Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Prasana Ruxmohan, MHA, Ambulatory Operations Transformation Specialist at UCI Health

Transcript

Prasana Ruxmohan, MHA, Ambulatory Operations Transformation Specialist at UCI Health · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:02
  At athenahealth,
• 0:03
  we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier, a
• 0:06
  healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier patients.
• 0:10
  But the complexities of modern health care tech
• 0:12
  make it hard for you and your care
• 0:14
  teams to focus on what matters
• 0:16
  most? That's where athenahealth can help. Our AI
• 0:19
  native all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens,
• 0:22
  streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights
• 0:25
  when clinicians need it most. That means fewer
• 0:28
  clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom
• 0:31
  lines.
• 0:32
  Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
• 0:35
  can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
• 0:38
  See how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.
• 0:43
  Hello, everyone. This is Scott King with the
• 0:45
  Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 0:47
  Thrilled today to be joined by a very
• 0:48
  special guest, Prasanna Ruxmahan,
• 0:51
  ambulatory operations
• 0:52
  transformation specialist with UCI Health. Prasanna, how are
• 0:55
  you doing today?
• 0:57
  I'm doing fantastic.
• 0:59
  How about yourself?
• 1:01
  Doing well. We were talking before the taping
• 1:03
  here. I got the nice fall weather in
• 1:05
  Chicago. A little chilly, but it's not the,
• 1:07
  beautiful weather you have in California.
• 1:10
  Hey. That is so true. That is so
• 1:12
  true.
• 1:13
  But at least you get to experience all
• 1:14
  the seasons in Chicago. It's the one thing
• 1:17
  I appreciate about that city.
• 1:19
  We do appreciate that as well, just not
• 1:20
  when it's below zero. But, anyways, we have
• 1:23
  we have a lot of of big, health
• 1:25
  care topics to get to. But before we
• 1:26
  jump into some questions for you, I just
• 1:28
  wonder if you could please introduce yourself and
• 1:30
  and just tell us a little about your
• 1:31
  background.
• 1:32
  Yeah. So I've actually spent my career focused
• 1:36
  on operational transformation,
• 1:38
  really, in
• 1:39
  ambulatory care settings.
• 1:41
  As you mentioned, I currently serve as an
• 1:43
  ambulatory operations transformation strategist at UCI,
• 1:47
  where I really help design strategies, but also
• 1:50
  operationalizing
• 1:52
  them to make it easier for our patients
• 1:54
  and to connect with care,
• 1:56
  whether that's through
• 1:58
  smarter scheduling or better use of technology
• 2:01
  or closer collaboration
• 2:03
  across teams.
• 2:05
  My background really blends health care technology
• 2:07
  and change management, kind of all centered on
• 2:10
  creating sustainable growth models
• 2:13
  that support both patients and our providers at
• 2:16
  UCI.
• 2:19
  Outside of work, I actually developed and created
• 2:21
  a maternal health app and have sold that
• 2:23
  off, which was really connecting resources in the
• 2:26
  community,
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  for our maternal health mothers if that was
• 2:30
  doula programs or diaper banks. How do we
• 2:32
  make it easier access for our mothers that
• 2:34
  are out there?
• 2:35
  What's the app called?
• 2:38
  It is called AIM. It's called Advocacy and
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  Maternal Health, but they probably
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  rebranded,
• 2:44
  what it was called
• 2:45
  now.
• 2:46
  Well, congratulations. That's awesome. That's so innovative to
• 2:49
  to do that and creative. Congratulations.
• 2:52
  Yeah. And we have a lot of great
• 2:53
  resources right out there when it comes to,
• 2:56
  like, government funds or if it's doulas that
• 2:59
  are out there helping support our mothers navigate
• 3:01
  their health care journey. It's how do you
• 3:03
  really connect what's out there and available and
• 3:05
  kind of making it at people's fingertips like
• 3:08
  we have certain things today.
• 3:09
  No. I think that's absolutely wonderful. And I
• 3:11
  was actually before you mentioned the app, I
• 3:13
  was actually gonna ask you, how happy are
• 3:15
  you that you kinda carved out this
• 3:17
  path for yourself and career trajectory where you
• 3:19
  are specialized in tech, seeing how
• 3:22
  prevalent and and needed,
• 3:24
  technology is in health care right now?
• 3:27
  Yeah. I will say,
• 3:29
  it has been a beautiful path in some
• 3:31
  way to figure out how you connect technology,
• 3:35
  but also how you connect the people to
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  the technology.
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  I will say the one thing is you
• 3:40
  can have,
• 3:42
  AI automation. But if we're not really using
• 3:44
  it, sometimes the value there,
• 3:47
  is a struggle. But how do you get
• 3:49
  people to start to use some of that
• 3:51
  technology today?
• 3:53
  Absolutely.
• 3:54
  And, you know, I wanted to ask you,
• 3:56
  what opportunities and headwinds do you kinda have
• 3:59
  your eye on right now in health care?
• 4:02
  Yeah. So as I kinda mentioned, a little
• 4:05
  glimpse with the app and what we're doing
• 4:07
  at UCI is
• 4:09
  access to care continues to be one of
• 4:11
  the most pressing challenges in health care.
• 4:15
  And, really, the opportunity
• 4:16
  is really in rethinking
• 4:18
  how we connect patients to the right care
• 4:22
  at the right time. Right? We we're using
• 4:24
  data. We're using automation and process improvement to
• 4:27
  make systems more responsive.
• 4:30
  The headwinds, of course, are right. Those competing
• 4:32
  priorities are limited resourcing or the right people.
• 4:36
  But
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  I think when organizations
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  sometimes make access a shared priority,
• 4:41
  it really drives real change across an organization,
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  but also even
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  in our communities.
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  Yeah. I think it's a great point about
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  the access. That's that's completely needed and and
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  necessary.
• 4:55
  How are you thinking
• 4:57
  about growth and adding value to your organization?
• 5:02
  Yeah. For me, growth really starts with developing
• 5:06
  and investing in our people
• 5:09
  and really evolving their skill sets.
• 5:12
  As right. I mentioned AI, automation. As they
• 5:15
  handle more task,
• 5:18
  it's changing how we work. So the real
• 5:20
  question kind of becomes,
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  how do we shift our mindsets and build
• 5:25
  new skills
• 5:26
  that focus more on problem solving and collaboration
• 5:30
  or patient connection?
• 5:33
  Really helping our teams evolve in that direction
• 5:36
  is one of the best ways to add
• 5:38
  long term values to the organization.
• 5:41
  But by helping our teams build these new
• 5:43
  capabilities,
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  we're not just adding value to the organization,
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  but we're preparing for the next era of
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  health care operations
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  and patient expectations.
• 5:55
  When you're
• 5:57
  making hires and and you're you're getting new
• 5:59
  staff members in different roles, do you expect
• 6:02
  them to be, like, almost as up to
• 6:03
  speed on all the emerging tech as you
• 6:05
  are, or do you kind of figure that,
• 6:06
  you know, this is gonna take some time
• 6:07
  to to teach staff members how to implement
• 6:09
  some of these things?
• 6:11
  Yeah. I think it's definitely takes some time
• 6:13
  to teach staff of what
• 6:16
  technologies out there. Right? Using power automate, for
• 6:19
  instance, how can you automate some of these
• 6:21
  tasks, or
• 6:22
  leveraging and integrating in an EMR system some
• 6:26
  AI capabilities,
• 6:27
  kind of like how airline systems have,
• 6:30
  their no show rates. How do we actually
• 6:32
  see some of these things,
• 6:34
  at the front line? So it does take
• 6:36
  some time, but it's really investing in the
• 6:38
  education for our teams.
• 6:40
  Therefore, the foundation is kind of set to
• 6:42
  take on these new
• 6:44
  shiny bright tools that are kind of out
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  there.
• 6:47
  There are a lot of those right now,
• 6:48
  aren't there?
• 6:50
  Speaking of
• 6:52
  investing and and making investments, what is one
• 6:54
  risk or investment
• 6:56
  you think is worth making this year?
• 6:59
  Yeah.
• 7:00
  So instead of a technology or tool, I
• 7:03
  kinda would like to say investing in storytelling.
• 7:07
  We often focus right on data or metrics
• 7:11
  or tools, which are critical, but stories
• 7:15
  really give that data or tool life.
• 7:18
  They help people understand the why behind the
• 7:22
  work,
• 7:23
  whether it's a patient success story or a
• 7:27
  staff win.
• 7:30
  Storytelling
• 7:31
  connects the mission to the outcome, and it
• 7:33
  helps build momentum for change.
• 7:36
  It's an investment that pays off, right, in
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  engagement and in culture, but storytelling is the
• 7:41
  biggest investment
• 7:43
  of making this year.
• 7:45
  Absolutely. I think it's a great point of
• 7:46
  focus for any system or or anyone in
• 7:49
  health care.
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  Where do you see the best opportunities for
• 7:52
  growth in the future?
• 7:55
  So this one, I kinda have a long
• 7:56
  winded type of answer, but,
• 7:59
  it's
• 8:01
  I see a huge opportunity
• 8:03
  in combining, right, technology
• 8:05
  and human connection.
• 8:06
  Things like course intelligence scheduling or virtual access
• 8:11
  and proactive outreach can really transform patient experiences
• 8:15
  when done thoughtfully.
• 8:17
  Fully. This starts with kind of rethinking
• 8:20
  how every touch point, if it's people, process,
• 8:24
  technology,
• 8:25
  how they work together to serve the patient.
• 8:28
  So I'm gonna kinda give you an example
• 8:30
  if you can imagine this. If we think
• 8:33
  about an outpatient visit,
• 8:35
  imagine walking into the clinic
• 8:38
  and
• 8:39
  everything feels seamless.
• 8:41
  You're greeted by your name.
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  Your basic vital signs are taken already digitally,
• 8:48
  And that staff member walks you through, I
• 8:50
  like to say, a playlist of the day
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  of what is expected.
• 8:54
  So we might get your health history or
• 8:57
  you're gonna do a blood draw, imaging. That's
• 8:59
  kinda like what I like to call a
• 9:01
  playlist of the day before seeing the provider.
• 9:05
  But what if you knew these things? And
• 9:07
  now let's say we get you into the
• 9:09
  clinic, you're in your room,
• 9:11
  but you didn't fill out a questionnaire online.
• 9:14
  Instead of delaying the visit or handing that
• 9:16
  patient a piece of paper, AI could step
• 9:18
  in. Right? Ask you those questions that a
• 9:21
  person would ask about your medications or your
• 9:23
  history,
• 9:24
  and AirBN technology
• 9:25
  can automatically pull that into your record.
• 9:29
  Then when the provider walks in, they have
• 9:31
  all that information they need,
• 9:35
  and you talk through some of your next
• 9:37
  steps. So you might need a referral or
• 9:39
  medications,
• 9:42
  in that office. And
• 9:44
  what if that referral was scheduled with you
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  that same day,
• 9:49
  understanding the dates and times that are available
• 9:51
  to that patient, but you were offered
• 9:54
  it right then and there? And then by
• 9:55
  the end of the visit, you actually knew
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  the top three things you need to do
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  in your next step of that care journey,
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  whether that's, right,
• 10:04
  the kind of connected intelligent experience not only
• 10:07
  saves time, but makes patients feel well informed
• 10:10
  and cared for
• 10:12
  in their next part of their journey.
• 10:14
  The future really
• 10:16
  isn't about technology replacing people. It's about using
• 10:20
  it to enhance operations,
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  personalization,
• 10:24
  and really outcomes in care delivery.
• 10:26
  That's where I see the best opportunities for
• 10:29
  growth in the future is really redesigning how
• 10:32
  we take care of our patients.
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  And I think you painted a great picture.
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  The way I was actually picturing being a
• 10:36
  patient and walking in and
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  being a part of all that.
• 10:40
  And as great as it sounds, I actually
• 10:42
  don't it doesn't seem like it's that far
• 10:44
  away, right, with the way technology is. Like,
• 10:46
  if you had to give a ballpark for,
• 10:48
  you know, some of those things you you
• 10:50
  mentioned where everything's kinda automated when you go
• 10:52
  in and it saves so much time,
• 10:53
  How how long do you think till we're
• 10:55
  till we're there?
• 10:57
  I think in certain areas,
• 11:00
  like, if it's capturing referrals or same time
• 11:03
  delivery,
• 11:04
  I think we're about 78%
• 11:06
  there. But now, right, the use of the
• 11:09
  technology and integration with people,
• 11:12
  the change management that comes with it,
• 11:16
  I think that is a piece that might
• 11:18
  take some time to adopt with our teams.
• 11:22
  Absolutely. Yeah. I think that shows that there's,
• 11:24
  you know, certainly some things to be very
• 11:25
  optimistic about. And, Prasanna, thanks so much for
• 11:28
  joining us on the podcast. I think it
• 11:29
  was an awesome conversation. I look forward to
• 11:31
  working with you again soon.
• 11:33
  Yes. I look forward to speaking with you
• 11:35
  again too, Scott.
• 11:38
  At athenahealth, we know your ambulatory practice wants
• 11:42
  healthier,
• 11:43
  a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
• 11:45
  patients.
• 11:46
  But the complexities of modern health care tech
• 11:49
  make it hard for you and your care
• 11:50
  teams to focus on what matters most.
• 11:53
  That's where athenahealth can help.
• 11:55
  Our AI native all in one solutions reduce
• 11:58
  administrative burdens, streamline billing and payments, and deliver
• 12:01
  critical insights when clinicians need it most. That
• 12:04
  means fewer clicks, more time for patients, and
• 12:07
  stronger bottom lines.
• 12:09
  Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
• 12:12
  can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
• 12:15
  See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.