Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Randy Farmer, COO of Delaware Health Information Network

Transcript

Randy Farmer, COO of Delaware Health Information Network · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  Philips is a health tech leader focused on
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  innovation that improves the health and well-being of
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  people. Our health care technology and informatics solutions
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  help care teams diagnose, treat, and manage more
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  the care journey. With Philips, clinicians are empowered
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  for every patient. Better care for more people.
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  Philips.
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  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Health Care
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  podcast recorded at the 9th annual health IT,
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  digital health, and RCM conference in Chicago.
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  We're joined today by Randy Farmer, chief operating
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  officer at Delaware Health Information Network.
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  Randy, to get us started, can you please
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  tell us a little bit about yourself, your
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  background, and your role at your organization? Yes.
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  Absolutely. And, Jeremy, thank you very much for
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  the opportunity. It's it's great to be here
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  at Becker's. This is an awesome conference. Love
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  coming every year.
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  Currently serving as the COO at the Delaware
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  Health Health Information Network.
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  We basically are the central nervous system for
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  health,
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  data for, Delaware and much of the surrounding
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  region. So, like, if somebody has a test
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  at a Delaware hospital, lab, radiology farm,
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  or even at like, let's say, Johns Hopkins
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  in Baltimore, Maryland, or George Washington Hospital in
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  Washington, DC,
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  we get information about that encounter to help
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  coordinate care. Our,
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  basic service lines go in the area of
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  results delivery,
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  and care coordination, as well as in data
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  analytics as and, including, supporting clinical trial research.
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  So it's a a pretty eclectic but a
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  very exciting,
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  set of services that we're able to engage
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  with and and help to make health care
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  data useful.
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  Great. As I'm sure you're aware, AI adoption
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  is exploding in health care.
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  In your view, what would you say, you
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  know, the most significant or promising application of
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  this technology is right now? How is this
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  informing your organization's innovation strategy? Well, you know,
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  that's a great question. I mean, AI is
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  the I guess maybe the the the next
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  big thing, obviously, in in in data, not
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  just in health care, but in so many
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  big data fields.
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  Of the way we see this as really
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  being an asset is an area both prescriptive
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  and predictive analytics.
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  You know, we we have, like, over 200,000,000,
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  medical claims over,
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  medical claims and pharmacy claims. We have well
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  over 200,000,000, I think around 300,000,000
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  clinical messages
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  and and results that have been accumulated
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  since 2007,
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  and over 3,000,000 unique patients across the this
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  landscape.
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  So with with that amount of data, we
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  should be able to start leveraging
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  AI tools to be able to identify those
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  pockets of patients that may be most at
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  risk at certain points of their health care
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  journey.
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  Case in point, let's say somebody is released
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  from a correctional institution.
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  Who are those patients that are most likely
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  to have a relapse, either in behavior health
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  and or substance abuse?
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  Can we use that data in order to
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  better allocate
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  care coordination resources
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  to better support those individuals so that, well,
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  you know, they they don't end up having
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  to need,
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  resources down the road or or or get
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  re incarcerated.
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  And the same thing for those folks that,
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  like, let's say, have substance abuse disorders.
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  Can we look at patterns in terms of
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  those folks that have,
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  had
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  to be readmitted
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  or have had relapses
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  in these areas? And identify folks prescriptively or
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  predictably
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  to say, hey, these folks are most at
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  risk. Put your care coordination resources here. And,
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  you know, by,
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  that extra effort, that extra energy, maybe help
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  save lives and save money in the process.
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  So as you mentioned, you know, health care
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  leaders are managing greater and greater volumes of
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  data across more devices
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  and a growing number of care settings and
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  populations.
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  In this complex environment, what clinical data integration
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  tools or practices are you seeing drive these
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  improvements in patient outcomes operations,
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  and can you share an example? Sure. You
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  know, to me, there's nothing more important
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  than, let's say,
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  the speed in which you're able to empower
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  decision makers, you know, with with the data.
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  You know, it's one thing if somebody's trying
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  to make decisions off claims data, which can
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  have, you know, anywhere from,
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  10 days to several months in in lag,
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  versus like the real time clinical data. You
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  know, is when somebody gets admitted to a
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  hospital, if you're a care coordinator, don't you
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  wanna know within minutes? And that's the power,
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  I think, of many of our networks,
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  or at least networks that are health information
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  exchanges.
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  We are able to empower payers and their
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  care coordination teams, as well as like the
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  care coordination teams of clinically integrated networks,
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  or with the accountable care organizations, the ACOs,
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  that are working really hard to get on
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  top of conditions before they graduate to more
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  severe cases and more expensive,
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  cases. So to me, I think like the
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  the real time notifications. When is somebody transferred
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  out of a skilled nursing facility or into
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  a skilled nursing facility? When are they discharged
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  from an ER with a potential,
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  diagnosis of having, let's say, congestive,
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  heart disorder? And if those are very expensive
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  type conditions, don't you wanna have your care
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  coordination teams right on top of that? I
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  mean, we did a great pilot with a,
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  with one of our commercial,
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  healthcare payers recently,
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  and we basically
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  doubled their effectiveness
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  in terms of,
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  getting it patient engagement.
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  And then in that group, we increased their
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  enrollment,
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  rate from 50%
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  of the folks that they were able to
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  engage with to 90%
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  of the folks that they engage with were,
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  enrolled in a care coordination program. And when
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  you're looking at, like,
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  ER cost of like an average visit of
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  like 15 to $17,000
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  or let's say in the more, like extreme
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  cases, like with a cardiology or an oncology
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  type,
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  condition
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  of being around 30 some $1,000,
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  Oh my gosh. That is such a tremendous
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  benefit to these care coordination teams and and
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  to the bottom line business of these organizations.
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  So, you know, as your role as COO,
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  you probably have a pretty good insight into
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  this.
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  How can health care organizations
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  better support,
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  you know, IT teams and clinical teams as
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  they carry out, their innovation efforts? And, you
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  know, what are some of the common pitfalls
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  we see here? Yeah. You know what? I
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  I think a a lot of it has
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  to do with, like, you know, how we
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  go with our speed to market in terms
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  of, like, how we how we innovate and
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  how we change, and understanding and scoping out,
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  how long it's gonna take for us, and
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  what's gonna be required for us to do
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  a deployment. I mean, that's kinda getting into
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  the, you know, nuts and bolts of, like,
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  you know, program management, project management.
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  So but that's and, you know, execute execution
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  is the chariot of genius. Right? Mhmm. You
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  know, and how well you can basically go
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  from a plan to something being real
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  is at the heart of of excellence. Mhmm.
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  So that's something that I think our organization
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  continues. And any
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  organization that wants to be, well, a problem
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  solver for its clients, that wants to be
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  a valued contributor, wants to be a strategic
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  partner to its most valuable customers,
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  you gotta focus on execution. So, yeah, I
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  I'd I'd say that that's where any good
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  organization that wants to be great needs to
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  focus.
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  Okay.
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  So what's your top, piece of advice for
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  other health care leaders as they prepare for
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  further advancements in technology and, greater demands for
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  care? Wow. Advice for for, like, health health
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  care, for leaders out there. Yeah.
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  Data is king, which they probably know. Mhmm.
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  Mhmm. And choose partners that are the best
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  at making health care data useful. Look, the
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  the the health care data landscape Mhmm. Is
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  full of chaos. There's a lot of hay.
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  There's a lot of needles,
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  but it's hidden within the hay. You know,
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  how can you leverage the the the outstanding
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  software tools that are out there with people
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  that are able to execute, companies that are
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  able to execute in order to find that
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  needles in real time Mhmm. And to be
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  able to make it actionable.
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  And, you know, look, just because you get
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  a lot of data or you you get
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  a lot of, reports doesn't mean necessarily that
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  it's actionable.
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  I think that in terms of, like, how
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  we serve our clients, understand one problem to
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  solve. If if if your client can tell
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  you one problem that they're committed to solving
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  with you, focus and execute. The the you
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  know,
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  be fierce in terms of your commitment
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  to conquer that problem.
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  And,
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  and and and yeah. I I think that
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  that's again, it goes back to, like, how
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  execution is king. Mhmm. Brady, I think it's
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  safe to say our listeners got a lot
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  out of this conversation. But before I wrap
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  up, do you have any final thoughts you'd
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  like to live with them?
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  Yeah. Number 1, Becker's is an awesome conference.
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  There's a lot of of of great high
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  level executives here. And I totally recommend,
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  of folks joining the conference and going to
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  the sessions.
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  They're very thought provoking,
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  and it's great to have the after panel
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  discussions with folks and continue the conversation.
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  In in terms of generally,
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  you know, how do you manage your business?
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  You know, look, I would just, recommend is
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  that you you you look to grow your
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  relationships.
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  Don't be satisfied with, let's say, your top
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  10 customers and just being an order taker.
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  Find a way to become a trusted advisor
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  and a strategic partner.
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  No. Understand that's a long, hard slog.
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  But put together a plan,
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  understand what problems they have to to solve,
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  execute, and you will,
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  eventually be elevated to a level of being
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  a strategic partner to your customers. Mhmm. Well,
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  Randy, thank you again for taking the time
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  to join us on the show today. I
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  really appreciate it. Thank you very much, and
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  you have a lovely rest of your day.
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  It was my pleasure. Thanks, Jeremy. Thank you.