- This is the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, created
by the team of Becker's Healthcare,
a multimedia company devoted to the people
who power us healthcare.
Four new 15 minute episodes are released daily containing
industry news analysis and thought leadership.
From powerful healthcare decision makers Support our show
by leaving it a five star rating and review on Apple Podcast
or other platforms you use.
It's a chance to tell us what you like about the show
and act on your feedback.
Thanks for listening. Now here's the episode.
- This is Chanel Bunger
with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast,
and I'm recording live at the eighth annual Becker's Health,
it Digital Health and RCM conference in Chicago.
Right now I'm sitting with Heather Callen
and uh, Heather, could you take a moment
and please introduce yourself
and tell us a bit about your background?
- Yes, absolutely. Thank you.
Um, so as, as you mentioned, my name's Heather Callen
and I'm the director of Revenue Cycle Education
for the Midwest region for Advocate Health.
And I have worked for Advocate
or some version of that organization
for almost 13 years now, and always in a education training
and support space for both clinical
and nonclinical, um, users of the EHR
and some other related systems.
- Terrific. Thank you so much. And moving forward,
what is your growth strategy for the next year or two?
- My growth strategy is very much aligned with a lot
of the discussion that I've heard here at the conference
where we're not growing in resources,
but we do need to be growing in our reach
or in the service that we provide in our area.
So we are looking at the tools that we utilize for education
and training and support
and wanting to be sure
that we're using them to their full capacity.
Right? We're not gonna be adding lots of teammates
or staff to the departments to, to gain that reach.
So we need to be very thoughtful about
what we do have and we need.
We also need to look at the services that we provide
and are we utilizing our resources to the,
to the max capacity, um, in those spaces too.
- And are you leveraging technology in
any specific ways to do that?
- We are. So within our instructional design space, we do,
uh, create e-learnings
and offer those as a way for lots of people to be able
to access education on their own time within
whatever the schedule constraints are for their department.
We also offer a lot more remote support than I think we did
a few years ago, where if you have someone in a clinic
that's suffering in their use of the EHR, you could call us
and we come out and visit you.
Right. But that's really resource intensive.
So now we have a lot of virtual opportunities for you
to connect with us, share your screen, talk about
what your problem is, and we
provide our support through that avenue.
- Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
And can you tell us about the most exciting
and IPA impactful initiative
or project you're working on right now?
- Yeah, so we just actually launched a entirely new
and revamped new hire training track
and support system for anyone that's registering
and scheduling, uh, in the Midwest in our organization.
So it took what was a lot
of virtual instructor led training,
those live virtual classrooms,
and it reduced those hours,
has more e-learning opportunities,
which allows for the flexibility.
So one of the things that we heard from operations,
which again is being talked about a lot here at Becker's, is
how people are being asked to do more with less.
So they're experiencing issues in recruitment,
they're experiencing issues in turnover.
So us having a very heavy scheduled, you know,
virtual instructor led class, uh, offering was challenging,
you know, and it didn't really allow
for them to have flexibility.
I hired someone who's great, I want them to onboard sooner
than someone who does need a little more handholding.
So reducing those scheduled hours, giving them
that flexibility with the e-learnings
and allowing them to expedite someone's track
or not, uh, is a, is a big game changer.
And it also frees up some of the resources
that I talked about that I have
that I can now put more towards that remote support
to existing users.
- Got it. Thank you so much. And with your 13 years
of experience, uh,
you're a perfect person to ask this question.
, what is the most important thing healthcare
executives should do right now
to make sure their organizations
are successful in the future?
- Yeah, I'm, I'm actually really happy to answer this
because so many of the talks that I've been on
or been a part of today, um, in the last couple
of days have really focused on implementing new technology
or innovating in various spaces in healthcare.
And they talk a lot about getting that user feedback
to really help drive.
So if it's gonna be the nurses that utilize whatever
that innovative piece of technology is,
make sure they're at the table
and then they kind of gloss over.
But then how do all the other nurses get that education
and training so that they can also feel confident
and confident when that new technology hits?
So I would love more executives to be thinking about,
you know, like we've talked about here,
very thoughtful plans to plan for the rollout
of the technology, um, to make sure that it is built
and designed to do what actually solves the real problem,
but then think just as much about what is the education
and support for then all of those users
and how is that getting out in advance of the technology.
It should very much be a part
of any change management strategy,
making space and time for that.
Um, I, I find, and probably selfishly
'cause this is my area, that it can be, you know, kind
of an uphill battle project after project rollout
after rollout to really, um, push for people
to make that time and space.
- Got it. Before we wrap up, is there anything else
that you wanna leave listeners with?
- Um, I would say, you know, figure out at your organization
who is out there supporting, ongoing, the use
of your technology,
and really ensure that your team knows who those people are.
We, we wouldn't want people to be suffering in silence
as they day in and day out, you know, follow their workflows
and maybe don't realize
they're doing something inefficiently.
So, so go find that team,
whoever it is at your organization,
and if you work alongside your organization's support
and education, then you can also be a part of echoing that.
So you have that opportunity to meet with, with users
and operational stakeholders,
and you can do your part,
which I think would strengthen your role to say, Hey,
as we lead up to this rollout, don't forget, you know,
you're not alone after the, the, the technology rolls out.
You, you have a support structure around you,
and this is that informatics team or that training team or,
or whatever it might be at your organization.
- Got it. Well, thank you so much again, Heather,
for joining me today and for this delightful conversation.
- All right. Thank you so much.
- It's so important for leaders at the top of organizations
to keep learning, stay sharp, grow their networks
to help our audience better do this in a more simplified,
personalized, and meaningful way.
Becker's Healthcare has launched my BHC,
it's your trusted Becker's healthcare experience
and more with content, connections, events
and learning opportunities, join the community free
of charge@www.my dot becker's hospital review.com
and we'll see you there.