At athenahealth,
we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier, a
healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier patients.
But the complexities of modern health care tech
make it hard for you and your care
teams to focus on what matters
most? That's where athenahealth can help. Our AI
native all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens,
streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights
when clinicians need it most. That means fewer
clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom
lines.
Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
See how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.
Hello, everyone. This is Scott King with the
Becker's Healthcare podcast.
Thrilled today to be joined by a very
special guest, Prasanna Ruxmahan,
ambulatory operations
transformation specialist with UCI Health. Prasanna, how are
you doing today?
I'm doing fantastic.
How about yourself?
Doing well. We were talking before the taping
here. I got the nice fall weather in
Chicago. A little chilly, but it's not the,
beautiful weather you have in California.
Hey. That is so true. That is so
true.
But at least you get to experience all
the seasons in Chicago. It's the one thing
I appreciate about that city.
We do appreciate that as well, just not
when it's below zero. But, anyways, we have
we have a lot of of big, health
care topics to get to. But before we
jump into some questions for you, I just
wonder if you could please introduce yourself and
and just tell us a little about your
background.
Yeah. So I've actually spent my career focused
on operational transformation,
really, in
ambulatory care settings.
As you mentioned, I currently serve as an
ambulatory operations transformation strategist at UCI,
where I really help design strategies, but also
operationalizing
them to make it easier for our patients
and to connect with care,
whether that's through
smarter scheduling or better use of technology
or closer collaboration
across teams.
My background really blends health care technology
and change management, kind of all centered on
creating sustainable growth models
that support both patients and our providers at
UCI.
Outside of work, I actually developed and created
a maternal health app and have sold that
off, which was really connecting resources in the
community,
for our maternal health mothers if that was
doula programs or diaper banks. How do we
make it easier access for our mothers that
are out there?
What's the app called?
It is called AIM. It's called Advocacy and
Maternal Health, but they probably
rebranded,
what it was called
now.
Well, congratulations. That's awesome. That's so innovative to
to do that and creative. Congratulations.
Yeah. And we have a lot of great
resources right out there when it comes to,
like, government funds or if it's doulas that
are out there helping support our mothers navigate
their health care journey. It's how do you
really connect what's out there and available and
kind of making it at people's fingertips like
we have certain things today.
No. I think that's absolutely wonderful. And I
was actually before you mentioned the app, I
was actually gonna ask you, how happy are
you that you kinda carved out this
path for yourself and career trajectory where you
are specialized in tech, seeing how
prevalent and and needed,
technology is in health care right now?
Yeah. I will say,
it has been a beautiful path in some
way to figure out how you connect technology,
but also how you connect the people to
the technology.
I will say the one thing is you
can have,
AI automation. But if we're not really using
it, sometimes the value there,
is a struggle. But how do you get
people to start to use some of that
technology today?
Absolutely.
And, you know, I wanted to ask you,
what opportunities and headwinds do you kinda have
your eye on right now in health care?
Yeah. So as I kinda mentioned, a little
glimpse with the app and what we're doing
at UCI is
access to care continues to be one of
the most pressing challenges in health care.
And, really, the opportunity
is really in rethinking
how we connect patients to the right care
at the right time. Right? We we're using
data. We're using automation and process improvement to
make systems more responsive.
The headwinds, of course, are right. Those competing
priorities are limited resourcing or the right people.
But
I think when organizations
sometimes make access a shared priority,
it really drives real change across an organization,
but also even
in our communities.
Yeah. I think it's a great point about
the access. That's that's completely needed and and
necessary.
How are you thinking
about growth and adding value to your organization?
Yeah. For me, growth really starts with developing
and investing in our people
and really evolving their skill sets.
As right. I mentioned AI, automation. As they
handle more task,
it's changing how we work. So the real
question kind of becomes,
how do we shift our mindsets and build
new skills
that focus more on problem solving and collaboration
or patient connection?
Really helping our teams evolve in that direction
is one of the best ways to add
long term values to the organization.
But by helping our teams build these new
capabilities,
we're not just adding value to the organization,
but we're preparing for the next era of
health care operations
and patient expectations.
When you're
making hires and and you're you're getting new
staff members in different roles, do you expect
them to be, like, almost as up to
speed on all the emerging tech as you
are, or do you kind of figure that,
you know, this is gonna take some time
to to teach staff members how to implement
some of these things?
Yeah. I think it's definitely takes some time
to teach staff of what
technologies out there. Right? Using power automate, for
instance, how can you automate some of these
tasks, or
leveraging and integrating in an EMR system some
AI capabilities,
kind of like how airline systems have,
their no show rates. How do we actually
see some of these things,
at the front line? So it does take
some time, but it's really investing in the
education for our teams.
Therefore, the foundation is kind of set to
take on these new
shiny bright tools that are kind of out
there.
There are a lot of those right now,
aren't there?
Speaking of
investing and and making investments, what is one
risk or investment
you think is worth making this year?
Yeah.
So instead of a technology or tool, I
kinda would like to say investing in storytelling.
We often focus right on data or metrics
or tools, which are critical, but stories
really give that data or tool life.
They help people understand the why behind the
work,
whether it's a patient success story or a
staff win.
Storytelling
connects the mission to the outcome, and it
helps build momentum for change.
It's an investment that pays off, right, in
engagement and in culture, but storytelling is the
biggest investment
of making this year.
Absolutely. I think it's a great point of
focus for any system or or anyone in
health care.
Where do you see the best opportunities for
growth in the future?
So this one, I kinda have a long
winded type of answer, but,
it's
I see a huge opportunity
in combining, right, technology
and human connection.
Things like course intelligence scheduling or virtual access
and proactive outreach can really transform patient experiences
when done thoughtfully.
Fully. This starts with kind of rethinking
how every touch point, if it's people, process,
technology,
how they work together to serve the patient.
So I'm gonna kinda give you an example
if you can imagine this. If we think
about an outpatient visit,
imagine walking into the clinic
and
everything feels seamless.
You're greeted by your name.
Your basic vital signs are taken already digitally,
And that staff member walks you through, I
like to say, a playlist of the day
of what is expected.
So we might get your health history or
you're gonna do a blood draw, imaging. That's
kinda like what I like to call a
playlist of the day before seeing the provider.
But what if you knew these things? And
now let's say we get you into the
clinic, you're in your room,
but you didn't fill out a questionnaire online.
Instead of delaying the visit or handing that
patient a piece of paper, AI could step
in. Right? Ask you those questions that a
person would ask about your medications or your
history,
and AirBN technology
can automatically pull that into your record.
Then when the provider walks in, they have
all that information they need,
and you talk through some of your next
steps. So you might need a referral or
medications,
in that office. And
what if that referral was scheduled with you
that same day,
understanding the dates and times that are available
to that patient, but you were offered
it right then and there? And then by
the end of the visit, you actually knew
the top three things you need to do
in your next step of that care journey,
whether that's, right,
the kind of connected intelligent experience not only
saves time, but makes patients feel well informed
and cared for
in their next part of their journey.
The future really
isn't about technology replacing people. It's about using
it to enhance operations,
personalization,
and really outcomes in care delivery.
That's where I see the best opportunities for
growth in the future is really redesigning how
we take care of our patients.
And I think you painted a great picture.
The way I was actually picturing being a
patient and walking in and
being a part of all that.
And as great as it sounds, I actually
don't it doesn't seem like it's that far
away, right, with the way technology is. Like,
if you had to give a ballpark for,
you know, some of those things you you
mentioned where everything's kinda automated when you go
in and it saves so much time,
How how long do you think till we're
till we're there?
I think in certain areas,
like, if it's capturing referrals or same time
delivery,
I think we're about 78%
there. But now, right, the use of the
technology and integration with people,
the change management that comes with it,
I think that is a piece that might
take some time to adopt with our teams.
Absolutely. Yeah. I think that shows that there's,
you know, certainly some things to be very
optimistic about. And, Prasanna, thanks so much for
joining us on the podcast. I think it
was an awesome conversation. I look forward to
working with you again soon.
Yes. I look forward to speaking with you
again too, Scott.
At athenahealth, we know your ambulatory practice wants
healthier,
a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier
patients.
But the complexities of modern health care tech
make it hard for you and your care
teams to focus on what matters most.
That's where athenahealth can help.
Our AI native all in one solutions reduce
administrative burdens, streamline billing and payments, and deliver
critical insights when clinicians need it most. That
means fewer clicks, more time for patients, and
stronger bottom lines.
Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice
can be that much simpler with athenahealth.
See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.