Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Doug King, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Northwestern Medicine

Transcript

Doug King, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Northwestern Medicine · 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. Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
• 0:46
  I'm Scott King, thrilled today to be joined
• 0:48
  by Doug King, senior vice president and chief
• 0:51
  information officer over at Northwestern Medicine. Doug, how
• 0:54
  are you doing today? I am pretty good,
• 0:56
  Scott. Thanks for asking. Yeah. Thanks so much
• 0:58
  for joining us. I'm running into a lot
• 0:59
  of big topics,
• 1:01
  in health care on the podcast. But before
• 1:03
  we do that, I was wondering if you
• 1:04
  could please just kinda introduce yourself and tell
• 1:07
  us a little bit about your background.
• 1:09
  Yeah. Sure. Happy to do it. So, I've
• 1:11
  been at Northwestern
• 1:13
  for nineteen years.
• 1:14
  Within,
• 1:15
  those nineteen years, I've been in 11 different
• 1:17
  roles.
• 1:18
  Really all, the vast majority,
• 1:20
  within, the technology umbrella,
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  on the technical side, on the application side,
• 1:25
  interoperability,
• 1:26
  and then just kinda grow our group, through
• 1:29
  the ranks, as Northwestern
• 1:31
  grew. And here we are today.
• 1:34
  That's awesome. Thank you for thank you for
• 1:35
  sharing that that background info.
• 1:38
  First kinda question I wanna get to is
• 1:40
  what opportunities and headwinds do you have your
• 1:43
  eye on right now?
• 1:45
  Yeah. I think the the headwinds are really,
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  you know, about seeing as many patients as
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  we can,
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  and delivering
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  highest quality care to make sure that we
• 1:55
  have taken care of that patient. But that
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  is then also
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  mixed with what does that look like for
• 2:01
  reimbursement
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  rates? What does that look like the impact
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  on our financials?
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  How is MedicaidMedicare
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  going to be impacted by that? The payer
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  contract. So there's a lot of lot of
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  headwinds, that we're still trying to figure out.
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  And since those headwinds are not clean and
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  crisp, it's really trying to adjust and adapt
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  to make sure we still deliver,
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  that high quality care,
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  and at the same time,
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  being able to adapt when something new hits
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  us. I think the opportunities
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  really,
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  are to solve those problems in unique ways,
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  with technology.
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  I think that, technology
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  is one of,
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  the best levers, if not the only lever
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  we have really to start to take care
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  of patients,
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  in their home, virtual settings, wearable types of
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  things. And at the same time, when a
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  patient is in our,
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  four walls of one of our,
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  institutions,
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  how do we give them the best care
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  with technology?
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  Make sure that we are monitoring them and
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  using technology
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  to treat them in a high quality manner
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  and then get them out as fast as
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  possible,
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  so that we can see the next patient
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  that really needs to see. So lots of
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  opportunities and I really do see it,
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  within, within technology and,
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  artificial intelligence continuing to have an impact.
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  Yeah. It's definitely having an impact as we
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  see more and more use cases. Just just
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  to follow it up, are you someone who
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  sees
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  have you kinda trained yourself to see headwinds
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  as opportunities and kinda use those terms interchangeably
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  to kinda I don't know. Maybe it helps
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  to have a more
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  positive mindset when challenges arise?
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  I think that when you are grow up
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  in the world of technology,
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  that you have been faced,
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  with challenge after challenge after challenge.
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  Some of them are novel new challenges, some
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  of them are old ones and now you're
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  just solving,
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  in new ways.
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  So ultimately,
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  I think what has happened,
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  through the years is that the technology arm
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  of a lot of different health systems
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  has really become the process improvement arm because
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  it's one of the fastest ways that you
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  can improve a process. It's one of the
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  fastest ways that you can solve a problem.
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  And it takes thoughtful collaborative leadership, not just
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  IT, but working with physicians and working with
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  clinicians and back office.
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  And I think having to do that over
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  and over and over,
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  people that continue to work in technology
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  just know that, yep, we gotta go take
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  that on and we're gonna do it and
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  we're gonna give it our best. And you
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  have to have a positive,
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  optimistic attitude because people are now coming to,
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  Technology Arms to solve those problems. And if
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  you look at it in the art of
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  the possible and a yes if attitude instead
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  of a no because,
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  I think it just naturally starts to build
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  within you to say, okay, let's take down
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  that problem and let's let's get to work.
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  Honing in on on that leadership
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  perspective you just mentioned,
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  how are you thinking about adding growth
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  and adding value to your organization?
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  Yeah. I think that, you know, on the
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  growth side,
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  I think it's really about,
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  standard growth. Greenfield, adding positions, doing that in
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  a way that is delivering a quality product,
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  so that as soon as we open a
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  new institution,
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  the technology works. You know, there's two parts
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  of technology. One, LODO. Lights on, doors open.
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  It means the systems are running. The utility
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  element of IT so that physicians and clinicians
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  can take care of those patients.
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  And we're also getting the revenue associated with
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  that. The other element,
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  is really
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  new stuff. How can you leverage technology in
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  that platform you have to treat patients in
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  new ways? And I think a lot of
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  that is going to be,
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  in the home setting to take care of
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  those patients,
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  where you can. Being able to fill as
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  many patient appointments you can through open scheduling
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  so a patient can do it themselves so
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  that you are adding that growth naturally and
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  organically
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  just by
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  offering up the health system services in new
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  ways. I think that the other thing that
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  you can do,
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  is partnership. You know, partner with different companies,
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  whether they were large digital
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  giants or whether they are with new,
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  startups and to see what unique ways do
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  they bring technology to healthcare
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  that either increases your margin
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  or it drives more volume through,
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  or it's increasing your quality. And all of
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  those really then trigger into value because it's
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  not just about hard ROI anymore.
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  That is something that we want to get.
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  That is something that we need to achieve.
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  But it's about patient experience. So it's about
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  delivering healthcare where that patient wants to receive
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  that healthcare. It's about offering up optionality.
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  Where do you want to get your MRI?
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  What's most important to you? Is it most
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  important that you get it today? Well, here's
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  the one that you have to drive further.
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  But if it's most important to stay close
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  to your home, it might take a little
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  longer. So adding the value through experience,
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  through quality, through efficiency
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  and through hard ROI,
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  those are really the key areas that we
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  try to focus in on.
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  What's one risk or investment
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  worth making this year that could help add
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  that value?
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  You know, I think,
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  it's what everyone is saying. And I think
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  it is around,
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  AI
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  in the areas of efficiency,
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  but do not over invest. It needs to
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  be a thoughtful and intentional
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  investment
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  and you need to understand what you are
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  measuring
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  upfront
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  so that you can understand that the value
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  is being achieved
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  or it is not. And if it is
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  not, it should be shut down. Because if
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  it's not providing that value, then all it
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  is doing is adding burden and expense to
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  the bottom line. So
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  when you think about that, there's proven areas.
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  Revenue cycle, automation,
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  call centers,
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  symptom checkers. All of those types of things
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  are proven. And so we're going to continue
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  to lean in on those areas where we
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  know we're going to generate the value.
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  But so since we're getting the value out
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  of there, we're also going to start to
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  experiment in new ways. And how do we
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  deploy
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  technology that might not have the value, but
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  again, we're going to measure it. So we're
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  going to balance. We understand that these are
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  proven areas. We're gonna lean in and deploy
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  those more, as well as we're gonna continue
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  to experiment. But all of that is really
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  under the umbrella of advanced technology and artificial
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  intelligence.
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  Getting back to growth, where do you see
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  the best opportunities for growth in the future?
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  I think that,
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  the area
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  of wearables
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  mixed with
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  algorithms on top of them is something that
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  is going to start to
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  really hit within the next three to five
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  years.
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  They're out
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  there, they're working, but no one really has
• 8:56
  it truly figured out right now on how
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  you can deploy those types of things at
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  scale to where a health system can get
• 9:03
  reimbursed for the work and the care they're
• 9:05
  providing that is working for the clinician, the
• 9:08
  patient, as well as the technology is seamless
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  and easy to set up. I do think
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  that those things are continuing to converge
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  and over the next three to five years,
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  we're really going to see that accelerate.
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  Because when we have an aging population
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  and there's so many only so many beds
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  in The US, that's an area where we're
• 9:28
  gonna have to get better as an industry
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  and as a society if we're gonna continue
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  to take care of our aging population,
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  and they wanna get care at home. So
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  we need to be able to really
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  figure that one out.
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  Lot of investment going in there, lot of
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  an experimentation
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  going in there, and I think that we're
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  gonna be able to finally turn the dial
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  up to where that value is actually being
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  realized over the next three to five years.
• 9:51
  So I think that that's an area where
• 9:54
  we're gonna continue to see opportunities for growth
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  in the future,
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  and it's not just building brand new plants.
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  That will still continue to occur, but it
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  will be balanced, with providing care in alternative
• 10:05
  settings.
• 10:06
  That sounds great, doctor. Hopefully, that happens in
• 10:08
  the next three to five years. I think
• 10:10
  that'd be wonderful.
• 10:11
  Last question I wanted to ask you. How
• 10:13
  have you evolved as a leader?
• 10:15
  I would say that, you know, over my
• 10:17
  my career,
• 10:19
  it's gone from
• 10:20
  technology and truly just focusing in on,
• 10:24
  taking the technology that we have and deploying,
• 10:28
  and deploying it in a way,
• 10:30
  that is built for that specific clinician. And
• 10:33
  what has happened
• 10:35
  over the really, probably been accelerating over the
• 10:38
  past six years
• 10:40
  is a lot of information services departments have
• 10:43
  made the leap from being order takers in
• 10:46
  an expense,
• 10:48
  a necessary expense to the business
• 10:50
  to actually having a seat at the table,
• 10:53
  and being able to lead through problem solving
• 10:56
  and being able to get technology to be
• 10:58
  viewed as a strategic asset. And I think
• 11:01
  with that transition of technology requires
• 11:04
  that you adopt,
• 11:06
  as a leader because you need to be
• 11:08
  able to explain technology that is incredibly complex
• 11:12
  in a care setting
• 11:13
  to a way that everyone can understand it
• 11:15
  so that they can come to the table
• 11:17
  with you to solve the problem. So it's
• 11:19
  no longer
• 11:20
  just a world of this is the system
• 11:22
  we want, please implement it. It's more along
• 11:25
  the lines of this is the problem we
• 11:27
  have, how can we leverage technology,
• 11:31
  to help make it better? And I think
• 11:33
  with that,
• 11:34
  really does require,
• 11:35
  the evolution of an individual's,
• 11:38
  leadership
• 11:39
  as well as the department,
• 11:41
  that they're leading. Otherwise, you're going to fail.
• 11:44
  Doug, thanks so much for joining us on
• 11:45
  the podcast. I think it was a great
• 11:47
  informative conversation. I look forward to working with
• 11:49
  you again soon. Sounds good. Thank you.
• 11:54
  At athena Health, we know your ambulatory practice
• 11:57
  wants healthier,
• 11:58
  a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
• 12:01
  patients.
• 12:02
  But the complexities
• 12:04
  of modern health care tech make it hard
• 12:06
  for you and your care teams to focus
• 12:07
  on what matters most. That's where athenahealth can
• 12:10
  help. Our AI native, all in one solutions
• 12:13
  reduce administrative burdens,
• 12:15
  streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights
• 12:18
  when clinicians need it most. That means fewer
• 12:21
  clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom
• 12:23
  lines.
• 12:25
  Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
• 12:28
  can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
• 12:30
  See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.