Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Joey Seliski, Director of Digital Health Strategy and Operations at Allegheny Health Network

Transcript

Joey Seliski, Director of Digital Health Strategy and Operations at Allegheny Health Network · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  Everyone, and welcome to the Becker's healthcare podcast.
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  I'm Scott King. Thrilled today to be joined
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  by Joey Soliske,
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  director, digital health strategy and operations
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  over at Allegheny Health Network. Joey, how are
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  you doing today?
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  Hey. I'm doing great. Thanks for having me
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  to the the Becker's team for allowing us
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  the opportunity to discuss.
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  Of course. No. So happy you're with us.
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  We're gonna have a great conversation. I I
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  know we're gonna get into a lot of
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  the kind of trending topics in health care.
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  So much going on right now. Just wanted
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  to see if you could don't mind introducing
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  yourself and and talking a little about your
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  background before we jump into the questions, Joey.
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  Absolutely. So as you head out, I'm director
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  of digital health strategy and operations for Allegheny
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  Health Network. We are part of Highmark Health.
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  Highmark is a 29,000,000,000,
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  nonprofit organization with over 44,000 employees, and the
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  HN Albany Health Network is a provider arm
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  within that. So we have about, you know,
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  14 hospitals, over 300 clinics, 3,000 physicians across
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  Western Pennsylvania.
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  My personal journey, you know, I started,
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  wanting to go into pediatric oncology through our
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  undergraduate, went to school at the University of
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  Wisconsin Madison. And in Wisconsin's backyard is a
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  company called EPIC who many many are familiar
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  with. You know, thought I'd only go there
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  for one year. I didn't know too much
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  about health care technology or the company. But
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  over time, you know, I fell in love
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  with what technology and health care truly can
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  do. How it can transform care, not, you
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  know, just for maybe for one patient, but,
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  you know, truly at scale. So, you know,
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  after that, I was there for multiple years
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  working across international health care, tribal health care,
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  mergers and acquisitions, and technology standardization initiatives, and
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  came to Allegheny Health Network about three years
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  ago to really help, you know, Allegheny Health
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  and Highmark Health Network, identify opportunities
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  for
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  using technology to better improve experience, operational efficiencies,
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  and, you know, clinical outcomes. So that's a
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  little bit about myself and how I got
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  to where I'm at today, and I'm excited
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  to talk more.
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  Thanks so much, Joey. You know, speaking of
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  opportunities,
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  I wanna ask you what opportunities
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  and headwinds,
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  you might have your eye on right now
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  in health care.
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  Sure. I I think there's there's two big
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  ones I specifically wanna chat about that we
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  hear often, not just the Allegheny Health Network,
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  but across the the country. You know, workforce
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  shortages are something that we hear every day
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  about statistics both now and in the upcoming
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  years. You know, by 2028, we're looking at
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  a shortage, you know, across the country. This
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  isn't specific to us, but in general, you
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  know, 60 to 90,000 physicians and over a
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  100,000 nurses over the upcoming years. So burnout
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  is real, and it's you know, we really
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  have to use that headwind looking ahead to
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  find opportunities for how do we prevent that.
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  How do we keep our staff happy and
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  engage with the patient? And there can be
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  a better way for technology
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  to fit into that. So especially in the
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  world of where we're at with artificial intelligence
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  and automate administrative tasks, you know, you're seeing
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  this in ambient documentation across the country, and
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  we're doing that at Highmark Highmark Health Network.
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  Ways that you can find also, like, chart
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  summarizations. How can you prevent, you know, a
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  clinician from needing to go search for something
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  that's being able to input a I wanna
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  find the lab results for this patient over
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  the past four weeks, and it can pull
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  it in quickly versus that time it takes
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  to remember where to go search and find
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  it. So that those tools like that that
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  really help our staff focus on patient care
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  quickly are are key.
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  I think today, we're trying to think about
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  hybrid care models to help with this. So
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  how can we implement concepts of virtual nursing
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  in our facilities or for maybe our remote
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  hospitals,
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  allowing a clinician from the city or Pittsburgh
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  to assist on rounding or with that specialist
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  in the future. So we're trying to figure
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  out how how staff can, still practice at
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  the top of their license, remove those admin
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  tasks, and, hopefully, that'll start to then address
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  some of that burnout or shortages projections.
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  You know, from a financial perspective then, that's
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  another headwind that, again, not just selling any
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  health network, all facilities are facing and, you
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  know, cost might be rising, reimbursement rates,
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  margins are tight. And with that, from a
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  technology lens, the opportunity
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  is using your platforms and artificial intelligence specifically
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  in, like, the revenue cycle as well. So
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  how can you, you know, accurately code, find
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  information from the inpatient stay, from the chart
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  to surface that code on the claim, you
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  know, reduce some denials using technology,
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  and, ultimately, also accelerate collections. And,
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  secondly, then use predictive analytics to optimize your
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  staffing. How can you best know where to
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  allocate your resources based on historical information
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  and also understand how your operating rooms, where
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  you should staff, you know, or tell your
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  patients to come and based on historical info.
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  So I think those are a couple larger
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  headwinds that, you know, we're thinking about and
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  just ways that we're starting to use that,
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  you know, as an opportunity to address and,
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  using technology to do that.
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  Absolutely.
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  And, you know, some of the things you
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  were saying about workforce shortages kinda dovetail into
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  our next question here, and that is how
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  are you thinking about
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  growth and adding value to your organization, you
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  know, especially,
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  in spite of those workforce shortages?
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  Yeah. I I think the first thing with
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  that is, you know, growth isn't also just
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  about maybe buying technology or implementing it. Sometimes
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  it's about forming,
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  relationships and connecting dots internally with with what
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  we have. So how can we, you know,
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  develop with our technology team, informaticists,
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  and groups
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  understand stakeholders
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  and understand listening, building trust, meeting with clinical
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  and operational revenue cycle teams to know what
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  are their top challenges,
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  and then using that to educate and say,
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  you know, technology and what we have now
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  could could solve that. You know, if we
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  partner and change the way that we do
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  work, we make this adjustment to it, it
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  could do it,
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  now. Or how do we then leverage market
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  analysis to say, you know, a health system
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  out west is solving that top challenge of
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  radiology. Here's how they're doing it. You know,
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  should we how can we learn from that
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  playbook and maybe implement that? That's our top
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  problem as an organization we wanna solve. And
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  so, you know, sometimes our our role in
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  technology, again, is not necessarily going to buy
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  it, but it's actually connecting the dots internally.
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  Being the dot connector and the relationship developer,
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  having that trust,
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  and then pulling all the teams together and
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  then make helping them show how to use
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  it in training.
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  I think then too, you know, the final
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  thing is
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  every organization now has to be using AI
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  and data as their compass. You know? It
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  is driving where we need to maybe consider
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  investing, you know, where it aligns with our
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  organizational goals, and how do we start to
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  use it in predictive models or analytics, the
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  generative AI, and the two in the future
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  here, AgenTek AI, to solve, those top things
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  we need. So those are, you know, a
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  couple things I'd I'd say for how we're
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  trying to, you know, add value in what
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  we're thinking about at at our organization.
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  Yeah. I know you touched on,
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  you know, emerging technology that's helped your system
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  and and others, like like, the types of
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  AI you just mentioned.
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  But do you think is there another risk
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  or investment that you think is worth making
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  for the next year?
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  Yeah. Yeah. I think there's two. So I'm
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  gonna address it from both the,
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  people perspective and then technology. Right? So from
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  a people perspective,
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  start to invest
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  now and then next year in AI literacy
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  and just team development. As I hit on,
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  you know, it's impacting every role in health
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  care. Clinician we need our clinicians, operators, and
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  leaders to understand, you know, what AI is
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  and what isn't, where and how it works,
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  and integrating the workflows that does not. You
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  know, teaching our teams how to troubleshoot this,
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  review the outputs,
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  and assess is operations ready for this or
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  not. You know, it's not just about the
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  technology as as you know and that we
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  talk about a lot. It's about the people
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  and process alignment.
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  And without all of that, even the best
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  technology fails. So it's important to, you know,
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  educate staff across the organization and within your
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  own department, in the technology or digital space
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  on how do we keep learning. You know,
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  stuff's coming out every day, new AI models,
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  new technologies, so we always need to give
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  our team time to learn.
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  Now, you know, from a technology perspective in,
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  an investment area, you recommend
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  to look into
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  is in the imaging space and around, you
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  know, AI in in that area. I think,
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  you know, regardless of, you know, your reimbursement
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  models or your contracts, there's value in the
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  fee for service or value based care realm,
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  and using AI platforms to assess your images
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  that are being captured
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  and to look at,
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  prioritize urgent cases, you know, assist in image
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  detection and saying, you know, this patient might
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  have intracranial hemorrhage. Maybe you should review that
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  now. And then also assist with generating the
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  report for radiologists. Like, they are starting to
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  become technologies that can do this, and that
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  is gonna help us develop our workforce of
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  the future
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  and really start to get through some of
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  this, you know, maybe backlog of images that
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  Telesys might be facing potentially across the country.
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  So, you know, if you if you make
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  sure you start to understand the market, what
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  is your radiology department doing, journey mapping that,
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  I think it's really important to to take
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  a look because,
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  whether that's,
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  you know, partnering with another vendor, whether it's
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  building it internally, you should start exploring that
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  area, you know, in '26 and '27.
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  Yeah. I think you made a really good
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  point. You you said, you know, even the
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  biggest or or best technology fails, and
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  you hear so many health systems people are
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  are worrying about getting that, you know, that
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  that next new shiny object. Just curious, what
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  what's,
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  what's the top
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  tech that has kinda failed,
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  you or your system or or let you
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  down, you know, at least temporarily?
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  Yeah. I I wouldn't say there's necessarily,
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  Ben, where the
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  technology fails necessarily or, like, where it, is
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  the it's like the partner we chose to
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  work with. It's more the concept of
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  we can't just put technology on a a
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  process or operational team member who's not ready
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  for change. Right? Understanding
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  what is the readiness for a change like
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  this. Take aside the technology.
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  By implementing it, what will it do pre
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  and after?
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  And is that team ready or not? Is
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  it actually solving a problem that they have,
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  or is it adding a step? So I
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  wouldn't even you know, the the technology is
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  not always the the hard part. That's actually
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  the easy part. The hard part is culturally
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  getting folks,
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  assessed and ready and saying, yes. We are
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  ready for the change. We know how it'll
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  change us, and we think it is a
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  top thing to make that adjustment. And that's
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  where that concept I hit on earlier of
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  having trust across the business and clinical operational
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  and all teams,
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  allows you to have those conversations and then
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  sort of make a a checklist to say,
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  yes. We're ready or, no. We're not ready.
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  So maybe we should focus on a different
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  area right now.
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  So hope that helps answer that.
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  Yeah. 100%. Dude, absolutely. People have to be
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  ready and and willing to learn how to
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  use the technology,
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  properly for it to be efficient. Absolutely.
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  And last question I have for you, Joey.
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  Where do you see the best opportunities for
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  growth in the future in health care?
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  Yeah. So there's again, two two aspects. I
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  I like focusing I always like focusing on
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  the people and the technology.
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  You know, I think adoption and enablement teams
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  are critical. They have been, but I think
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  in the world of AI are so are
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  that much more. You know, whether that's informatics,
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  your training team, a different implementation team, however
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  that helps us in going across the country
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  to define it, you need to make sure
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  you're ready,
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  for this and have a plan. I think
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  a lot of organizations right now, right, think
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  about
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  AI. I will use that as an example.
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  We have governance and maybe compliance around it,
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  and we need to make sure we're thinking
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  about clinical integration or the operational integration into
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  our workflows and change management again. You know,
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  a AI is not gonna deliver value or
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  solve the the true problem. We need teams
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  who really know where and how staff interact
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  with technology of the patient. How do you
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  prompt the tool or technology to get the
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  output you need, and how does that fit
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  into your true care delivery? Where and how
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  are you talking to the patient in the
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  call center? Need that AI model to output
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  to so you don't leave the system. Or
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  as a clinician, where are you talking to
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  the patient now, and you need that to
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  be surfaced.
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  And then when you do that, you know,
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  you can assess to the business readiness.
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  That's, again, I'll head out from the last
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  question. But, you know, before implementing AI, evaluate,
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  is your department prepared for that process change
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  again? You know? If not, let's not maybe
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  introduce the technology yet. Let's start with the
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  education. Let's just talk through what it is
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  and what it isn't, and then design a
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  smaller pilot before we scale. I think it's
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  easy to just think throw on the technology
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  when, again, you don't maybe have the the
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  team ready for it. So, you know, the
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  the question is not
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  AI versus not AI mindset. Like, the secret
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  sauce here is mapping how people, how AI
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  how other technologies that aren't AI, so it'll
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  always be there, all interact with each other,
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  and then how those collectively work together sort
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  of in, like, an end to end journey,
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  start to finish.
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  And so when you can do that, map
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  it out, and document pain points, how it's
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  solving that, that all then is truly how
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  we're gonna change some of the, you know,
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  the headwinds that we talked about at the
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  beginning.
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  Now from a technology perspective,
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  the biggest opportunity for growth is you're again,
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  you're seeing it across the country with ambient
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  intelligence, but I you know, conversational intelligence is
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  is a huge opportunity. You know, our voice
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  is powerful. Whether that's patient facing in clinic,
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  video visits, whether that's on a telephone in
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  your call center, all that information from that
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  voice conversation
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  is now being able to be captured, you
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  know, guide your next step documentation, the action
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  you should take, maybe that protocol that you
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  need to take from the call center when
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  you're getting called in.
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  And so
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  it's happening now, and it's just having a
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  conversational intelligence strategy across the various platforms
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  and making sure you are moving forward with
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  that in all all care settings and roles.
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  So I think, you know, generally, my my
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  takeaway is for folks to to think about
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  is process map out workflows. You know, find
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  where inefficiency
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  is costing time or money,
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  and then take, like, a an approach of
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  getting rid of stupid stuff or the gross
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  d r o s s approach. Like, what
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  are things that we're doing that maybe we
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  can just get rid of? Or how can
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  we find a quick win that we could,
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  you know, implement now and change that off
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  your plate? And, when you do that for
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  the various care settings, you're gonna find opportunities.
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  You know, technologies isn't just about the tools.
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  It's, you know, the culture, the education, and
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  alignment. So, you know, start small, really think
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  about real problems, and that'll truly allow for
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  you. And, you know, what we're thinking about
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  is to build readiness for our future, at
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  Allegheny Health.
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  Joey, thanks so much for joining us on
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  the podcast. Really appreciate all your great insight
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  on on not just tech, but but people
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  in health care too. And, it was a
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  great conversation.
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  Thrilled to have, you know, the teams, from
• 13:45
  Allian Health Network contributing to some of the
• 13:46
  work, you know, that I talked about, and
• 13:48
  the great work that they're doing. So thanks
• 13:49
  again for having us. Absolutely.