Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Umberto Tachinardi, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Health Digital Officer at UC Health

Transcript

Umberto Tachinardi, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Health Digital Officer at UC Health · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:00
  This is Laura Dierdo with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:03
  podcast.
• 0:04
  I'm thrilled today to be joined by doctor
• 0:05
  Humberto Chakanardi,
• 0:07
  senior vice president and chief health digital officer
• 0:09
  at UCHealth. Doctor Chakanardi, it's a pleasure to
• 0:12
  have you on the podcast today.
• 0:14
  Good morning, Laura. It's a pleasure being in
• 0:17
  the in this podcast.
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  Thank you for inviting me.
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  Absolutely. The pleasure's all mine. And, you know,
• 0:23
  I'm excited for this conversation because I know
• 0:26
  there's a lot of great things you're doing
• 0:27
  at UCHealth, and it'll be fantastic to to
• 0:31
  share some of those successes with our our
• 0:33
  broader audience and then also how you're thinking
• 0:35
  about the future. But before we do that,
• 0:38
  can you tell us a little bit more
• 0:39
  about UCHealth and what makes it unique?
• 0:42
  Well, UCHealth is,
• 0:44
  is an academic medical center,
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  which makes it,
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  not unique, but
• 0:52
  particularly,
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  special in my opinion in our market here.
• 0:56
  We are connected to University of Cincinnati,
• 1:00
  more specifically,
• 1:01
  the College of Medicine
• 1:02
  of University of Cincinnati,
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  where our our clinicians come from. So our
• 1:09
  clinicians are all faculty at the College of
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  Medicine.
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  We also,
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  I think we are special in a sense
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  that we serve the
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  the the most, underserved
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  part of the population of the Greater Cincinnati
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  area.
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  So,
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  that makes us,
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  you know, a a hospital that is open,
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  has the doors open to
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  most of, everyone,
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  from the very poor to everyone else.
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  That's great to hear. You know, in such
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  an important population of people to serve,
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  those who may not have access otherwise to
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  care and truly providing the innovative type of
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  care that the community needs as well from
• 1:54
  academic setting. I'm wondering from the last year
• 1:57
  or so, what accomplishment are you most proud
• 1:59
  of?
• 2:02
  Well,
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  while we are still,
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  like any other,
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  health care organization these days, still struggling financially,
• 2:10
  to
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  go over the
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  the
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  this big tsunami,
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  financial tsunami caused by the pandemic and and
• 2:19
  other things,
• 2:20
  after that.
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  So we we are still working hard to
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  grow and continue to advance,
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  in many areas. So a few examples would
• 2:32
  be
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  our digital,
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  more specifically in our digital area.
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  We we are reshaping,
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  to be ready for this, for today's days
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  where AI,
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  becomes an important
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  collaborator
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  and an element of strength,
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  to help us
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  do what we do better and more efficiently.
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  And we recently introduced, for instance,
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  this technology
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  that helps the the clinicians,
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  when they are consulting with their patients to
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  use voice only, and then AI transcribes and
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  interprets and codifies
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  everything that happened in the consultation.
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  So while this is not the
• 3:18
  a complete innovation,
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  not a lot of places,
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  have adopted that yet, so I would consider
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  that to be proof of our innovations.
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  I also,
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  wanna call out that we are,
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  expanding in in a number of, other areas
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  like, supply chain and other administrative
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  areas to bring more efficiency.
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  It's really impressive to have that kind of
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  adoption rate among patients,
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  in having them use it and appreciate the
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  tools that you put out there for them,
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  and to continue to to grow and evolve
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  care. Now where do you see some of
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  the biggest growth opportunities for your team in
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  the next twelve months or so?
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  Yeah. Obviously, we we always need to keep
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  an eye on on on things that are
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  already there. So we need to keep our
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  infrastructure,
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  operating properly.
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  We need to,
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  keep renewing
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  our infra
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  our devices.
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  We need to make sure that the,
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  the cybersecurity
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  component is up to date, and that's a
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  a constant battle,
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  as as you may know.
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  We also
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  have a a a goal to expand on
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  on on our clinical informatics group,
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  which is
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  a group that is key to make sure
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  that all those,
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  those new things that we
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  I was referring to up to recently,
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  All those tools are properly,
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  assessed, vetted, validated
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  before we introduce them,
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  in the in the real world.
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  So why we are not afraid of, trying
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  something new? Because we are an academic center,
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  so,
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  having something new is not unknown to us.
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  We actually developed some of those, novelties.
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  But it's important that before we turn them
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  into,
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  true reward,
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  assets and resources,
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  we are sure that they are
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  appropriate, that they are safe to use, and
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  the the outcome,
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  is the intended outcome and not an unintended
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  outcome.
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  That's such a a really good point. And,
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  certainly, as you mentioned with all the technology
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  that is advancing at such a rapid pace,
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  being able to sometimes it seems like slow
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  down and and make sure you've got those
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  validations and,
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  have mitigated risks as much as possible,
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  is truly important, especially in the patient care
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  setting. How do you manage
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  that,
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  you know, if somebody is really excited about
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  new technology or, you know, there's something that
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  seems that it could be really beneficial,
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  how do you make sure that you are
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  taking the right steps in order to keep
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  it safe, as you mentioned, and without waiting
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  too long or or falling behind in some
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  of these technology trends that's been moving so
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  quickly?
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  Yeah. We we use a combination of,
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  methods and and and approaches.
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  If if if those are are
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  are solutions that come from valid
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  commercial,
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  and large companies.
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  And we we know other, peer organizations
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  are starting to use or or did did
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  go through the
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  the the proof of concept phase of those.
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  We would
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  just adopt them as the others and keep
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  an eye. So, usually, what we do is
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  that we start with pilot,
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  implementations
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  that will not be,
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  across system,
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  initially,
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  making sure that we have a controlled
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  environment for this early stages of the implementation
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  so we can see if they are really
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  working as expected,
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  if they are producing any,
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  unintended
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  outcome,
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  those those kind of things.
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  The other methods we use are more scientific.
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  So if those innovations
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  are
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  are too new and we don't have any
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  other peer organization
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  using that or this this was developed
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  in house.
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  For those,
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  innovations,
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  we we we do,
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  the same as we do with new drugs
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  or or new devices.
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  We put them under proper scientific
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  experiments.
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  So,
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  we control how we do that. We have
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  the proper,
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  patient safety and ethical reviews.
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  We make sure that we have an
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  a proper statistical,
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  method so we can evaluate the results later.
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  So we follow,
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  the rules. We we go through IRBs, which
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  are institutional review boards, and those,
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  are organisms
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  in in academic centers like ours that review
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  every new protocol,
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  that is experimental
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  in nature
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  to guarantee patient safety.
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  So, obviously, patient safety is only one side
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  of, the equation here because we we want
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  to be patient safe, of course, but we
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  also want the two to benefit the
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  the process that the two is, supporting.
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  So we want we want this to be
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  beneficial
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  not only to the patients but also to
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  the organization.
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  So then we add
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  the components in the evaluation
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  process that will help us measure,
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  the efficiency,
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  from that standpoint also.
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  So,
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  there is not a big secret here. We
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  follow, practices that, science use for years and
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  years,
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  to to make sure that we are doing
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  the right things and we are using the
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  right, tools.
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  That makes a lot of sense, and thank
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  you so much for walking us through that
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  process. Now I know a lot of opportunities
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  ahead, but also challenges.
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  What are some of the big challenges that
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  you're anticipating in the next year or two?
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  So,
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  that's that's a hard question to answer, but
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  it's a it's a an important one.
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  I think the the I mean, there there
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  are many challenges because like anything completely new,
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  and we are seeing that AI in particular
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  is is a game changer. So
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  while we we were used to be on
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  the edge of, new things with the digital
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  innovations,
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  Clinical decision support is something that we are
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  doing,
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  for a long time, but not necessarily
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  at the pace and the extent that AI
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  allow us to do.
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  So I think the one of the challenge
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  comes from that
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  is the is the speed
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  and the and the size and the complexity,
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  of of those,
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  newer things.
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  So while they may not be in isolation
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  completely new, but they are coming in in
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  in such a big volume and and so
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  fast that,
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  that's a challenge.
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  So we need to to learn how to
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  deal with that avalanche
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  of, new things, coming at very fast speed.
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  So
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  I would count that as one challenge. The
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  other one is we are adding more components,
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  to the ecosystem, to the digital ecosystem.
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  And and the management
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  of that,
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  fabric, the new fabric that is now
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  much more plural and diverse and,
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  bigger,
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  that also becomes a challenge. How you manage,
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  how you govern
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  so many
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  pieces working together
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  from different vendors, from different,
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  origins
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  using different technologies on the back or on
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  the front.
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  So
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  that alone,
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  is is, constituting to me,
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  a second big challenge.
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  With the first one, I would add that
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  everyone now in in the organization
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  feels that, they could be helped by,
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  some of those,
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  advancements.
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  So that becomes the third challenge, which is
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  how do you
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  govern the prior prioritization
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  of deployment,
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  acquisition,
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  introduction of those technologies? Because everyone wants everything,
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  and, that becomes,
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  it it it's kind of a we have
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  we have a huge
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  demand,
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  in front of us and, how how to
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  manage
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  expectations,
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  educate people,
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  in in this new digital literacy,
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  world,
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  those are are the third part of the
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  so
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  those are the three challenge I I would
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  mention right now.
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  Well, that's fascinating to hear. And, you know,
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  I I really appreciate you talking through all
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  of that because I I think, as you
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  mentioned, the rate of change is faster than
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  ever before and the pace,
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  you know, really makes a big difference. And
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  now that we're past the the point of,
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  you know, people being introduced to AI and
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  and then they really see the benefits and,
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  you know, noisy space out there and wanting
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  to incorporate more and more into the organization.
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  Really, you know, it dovetails nicely to everything
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  else that you've been talking about on making
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  sure that,
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  you're selecting the right things. I know we
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  talked about the financial challenges a bit as
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  well for most hospitals and health systems.
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  You know, the the technology does, require some
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  resource investment as well.
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  So, you know, the the governance process, I
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  can imagine, really, really,
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  is helpful and beneficial to have a strong
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  one when you're faced with the rapid change
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  plus the desire for many more, technologies,
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  coming into the health care organization.
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  Yeah. I I I will add one other
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  dimension to that, which is
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  with something that people tend I mean, people
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  that are not in my seat
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  tend to not, appreciate is the fact that
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  different than when we are deciding on technologies
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  like that for our own,
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  personal lives.
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  So we decide, let me try ChatTPT or
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  let me try DeepSeek or something like that.
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  And then if you don't like, you stop
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  using it or things like that. When we
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  are in a,
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  in a professional and formal organization like ours
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  or any other like ours,
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  Those decisions are long lasting. So you you
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  you cannot just turn on and off those
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  things,
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  every day,
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  not only because it's costly, but also because
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  there is data
• 14:16
  there is liability connected to those,
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  resources,
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  and and and those may require,
• 14:24
  for compliance,
• 14:26
  long term,
• 14:27
  agreements.
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  So
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  once you decide for something, you will need
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  to live with that for a while.
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  When we are doing our pilots, we have
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  an exit,
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  way because it's a pilot. But once you
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  turn
• 14:45
  pilot into production,
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  things change dramatically. Because from that point on,
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  that becomes part of your
• 14:52
  formal,
• 14:54
  environment,
• 14:55
  and you have responsibilities,
• 14:57
  over that.
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  That's really helpful insights, especially coming from, someone
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  that you see with the expertise, you know,
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  and and the top digital accountabilities for what's
• 15:09
  happening, just really, really seems vital.
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  I think, you know, given everything we've talked
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  about today, I wanted to wrap up here
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  in asking,
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  what is the number one thing that you're
• 15:18
  doing right now to set, your organization up
• 15:20
  for long term success?
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  Well, we we we set up this, digital
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  council,
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  which is constituted from stakeholders
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  from all over,
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  our organization.
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  And, we want that to be we we
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  we are using that platform
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  to help guide,
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  where we go,
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  at what speed,
• 15:45
  what are the priorities,
• 15:48
  and and the sequencing,
• 15:50
  of of our,
• 15:52
  of our evolution in this area.
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  So, I think that's
• 15:57
  one of the critical components is to have
• 15:59
  a a complete a a broad engagement,
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  from from the organization.
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  The other one is to make sure that
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  we we elevate
• 16:09
  the
• 16:11
  the knowledge of people about the things that
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  are that we are,
• 16:16
  putting to help them
• 16:18
  so they understand that nothing is a %
• 16:21
  perfect or
• 16:23
  infallible.
• 16:25
  Things will will fail here and there, and
• 16:27
  they may produce
• 16:29
  wrong
• 16:30
  outcomes.
• 16:31
  So it's important.
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  And and, obviously, we want
• 16:35
  tools that will produce
• 16:37
  the least amount of that possible,
• 16:40
  close to zero.
• 16:41
  But but, you know, it's important that people
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  understand
• 16:44
  that they also have to continue to reason
• 16:49
  and to, pay attention and to monitor how
• 16:52
  those, technologies
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  are are,
• 16:55
  behaving.
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  So
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  in order to do that, we need to
• 16:59
  elevate the literacy of our people. They need
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  to be educated, and that's one of the
• 17:04
  challenge one of the the big movements that
• 17:07
  we are trying to develop,
• 17:09
  starting
• 17:10
  with our own people, the people on the
• 17:12
  technical side, which were not prepared until recently
• 17:16
  for those innovations.
• 17:18
  And now we need to update their education
• 17:21
  and their knowledge,
• 17:22
  And we also need to raise the education
• 17:25
  and knowledge of everyone in the in the,
• 17:28
  health care business. So
• 17:31
  I think that, education
• 17:33
  because people in the end are the
• 17:36
  are not only the the target of what
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  we do. We do everything for people because
• 17:41
  that's what health care is about.
• 17:44
  But we are also using people to,
• 17:47
  care about people. But we are using resources
• 17:50
  that are not necessarily humans,
• 17:52
  like the digital ones.
• 17:54
  But the humans need to understand
• 17:56
  what those technologies,
• 17:59
  are doing,
• 18:00
  and and that requires
• 18:01
  knowledge that
• 18:03
  most of our workforce don't have yet.
• 18:09
  Absolutely. That's fascinating to hear. And this seems
• 18:11
  like a really, really critical point of moving
• 18:13
  forward,
• 18:14
  having that right type of education knowledge base
• 18:16
  and then being able to truly unleash the
• 18:19
  technology plus human, side of things that can
• 18:22
  make, you know, health care so much more
• 18:24
  efficient and provide better outcomes and everything along
• 18:26
  those lines.
• 18:30
  Doctor Tacanardi, thank you so much for joining
• 18:32
  us on the podcast today. This has been
• 18:34
  a very inspiring conversation, and I look forward
• 18:36
  to connecting with you again soon.
• 18:38
  Thank you. Thank you all for listening.