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- This is Laura Dedo with the
Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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I'm thrilled today to be
joined by Shannon Becker,

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vice President of Information Systems

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and Clinical Systems at Sentara.

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Shannon, it's a pleasure to
have you on the podcast today.

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- Thank you. - Now, I know
we've got a lot to talk about,

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and I'm looking forward to
digging deeper into some

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of the really cool things
that you're doing at Sentara.

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But before we do that, can
you please introduce yourself

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and tell us just a bit
about your background?

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- Sure. Um, as you said,
my name's Shannon Becker.

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I work with Sentara Health.
I've been here about two years.

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I have, um, had a pretty
diverse career in healthcare.

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I started off as a clinician,
I was a respiratory therapist,

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and then finished my master's
in health informatics

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and kind of started from
the ground up in healthcare.

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It. I started off as a super user

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and worked my way through 11
different epic applications

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and wanted to find a way in which to

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help our communities at a
much more strategic level.

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So I came to Sentara
working in the revenue cycle

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applications, and now find
myself in this position over all

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of our clinical applications
here at Sentara.

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- Well, that's amazing to hear.

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And you know, certainly a,
a great career journey from

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that time as a respiratory
therapist into doing

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so many other, um, aspects
of healthcare systems,

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and as you mentioned, being
able to influence, um,

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the system on a really
strategic level is amazing.

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So, with that in mind, could
you tell me a little bit about,

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um, your most successful project
from the last year or two?

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What did you do and how did
you measure the results?

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- So for us, I don't think it's about

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large projects over the last two years.

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I think that we at Sentara
have had a goal for seamless

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secure healthcare systems
that, that really keep our

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consumer at, at the focus.

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So we've done a lot of
small things, um, to really,

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to really enhance that,
that consumer experience,

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and additionally begin
to decrease the, um,

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administrative load that's on
our physicians to really help

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with cognitive fatigue.

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So just a, a little bit about
all of the different things

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that we're doing in that space.

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We've been, we've just recently
launched our Dax co-pilot

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for our physicians with
the ambient listening

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to assist in more accurate notes.

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We are working through some
self-scheduling initiatives

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to make that consumer
experience much more seamless

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and less frustrating.

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I think everyone can relate
to the fact that, you know,

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my physician orders an MRI, I have

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to call this phone number,

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and then they transfer me
here, they transfer me there,

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and that can take up
to an an hour just just

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to make an appointment.

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So we're really focusing on ways to

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take the frustration out,
out of accessing care.

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Um, in addition to that, we,
um, here at Sentara are very,

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very focused on meeting our
health consumers, patients,

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community members where they are.

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So we go out in the community
and we talk to them,

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and our, our focus groups
have really found that

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we have some healthcare deserts
in our communities that,

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that we're looking to
really find ways to connect

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with our communities as it relates to

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meeting their needs in multiple
spaces in one encounter.

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So we, we've got our mobile care units

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that are out providing care, um,

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in places in which our
community members gain access

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to food pantries and other
things of that nature.

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- That's really great to hear.

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And certainly, you know,
having that ability

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to look at the one big
goal, um, for the system

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and making sure that you've
got a patient at the forefront

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making the, um, the experience seamless

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and secure for them is really cool.

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And then looking at, as you
mentioned, being able to care

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for the caregivers as well as, uh,

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community members in
increased access is really so,

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so crucial these days.

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So, you know, when you
are, are looking at some

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of those things and then
looking ahead to what are some

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of your top priorities
for the next 12 months

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or so, what do you have top of mind?

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- So, um, over the next 12
months, our, our top priorities

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for our patients

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and health consumers are
to continue down the path

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of a more seamless journey.

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Um, we are working with
our clinical access center

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to have a one stop shop, no
matter the need of the patient.

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So that would include
managing appointments,

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managing billing, um, nurse triage and,

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and other things like that.

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We really wanna take the,

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the difficulty out of accessing care.

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We've always been, you
know, at the forefront

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of offering a great clinical experiencing

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and providing care in that acute

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situation in which you need it.

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But, you know, historically
I think healthcare has,

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has focused on providing
the tools for our clinicians

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to do the work, the tools for
our physicians to document

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and document more appropriately.

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But we haven't always been the best

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at designing our solutions
to make healthcare easy

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or to make healthcare transparent.

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So over the next 12 months,
that's where we're going

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to continue to focus to
streamline that experience

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for our consumers.

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- That's really great
to hear. And you know,

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certainly having that, um,
experience front of mind in,

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in making things easier, um, is,

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is such an important thing
right now and very admirable.

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When you look at, um, the idea
of being able to create a,

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um, a a better experience
for patients, um, what are,

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are some of the pain points
that you're trying to solve for?

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Um, or, or how are you really tackling

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that from a strategic level?

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- Right, so here at Sentara
we have health planned

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and provider services.

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So we're really trying to
find ways to consolidate

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that experience and,

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and provide a more just seamless journey.

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So enhancements within
the MyChart experience

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and our Send 1-800-SENTARA
portal are, are ways

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that we're focusing on that.

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And really it's a patient empowerment

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and education thing as well.

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I think we sometimes expect
consumers just to know where

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to go and how to find things.

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So creating a much more
user-friendly journey

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for our patients with, with how they like

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to interact with healthcare.

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You know, when you think of
it generationally, you know,

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my children would much
rather never talk to anyone

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and just have a text

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and web-based experience, whereas
other groups, depending on

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what they need at any given
moment, might want to flex.

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So really that omnichannel
experience that's catered to

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the way that, as I stated

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before, our consumers
want to access healthcare.

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- That makes a lot of sense.

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And you know, it seems like
these days, um, as much

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as you can, having that choice

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or the ability to, um, you know, curate,

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I guess the healthcare
experience right on, um,

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the patient's preferences
is really important.

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Before we wrap up here, I'm wondering,

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could you talk a little bit about

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how you anticipate your role
in teams will change as some

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of these, um, factors and trends
continue on in healthcare?

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- Absolutely. So here at Sentara,
um, I've already done some

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rearranging, I'd say of my teams.

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I don't anticipate that my
teams will have new roles,

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but it's just an elevation of,

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of their knowledge in certain spaces.

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I think, you know, the
recent security breaches and,

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and healthcare, it have been terrifying.

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And, you know, many times
we work in a siloed fashion,

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and I think what we're going
to see, um, change in, in

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our roles and our teams
is just a higher level of,

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of education and knowledge
in multiple spaces.

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So it's not just enough to
to know the specific space

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that you work in, be it, you know,

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surgical scheduling, be it pharmacy.

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It's having that security
lens, it's having

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that consumer lens.

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It's just a much more broad
and holistic view of healthcare

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and how our landscape is changing.

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And then always making sure

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that you understand
those connection points

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as we in the IT space
build out our solutions.

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- Yeah, that, that's
such an excellent point.

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And, you know, really, um,
kind of gets to the bottom

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of having that more of
interconnected experience, not only

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for the patients,

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but um, having that
kind of view of it, um,

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no matter who you are on the team.

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And that's not an easy change
to, um, bring about or,

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or an easy thing to inspire in, in people

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to help them really see the big picture

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and connect the dots in a meaningful way.

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Um, is, is there anything that you do

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with your team in order to
get them in that right mindset

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or really, um, prime them, um,

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in a way to make that transition?

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- Absolutely. So, um, we do
a lot of cross training, uh,

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across our application teams.

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We do lunch and learns with security.

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We really try to take,
uh, uh, an approach that

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that is collaborative.

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We're always trying

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to learn a little bit about
the other people's spaces.

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And, you know, for me growing
up, my, my grandfather

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is actually from Austria

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and he, he instilled,
instilled in me at an early age

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that it's always important

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to learn the language of your neighbors.

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So that's the approach I've
taken here at Sentara, um,

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with leadership and, you know, trying

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to provide the best experience
I can for all of our teams.

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- I love that. Learn the
language of your neighbors.

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What a powerful, uh, way to
think about, um, all of this

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and, and really grow in a meaningful way.

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Shannon, thank you so much

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for joining us on the Becker's podcast.

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This has been such a great conversation.

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Um, I really appreciate your time

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and I look forward to
connecting with you again soon.

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- All right. Thank you so
much. It was a pleasure

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to be here, <inaudible>.