Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Dr. Rubin Pillay, Chief Innovation Officer at UAB Health System

Transcript

Dr. Rubin Pillay, Chief Innovation Officer at UAB Health System · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

0:02
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0:44
This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
0:46
podcast.
0:47
I'm thrilled today to be joined by doctor
0:49
Reuben Pillay, who's a chief innovation officer at
0:51
UAB Health System, as well as executive director
0:54
at the Hiersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation
0:57
and assistant dean of AI and biomedical innovation
1:01
at Hirschink School of Medicine. Doctor Pele, it's
1:04
a pleasure to have you on the podcast
1:05
today. Yeah. It's a pleasure to be here
1:07
with you, Laura. Thank you for having me.
1:09
Absolutely.
1:10
Now I'm excited to be in conversation with
1:12
you because I know there's so much happening
1:14
in health care
1:15
and innovation today, particularly
1:17
thinking about how technology and AI
1:20
are really making a difference on the operational
1:22
clinical workflows at health systems. So I'm looking
1:25
forward to learning more about what you're doing
1:26
at UAB. But before we dive in, can
1:29
you tell us a little bit more about
1:30
yourself and your background?
1:31
Yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, I am
1:36
a a physician who holds a PhD in
1:38
business administration.
1:41
As you said in the introduction,
1:43
I hold many positions within the UAB health
1:46
system and school of medicine,
1:48
and these are overarching
1:50
roles.
1:51
So chief innovation officer of the UAB health
1:54
system.
1:55
I'm the executive director of the Hirsch Institute
1:58
for Biomedical Innovation,
2:00
at the School of Medicine, and our focus
2:02
there is on
2:03
AI. It is leveraging artificial intelligence and digital
2:06
technology.
2:08
And then, of course, you know,
2:10
I hold a professorship in medicine.
2:12
I'm also the assistant dean for AI and
2:15
biomedical innovation at the School of Medicine.
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And all of these roles,
2:20
you know, enable
2:21
me to to sit at the intersection
2:24
of,
2:25
not just r and d and product development,
2:28
but actually the the implementation
2:30
within the UAB health system as well. So,
2:33
you know, and,
2:35
we have designed
2:37
the role
2:38
to to be able to execute those, those
2:42
functions seamlessly.
2:43
So yeah.
2:45
Well, it's amazing to hear. And, you know,
2:46
certainly, noisy techs who integrate everything together
2:50
and have that kind of functionality.
2:52
Now what opportunities and headwinds do you have
2:54
your eye on right now?
2:56
Well, I mean, at the moment, you you
2:58
know, there's a lot of discussions
3:00
about artificial intelligence
3:02
in health and health care, both clinical and
3:05
nonclinical.
3:07
We're focused
3:08
on,
3:09
you know,
3:10
what I would call
3:11
fees highly feasible and impactful opportunities
3:15
at this stage.
3:17
And, obviously,
3:18
when we look at those, the kind of
3:20
key opportunities
3:21
fall in the nonclinical
3:23
space.
3:25
So, obviously,
3:26
solutions
3:27
addressing,
3:28
ambient intelligence and workflow related challenges,
3:32
you know,
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really for us a really high priority,
3:37
whether it's with documentation,
3:39
triage, prior authorization.
3:41
These are kind of key focus areas for
3:43
us now.
3:44
And that's premised on the fact that we're
3:46
able to give,
3:48
immediate time back,
3:51
you know, for clinicians and reduce,
3:53
leakage and denial. So that to me is
3:56
is something that we're spending a lot of
3:58
our time, energy, and resources
4:01
at the moment.
4:02
We also are a pretty large health system
4:05
with
4:06
operations across
4:08
the state.
4:09
And so for us, the predictive operations
4:12
are a high priority.
4:14
So,
4:15
you know,
4:16
in terms of predicting bed flow or our
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scheduling,
4:20
staffing, etcetera,
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across
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our ecosystem
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is critical. So, you know, we we've,
4:27
investing a lot of time and energy in
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building solutions
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to to help us do that.
4:33
I think the third area is,
4:37
remote patient monitoring,
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and
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building out the
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hospital at home concept. And and the whole
4:45
premise of that is,
4:47
can we can we decant,
4:49
lower acuity care into patients' homes,
4:52
improve the experience
4:54
for them, and, of course, reduce the total
4:56
cost for for care delivery. So I would
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say,
5:00
you know, those are the,
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key areas that I'm focusing on, at the
5:06
moment.
5:07
As you would have observed, none of those
5:10
had direct
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clinical.
5:13
But I think it's just where technology is
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and AI specifically is at the moment that
5:17
the highest value proposition
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is rarely in the operation space.
5:24
In terms of, you know, headwinds,
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I think,
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it's,
5:30
you know, headwinds is is is,
5:33
is a,
5:34
I would say, strong term, but but, yeah,
5:36
I mean, there are challenges we face always.
5:39
One is
5:40
getting the c suite buy in. I think
5:42
that's
5:44
always a challenge,
5:47
you know, to be able
5:49
to sell concepts and and access resources to
5:52
be able to to execute that.
5:56
I think, payment alignment is always a challenge.
6:01
You know, you know, trying to
6:05
figure out how,
6:07
we could capitalize on the value
6:10
from,
6:11
the operational,
6:13
solutions we're deploying as well as the the
6:17
hospital at home and remote monitoring. So, you
6:20
know, that's a big challenge at the moment.
6:24
I think,
6:25
not to be understated,
6:27
is the issue of, you know, workforce
6:31
fatigue as we
6:33
aggressively
6:35
try to get some visible wins.
6:38
It it means that, you know,
6:41
it requires change management from a workforce point
6:44
of view. And
6:46
my sense is that there is
6:49
some kind of workforce,
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fatigue attributable
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to these
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chronic,
6:57
attempts to change,
6:59
you know, by implementing technology. So I would
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say,
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you know, those are the three three opportunities
7:05
that I think
7:07
are critical that we're focused on and three
7:09
of the main headwinds that we're facing now.
7:12
Having said that, you know, I I think
7:15
we have also,
7:17
put strategies in place to to mitigate these
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headwinds to ensure success.
7:22
I hope that makes sense.
7:24
Absolutely. And, you know, I think that's really
7:26
smart, especially looking at the big challenges ahead,
7:29
as you mentioned, focusing on some of the
7:31
AI technologies that can help with operational workflows,
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but also understanding
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how you can, you know, make sure you've
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got that deployment,
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monitoring across
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the board so that, you know, the technology
7:44
continues to have the type of impact that
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you want it to have. And then, two,
7:48
to think about the workforce and make sure
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you've,
7:51
got the right plan in place to leverage
7:53
your human strength as well as the technology
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too. So, you know, when you think about
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those factors that are mitigating some of these
8:00
risks, what have you built there at UAB,
8:03
that's been critical in order to to
8:06
keep the workforce on track as well as
8:08
align with,
8:10
the the payment and ideas of of technology
8:12
that are really critical for you today?
8:15
Yeah. Absolutely. So one of the key functions
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of our Institute for Biomedical
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Innovation
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is leading the literacy and capacity development,
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component of this.
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So this, you may or may not be
8:29
aware, but,
8:31
UAB
8:32
and the Hearsink Institute,
8:34
we have the largest training program in in
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AI medicine globally.
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And we're one of the few schools of
8:41
medicine that has, training programs in health care
8:44
innovation. So,
8:46
you know, it's and and these programs
8:50
are both
8:51
academic and credit bearing. So you can come
8:54
and get a graduate certificate
8:56
or or masters or even doctoral level qualifications
8:59
for us. But we have been very, very
9:01
deliberate
9:03
about making this literacy available in a noncredit
9:07
bearing
9:08
platform
9:09
to to all employees within the health care
9:12
system and the school of medicine. So and,
9:15
you know, I think
9:17
with
9:18
literacy,
9:19
it's much easier to
9:22
be able to communicate
9:24
to the workforce what you're trying to do.
9:26
You know? One of the key
9:29
strengths or or one of the
9:31
key kind of mitigating strategies is just really
9:35
being able to
9:37
communicate
9:39
what you're trying to do in a persuasive
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manner.
9:43
And, you know, you're more likely to succeed
9:48
if,
9:49
those that you're communicating
9:51
with and to,
9:53
understand the language,
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understand
9:57
the the the logic and rationale,
9:59
and, you know, buy in is much easier
10:01
when people are informed. And that's across the
10:05
board. You know? If our leaders
10:08
are literate and have a good understanding,
10:12
of
10:13
technology,
10:14
the impact, etcetera,
10:16
you know, they're more likely to support it
10:18
and and buy into it. The same applies
10:20
to the workforce. So
10:23
I think
10:24
it's been, I would say, one of our
10:27
key
10:28
drivers of success is our focus
10:33
on innovation, digital,
10:35
AI literacy
10:36
across the board
10:38
and, of course,
10:39
you know, a robust
10:42
communication
10:43
stress less persuasion strategy.
10:46
It's all about communication. You know? So,
10:50
we're pretty deliberate about how we go about
10:52
that.
10:53
And that makes a lot of sense, and
10:54
it's helpful to dig a little bit deeper
10:56
there. Thank you so much, doctor Pele.
10:58
Now how are you thinking about growth and
11:00
adding value to UAB overall as you continue
11:03
down this path and,
11:04
examine new technologies and innovations that could make
11:07
a difference?
11:08
Yeah.
11:09
I I mean,
11:10
you know,
11:11
setting up
11:13
a innovation institute like
11:15
we had here,
11:17
was critical,
11:19
to
11:20
our
11:20
broader
11:22
growth strategy.
11:24
You know, I think every
11:26
health system
11:28
needs an innovation
11:30
operation,
11:32
to be able to very, very quickly,
11:36
you know,
11:37
either source
11:38
and validate and deploy and
11:41
and evaluate
11:43
or
11:44
develop them internally. So,
11:47
you know, that's the applied function that the
11:50
institute performs as well. So,
11:53
you know,
11:55
we work very, very closely with the health
11:57
system, and my role as, chief innovation officer,
12:00
as I said, overarches.
12:02
So I have real time knowledge of the
12:04
challenges that we face,
12:07
and I bring it back to the institute,
12:09
and we try and design responses
12:13
to that.
12:15
And we have a kind of queue fast,
12:17
scale fast,
12:18
approach to this, you know, with,
12:21
ninety day sprints,
12:23
pre agreed exit criteria. We shut down,
12:27
what doesn't move the needle,
12:29
and,
12:31
we over resource what does. So so you
12:34
you have this kind of internal operation
12:37
that you really need.
12:39
I would say from a
12:41
time and general resource allocation point of view,
12:44
we spend about 6060%
12:47
of all our efforts and resources,
12:52
solving
12:53
challenges related to our existing operation,
12:55
you know, as I alluded to in terms
12:57
of the opportunities.
13:00
I think we spend about, I would say,
13:02
15 to 20% of our resources
13:05
on what we call peripheral innovation,
13:10
market expansion strategies, etcetera,
13:13
and about 10% on really disruptive
13:16
kind of ideas. So having that kind
13:19
of strategic approach to innovation
13:22
is is is absolutely critical to, one,
13:26
you know, maintain and be competitive with operations
13:29
and then also,
13:31
become more competitive
13:33
by,
13:34
value added products and services as well.
13:38
And to have all of that in place
13:39
means, you know,
13:41
you have to have,
13:43
you you know, an approach to doing things.
13:46
You know? We have a defined
13:48
process in place. We have a clinician in
13:51
the loop design approach.
13:53
We have
13:55
critical partnerships
13:57
with health related
13:59
accelerators,
14:01
the start up ecosystem,
14:03
you know, etcetera etcetera. So
14:07
you really need a robust
14:11
innovation approach that that's all encompassing, you know,
14:15
to be able to succeed in doing that.
14:17
And and we're fortunate to have that here.
14:21
That's amazing to hear. And, you know, what
14:23
a great opportunity
14:24
to have that innovation institute had that built
14:27
out now, especially as I know things are
14:29
changing so quickly. Technology is evolving rapidly, but
14:32
so is the broader health care ecosystem. So
14:35
to have that nimbleness,
14:36
to be ready to change on a diamond,
14:39
really meet the needs of the day, it
14:41
seems like a huge, huge benefit on the
14:43
strategy side.
14:44
Absolutely. And one of the strengths is the
14:47
the institute has, I would say, not a
14:49
100% autonomy, but we're pretty close there in
14:52
terms of being fully autonomous and,
14:55
you know, deploying,
14:57
or instituting our own processes,
15:02
determining,
15:03
you know, which projects require investment, which projects
15:06
do we actually
15:08
terminate, etcetera, etcetera. So, you
15:10
you know, if you have an innovation operation,
15:13
one of the critical success factors is making
15:16
sure they they have a a fair amount
15:19
of, autonomy to do that. Absolutely. I can
15:22
imagine, as you said, that makes a big
15:25
difference. Now
15:26
what is one risk or investment that's still
15:28
worth making this year
15:30
or over the next twelve months, especially as,
15:32
you know, there's some uncertainties ahead on the
15:34
financial, economic, and, overall health care side?
15:38
Yeah. I mean,
15:40
I think
15:42
we have to
15:44
make an investment in some foundational,
15:50
some foundational,
15:52
I would say,
15:53
structures,
15:55
because that,
15:56
you know, that enables you to layer and
15:59
capitalize
16:01
on,
16:02
the the the
16:03
technology and AI kind of
16:07
opportunities
16:08
that that we're in the midst of at
16:10
the moment. And and I think to achieve
16:12
that,
16:14
I think any organization,
16:17
should consider what I call some kind of
16:20
enterprise,
16:21
AI data data layer. You know, having
16:25
an interoperable,
16:28
privacy preserving
16:30
data fabric,
16:31
you know,
16:32
with the,
16:34
appropriate guardrails and monitoring.
16:37
And I think,
16:38
you know, having
16:40
that,
16:41
layer in place at an enterprise level
16:44
pretty much derisks
16:47
all other AI and
16:50
technological
16:51
innovation for us. So, you know, it gives
16:54
us trustworthy
16:55
data. It gives us an opportunity
16:57
for rapid model deployment,
17:00
and it enables continuous governance. So so
17:04
to me,
17:05
you know, it's almost make sure you invest
17:08
in a solid innovation foundation
17:11
first.
17:13
I think that's a risk,
17:15
we're taking. And in fact, we're that's the
17:17
approach we're taking. And and,
17:21
you know, it's premised on the on the
17:22
principle
17:24
that we have to own our own data
17:27
flywheel,
17:29
or we'll just be renting,
17:31
for the future. So so, you know, strategically,
17:34
it makes sense for us
17:36
to have our own,
17:38
data flywheel, and and that's what we're doing.
17:41
Got it. That's helpful to know and, you
17:43
know, really interesting to think about that data
17:46
fabric and creating the data flywheel as well.
17:49
I know data is so important to
17:51
powering everything on the AI and technology
17:54
side, and really having
17:56
a strong data system as well as clean
17:58
data
17:59
is essential, but not easy. So how have
18:02
you gone about doing that? Yeah. And it
18:04
speaks to the broader strategy I spoke about
18:06
earlier on to grow value. I mean, we've
18:09
you know, we're we're we're part of what
18:11
the institute does apart from all of our
18:14
training programs, etcetera,
18:16
we also have an AI lab here that,
18:19
you know,
18:21
makes,
18:23
hard to access models available to faculty and
18:25
students to do r and d. But we
18:27
also have an AI factory that we, you
18:30
know, where we build our own solutions.
18:33
It's been a strategy that's very deliberate
18:37
to to build as as many of the
18:39
solutions in house as as possible.
18:42
And so you could see
18:44
from a
18:45
from our strategic approach of insourcing
18:48
that having our own enterprise AI data layer
18:52
makes sense.
18:53
So, you know,
18:55
that's kind of our approach for now is
18:58
is to build and insource as approach
19:01
as opposed to go the
19:03
outsourcing
19:05
approach. So so, you know, every
19:08
I guess, every health system will be will
19:10
be different if they have a technology
19:12
AI strategy that's that's leaning towards more an
19:16
outsourced approach.
19:17
That may not be a priority. So our
19:20
our strategy has been one that
19:23
is is built on
19:25
a insourcing
19:26
self development. So so AI, you know, makes
19:29
sense to us. It it's it's an investment
19:31
we have to make.
19:33
That's, you know, really critical to hear and
19:35
definitely part of the overall strategy. I know
19:37
you mentioned, you know, working with the other
19:39
c suite leaders to make sure they understand
19:41
those investments
19:42
is important and critical. So I I think
19:44
when you're looking into the future as well,
19:46
what do you see as some of the
19:47
best opportunities for continued growth and development?
19:50
Yeah. I mean, it depends on your time
19:53
frame that you're looking at, but I would
19:54
say in the next decade,
19:58
two kind of key opportunities for us would
20:01
be on autonomous care pathways,
20:04
you know, ability to manage chronic disease at
20:07
scale using AI navigators and remote diagnostics. I
20:11
think that's gonna be
20:14
something
20:15
that's,
20:17
you you know, really going
20:19
to position us for success within the decade.
20:22
I think,
20:24
precision operations,
20:25
you you know, from a cost point of
20:27
view,
20:30
especially as I said for
20:32
hospital
20:33
systems that are,
20:35
you know,
20:36
have
20:37
big geographical
20:39
footprints,
20:40
you know, digital twins of of hospitals and
20:42
systems to simulate, optimize capacity,
20:45
throughput, cost, etcetera. I think that,
20:49
is achievable within the next decade.
20:52
I think, you know, post the decade,
20:56
we could start seeing
20:58
robotics enabled service lines start emerging. So,
21:02
you know, that's kind of how I look
21:04
at things.
21:07
You know? I think the next decade,
21:10
is gonna belong to health systems that are
21:12
able to adequately
21:14
combine
21:16
humans with technology.
21:18
You know? And our job is to is
21:20
to architect that future responsibly
21:23
and, make the ROI,
21:26
undeniable. I think that's
21:28
that's certainly been that's certainly how I look
21:30
at,
21:31
the opportunities moving forward.
21:34
That's fascinating to hear. Doctor Pele, thank you
21:36
so much for joining us on the podcast
21:38
today. This has been a really
21:40
insightful conversation, and I look forward to connecting
21:42
with you again soon.
21:44
Absolutely.
21:44
Thank you for having me, Laura.
21:49
At athenahealth, we know your ambulatory practice wants
21:52
healthier,
21:53
a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
21:56
patients.
21:57
But the complexities of modern health care tech
21:59
make it hard for you and your care
22:01
teams to focus on what matters most.
22:03
That's where athenahealth can help. Our AI native
22:06
all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens,
22:09
streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights
22:12
when clinicians need it most.
22:14
That means fewer clicks, more time for patients,
22:17
and stronger bottom lines.
22:19
Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
22:22
can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
22:25
See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.