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Hello, everyone. Welcome to Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm
Scott King. Thrilled today to be joined by
a very special guest, Daryl Bodner, chief information
officer, North Country Healthcare. Daryl, how are you
doing today? Thanks so much for joining us.
I'm doing I'm doing great, Scott. Thank you
so much for having me. No. It's great
to have you. I know we're gonna dive
into a lot of kind of big topics,
facing health care right now and and some
trends and even some news. But before we
get into all that, I was just wondering
if you could please tell us a little
about yourself and your, career journey.
Yeah. Sure. My name is Daryl Bodner. I'm
a chief information officer for North Country Healthcare.
North Country Healthcare is a group of three
critical access hospitals and a home health agency.
I've been the CIO in this role for,
about six years now, but I've actually been
in health care IT for a total of
thirty six, if you can believe it at
this point.
But it's, we're we're a really interesting use
case where three critical access hospitals functioning independently
without a tertiary affiliation.
And it it makes us,
unique in the sense that we can we
can really control,
our own destiny without having to worry about
some of those, but there's, of course, risks
involved with that without having some some additional,
support in the mix. But it's a very
interesting use case, and we've made some some
pretty impressive,
impressive statistics over over our time in the
last six years.
Appreciate you sharing all that background info, Daryl.
Let let me ask you. As your as
the CIO of your org, what what do
you see as your biggest responsibility right now?
So right now, I think, as we continue
to move forward, trying to navigate the the
changes going on, from a regulatory perspective,
and and some changes coming out of Washington
that we're trying to adapt and handle.
The Rural Healthcare Transformation Fund is a big
one as we're trying to look to position
ourselves in alignment with the state,
of New Hampshire to be able to look
at how we'll leverage those dollars.
But, you know, from that perspective internally, I
think a lot of it's the technology,
the rapid deployment of of artificial intelligence, machine
learning, those types of technologies,
and responsibly
making sure those have a place to fit,
appropriately within the organization.
What was the most important initiative you led
last in the past year?
And, you know, what did you do for
that, and what were the results?
Well, I'd have to say it'll go back
to some of the AI deployments that we've
done. And in particular, I'm sure like everybody
else, the the the rapid adoption of, ambient
voice technologies
within the patient interaction space, primarily in our
primary care offices, but also in specialty practices
and other areas.
We saw,
a huge deployment and a huge adoption of
it quickly.
And honestly, we started to see improved
outcomes on two areas that we wanted to
see. One was provider satisfaction.
The deployment of this technologies was never about
productivity, but it was clearly focused on trying
to ease some of the providers burden,
and the challenges they have. And we've also
received surprisingly a lot of positive feedback from
the patient population because now they feel more
engaged with their providers as the providers talk
to them as opposed to, you know, provide
care over the top of a laptop screen.
As you look ahead, what are the big
priorities that, in headwinds, you're focused on for
for this year, for 2026?
I would have to say it's probably
in the area of balancing innovation and and
sustainability.
You know, as we look at a a
changing payer market, we look at, a lot
of,
payers leaving, the the the marketplace in terms
of ACA,
and some of those challenges with with, Medicaid,
patients.
Those all create risks for a rural hospital
organization where, you know, we see a big
part of our paramedics being those government funded.
That along with the need to increase technology,
to increase
the efficiency and effectiveness
of our
staff, clinically, but also in in the operational
space as well. To me, that is, like,
our biggest priority is just trying to keep
that balance going because there's a lot of
unknowns of what's gonna happen over the next
one to two years as we plan this
out.
You know, I I it's just interesting. I've
been interviewing people on the payer side this
week as well. And, you know, certainly, with
that relationship, there's always a lot of, give
and take. But do do you find also
that from the payer side, they're also kind
of in the same situation as providers in
that they're facing so
many regulatory
elements that sometimes in that relationship, do you
feel like it's kinda like, alright. Look. We
both we both have have a full load
here. Let's just see what we can get
done. Let's try to work together on x
y z.
Absolutely. And it's and it's odd. You know,
I I realized that they're having some of
the same regulatory changes that are occurring in
in their models.
And, what we're what we're starting to see,
and and I think this is finally maybe
the catalyst that gets us to a place
we should have been, was to work closer
with the payers. It's been,
without a doubt, it seems adversarial at times,
through even through negotiations,
and feelings of, of, you know, what's prior
auth, what isn't, and how complex can we
make that process so that we, you know,
you you you get these, these, you know,
procedures approved or not.
But I'm starting to see that they're working
through that. And I also think the introduction
of AI
in a lot of spaces and making it
more transparent. So, as we go through and
there's, you know, specific requirements,
we're leveraging technology to to meet those requirements.
And in turn, I think the, you know,
the insurance companies, the payers are are doing
the same.
I'm hoping at some point we can make
that entire process objective as opposed to the
subjectivity that's currently,
you know, spread across the board when it
comes to those types of of service approvals.
Yeah. So I think that would be great.
Absolutely.
What's the hardest thing you'll have to do
this year, you think, Darryl?
Well, I think I think making sure that
we we try to better understand how the
the, the payers are gonna work and how
reimbursement's gonna work.
The the challenges for rural health care, I
think, we we just don't have the depth
that I think a lot of of PPS
hospitals and larger organizations have. And trying to
maintain those deliverables,
with with the unknown surrounding it. Because we
we we have yet to see what it's
gonna look like with the changes of the
ACA
for the market. We haven't seen what the
Medicaid cuts are gonna look like, and we're
just starting to see what the rural healthcare
transformation fund dollars are gonna look like. So
for me, trying to navigate the uncertainty is
the biggest thing. I think in in in
twelve months, we'll have a much better feeling
for where they are, but I'm a planner
by nature. You know, I I I wanna
make sure I have a good understanding. And
when there's uncertainty, it it sort of makes
me uneasy. So trying to watch spending,
but still deliver what the organization needs is
probably the biggest challenge.
Where do you see the best opportunities for
organizational growth?
God. I I think I think the intersection
I'm gonna keep going back to it, Scott,
on this one. I'm gonna keep going back
to where where technology,
and care delivery and the workforce meet,
is where I I see the biggest the
biggest opportunities to to go.
I I hate to keep using the term
AI because everybody uses it, but when I
think of the technology space and some of
the advancements that we're seeing, just to corral
that and get that into a place
where we can start to make operational and
clinical differences,
and and eventually get to some some some
hopefully, some substantial changes and outcomes.
That is what I I really think is
is is one of the biggest opportunities for
growth. I see that growth continuing for the
next few years, but it's more about the
responsible adoption
and the actual true, you know, business use
cases
than it is for some of the the
the the shinier objects that are out there.
I mentioned ambient, but now we're looking at
documentation intake and document summarization to make an
easier burden and more accurate depiction for the
patient, for the providers.
Very grassroots, very, very easy to understand technologies.
But to fully deploy and adopt it takes
an effort, and I think that's where you'll
see our continued focus.
And the last question I wanna ask you,
Daryl, how do you think you you have
evolved as a leader?
Oh my god. So as as as an
organization, and I think this is probably typical
of every CIO that's that's out there,
is that you you, by default, become the,
you know, the CTO and the CIO are
one and the same. You you have to
work hand in hand. There's also, a a
more pronounced seat if there wasn't one, at
the leadership table,
because technology plays such an important role.
And as you start to look at operations,
they're becoming more and more impacted by by,
technology. So I see the role being more,
diverse. I see us, being being spread across
multiple areas more so than we ever were
before
and really trying to make coordinated business decisions,
with with the direction of the organization and,
honestly, the direction of health care in general.
Daryl, thanks so much for joining us on
the podcast. It was a great conversation. I
look forward to working with you again soon.
Oh, thank you so much for having me,
Scott. I really appreciate it.