Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Kiran Mysore, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Sutter Health

Transcript

Kiran Mysore, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Sutter Health · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  Kieran Mysore, chief data analytics officer at Sutter
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  Health. Kieran, it's a pleasure to have you
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  on the podcast today. Thanks for having me,
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  Laura.
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  Absolutely. Now I'm really excited for this discussion
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  because I know, Sutter is doing a lot
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  of innovative things. It's a really,
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  unique time in health care right now where
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  innovation is moving so quickly and technology is
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  transforming the way health care is delivered. So
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  I'm looking forward to talking more about what
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  you're doing at Sutter and then how you're
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  thinking about the future. But before we dive
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  in, I'm wondering, can you introduce yourself and
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  tell tell us just a little bit about
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  your background?
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  Sure, Laura. I'm Kieran Meisser. I serve as
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  the chief data and analytics officer at Sutter
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  Health.
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  I lead our enterprise efforts in data strategy,
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  artificial
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  intelligence, analytics,
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  and our collective team's focus is really to
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  deliver
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  better care for our patients,
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  reducing clinician burden, and, improving our overall organizational
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  performance.
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  Now I've spent, you know, more than twenty
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  five years working in data and AI
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  across multiple industries,
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  and that also includes health care.
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  And that sort of cross sector experience gives
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  me a broad lens. But what I'm really
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  excited about is how we can bring some
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  of these ideas to the provider, the health
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  care space,
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  where we can really turn insights into real
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  impact.
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  And so at Sutter, we're using data and
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  AI to tackle some of health care's toughest
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  challenges,
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  whether it's improving patient access,
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  clinician productivity,
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  and so on.
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  I also wanted to give a quick background
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  on Sutter Health. We are one of the
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  leading not for profit
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  integrated health systems. We serve more than three
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  and a half million patients in California,
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  and our vision is to be the most
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  comprehensive,
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  integrated, and coordinated
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  health system in California.
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  That's amazing to hear. And, you know, what
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  great work that you do in serving such
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  an important patient population.
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  Now what are some of the big opportunities
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  as well as headwinds that you have your
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  eye on?
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  Sure.
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  So we're working on some exciting initiatives using
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  data and AI. I'm gonna focus a couple
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  of maybe give you a couple of examples.
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  One example is, you know, we are working
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  to improve
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  speed and accuracy of diagnosis
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  and, you know, flagging patients at risk for
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  serious health events.
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  So we use AI, for example, to act
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  as a second set of eyes for physicians.
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  Right?
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  For example, when you're reviewing a CT's lung
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  scan,
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  where, you know, we're trying to understand
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  early stage lung cancer diagnosis, right, and and
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  provide the diagnosis.
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  With AI's help, you know, sixty percent of
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  these Sutter patients actually received
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  an early stage diagnosis. Now that is significantly
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  better than the national average, which is just
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  at twenty seven percent. So we're really proud
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  of that.
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  When you think about stroke,
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  care,
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  AI based platforms provide,
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  an additional review.
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  They help our specialists identify
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  large blood vessel clots within minutes,
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  And this allows for faster treatment decisions as
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  well.
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  Now AI risk models also proactively flag patients
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  in the hospital
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  who are at high risk for in hospital
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  cardiac arrest, which is one of the things
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  that could happen. It's a leading cause of,
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  in hospital death and c diff infections as
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  well. And by predicting earlier, we're able to
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  take care of our patients much earlier. So
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  those are some examples.
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  Now one of the other thing we're also
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  working on is
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  to improve
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  access to care,
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  by making it more readily available. So
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  one example there is, you know, more than
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  half of those with diabetes,
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  they don't get a recommended eye exam each
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  year, and that places them at a higher
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  risk for blindness.
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  Now AI can actually detect
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  even the earliest warning signs in less than
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  a minute just through a picture.
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  And by placing these retinal cameras with FDA
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  cleared AI
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  in primary care offices
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  in a screening for more sort of health
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  patients is really possible.
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  I'm gonna maybe end with one other example,
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  which is all about our physicians. You know,
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  our physician satisfaction is really important.
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  Productivity is really important.
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  So we use AI to assist them generating
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  responses to patient emails.
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  So or to listen during a patient visit
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  to take notes
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  and generate a summary that directly flows into
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  the electronic health record for the patient. Of
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  course, the physicians do review and approve all
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  of this content before it reaches the patients.
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  And we've seen, like, almost a million notes
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  written in the system since our program launched.
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  And this is actually helping our physicians be
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  you know, overall reduce their cognitive burden,
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  and their mental fatigue of even up to
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  30%.
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  So this is a win for our physicians
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  and our patients.
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  That's amazing to hear, and it makes a
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  really big difference when you think about the
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  clinical workforce and how much the last few
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  years has really put a strain on it.
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  So to incorporate technology that can do a
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  variety of those administrative tasks and really add
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  value to their Workday, I I think is
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  critical. And I appreciate you talking through a
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  lot of the work that you've done there,
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  and how you're gauging those results is, fascinating.
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  Now Mhmm. I'm curious. You know, when you
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  look into the future, what are some of
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  the ways that you are thinking about growth
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  and developing
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  and continuing to add value to Sutter overall?
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  Sure. The best way to think about growth
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  and value is through the lens of our
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  mission,
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  which is patients first and people always.
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  Now there are several areas of focus to
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  help with this.
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  You know the first thing is we think
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  about
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  how we act improve access to care.
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  So the problem we face is that
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  too many
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  people experience too many hurdles in getting the
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  care they need.
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  And Sutter is leading the way in removing
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  as many barriers to access as possible.
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  And this is where our digital tools, our
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  innovations play a crucial role in this work.
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  I'll give you one example.
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  Our work actually helps us
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  serve more than a 100,000 new patients,
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  across our system last year. That's 100,000 new
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  patients last year.
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  And
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  we're doing that by improving our online scheduling
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  capabilities.
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  For example, last year, we saw an increase
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  of 27%
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  in online appointment scheduling.
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  This is really great.
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  The second thing we think about is workforce
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  well-being.
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  Now we are growing our workforce,
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  especially our physicians.
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  We hired more than a thousand physicians and
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  clinicians last year
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  while keeping turnover
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  really low.
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  Now burnout is a key factor in all
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  of the work that they do. So our
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  digital tools, like I mentioned,
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  are really helping our workforce,
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  and essentially making their life easier.
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  A good example is the fact that,
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  last year,
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  we saved a million hours of our workforce
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  time through efficiencies in our digital tools, and
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  this is amazing.
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  So these are just two examples of how
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  our work in action
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  really drives,
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  our collective organization
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  and really advance that mission of patients first
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  and people always.
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  I love that. Really tying it back into
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  what health care is all about. Now I
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  I know there's so many hospitals and and
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  systems across the country that have that vision
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  that are trying to serve patients well and
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  figuring out what technology is going to do
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  that the best.
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  And that is, you know, easier said than
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  done. And so when you think about many
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  of these institutions having tight margins or looking
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  ahead and seeing continued belt tightening, what investments
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  should they still make this year, especially
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  thinking about technology,
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  you know, that can make sure they're set
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  up for success?
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  It's a great question, Laura. I think,
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  again, taking a lens of how Sutter is
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  really thinking about this,
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  we'll maybe stick with the same theme of
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  growth and expansion, right? We are actually making
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  some big investments in our ambulatory
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  growth.
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  We have a very ambitious,
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  program in ambulatory expansions.
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  This is a billion dollar program.
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  This includes, you know, 76 new care sites,
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  more than 160 hospital beds.
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  I already talked about our physician hiring, which
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  is also a growth area for us. We
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  actually hired, like, 500 physicians this year alone.
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  We're also,
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  on our way to becoming Northern California's
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  largest
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  community based health care training institution. This is
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  great.
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  We're growing our medical,
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  residency programs, our academic partnerships,
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  and workforce development investments to really help our
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  future generations of caregivers be even more efficient.
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  One other thing I'm really excited about to
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  sort of complement the amb ambulatory expansion
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  is that we're rolling out a new
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  fully integrated digital care delivery model, and we
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  call that SutterSync.
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  So this program actually allows our patients to
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  track and manage chronic diseases,
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  such as hypertension
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  and diabetes at home. And they can do
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  this on their schedule in their house Mhmm.
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  And in concert with a dedicated care team
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  that can really provide timely support and treatment
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  adjustments.
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  So our
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  investments in ambulatory expansion coupled with our digital
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  tools like Sutter Sync are really helping care
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  for more
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  patients in more places.
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  That's fascinating to hear. And, you know, really
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  truly embracing that tech enablement,
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  it makes a big difference. You know, those
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  are huge problems trying to expand capacity and
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  increase the number of patients you're seeing. Well,
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  also, you know, dealing with, as we have
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  talked a little bit about here, just some
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  of the challenges with staffing and all those
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  kinds of things. So that's that's amazing to
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  hear.
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  I'm curious before we wrap up here. Looking
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  ahead and and looking at, you know, growth
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  for yourself in particular, what does that look
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  like over the next two to three years?
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  I know, right now, things are changing very
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  quickly, and it likely will continue that way.
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  So how do you see yourself and your
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  teams evolving?
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  I'm excited for the future. I reflect on
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  this all the time. You know? One of
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  the things we think about,
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  and I tell my team to think about
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  growth is to really define what growth really
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  means. Right?
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  It's not just growth for the growth sake,
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  but it's about creating
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  greater access to care, meeting the demand where
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  where we need to.
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  And, like I said, I've given some examples
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  of already, you know, how we do this.
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  I think growth is taking on new forms
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  beyond just the traditional ways.
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  This is where I think digital health, AI
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  innovations play such a big role.
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  I just think some of the work that
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  my team is doing
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  and enabling,
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  especially around AI, these are not just incremental
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  opportunities. These are transformational opportunities.
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  And in some ways, we're changing the way
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  things are done entirely,
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  whether it's workflows, whether it's treatment plan, care
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  care mechanisms, and such.
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  And our clinical areas, our operational areas have
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  tremendous opportunities for growth.
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  And so as we transform all of this
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  easy work, we're actually going to go deeper,
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  maybe towards personalized treatments that will actually truly
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  change our patients,
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  well-being.
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  So,
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  yeah, personally I'm excited about the opportunities for
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  growth in the future.
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  I truly think not just Sutter but just
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  healthcare as a whole has a unique opportunity
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  to serve our patients
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  with better technology, with AI, with data,
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  to elevate the scale,
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  to improve the quality of care. And I
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  think our growth journey is a great example
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  of this.
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  That's fascinating to hear. Well, Karen, thank you
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  so much for joining us on the podcast
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  today. This has been a really fun conversation,
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  and I look forward to connecting with you
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  again soon.
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  Thanks, Laura. Thanks for having me. It was
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  great to talk to you, and I hope
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  that our conversation sparks some new ideas for
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  the listeners to accelerate their own journeys.
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  Thank you.