automation against accuracy,
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  - the CISO who knows that every new integration
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  - is a new attack surface.
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  - Becker's eleventh annual IT and revenue cycle conference
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  - More than 2,500
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  - executive level attendees,
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  - 600 plus speakers,
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  - AI, cybersecurity,
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  - revenue cycle performance, and digital health.
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  - Join us September 14 through the seventeenth.
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  - For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
• 0:59
  - This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:01
  - podcast.
• 1:02
  - I'm thrilled today to be joined by Deb
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  - Murrow, chief information officer at El Camino Health.
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  - Deb, it's a pleasure to have you on
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  - the podcast today.
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  - Thank you. I'm looking forward to the discussion.
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  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited to talk to you
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  - because I know there's so much happening in
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  - health care right now, and you said really
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  - in a strong position to be talking about
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  - technology space being
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  - so close and in Silicon Valley. But before
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  - we dive in, can you tell us a
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  - little bit more about yourself and El Camino
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  - Health?
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  - Absolutely.
• 1:29
  - El Camino Health is
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  - been in the community. It was derived from
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  - the community. It was it was really established
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  - in in the late nineteen fifties.
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  - We were actually one of the first organizations
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  - in 1969
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  - that formed a partnership with Lockheed Martin and
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  - developed the first medical information system. So we
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  - are very,
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  - enthralled with innovation
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  - and continuing to be innovative today.
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  - We do serve the community of high-tech,
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  - individuals, and so it really is a a
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  - is a fun challenge and opportunity for us
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  - to deliver high health care in a in
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  - a new and innovative way.
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  - I am actually a nurse. I started my
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  - career,
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  - taking care of patients and have evolved into,
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  - the synergy between the clinician and technology
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  - and how we can make the clinician and
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  - the patient's lives better with technology, and it's
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  - a career that I've really enjoyed over the
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  - last several years.
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  - I love that. I think it's so cool
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  - to have that opportunity and ability to be
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  - on technology side and understand
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  - how all of that works, but then also
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  - to use that as a superpower within the
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  - health care space, which is all about serving
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  - patients and in communities and and keeping people
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  - healthy.
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  - Now, I'm curious. What are the most powerful
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  - forces that you're seeing shape the digital health
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  - and IT landscape for your organization right now,
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  - and how do you see them evolving in
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  - the next year or so?
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  - You know, I love the word that you
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  - use, superpower. Maybe that's two words, but I
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  - love the fact that, you know, you you
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  - coined that phrase. That's a that's a good
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  - one that I'll use in the future.
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  - You know, what I'm seeing in in the
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  - industry
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  - is really a move
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  - for health care to become more retail like
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  - in the way that we approach
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  - those that we serve.
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  - And so as as, you know, the industry
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  - and and I would say the world has
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  - gotten to be much more,
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  - immediate with getting needs met. You know, you
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  - think about now today, we don't go shopping
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  - in stores as much. We have things delivered
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  - to our door that day we order the
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  - the item.
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  - Individuals now are thinking about health care. How
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  - can health care meet the needs
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  - similarly?
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  - So a patient has a need. How can
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  - we address that need today?
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  - And so it and how can we meet
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  - it according to their preferences and what they
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  - would like to see? There's so much multigenerational,
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  - I would say preferences that we need to
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  - address as we're
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  - approaching our patients and and taking care of
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  - their their health care journey. So it's been,
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  - you know, really an opportunity and a challenge
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  - to say, how can we move faster?
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  - How can we meet the needs of our
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  - patients more effectively?
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  - And how can we be very proactive in
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  - the way that we address their care?
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  - This is a great observation. I think especially
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  - within health care, it's so often been, just
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  - a given that, you know, the the,
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  - hospital within the community is a place where
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  - people know and understand what they want and
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  - will go visit. But now it seems more
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  - than ever having patients be treated as consumers
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  - and really folks that you want to,
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  - tailor that experience for is so important. So
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  - what are some of the trends that you're
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  - seeing within that multigenerational
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  - preferences? How do you see different people,
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  - emerging with different ways they wanna experience the
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  - health care system?
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  - So a great example of this is how
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  - a patient will
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  - reach out to schedule care. And, you know,
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  - it there's been this thinking that, well, patients
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  - really
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  - want to see the same provider or the
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  - same physician, and they will wait, you know,
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  - a matter of weeks
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  - for appointment to be scheduled according to the
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  - physician's availability.
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  - And, you know, that may work for a
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  - certain generation or a certain type of patient,
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  - but what we're seeing is as we're seeing
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  - different generations
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  - evolving that
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  - really individuals
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  - don't care as much often if they see
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  - the same physician,
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  - but they do care about being seen today,
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  - sometimes at their lunch break.
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  - And so with our new scheduling platform, we've
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  - we've really tried to tailor that to the
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  - to identify the patient preferences and provide those
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  - for the patient.
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  - For instance, if a patient has a problem,
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  - they can type in the problem,
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  - and then we will present to them various
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  - options. You could,
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  - you know, you could see a a physician
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  - right now over your lunch break in a
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  - virtual visit type of scenario,
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  - or you could go this afternoon to an
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  - urgent care and actually see one someone in
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  - person, and we could schedule that appointment for
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  - you, or you could schedule that appointment online.
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  - Or we could then schedule an on, you
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  - know, an on demand visit, as I mentioned,
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  - during your lunch break.
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  - And then, you know, you could schedule an
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  - appointment with your physician,
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  - and it could be, you know, this week
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  - or next week. So we try to present
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  - these opportunities
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  - for for the patient or the consumer
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  - so that they can choose what works best
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  - for them.
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  - That's a really great example, and thank you
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  - so much for outlining,
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  - that kind of multigenerational
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  - divide and integrate example of, what you can
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  - do with technology to tailor it more towards
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  - those preferences. Now
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  - I'm curious. Can you tell us about a
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  - big chance or a big swing that you
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  - took in the last year that paid off?
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  - What did you do, and what were the
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  - results?
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  - Yeah. Yes. One that came to mind at
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  - this, was the fact that we were
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  - trying to make sure that we were
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  - having surgeries occur as soon as as they
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  - were needed.
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  - And so we've,
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  - we've provided a platform that
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  - will really assess
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  - which surgery,
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  - blocks of time are going to be used
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  - or not used.
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  - We reach out to the surgeon or their
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  - office, and we say, using AI, it's telling
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  - us that we don't think this
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  - block of time is going to be used
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  - for surgeries. Would you like to release that
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  - time?
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  - And then we're able to then shop that
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  - out to other surgeons so that they could
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  - get surgeries scheduled in a faster, more quicker
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  - fashion. This helps patients that may be having
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  - a really urgent need. It's it's not a
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  - critical need, but it's something that,
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  - they want to have done as soon as
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  - possible. And this helps us meet the the
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  - need for the patient and also for the
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  - surgeon
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  - to make them more efficient. And we've seen
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  - that we've brought in a tremendous amount of
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  - of benefit to the organization, not only to
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  - the patient, obviously,
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  - but to the to the organization and the
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  - fact that we keep kept our ORs full,
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  - and it has helped us with some revenue,
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  - that we have, been able to realize.
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  - That's so interesting to hear. And, definitely, I
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  - can imagine complicated trying to arrange those schedules
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  - and and making use of all our time,
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  - which is so so precious. I'm curious for
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  - the physicians as you're implementing this technology,
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  - what was the change management like? I know
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  - in the past,
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  - in some organizations, physicians can be very protective
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  - of their block time. So what did it
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  - look like for you to,
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  - be able to change this process because you
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  - have the technology in place to actually be
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  - more efficient for the patients and organizations overall?
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  - Great question. You know, as we
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  - really talked with our surgeons and our physicians
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  - about this, you know, explaining the why, why
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  - this is important. And and one of the
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  - real benefits that we shared with the physicians
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  - and surgeons is that if we release
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  - a a reserved block of time that won't
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  - be used,
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  - it frees up time,
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  - for surgeons to be able to schedule in
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  - a block of time they normally might not
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  - have used. So the same surgeon that released
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  - a block of time
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  - might be able to find some time that
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  - they needed for a surgery
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  - that was not within their block. So it
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  - really helps them to, you know, we kind
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  - of match the time with the surgeon and
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  - with the patient need so that it's a
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  - win win for all. You know, but we
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  - we really did talk with our, physicians. We
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  - spent time with them explaining. We have a
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  - really strong,
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  - leadership in our surgery area that helped us
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  - advocate with the physicians. And then really the
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  - physician
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  - practices, the clinics themselves,
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  - they're the real individuals that we interact with
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  - on releasing these blocks of time. So we
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  - spent quite a bit of time working with
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  - them. And I think at the end of
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  - the day,
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  - we built the trust and the confidence that
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  - this was gonna actually improve their lives
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  - and their schedules,
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  - when we're all working together to to make
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  - the time effective for all.
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  - That's great to hear, and and thank you
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  - for digging a little bit deeper there. I
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  - know with any project, it takes not only
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  - the technology, but
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  - the, buy in for the adoption of the
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  - teams in, really having that
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  - line explaining
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  - what the benefits are for the clinicians can
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  - be really, really beneficial.
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  - I'm curious now if we're looking ahead a
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  - bit, what's the next most important problem that
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  - you're trying to solve with AI and technology
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  - right now?
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  - You know, I think we're all being asked
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  - to do things faster,
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  - more effectively,
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  - and and to really bring benefit to the
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  - organization. And we know that
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  - there is not enough resources
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  - to do the work that we need to
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  - do for patients. So what we're thinking is,
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  - how do we free up
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  - individuals
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  - to to from the menial task, the things
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  - that could be performed
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  - by an an agent
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  - or artificial intelligence
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  - and really free up the individual, the resource,
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  - the human so that they can provide a
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  - higher level of care for the patient. So
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  - in other words, for our call centers, if
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  - we can implement a GenicAI to
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  - answer the phones, to schedule appointments, to meet,
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  - you know,
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  - questions such as prescription refills,
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  - answer, you know, as I mentioned, answer questions,
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  - and then take the individuals that used to
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  - do that and and maybe,
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  - have them move into care navigation roles
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  - or roles where we reach out to patients
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  - when they've had a new diagnosis and they're
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  - worried and they're anxious to have that human
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  - touch.
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  - We're really wanting to have humans meet with
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  - humans
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  - and and really make a difference in,
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  - how they're impacted by their health care journey,
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  - and we feel like that's going to be
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  - of real value for the future. We're seeing
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  - a big uptick in our community and concierge
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  - medicine, which is very similar that a human
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  - is available for for a patient when they
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  - need help, and we want to provide that
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  - same level of service to our patients in
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  - our community.
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  - Fantastic.
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  - I I love that because there's so much
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  - there.
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  - I know agentic AI is something that is
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  - truly on the cutting edge of what health
• 12:04
  - care is doing today and trying to figure
• 12:06
  - out how to make the most of them
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  - and really harness them, for that more of
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  - a workforce that is powered by AI and
• 12:15
  - can get more done. And interesting too about
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  - the concierge medicine
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  - trend,
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  - is that something you expect to continue?
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  - You know, I think, it will continue because
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  - individuals really need
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  - to reach out and and talk to someone
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  - when they have a problem. And if they
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  - need to be seen
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  - quickly, it's always great to have, you know,
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  - a, a relationship that can help make that
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  - happen.
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  - So I do see that there'll be more
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  - and more trending towards concierge medicine. It will
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  - it is a challenge to buy reimbursement. We
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  - have to make sure that
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  - it is something that is available and available
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  - for a wide swath of patients. We don't
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  - wanna just have it
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  - available for a a set of patients, but
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  - for for the wider community as well.
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  - Absolutely. That's so important. Now,
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  - one more question for you. What are you
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  - most curious about for the future? What are
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  - you hoping to learn more about or interested
• 13:10
  - and excited to see unfold?
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  - I'm so intrigued by what health care is
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  - going to be like in five to ten
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  - years and and especially
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  - ten years out. As we're thinking about new
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  - facilities and and new ways of
• 13:23
  - performing health care, I'm thinking about smart rooms,
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  - smart rooms in the patient areas in our
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  - hospitals,
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  - smart clinics,
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  - thinking about how patients can evolve into
• 13:35
  - a lot of self care and, self scheduling
• 13:38
  - for appointments. It's gonna be an exciting
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  - time,
• 13:41
  - and I'm really excited about how we can
• 13:43
  - be more intelligent with the data and intervene
• 13:46
  - at the right moments for our patients.
• 13:49
  - That's amazing. Deb, thank you so much for
• 13:51
  - joining us on the podcast today. This has
• 13:52
  - been a really fun and inspiring conversation, and
• 13:55
  - I look forward to connecting with you again
• 13:57
  - soon.
• 13:58
  - Thank you.