Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Neil Tanna, MD, MBA, FACS, Senior Vice President of System Perioperative Services & Strategy at Northwell Health

Transcript

Neil Tanna, MD, MBA, FACS, Senior Vice President of System Perioperative Services & Strategy at Northwell Health · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined by doctor
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  Neil Tanna, senior vice president of system preoperative
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  services and strategy at Northwell Health. Doctor Tanna,
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  it's a pleasure to have you on the
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  podcast today.
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  It's great to be here.
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  Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation because
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  I know at Northwell, you're doing some really
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  innovative things. So we'll dig into that a
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  little bit and then your perspective on how
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  you're thinking about the future. But before we
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  dive in, can you tell us a little
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  bit more about yourself as well as
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  Yeah. So, you know, I am a a
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  practicing surgeon. My specialty is, you know, plastic
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  surgery. I think that's important because, you know,
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  you have to lead by example. I mean,
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  that's really, really important in anything we do.
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  And, you know, within the domain that I'm
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  in,
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  it's,
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  you know, looking at the perioperative space, so
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  the operating rooms.
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  And we're a large health care system.
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  You know, we are,
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  in in the entire you know, in the
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  Northeast Region, and we span, you know, various
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  practice sites, various disciplines, various geographies.
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  And, it's an exciting time.
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  I love that. And, you know,
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  as it is a very exciting time, a
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  lot happening in health care space today and,
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  you know, really truly evolving more quickly than
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  ever before. So what are some of the
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  trends that you're currently watching? What's top of
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  mind for you as you think about where
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  you're at today as well as where
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  Yeah. So I it's interesting. This is one
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  of those few times,
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  in
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  in
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  history,
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  that
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  all disciplines
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  are facing the same,
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  disruptive innovations.
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  And that that's artificial intelligence. So that is
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  first and foremost.
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  And how do we incorporate artificial
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  intelligence?
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  You know, how do we leverage it
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  to improve our efficiency,
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  to reduce workload, to improve outcomes, whatever those
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  may be?
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  And and unfortunately, there's a lot of noise.
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  Right? So it's it's trying to decipher
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  what is
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  real and what's not real, what is going
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  to be a benefit, what is not gonna
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  be a benefit.
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  It's it's incredible. And then you've got some
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  major players,
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  tech players,
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  that I think we're gonna see some exciting
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  things from as well.
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  So so I would say artificial intelligence,
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  is gonna be a potential game changer.
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  I love that. I I think that makes
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  a lot of sense. And, you know, when
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  you think about AI, there's so much potential
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  right now, but I I know also some
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  anxiety around it too just because a lot
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  is unknown about AI and and how it
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  could work in the health care space. And
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  so at Northwell,
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  what are some of the ways that you
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  are using AI? How are you thinking about
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  it, especially in the clinical space? And, you
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  know, what are you excited about as well
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  as what makes you nervous?
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  Yeah. I think I think anytime you're dealing
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  with,
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  you know, protected health information,
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  and technology, it can be a little,
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  you know, scary or, you know, you have
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  to proceed cautiously. And then, you know, at
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  the end of the day,
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  you know, what AI doesn't give you is
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  accountability. Right? And that that can be also
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  a source of
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  fear or anxiety.
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  You know, we're you we're utilizing it in
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  various clinical spaces, you know, ambient listening, you
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  know, with artificial intelligence, helping our clinicians,
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  you know, helping our providers
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  effectively
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  document their encounters with patients,
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  reducing the workload,
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  better notes,
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  you know, essentially
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  eliminating
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  the cost and overhead of a scribe,
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  or,
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  you know, the cumbersome nature of of some
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  of that documentation.
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  So that's just one area.
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  I think that there's other,
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  you know, areas on the horizon.
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  You know? For example, in my space, in
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  the perioperative space,
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  you know, I think what's gonna be great
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  is that
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  you know, just imagine
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  how great the aviation industry is in terms
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  of, you know, a plane taking off, the
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  next plane coming to the gate, the next
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  plane going, you know, and and it being
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  very
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  pretty close.
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  You know, I know for the for the
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  avid flyers, you may have stories or or
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  harsh words of flights being delayed and whatnot,
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  but it is much more accurate than we
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  are in the operating room. So now imagine
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  using AI to understand,
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  you know, patient factors
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  that and and be better able to
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  understand what the length of the surgery is
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  gonna be, which will then translate into more
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  efficient, you know, operating room time or,
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  you know, better utilization. So I think, you
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  know, these are
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  on the horizon
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  potential applications,
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  that, you know, will will change the destiny
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  of health care.
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  That's really exciting to hear, and it definitely
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  will be a lot of,
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  fun to see. How certainly, obviously, some challenges
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  to work through, but at the end of
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  the day, makes, you know, the the health
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  care experience better. Now could you tell me
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  a little bit about a project or initiative
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  you're most proud of from the last six
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  to eighteen months or so? What did you
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  do, and what were the result?
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  Yes. You know, one of the areas in
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  a large,
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  integrated
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  health care system is to consider the site
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  of surgery.
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  And, you know, not all surgeries have to
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  be done
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  at the same place. Right? And so, you
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  know, creating
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  brand identity, creating a program that's
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  what a patient wants is sometimes beneficial.
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  You know, and that's that's also beneficial in
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  terms of, you know, outpatient versus inpatient surgery.
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  So something that, you know, I'm proud of
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  personally is a, you know, a program that
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  we we created at Northwell, you know, called
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  the Katz Women Surgery Center, and it's a
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  program designed
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  specifically for women who are having
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  breast surgery or GYN surgery. And it really
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  encompasses
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  not just great clinical outcomes by providing clinical
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  expertise, but it integrates that care, right? So
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  a woman is able to have
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  her breast surgery, GYN surgery done at the
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  same time. It provides psychosocial
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  services.
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  It really allows for a woman to understand
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  the operation,
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  understand what that means for her in terms
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  of intimacy and what that means for, you
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  know, how do I tell my coworkers or,
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  you know, what ancillary services and and they
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  also integrate nonsurgical
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  specialties, you know, like a woman who's, you
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  know, having her ovaries removed. What does that
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  mean in terms of fertility or menopause, right?
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  So looking at
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  the full spectrum
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  of patient care through the lens of a
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  program or the lens of a problem instead
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  of, you know, we're taking care of that
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  entire woman instead of just a body part.
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  So I think that that's something that just
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  resonates in the last twelve to eighteen months
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  is to see
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  how we can create a successful
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  program
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  and look at it,
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  through, you know, various aspects, not just clinical
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  outcomes, but philanthropy, marketing, patient access, patient experience,
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  etcetera.
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  So, it's exciting. It's very exciting.
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  That's amazing to hear. You know, I haven't,
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  really had a conversation,
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  about, that in the past. I haven't heard
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  of other organizations that are doing it similarly,
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  but,
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  that's really cool and seems to make a
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  lot of sense to bring together so many
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  different aspects of how the health system runs
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  in in the business in addition to the
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  clinical side.
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  I'm curious. Was there anything, I guess, surprising
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  that you've,
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  uncovered or learned throughout the process of standing
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  up standing this up that would, be helpful
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  or interesting for our listeners who might wanna
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  try something like this at their own organizations
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  to know about?
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  Yeah. I think, you know, what is key
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  is stakeholder engagement.
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  And so what that means is
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  you,
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  you know, quite, you know, quite often, you
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  you have an idea inception,
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  and you bring a group of people to
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  the table.
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  And you put the,
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  you know, pen to paper and you and
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  you write out the idea. The key, though,
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  is to understand that
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  to make it truly successful, you have to
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  have the buy in from all stakeholders.
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  And if you leave someone out
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  and you try to bring them on secondarily,
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  then then the the the plan is flawed
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  from the beginning. So what we learned is
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  it's better to have those conversations,
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  leverage those relationships.
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  And in the idea, the inception,
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  the the the the beginning
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  to bring those stakeholders
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  together,
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  and they don't all have to be in
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  one meeting at one time point, but but
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  definitely have those series of meetings. You know,
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  think about every single stakeholder and and even
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  things like the community.
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  Right? Because, you know, health care is about
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  delivering
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  care to patients, the people in the community.
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  And sometimes
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  if we just
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  design a program or a plan or an
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  initiative
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  with the stakeholders in the room, in the
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  in the building, in the in the health
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  care system, we may fail. You know? So
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  that's just even even that was surprising. It's
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  like, you know, we sometimes have to bring
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  the community,
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  stakeholders into into the room. So I would
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  say,
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  what was very surprising or what was very
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  telling and and it's quite intuitive in retrospect
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  is that bring all the stakeholders to the
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  table and think hard, think twice,
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  and really make sure you've gotten every single
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  stakeholder. Otherwise, the plan is flawed.
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  That's such good advice, and it's so, so
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  helpful,
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  to to to really make sure something like
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  this is,
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  is successful in the future.
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  Is there anything else you're most focused on
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  or excited about when you think about the
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  future? Where do you, really see some of
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  these, additional initiatives? I know you mentioned going
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  outpatients,
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  side of surgery,
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  huge, huge topic across the board. And so,
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  anything else along those lines that you're focused
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  on and excited about when you look into
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  the next twelve months or so?
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  I think data. I think data is gonna
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  be really, really key. I mean, we are
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  in an era. Just forget about even medicine
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  or or health care. I mean, you know,
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  you ask an athlete or or, you know,
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  any sports industry, you know, performance data, they
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  can rattle it off. You know, you we
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  can we can rattle it off about
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  athletes.
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  Look at even wearables. Right?
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  We can tell how much we slept, what's
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  our heart rate, how many steps we've had.
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  I I think that same
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  continuous,
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  easy to access,
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  reliable
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  data
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  is really what is going to shape
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  the decisions
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  and the
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  outcomes that we,
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  you know, make in in health care. So
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  I think,
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  and it's gotta be continuous. It has to
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  be accurate, and it has to be easy
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  to obtain.
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  Those are really the key elements that I
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  think
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  are are what we need and and what
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  I'm excited for in the next twelve months.
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  That makes a lot of sense. So really,
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  cool to have that data and then the
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  AI alongside of it makes a difference. Now
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  before we wrap up, I'm curious, what advice
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  would you give evolving leaders today, especially those
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  who are, trying to elevate in their careers
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  and really, put themselves into positions to make
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  a big difference within their organizations?
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  I think,
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  you know, two things. I think,
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  you know, data, technology,
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  artificial intelligence,
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  those are all,
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  they augment
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  the strategy, the thinking.
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  I would say that, you know, don't forget
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  relationships. Right? It's it really is,
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  you know, the data,
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  technology and artificial intelligence
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  supporting the relationships. Right? And that's that's something
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  that's really, really important.
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  You know, and if you're approaching a group,
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  approaching an individual, you know, and you bring
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  data, don't forget it's the relationship that's,
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  you know, behind that data or in front
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  of that data that's gonna really,
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  help achieve those objectives and shared goals.
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  And then I would say probably the other
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  thing is,
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  and this is a very hard one, is
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  just learn to love the gray. Learn to
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  love the ambiguity. Right? And I think the
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  mind is,
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  especially in this era with
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  the readily available data, you know, and, you
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  know, the on demand, anything you want, whether
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  it's it's car service, food, you know, I
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  think sometimes we have to, in health care,
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  understand that there is gonna be ambiguity, and
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  there is gonna be gray. And it may
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  not be a yes or no today,
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  and maybe a maybe. And and we have
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  to learn to accept that and be comfortable
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  with that.
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  That makes a ton of sense.
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  Doctor Tanner, thank you so much for joining
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  us on our podcast today. This has been
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  such a valuable conversation. I think, you know,
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  you made so many excellent points in terms
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  of looking at technology.
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  I think, you know, really,
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  it's integrating into the workflows today and how
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  we're,
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  elevating care within the whole organization in community
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  as well. So I appreciate your time today.
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  It's been exciting to speak with you, and
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  I look forward to seeing you as well
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  at our periapse summit coming up in September.
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  I think it's gonna be a lot of
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  fun speaking.
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  We'll continue this conversation there.
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  Looking forward to it, and thank you for
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  having me.