This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
John Henderson, vice president and chief information and
digital officer for Rady Children's Health. John, it's
a pleasure to have you on the podcast
today.
Great to be with you, Laura.
Absolutely. Well, I'm excited to learn more about
some of the cool things you're doing at
Rady Children's, and, certainly, it's such a fascinating
time in health care right now, especially with
technology changing as quickly as it has. But
before we dive into that, I'm wondering if
you could just tell us a little bit
more about Rady Children's Health and what makes
it unique.
Sure. Sure. So,
I'll start with
Rady Children's Health,
is the
the new parent organization,
that brought together,
Children's Hospital of Orange County and Rady Children's
Hospital in San Diego.
We merged, January
of this year
and brought these two organizations,
together who have a,
incredible mission
to serve pediatric,
patients, throughout,
Orange County and San Diego County.
And so
as part of that,
you know, our organization now is 800 plus
beds,
80 specialty
clinics,
and
over 11,000 employees and 1,700
physicians. So really creating,
a a really one of the largest pediatric
health systems in the country.
And, you know, that focus,
on the pediatric population
in Southern California
with the level of specialty that we provide,
I think is what really makes us, unique.
We're focused on not only
our our the individual regions, but really trying
to,
deliver better population health and be able to
deliver the best pediatric care,
to serve our patient population.
That's amazing to hear. And, you know, what
a a huge transition in bringing together,
both Brady Children's and and CHOG.
I know whenever you bring two organizations together,
there's a lot to figure out and troubleshoot
in terms of the technology and,
IT integrations and those kinds of things. So
how's that been going?
You know, it it's going well. You know,
we started preplanning
in 2024,
and there was a lot we couldn't do,
with the regulations around how mergers come together.
So you couldn't really get into any any
detail specific conversation, so you had to keep
it at a very high level.
But once the merger was
approved
and
solidified in in January, we really launched into
the details.
So so far, it's going really well. We're
focused on,
I'll say, for the next twelve months, probably
three really large activities in the technology space.
One is related to getting to single ERP
platform. We both are on different platforms,
in San Diego and Orange County, so getting
to single platform is a critical activity for
us.
We'll also have to
figure out our EHR plan, getting to a
single EHR.
Oracle Health in Orange
County, EPIC in San Diego,
and the goal is to get the single
platform. So we have an, we have an
approach in the process to get to that
decision.
And then the third piece is
getting to single identity,
unifying our Microsoft three sixty five environment.
And so that is a really,
really big activity for us. And,
typically, you look at that and say, oh,
well, you just gonna merge the mailboxes.
Well,
what we're actually doing is standing up a
brand new tenant,
creating a new active directory
infrastructure, which helps us get to a single
identity platform.
And the reason we're doing that
is
when you
and been doing this for a really long
time,
active directors, it really drives everything in the
organization, your user ID, how you gain access
to different systems.
And over time,
you create what I would call this
maze of structures.
And you it's really
untenable to unwind it. And so we wanted
to take the opportunity to really create
a structure that really represents
the combined organization, but also simplified it in
a way that allows us to really be
more effective
and put in leading practice there. And so
that's gonna really take us the rest of
the year, maybe a little bit beyond, to
get all of those things in place,
which then allows the organization to really come
together and begin to collaborate,
same tools,
same identity,
same network.
So those are really the big activities. And
so far, they're going well.
And we're getting ready to launch the actual
implementation of that and get that project,
moving in the next week.
But, overall,
lots to do.
And those are just three of the the
things we're focused on right now.
That's amazing to hear, and thank you so
much for for going through that. I think,
you know, as you mentioned, there's so many
different growth opportunities in spaces,
you know, to to really bring the whole
organization together,
from a tactical perspective and and certainly then,
integrating those IT systems. I know it'll then
make everything much more efficient and connected once
you're able to get that done.
And, you know, I'm curious. Obviously, the technology
is one thing, but,
bridging the the people and the teams and,
just the organizational culture is another.
What have you seen or or noticed in
trying to bring together,
two different organizations with different cultures and different
teams under kind of the the same umbrella?
How receptive, I guess, is not only the
IT
team and leadership, but then just the whole
organization as you're going through this change?
Right. Right. So, you know, I'd say that
the teams are really receptive.
There's obviously you know, when you go through
a merger,
and not a lot of not a lot
of people have gone through this process before.
But when you go through it, there's there's
typical anxiety that teams are gonna have. What
is it what it's gonna look like?
Are we
are we just merging teams?
Our role is going to change.
And so what what our approach with this
has been is
we we really have to run these two
different teams really in parallel for for a
bit before we really begin to integrate them
and merge the teams. And so our approach
with that has been
let's let's be very deliberate.
As we stand up different teams
related to the merge integration activities,
then we begin to bring the leaders together
and the teams together,
so that then you can begin to get
get to know one another,
and begin to
really rally around a a common purpose.
And so
what I've seen so far is the leadership
team is real both leadership teams have been
great,
as we've been going through these planning activities,
understanding the different technologies that both organizations have
have and how do we get to,
common platforms.
The collaboration
has been has been
from from my perspective, it's gone really well.
You know, I
think the broader organizations I've, you know, getting
to to know the the the leadership team
in the San Diego region,
which, I wasn't as familiar with. It's been
great getting to know them. They're helping me
understand
what they're looking for,
in a technology partner, what things they wanna
see us do, maybe differently.
And so that's all culminating in,
we as a as an IT organization,
how we come together and really establish
what our new identity is going to be
as a combined organization.
I had a retreat recently with my direct
reports, and that was the key focus, really
talking about
what's our new identity as a technology organization
going to be, how do we want to
be known,
in this new,
merged organization,
that that that we're now find ourselves in?
And so we kinda landed on
on on partnership,
value, and service excellence.
It's it's kinda that that identity.
And so now we're working through that process
with the rest of the leadership team and
the rest of,
the IT organization.
We'll solidify that, finalize it, and then
then we start to build the underlying processes
around that. How do we what do we
have to do differently to make sure that
when our organization
experiences us, that's what they walk away feeling
feeling like. Part they've had a partner, we've
delivered value, and we've delivered excellence.
I love that. I I think it, really
speaks to the care it it takes in
order to make these transitions and, certainly, bringing
everyone together, being able to have that retreat,
have that time,
to establish that relationship, and then the identity,
as you mentioned, developing that and working on
it,
which
then follows throughout the entire organization.
It seems to be a really smart way
to go about these things. And so I
appreciate the extra insight into how you're,
managing the technology as well as the teams
and and people aspect
of bringing two organizations together.
Now I'm curious,
when you are looking ahead, a lot of
opportunity, but I know there are also
plenty of challenges,
headed in for the health care space. And
so what do you really,
you know, are you anticipating? What's top of
mind for you when you look into the
future,
and you'll start to think about what you
might need to prepare for,
in terms of challenges or headwinds?
Sure. Sure. You know, there's so much uncertainty,
just in the external environment.
With new administration coming in, you know, we're
we're having to really understand the impacts,
that may come our way from,
from a CMS perspective. And so we have
to kind of account for what may happen,
and really really be in a position to,
adjust and pivot. So, you know, with that
being said,
you you know, I think the the other
challenges we we're we're we're we're looking at
is really how do we balance,
very large merger integration activities that we have
in front of us, things we must do
to bring the organization together.
We also have,
a couple of large facility expansions.
So in Orange County, we have a new
specialty clinic tower that's coming online in June
of this year. And in San Diego,
our inpatient,
facility,
is getting
a brand new building.
And that's several years out,
but
when you when you're planning and putting up
a new facility,
there is so much that goes into it.
So we have those activities. And then, of
course, you still have to continue to run
day to day operations,
for the health systems.
So finding the right balance,
is, I think, one of the things one
of the challenges that we that we're faced
with. And so what we're really looking at
is,
from a governance perspective,
how do we find the right balance of
what's most critical for us to to focus
on from a daily operations perspective, one of
the most critical initiatives that's aligned to our
strategic priorities
so we can really hone in there.
And
I'll use the phrase,
and block out
some of those activities
that we would normally just take on
if we didn't have
the new the large expansion as well as
the merge integration activities. We're gonna have to
make some decisions to
defer some of those things, and so really
finding that right balance, making sure our governance
for both organizations
are are are really effective in in that
lens.
I think some of the, other challenges we're
going to face
is things that
I think everyone is really dealing with. You
know, the cybersecurity landscape is continuing to evolve.
The threats are just all over the place.
And so really stay in vigilant particularly
as an organization that's emerging. You're bringing together
technologies and trying to get to these common
platforms, we have to really stay
vigilant to make sure that
we're not leaving any gaps
as we as we make these transitions. And
then I think the last thing from a
challenge perspective
is just the technology overall is changing.
Everyone is wanting
to take advantage of AI and JNI capabilities,
but it's still early
in its in its in its evolution and
maturity. And so really making sure we don't
jump into
something that we're really not ready for. And
just because it's it's new and it's in
the media and it's being talked about, and
it's kind of one of those shiny objects,
we wanna really avoid that and be really
use case driven.
That makes a lot of sense. And, certainly,
especially all those factors you talked about from
some of the economic challenges to so much
uncertainty on the policy and and political front
as well.
Just a lot to think about and prepare
for.
And then with technology evolution, I mean, generative
AI, I know even two or three years
ago was not something on the radar of
multiple system executives. And so to see how
fast things have changed and then,
understand what that the actual value is for
a health system. It takes a very disciplined
leader, it seems like.
Yep. No. Absolutely. Absolutely. It it's
it's one of the it's really exciting times,
but you wanna make sure you don't get
caught up in the hype,
and really focus on on on value that's
gonna really solve some real real challenges and
real problems in your health system.
Absolutely. Well,
in looking at, you know, all of those
challenges as well as opportunities,
if you're focusing in, what is it would
you say is the number one thing you're
doing right now to set up the organization
for long term success?
So
ironically enough, it's tied to merger activity. So
it's it's really setting our
foundation
our technology foundation in place.
Between the two organizations, it's really landing on
the best
technology infrastructure,
that's gonna really set us up for for
future success. And I think the other key
thing is creating,
we're in the midst of building out, an
our new data platform.
And it's really designed
to for for
three main purposes.
From a research data science perspective, we wanna
make sure we can serve
that part of our organization
effectively and efficiently.
From a traditional insights, you have to provide
insights to the organization so you understand how
you're performing, you understand,
forecasting,
and really be able to provide information that's
relevant and timely
for day to day operations.
And then the third part has to do
with how do we serve the data scientists
that are building models, predictive models, and integrating
them into the point of care. We have
to have an infrastructure that's gonna allow for
that to be effective and efficient.
And so that's being built right now,
and that's really what's really setting us up
for the future.
We earlier talked about AI and GenAI.
We
put together our own private instance. We're starting
to build products against against, this new infrastructure
and data platform that we're putting together.
And the only way you can really set
yourself up to be successful,
you have to have the right data platform.
You have to
have the right
data infrastructure to really serve and support it
because you can't really build
good AI products if you don't have a
good data pipe pipeline and platform because everything
starts with having the the right datasets
and the right platform that allows you to
access that information.
Otherwise,
you can't really build the successful models.
So that's for us, that's really the the
most important thing is setting that up so
that we're in a position to just build
products that's going to allow us to work
differently in the future, not only from a
from an from an administrative perspective,
but also how do we leverage that to
help serve and complement,
the clinical experience.
That's amazing to hear. And, you know, I
am impressed to understand that you kind of
like that private instance
of, generally, the AI you've been putting together
the products that you're working on. Obviously, the
infrastructure data platforms are so important.
Have you built, like, a a data science
or technology team that's really, leading that up,
or has it been kind of an evolution
of the,
team members you already had,
in place
at,
Brady Children's and in, you know,
really kind of training and leveraging their expertise?
So it's a little bit of both. So
leveraging the existing team,
and
and also,
bringing on new,
data engineers
with that specific purpose. And and there's also
there's also some partners that that we that
we're leveraging as well.
And so,
brought in a new leader over data analytics
about 16 ago,
came in from the gaming industry,
and
it has been incredible,
leading this effort, and it's really an integrated
effort. So I I referenced our
research, data science group,
our our hospital data science team.
These teams report into different,
leaders in our organization.
But our leader over analytics
and and data integration, she's really bringing those
teams together
to really
architect that platform and making sure it's gonna
serve those needs.
And and if we build those products,
it's not it's not a one versus the
other team that's going to do that. We
really are are building this together
and
working working
in a way that is truly, truly matrix
and and partner. So, for for us,
we're not trying
to control all the delivery and all the
build. We wanna make sure the the right
teams have the right capabilities
to to build the products that's gonna be
most effective.
And that's amazing to hear. Thank you for
double clicking on that. Now before we wrap
up, I I was just curious.
Could you tell us about an accomplishment you're
most proud of from the last year?
Oh, wow.
So what I'm going to say, it's not
going to be a technology
driven activity.
I'm I'm
gonna bring it back to to the merger.
So in 2024,
I think I mentioned earlier,
you really couldn't get into a lot of
detail. There was a lot of restrictions,
from a regulatory perspective,
but we were able to do a lot
of preplanning.
And I'll say the
last six months of 2024,
both teams spent a ton of time week
to week really going through,
the kind of the tech the high level
technology capabilities both organizations had
and
really, really proud of how both teams
really came together,
and really worked in their respective areas to
really help us understand where we where we
were
and where our opportunities might be to help
us get the common platforms across the board.
That was really the the launching point for
our organizations and from an IT perspective
to really start to come together.
And we've been able to transition from that
activity
once the merger was approved
to really solidifying those teams and continue that
work at a much more detailed level. So
really, really excited and really pleased about the,
the work that those teams have have been
doing and are continuing to do.
That's amazing to hear. John, thank you so
much for your time today. I really appreciate
it. This has been such a fun conversation,
and I look forward to connecting with you
again soon.
Same here. Always great to talk to you.