1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:03,199 Philips is a health tech leader focused on 2 00:00:03,199 --> 00:00:06,000 innovation that improves the health and well-being of 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,460 people. Our health care technology and informatics solutions 4 00:00:09,599 --> 00:00:12,559 help care teams diagnose, treat, and manage more 5 00:00:12,559 --> 00:00:16,244 patients with greater precision, speed, and confidence across 6 00:00:16,244 --> 00:00:19,225 the care journey. With Philips, clinicians are empowered 7 00:00:19,285 --> 00:00:21,765 with streamlined insights in the moments that matter 8 00:00:21,765 --> 00:00:24,904 for every patient. Better care for more people. 9 00:00:25,204 --> 00:00:25,704 Philips. 10 00:00:28,489 --> 00:00:30,570 Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast 11 00:00:30,570 --> 00:00:32,729 recorded live at the 9th annual Health IT 12 00:00:32,729 --> 00:00:35,289 Digital Health and RCM conference. I'm joined today 13 00:00:35,289 --> 00:00:36,429 by Jay Scott Smitherman, 14 00:00:36,969 --> 00:00:39,850 chief medical information officer of ambulatory services at 15 00:00:39,850 --> 00:00:40,350 Providence. 16 00:00:41,085 --> 00:00:42,445 Jay, to get us started, can you please 17 00:00:42,445 --> 00:00:44,125 share a bit about yourself, your background, and 18 00:00:44,125 --> 00:00:45,104 your role at your organization? 19 00:00:45,804 --> 00:00:47,265 Hi. Scott Smitherman. 20 00:00:47,565 --> 00:00:50,765 I serve Providence as the CMIO for their 21 00:00:50,765 --> 00:00:52,524 employed medical group, the you know, in the 22 00:00:52,524 --> 00:00:55,565 outpatient space. We're, you know, large organization on 23 00:00:55,565 --> 00:00:58,729 the West Coast, about 10,000 employed doctors. 24 00:00:59,109 --> 00:01:00,010 And I have responsibility 25 00:01:00,469 --> 00:01:00,969 for, 26 00:01:02,070 --> 00:01:03,990 you know, all things related to the EMR 27 00:01:03,990 --> 00:01:05,370 and the outpatient space. 28 00:01:06,709 --> 00:01:08,950 So AI adoption is exploding right now in 29 00:01:08,950 --> 00:01:10,329 health care. In your view, 30 00:01:10,645 --> 00:01:12,965 what's the most significant or promising adoption of 31 00:01:12,965 --> 00:01:14,965 this technology right now, and how is this 32 00:01:14,965 --> 00:01:17,305 informing your organization's innovation strategy? 33 00:01:18,245 --> 00:01:20,165 Well, clearly here, one of the biggest hot 34 00:01:20,165 --> 00:01:21,864 topics is ambient documentation. 35 00:01:23,045 --> 00:01:26,709 I we at Providence have been piloting and 36 00:01:26,709 --> 00:01:27,209 using, 37 00:01:27,909 --> 00:01:29,450 Nuance's product, DAX, 38 00:01:29,989 --> 00:01:32,009 and we have gotten up to 39 00:01:32,390 --> 00:01:34,250 almost a 1000 users now, 40 00:01:35,030 --> 00:01:36,969 20,000 encounters per week. 41 00:01:37,394 --> 00:01:39,015 And this is really transforming, 42 00:01:39,875 --> 00:01:42,534 how physicians do their documentation. You know, 43 00:01:42,915 --> 00:01:44,935 everybody's talking about physician burnout, 44 00:01:46,114 --> 00:01:49,015 and, you know, there's so many technologies that 45 00:01:49,155 --> 00:01:50,915 nip around the edges, try to remove a 46 00:01:50,915 --> 00:01:52,560 click or 2 here or there. But this 47 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,060 here's a, technology that's really transformational 48 00:01:55,359 --> 00:01:57,119 in terms of taking a big piece of 49 00:01:57,119 --> 00:02:00,659 clinicians work that time spent making their note 50 00:02:00,879 --> 00:02:03,200 and and and taking it almost entirely off 51 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:03,939 their plate. 52 00:02:04,885 --> 00:02:07,045 So on a daily basis, health care leaders 53 00:02:07,045 --> 00:02:09,284 such as yourself are managing greater volumes of 54 00:02:09,284 --> 00:02:11,444 data and more devices across a growing number 55 00:02:11,444 --> 00:02:12,824 of care settings and populations. 56 00:02:13,685 --> 00:02:16,324 In this complex environment, what clinical data integration 57 00:02:16,324 --> 00:02:18,724 tools or practices are you seeing drive improvements 58 00:02:18,724 --> 00:02:20,344 in patient outcomes and operations? 59 00:02:21,020 --> 00:02:22,699 And, do you have an example or 2 60 00:02:22,699 --> 00:02:23,439 you can share? 61 00:02:24,060 --> 00:02:26,319 You know, we're really excited about the potential 62 00:02:26,379 --> 00:02:26,879 for 63 00:02:28,060 --> 00:02:29,280 AI to help 64 00:02:29,739 --> 00:02:31,819 in all of these complex workflows. One of 65 00:02:31,819 --> 00:02:34,780 the biggest dry, drivers of doctor burnout right 66 00:02:34,780 --> 00:02:37,724 now is in basket. In basket messages coming 67 00:02:37,724 --> 00:02:38,784 in. You know? 68 00:02:39,324 --> 00:02:41,745 Physicians are being buried under requests. 69 00:02:42,685 --> 00:02:45,344 We've rolled out AI tools to help categorize 70 00:02:45,485 --> 00:02:47,965 those messages as they come in and then 71 00:02:47,965 --> 00:02:49,185 help drive workflows, 72 00:02:50,139 --> 00:02:53,040 so that fewer messages need the physician's attention. 73 00:02:53,340 --> 00:02:55,180 And the ones that do are better worked 74 00:02:55,180 --> 00:02:55,980 up and, 75 00:02:56,540 --> 00:02:58,219 and, you know, can be processed with just 76 00:02:58,219 --> 00:03:01,180 a single touch. And we've seen, the application 77 00:03:01,180 --> 00:03:02,080 of this tool 78 00:03:03,034 --> 00:03:05,534 cut our response times for in half, 79 00:03:05,995 --> 00:03:07,775 and then along how long it takes us 80 00:03:07,915 --> 00:03:09,754 to respond to a patient and how many 81 00:03:09,754 --> 00:03:12,474 messages a medical assistant can process per hour, 82 00:03:12,474 --> 00:03:12,974 etcetera. 83 00:03:14,235 --> 00:03:15,699 So how can health care organizations 84 00:03:16,159 --> 00:03:18,159 better support IT and clinical teams as they 85 00:03:18,159 --> 00:03:20,080 carry out innovation efforts, and what is what 86 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:21,860 are some of the common pitfalls here? 87 00:03:22,959 --> 00:03:25,039 One of the most common pitfalls I see 88 00:03:25,039 --> 00:03:28,034 is, you know, seeing a shiny object, a 89 00:03:28,034 --> 00:03:29,734 a a cool piece of technology 90 00:03:30,834 --> 00:03:31,894 that doesn't necessarily 91 00:03:32,674 --> 00:03:34,834 solve a clinical problem or a a an 92 00:03:34,834 --> 00:03:36,694 operational problem that we have, 93 00:03:37,234 --> 00:03:38,674 or is at least is not on the 94 00:03:38,674 --> 00:03:41,080 top of your list. And so the close 95 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:43,419 partnership between your innovation team, 96 00:03:43,879 --> 00:03:44,379 informatics, 97 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:45,659 and operations 98 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:48,680 to decide on what are the highest priority 99 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,540 pieces of technology to pursue, 100 00:03:51,479 --> 00:03:53,800 because, you know, time spent pursuing a lower 101 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,060 priority means that the the the bigger ones, 102 00:03:56,655 --> 00:03:57,634 aren't getting addressed. 103 00:03:57,935 --> 00:03:59,534 Mhmm. Doesn't mean you shouldn't keep an eye 104 00:03:59,534 --> 00:04:01,294 out for what, you know, what's happening in 105 00:04:01,294 --> 00:04:01,875 the industry, 106 00:04:02,254 --> 00:04:03,954 what what new things are being developed, 107 00:04:04,334 --> 00:04:06,014 but you need to make sure that you're 108 00:04:06,014 --> 00:04:08,814 focused on your organization's top priorities in these 109 00:04:08,814 --> 00:04:12,159 tough times. Perfect. So, you know, being in 110 00:04:12,159 --> 00:04:14,560 your role in an ambulatory setting, how does 111 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,279 that impact your view of, you know, the 112 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,360 adoption of new technologies? And are there any 113 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:21,360 sort of, like, you know, AI tools or 114 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:23,759 technologies in the ambulatory space that you might 115 00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:25,759 be really excited about coming down the pipeline 116 00:04:25,759 --> 00:04:27,335 5, 10 years that, you know, might not 117 00:04:27,335 --> 00:04:28,694 be as exciting to people outside of the 118 00:04:28,694 --> 00:04:29,835 ambulatory space? 119 00:04:30,935 --> 00:04:32,295 I don't know if it's a difference between 120 00:04:32,295 --> 00:04:35,014 ambulatory or acute, but what I'm really excited 121 00:04:35,014 --> 00:04:36,375 about you know, I I talked a little 122 00:04:36,375 --> 00:04:37,835 bit about ambient documentation 123 00:04:38,215 --> 00:04:40,855 Mhmm. And and getting the doctor's notes done. 124 00:04:40,855 --> 00:04:42,615 And I I see that as just the 125 00:04:42,615 --> 00:04:44,910 first step. What I'm what really excites me 126 00:04:44,990 --> 00:04:47,229 yes. That takes takes the documentation off the 127 00:04:47,229 --> 00:04:49,250 physician, and that's a huge burden reduction. 128 00:04:49,949 --> 00:04:52,669 But, you know, what we can do in 129 00:04:52,669 --> 00:04:54,750 the future, now that we have an AI 130 00:04:54,750 --> 00:04:57,149 listening to the doctor patient conversation in real 131 00:04:57,149 --> 00:04:57,649 time 132 00:04:58,154 --> 00:05:00,795 and serve up clinical decision support, serve up, 133 00:05:00,795 --> 00:05:02,415 you know, tools in the EMR, 134 00:05:03,035 --> 00:05:05,675 help with coding, help with HCC guidance, all 135 00:05:05,675 --> 00:05:07,514 of these things on that are, you know, 136 00:05:07,514 --> 00:05:08,175 are crucial 137 00:05:08,714 --> 00:05:11,835 and and really care transformational besides just burden 138 00:05:11,835 --> 00:05:12,335 reducing, 139 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:14,839 that were that you know, all of this 140 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:17,879 that was science fiction 3 years ago. Mhmm. 141 00:05:17,879 --> 00:05:20,360 And now, you know, while not there yet 142 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:22,920 and nobody, you know, is no you know, 143 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:24,459 we all can see a clear pathway 144 00:05:24,774 --> 00:05:25,514 with tools that exist 145 00:05:25,814 --> 00:05:27,814 now that these things are going to happen. 146 00:05:27,814 --> 00:05:29,414 And so over the next 3 to 5 147 00:05:29,414 --> 00:05:32,134 years, I am really excited to, you know, 148 00:05:32,134 --> 00:05:33,995 get Ambient in everybody's hands 149 00:05:34,454 --> 00:05:36,774 and and then take the next step of 150 00:05:36,774 --> 00:05:39,194 of integrating it deeply with the EMR, 151 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,060 bringing in contextualized 152 00:05:41,439 --> 00:05:43,519 data where, you know, the the AI knows 153 00:05:43,519 --> 00:05:45,279 things about the patient beyond what it just 154 00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:47,759 what it heard Right. And then, you know, 155 00:05:47,759 --> 00:05:49,779 then taking the next step of clinical guidance. 156 00:05:50,479 --> 00:05:52,245 So, you know, in your role and in 157 00:05:52,404 --> 00:05:54,245 your experience and in what you've learned over 158 00:05:54,245 --> 00:05:56,084 the years, what's the biggest piece of advice 159 00:05:56,084 --> 00:05:57,685 you would have for other health care leaders 160 00:05:57,685 --> 00:05:59,125 as they prepare for, you know, some of 161 00:05:59,125 --> 00:06:01,524 these further advancements in technology and greater demands 162 00:06:01,524 --> 00:06:04,104 of care? You know, it's crucial to have 163 00:06:04,339 --> 00:06:06,259 the clinicians who do the work at the 164 00:06:06,259 --> 00:06:09,080 table with you as you're evaluating new technologies, 165 00:06:09,460 --> 00:06:10,199 new initiatives, 166 00:06:11,460 --> 00:06:13,540 that, you know, you really need to make 167 00:06:13,540 --> 00:06:15,879 sure you really understand the the problem, 168 00:06:16,384 --> 00:06:18,384 you know, sending your your COO or your 169 00:06:18,384 --> 00:06:20,225 CFO to a to a to a meeting 170 00:06:20,225 --> 00:06:22,164 like this. How lovely though it may be, 171 00:06:22,704 --> 00:06:24,464 if you don't truly kind of understand the 172 00:06:24,464 --> 00:06:26,625 problem at the ground level. I I think 173 00:06:26,625 --> 00:06:28,544 that the folks who are gonna be successful 174 00:06:28,544 --> 00:06:30,384 in the future are not just the ones 175 00:06:30,384 --> 00:06:32,730 who invest in the right technologies, but are 176 00:06:32,730 --> 00:06:34,829 able to truly integrate that 177 00:06:35,129 --> 00:06:36,649 all the way down to the you know, 178 00:06:36,649 --> 00:06:38,730 from the patient level when they're you know, 179 00:06:38,730 --> 00:06:40,810 patient interaction all the way down to the 180 00:06:40,810 --> 00:06:42,350 the physician seeing the patient. 181 00:06:42,970 --> 00:06:45,449 And, you know, everybody talks about integration, but 182 00:06:45,449 --> 00:06:47,629 what that really means and is it smooth. 183 00:06:48,365 --> 00:06:49,404 And those are the folks who are gonna 184 00:06:49,404 --> 00:06:51,004 be successful who are able to understand it, 185 00:06:51,004 --> 00:06:53,504 you know, soup to nuts. Well, doctor Smitherman, 186 00:06:53,564 --> 00:06:54,845 thank you so much for taking the time 187 00:06:54,845 --> 00:06:56,044 to join us today. But before I let 188 00:06:56,044 --> 00:06:57,164 you go, do you have any final thoughts 189 00:06:57,164 --> 00:06:58,604 or advice you'd like to leave with our 190 00:06:58,604 --> 00:06:59,104 listeners? 191 00:06:59,644 --> 00:07:01,550 No. The the future looks bright for health 192 00:07:01,550 --> 00:07:03,389 care. I think, a lot of, you know, 193 00:07:03,389 --> 00:07:04,770 current challenges, but 194 00:07:05,230 --> 00:07:07,069 I I'm excited to be in this role 195 00:07:07,069 --> 00:07:08,670 right now to to have a chance to 196 00:07:08,670 --> 00:07:11,310 participate in this kind of AI revolution, and, 197 00:07:11,870 --> 00:07:13,710 you know, just excited to see what tomorrow 198 00:07:13,710 --> 00:07:15,579 looks like. Well, I love the excitement coming 199 00:07:15,579 --> 00:07:17,259 from you. So thank you again for joining 200 00:07:17,259 --> 00:07:18,299 us today. I hope you have a lovely 201 00:07:18,299 --> 00:07:19,819 rest of your day. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank 202 00:07:19,819 --> 00:07:20,319 you.