1 00:00:00,530 --> 00:00:04,200 Would you like to exchange best practices and ideas to improve care, 2 00:00:04,310 --> 00:00:06,080 enhance operational efficiency, 3 00:00:06,140 --> 00:00:08,520 and address financial challenges with your peers? 4 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,960 Becker's Healthcare is facilitating these conversations at their eighth annual 5 00:00:13,100 --> 00:00:15,720 health, IT digital health and R C M meeting. 6 00:00:16,060 --> 00:00:20,080 You can check your eligibility for complimentary attendance at the link in the 7 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:22,600 description. We are excited to welcome you in October. 8 00:00:23,270 --> 00:00:25,680 This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. 9 00:00:26,380 --> 00:00:28,240 I'm thrilled today to be joined by John Gatey, 10 00:00:28,700 --> 00:00:32,240 who is the director of Information Services at Sky Lakes Medical Center in South 11 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,640 central Oregon. John, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. 12 00:00:37,150 --> 00:00:39,980 Thank you so much. Thank you for the privilege to be here. 13 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:43,020 Now, I know we have a lot to talk about. 14 00:00:43,020 --> 00:00:46,340 There's so much happening in the healthcare space and technology is really 15 00:00:46,340 --> 00:00:49,260 driving a lot of changes. But before we dive into my questions, 16 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,420 can you tell me a little bit more about yourself and your background? 17 00:00:52,580 --> 00:00:57,270 Sure. Happy to. So I've had the privilege of working in, um, 18 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,270 healthcare for my entire, uh, 19 00:00:59,270 --> 00:01:02,950 working life outside of those jobs you have in high school and college and 20 00:01:02,950 --> 00:01:03,650 things like that. 21 00:01:03,650 --> 00:01:08,190 And started as a medical technologist working in a small critical access 22 00:01:08,550 --> 00:01:12,110 hospital and doing rural medicine in Kansas. And, uh, 23 00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:15,950 that is how my IT career started. Uh, 24 00:01:15,950 --> 00:01:19,070 we were pretty much on paper, this is the early nineties, 25 00:01:19,930 --> 00:01:21,430 and I went to my boss and said, you know, 26 00:01:21,430 --> 00:01:26,030 there's ways we can automate our workflows rather than handwriting. And, uh, 27 00:01:26,170 --> 00:01:30,230 so we ended up installing a laboratory information system in that hospital and 28 00:01:30,230 --> 00:01:33,110 started printing our results. You remember back in the nineties, 29 00:01:33,210 --> 00:01:38,190 we had cumulative results on, uh, you know, printed, uh, paper records. 30 00:01:39,010 --> 00:01:42,790 Uh, so that's where the IT career started and working, um, 31 00:01:42,890 --> 00:01:45,990 in the laboratory and building out laboratory, um, systems. 32 00:01:46,170 --> 00:01:48,310 And then had the opportunity to, uh, 33 00:01:48,310 --> 00:01:52,150 move down to Southern California where I worked as a clinical systems analyst 34 00:01:53,050 --> 00:01:57,630 and helped implement, uh, electronic medical record there at a standalone, um, 35 00:01:57,950 --> 00:02:02,110 hospital that was, um, part of the city. And then from there, 36 00:02:02,110 --> 00:02:05,750 eventually became, uh, the director. And I've been doing that now for over, uh, 37 00:02:05,750 --> 00:02:09,470 20 years. And so it's just a, one of those things where I, 38 00:02:09,550 --> 00:02:11,670 I always tell my staff, you know, um, 39 00:02:12,010 --> 00:02:15,910 we have a mission statement here within our IT department at Sky Lakes, 40 00:02:15,910 --> 00:02:20,270 and it's, uh, and we save lives and we innovate and in that order. 41 00:02:20,770 --> 00:02:24,150 So when we get out of bed in the morning, we know we're coming to do healthcare. 42 00:02:24,290 --> 00:02:27,950 It, we get the joy and the privilege of making a difference in people's lives. 43 00:02:28,180 --> 00:02:32,310 It's not about bits and bytes and computers, but about, you know, people, 44 00:02:32,310 --> 00:02:36,350 process and technology bringing those together. So we, um, 45 00:02:36,370 --> 00:02:40,630 enable our caregivers, providers, physician nurses, respiratory therapists, 46 00:02:40,630 --> 00:02:44,910 medical technologists, rad techs, you name it across the organization, 47 00:02:44,910 --> 00:02:46,910 tools that they can take better care of patients. 48 00:02:47,090 --> 00:02:51,670 And that really drives what we're doing. It's driven me personally as well, 49 00:02:52,210 --> 00:02:56,830 and being passionate about healthcare IT and knowing that we can make such a 50 00:02:56,830 --> 00:03:01,220 difference in patients' lives. And then I get to do that in a setting. Um, 51 00:03:01,330 --> 00:03:05,620 clam Falls, Oregon, 4,300 feet. It's, it's dry. 52 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,660 We get four seasons, lakes, trees, sunshine, 53 00:03:10,540 --> 00:03:14,900 absolutely, absolutely beautiful, uh, wonderful community and, and people. 54 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:20,020 And we are a standalone not-for-profit hospital. Uh, we're, uh, 55 00:03:20,340 --> 00:03:22,100 licensed at 176 beds. 56 00:03:22,100 --> 00:03:25,780 We staff about at 101 beds like everyone else. 57 00:03:25,780 --> 00:03:27,220 Through the whole COVID crisis, 58 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,780 we experienced those higher censuses and challenges, uh, that, that brought. 59 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:34,860 Uh, but I, when I look at our, 60 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:39,020 our organization and the people and just to see the resiliency of, 61 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,660 of the team here at Sky Lakes, it's been a wonderful place to, 62 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:47,020 to work in and to live in and to make a difference in our community. 63 00:03:48,710 --> 00:03:50,960 Fantastic. I love that. And, and certainly, you know, 64 00:03:50,990 --> 00:03:53,400 what you do is so important to, uh, 65 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:57,760 making sure that you provide healthcare services to the community, um, 66 00:03:57,860 --> 00:04:02,200 and are really doing that in a way they can relate to efficiently, effectively. 67 00:04:02,740 --> 00:04:06,160 Um, I know technology touches so many aspects of healthcare right now. 68 00:04:06,340 --> 00:04:07,960 So given your perspective, 69 00:04:08,270 --> 00:04:11,320 what are the opportunities that you're most excited about as well as the 70 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:12,720 headwinds you have your eye on right now? 71 00:04:14,230 --> 00:04:18,610 So I would say some of the, um, opportunities that we're most excited about, 72 00:04:19,070 --> 00:04:22,170 um, really center around Sky Lakes, I have to say, unfortunately, 73 00:04:22,230 --> 00:04:26,410 we were hit with, uh, a ransomware attack in October of 2020. 74 00:04:27,270 --> 00:04:29,330 And having lived through that and gone through that, 75 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,970 I'll just say one of the areas that is important to us is 76 00:04:34,330 --> 00:04:38,770 security. So we've really, uh, having gone through that security first, right? 77 00:04:38,950 --> 00:04:41,210 So everything we're doing, and it's, 78 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,050 it's pretty amazing to me to watch what's happening in the landscape. 79 00:04:44,230 --> 00:04:47,410 Now we're reading about the ransomware 3.0, right? 80 00:04:47,410 --> 00:04:52,330 So the bad actors have gone through 1.0 2.0, they're different flavors now. 81 00:04:52,330 --> 00:04:56,610 They're wiping out, um, operating systems other than Windows, 82 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:02,010 very much of a problem. So an opportunity is continuing to grow our, 83 00:05:02,230 --> 00:05:06,930 our footprint around security and what we're doing to keep the organization 84 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:12,010 safe and keeping our systems available, highly reliable, 85 00:05:12,750 --> 00:05:12,970 uh, 86 00:05:12,970 --> 00:05:17,210 so that we can take the best care of our community because we did experience a 87 00:05:17,210 --> 00:05:21,170 23 day outage and the impact to patient care. When, 88 00:05:21,170 --> 00:05:25,210 when you've been doing healthcare it and you've been running on an EMR for 18 89 00:05:25,210 --> 00:05:29,170 years in the hospital, and you shut that all down for 23 days, 90 00:05:29,670 --> 00:05:31,090 and every system's offline, 91 00:05:31,150 --> 00:05:35,690 you real quickly understand why we make these investments in it 92 00:05:36,590 --> 00:05:36,990 and, 93 00:05:36,990 --> 00:05:41,450 and the patient safety features of some of the technologies that we implement 94 00:05:42,030 --> 00:05:46,290 and the importance of that. So we live that and learn that firsthand. So for us, 95 00:05:46,790 --> 00:05:51,610 um, internally, that's an area that we're, we're really focused on and, 96 00:05:51,610 --> 00:05:55,810 and growing. Then I'd say another area is the whole patient engagement. 97 00:05:56,310 --> 00:05:59,140 Sky Lakes is, we're, we're in south central Oregon, 98 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,540 and you have to drive about a hundred miles in any direction north, south, 99 00:06:02,540 --> 00:06:04,540 east or west to get healthcare, 100 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,940 and we're pretty much a sole provider of healthcare for our community. 101 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,220 So it's really important, um, that we're providing systems that, again, 102 00:06:12,220 --> 00:06:17,220 are available and really engaging patients in new ways. So I think we're at a, 103 00:06:17,310 --> 00:06:21,940 we're seeing, um, especially coming through the pandemic, we're, 104 00:06:21,940 --> 00:06:26,300 we're seeing kind of a pivot where the patient engagement side 105 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,660 of technologies is becoming more and more important. And I know, you know, 106 00:06:30,660 --> 00:06:31,740 just across the country, 107 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,860 health health systems are just at a whole spectrum on how they're engaging 108 00:06:36,340 --> 00:06:40,020 patients. Uh, the questionnaires before, self check in, 109 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:45,380 all of those kind of things. And for our community, again, it's a, a really a, 110 00:06:45,580 --> 00:06:49,900 a, a rural area, farming, ranching, uh, community. 111 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:55,700 Um, these are areas that we're, we're just now diving into and, um, 112 00:06:55,730 --> 00:06:57,540 expanding, uh, services around. 113 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:02,420 So it's kind of exciting to see the growth in that area and the, the benefit, 114 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:06,420 um, that we'll receive as an organization. So as an example of that, 115 00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:10,580 just the efficiency of a patient having the opportunity to, 116 00:07:11,110 --> 00:07:12,620 prior to that appointment, right, 117 00:07:12,620 --> 00:07:17,460 fill out that questionnaire and provide information, really allowing, 118 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,740 um, efficiency in their visits. So when they see the provider, they've got a, 119 00:07:21,900 --> 00:07:26,100 a set of data that's already there coming directly in the words of the patient 120 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:30,660 and the response of the patient. So I see that as pretty exciting and, uh, 121 00:07:30,660 --> 00:07:32,700 we're, we're going through that process right now. 122 00:07:34,230 --> 00:07:36,810 That's amazing to hear. And you know, from your perspective, 123 00:07:37,030 --> 00:07:39,650 and you talked a little bit about what the community looks like. 124 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,650 Have they been pretty adaptable to some of these new changes, the new ways to, 125 00:07:44,750 --> 00:07:49,730 uh, digitally connect and, um, engaged with the, their healthcare? And, 126 00:07:49,790 --> 00:07:53,010 and when you are making some of these updates around patient engagement, 127 00:07:53,030 --> 00:07:56,650 how much do you think about, um, the, the demographics and, 128 00:07:56,650 --> 00:08:00,210 and where the overall population is headed within the community? 129 00:08:01,690 --> 00:08:06,180 Yeah, I would say, again, we're, we're similar to, you know, use cases. 130 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:07,820 You might have some, um, 131 00:08:07,820 --> 00:08:11,620 differences between more urban areas versus more rural areas, 132 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:16,140 but the fact of the matter is, uh, you put a cell phone in, 133 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:20,940 in the hand of any, uh, young teenager or child for that matter, 134 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,020 and they figure it out very quickly, right? And so it's been interesting to see, 135 00:08:24,740 --> 00:08:26,660 I think we've, um, again, 136 00:08:26,660 --> 00:08:30,500 through the virtual visits that we did through telehealth, right, 137 00:08:30,500 --> 00:08:34,460 during the pandemic, people really grabbed onto it, um, 138 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:39,380 and embraced it. But I would say it, it's use cases, right? So there's, 139 00:08:39,380 --> 00:08:44,380 there's some use cases where there's, uh, more of an uptick in uptake of, of, 140 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,860 um, technologies where it, um, makes sense and then, you know, 141 00:08:48,970 --> 00:08:52,660 there's nothing that can quite replace the, um, 142 00:08:53,010 --> 00:08:56,180 that face-to-face conversation with providers as well, right? 143 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,380 And so I would say we'd, we'd be like, most communities, 144 00:08:59,380 --> 00:09:01,540 we have kind of a mix of, 145 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:05,020 of all of that where we have higher adoption in some areas and, 146 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,340 and not so much adoption in others, but I'll just tell you our, for those, 147 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,820 you know, many, many people are running epic MyChart, 148 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,620 our uptake in that area has been, um, just skyrocketing and, 149 00:09:16,620 --> 00:09:18,180 and growing very rapidly. Again, 150 00:09:18,180 --> 00:09:22,780 as we make more information available to the patient in a real matter through, 151 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:26,340 um, MyChart, very, very helpful. I want to, um, 152 00:09:26,730 --> 00:09:29,340 piggyback onto a question you asked a little bit earlier, and, 153 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,460 and it's around what opportunity, opportunities and headwinds, um, 154 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,940 you mentioned. So I want to talk about some of the headwinds now and challenges, 155 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:42,540 uh, that we're facing. And I, I would say coming out of the pandemic, 156 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:46,500 and for us personally as an organization coming out of a ransomware attack, 157 00:09:46,930 --> 00:09:50,740 then coming out of where our, um, 158 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,660 HR system also had a malware attack, and going through that, 159 00:09:54,660 --> 00:09:58,460 coming out of all of those things and then experience something, uh, 160 00:09:58,570 --> 00:10:00,420 some growth in the organization, 161 00:10:00,420 --> 00:10:03,180 there's been kind of this convergence for it and, 162 00:10:03,180 --> 00:10:06,940 and it really centers around staffing. So I, I, 163 00:10:07,020 --> 00:10:11,060 I would say that number one challenge that we're facing right now is, 164 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:14,380 is workload and prioritization. 165 00:10:15,890 --> 00:10:20,110 So it seems like, um, I was mentioning this to you earlier, 166 00:10:20,110 --> 00:10:22,590 it seems like to me that for whatever reason, 167 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:27,590 we've always been busy and healthcare it, but it sure seems like, uh, 168 00:10:27,730 --> 00:10:31,510 the workload is higher now than ever. 169 00:10:31,970 --> 00:10:34,830 And it seems to have something to do with the fact that as people, 170 00:10:34,830 --> 00:10:36,070 process and technology, 171 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:40,710 right in almost every process and everything we're doing in healthcare now 172 00:10:40,710 --> 00:10:41,590 involves it. 173 00:10:41,590 --> 00:10:46,510 We just opened up in new pharmacy in town to expand services for our community 174 00:10:46,590 --> 00:10:50,710 with the drive through. Um, and again, the level of effort, right? 175 00:10:50,730 --> 00:10:55,670 To set up all the it and the infrastructure, uh, for those services, 176 00:10:56,850 --> 00:10:58,390 you name it. We're, we're, uh, 177 00:10:58,550 --> 00:11:01,270 building out a siding here for us at the hospital. Uh, 178 00:11:01,330 --> 00:11:05,510 our cafeteria is going through a major uplift. Um, 179 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:10,270 staff in the community will be able to enjoy just a nice refreshed place to get 180 00:11:10,300 --> 00:11:11,790 food and relax and, 181 00:11:12,130 --> 00:11:16,270 but we're also the technology and the point of sale system and the ability to, 182 00:11:16,370 --> 00:11:20,070 you know, order from your phone and have a meal ready to come down and pick up, 183 00:11:20,330 --> 00:11:24,030 giving some of those, those features and that technology, again, 184 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:25,710 technology is all entwined. 185 00:11:25,770 --> 00:11:30,190 So what it's done is we seem to have more work than we can do in the, 186 00:11:30,290 --> 00:11:33,150 the time of day and the number of people and resources. 187 00:11:33,810 --> 00:11:38,590 So figuring out ways to balance for our staff and our team is really a focus for 188 00:11:38,610 --> 00:11:42,630 us. How do we balance the needs of the organization, 189 00:11:43,450 --> 00:11:46,710 family, uh, personal time, all of those kind of things. So I, 190 00:11:46,790 --> 00:11:51,670 I would say that for us is the number one headwind in making sure we take 191 00:11:51,670 --> 00:11:55,220 care of our people and making sure that our people, um, 192 00:11:55,220 --> 00:11:59,740 have the tools they need to be successful in delivering for the organization. 193 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:02,660 And then just balancing that, um, 194 00:12:03,010 --> 00:12:06,100 with the number of hours in a day and life, um, 195 00:12:06,100 --> 00:12:10,380 outside of our work at the hospital so we can, um, recharge. 196 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,780 So really focusing on employee wellbeing is what I'm seeing right now is 197 00:12:14,940 --> 00:12:19,820 probably the number one area of focus. And, um, 198 00:12:20,170 --> 00:12:24,140 working with the organization to balance prioritization and workloads. 199 00:12:25,650 --> 00:12:29,500 That makes a lot of sense. You know, and it's really fascinating to, um, 200 00:12:29,550 --> 00:12:33,740 think through how you can troubleshoot and have that right balance and, 201 00:12:33,740 --> 00:12:37,900 and leverage technology and automation and all of that to help where possible 202 00:12:37,900 --> 00:12:42,420 with some of those, um, staffing and workforce issues and shortages and, 203 00:12:42,420 --> 00:12:45,380 and fill some of those holes. I know it's, there's no one real easy answer, 204 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,020 but certainly, um, as you mentioned, 205 00:12:48,020 --> 00:12:52,180 having that balance and trying to figure out how you can, um, you know, 206 00:12:52,250 --> 00:12:55,900 make sure that you are able to offer the healthcare services needed while also 207 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:57,820 not burning out your staff and, and team, 208 00:12:57,820 --> 00:13:01,540 and making sure that wellness is top priority is also so important. And, 209 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:03,500 you know, with that in mind as well as the, 210 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,460 the cybersecurity areas that you talked about earlier, 211 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,740 how are you thinking about growth and adding value to Sky Lakes overall? 212 00:13:11,090 --> 00:13:13,700 What does that look like for you? And, and where do you see that headed? 213 00:13:15,310 --> 00:13:18,360 Yeah, so for growth and adding value, I, 214 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,720 I would say first and foremost is delivering highly 215 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:25,560 reliable and available systems, right? 216 00:13:25,900 --> 00:13:30,880 So I feel like we just have this responsibility to our community, 217 00:13:31,220 --> 00:13:35,000 to the organization, and doing everything we can. And, 218 00:13:35,060 --> 00:13:37,360 and so for the organization to grow, 219 00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:42,480 and even with MIT is taking the systems that we've made investments in over 220 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:47,320 the years and making sure that those systems are available and 221 00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:51,960 up, right? Minimizing outages and, and downtime. So I think, 222 00:13:52,460 --> 00:13:54,120 um, to enable the growth, 223 00:13:54,220 --> 00:13:58,480 to enable where we want additional technologies that we wanna come in, 224 00:13:58,500 --> 00:14:00,520 paying attention to infrastructure. 225 00:14:00,620 --> 00:14:04,320 So this comes back to product lifecycle development, right? 226 00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:06,640 As we bring systems in. And, 227 00:14:06,660 --> 00:14:11,200 and that's one of the areas where now with the cloud and having software as a 228 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:13,220 service, that's some of those, 229 00:14:13,290 --> 00:14:17,860 some of that product lifecycle work can be uplifted, right? And, and, 230 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:18,940 and some of that burden can, 231 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:23,620 can be taken off of the local teams and the on-prem traditional services 232 00:14:23,770 --> 00:14:26,020 that we've provided, but, 233 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:30,620 but making sure that those systems are available and functioning, um, 234 00:14:30,660 --> 00:14:35,100 I think is critical to enabling the growth, both from an IT perspective, 235 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:40,100 but also from a strategic perspective for the, uh, organization itself. 236 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:45,620 And then I would say also enabling growth happens 237 00:14:45,970 --> 00:14:49,500 when we have a culture, a leadership principles, 238 00:14:49,500 --> 00:14:52,540 and a culture within it of where, 239 00:14:53,150 --> 00:14:56,380 where our teams understand the why. And I, I alluded to this earlier, 240 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:58,180 but understanding that when, 241 00:14:58,850 --> 00:15:03,140 when we're providing IT services to the organization, um, 242 00:15:03,290 --> 00:15:07,860 it's not just about standing up a computer or a server or an offering of 243 00:15:08,180 --> 00:15:12,220 software, but every one of those becomes tools to the patient. 244 00:15:12,390 --> 00:15:17,020 Every one of those becomes a direct path to patient care. 245 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:22,460 So really sustaining growth and sustaining our workforce 246 00:15:22,460 --> 00:15:27,460 through having a culture where we say we value people and we value what the work 247 00:15:27,460 --> 00:15:29,980 we're doing because it's focused on patient care. 248 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:35,100 And then I would say finally around, uh, growth and adding value, I, 249 00:15:35,180 --> 00:15:40,060 I think data is an area, uh, we, we could have a whole conversation about, 250 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:42,980 um, ai, but from my perspective, um, 251 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:46,780 and where we're at in our maturity level as an organization, 252 00:15:47,570 --> 00:15:51,820 it's really now, um, getting to the point where we're taking our, you know, 253 00:15:51,820 --> 00:15:56,580 core systems, our E R P, so finance, supply chain, um, your, um, 254 00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:59,980 HR systems, people management, taking those pieces, 255 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:04,980 taking your electronic medical record and all the data on 256 00:16:04,980 --> 00:16:05,820 the clinical side, 257 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:11,020 and be able to bring some of that together in terms of how we're gonna manage 258 00:16:11,020 --> 00:16:15,940 people, how we're gonna manage workforce, um, what we're doing, uh, around, 259 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,300 um, our, our care and the value of that care, 260 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:24,260 and having access to real time data. So in our journey at Sky Lakes, 261 00:16:24,260 --> 00:16:28,020 we're at a point where that's really at, at, for us, 262 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,820 that's where we're focused on, I'd say in the near term and, 263 00:16:31,820 --> 00:16:34,420 and for around growth is around data and analytics, 264 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:38,180 and then not just data and analytics and silos, 265 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,900 but data and analytics across the multiple systems 266 00:16:42,980 --> 00:16:45,780 that we have within our hospital environment. 267 00:16:48,450 --> 00:16:50,930 I love that. That makes a lot of sense. You know, and it's really, um, 268 00:16:50,930 --> 00:16:53,890 an important aspect of any healthcare today, 269 00:16:53,890 --> 00:16:57,250 looking at what the data can tell you how to leverage and use the data, 270 00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:59,730 getting it in front of the right person, um, 271 00:16:59,730 --> 00:17:03,330 so that they can make good decisions for the organization as well as healthcare 272 00:17:03,530 --> 00:17:06,090 delivery with their patients. And so I think, you know, 273 00:17:06,090 --> 00:17:09,770 really that kind of data management AI is, is very, um, 274 00:17:09,770 --> 00:17:13,250 front and center in the conversation on healthcare today, but also, you know, 275 00:17:13,360 --> 00:17:16,650 very new. And so when you, you know, look through, um, 276 00:17:16,790 --> 00:17:19,330 an organization like Sky Lakes, uh, 277 00:17:19,330 --> 00:17:22,970 what does it take in order to acquire some of the data platforms and 278 00:17:22,970 --> 00:17:26,250 technologies and make sure you're doing it in a way that is helpful for the 279 00:17:26,250 --> 00:17:28,690 organization, but at the same time, um, you know, 280 00:17:28,690 --> 00:17:31,890 getting the information to the right person and, uh, 281 00:17:31,890 --> 00:17:35,410 understanding some of the resource limitations that you might have as a smaller 282 00:17:35,890 --> 00:17:36,723 hospital. 283 00:17:37,650 --> 00:17:40,860 Yeah, so it's interesting you asked that question. 284 00:17:41,380 --> 00:17:45,140 I think everything you said is completely relevant because we're right there. 285 00:17:45,270 --> 00:17:50,020 We're literally in that process of recognizing that we have tools 286 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:52,260 within our subset of applications, 287 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:58,180 but we are at a point where we need a tool that spans across the applications, 288 00:17:58,180 --> 00:18:01,860 right? So we're in the market right now investigating, 289 00:18:02,290 --> 00:18:07,140 looking at the tools that are available. And key here is efficiency, 290 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,900 having the ability to have systems that help us build out data models 291 00:18:11,970 --> 00:18:14,700 that bring value that we can, um, 292 00:18:14,870 --> 00:18:18,860 query against and pull up analytics that, that, um, 293 00:18:19,350 --> 00:18:21,940 bring value to so we can make good decisions. 294 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,900 But behind that is the whole world of the data governance process, right? 295 00:18:27,120 --> 00:18:30,300 So that's another area we're investing in and focused on, 296 00:18:30,300 --> 00:18:34,900 is putting in a solid data governance process. Because as we know, um, 297 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:38,940 bad data in is bad data out, right? And good data in is good data out. 298 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:41,540 So there's a whole lot of work, 299 00:18:42,010 --> 00:18:46,940 very robust work that has to go around looking at our workflows and making sure 300 00:18:47,090 --> 00:18:51,060 that we're capturing the data that we need to capture, that it's available, 301 00:18:51,350 --> 00:18:54,340 right? That it's mineable, that we can, um, 302 00:18:54,340 --> 00:18:58,660 pull it together and then make it a available to the right people at the right 303 00:18:58,690 --> 00:19:02,540 time. So we're actually in that process right now. 304 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:05,300 And then you have to, as you alluded to there, 305 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:09,620 you have to balance that within your human capital, your resourcing, 306 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:13,980 the people side of it, and then budgets, right? Um, what kind of investment, 307 00:19:13,980 --> 00:19:18,620 because when you start talking about a data lake and analytics systems, um, 308 00:19:19,570 --> 00:19:24,340 there's right there in itself, right? That could be multiple, um, 309 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:29,660 people, uh, a whole bunch of money spent around, um, 310 00:19:29,660 --> 00:19:33,580 the technologies to make that work. So we're in that process right now, 311 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:37,820 and we're evaluating all those things, right? The, the, the, what kind of, uh, 312 00:19:37,820 --> 00:19:41,700 people, resources is it gonna take to stand up this platform, 313 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:46,180 to use this platform to get the data available? 314 00:19:46,690 --> 00:19:49,940 What kind of resourcing is it gonna take around the data governance process? 315 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:54,140 Making sure that we're capturing what we need to capture when it comes to the 316 00:19:54,630 --> 00:19:59,500 input of data within the electronic medical record or our HR 317 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:02,220 system or supply chain system. 318 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,620 So we're in that stage right now of, of building it out and doing that, 319 00:20:07,750 --> 00:20:08,620 doing that work. 320 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:13,220 And one of the ways we're attacking this is we're doing it across the 321 00:20:13,220 --> 00:20:17,060 organization. So we're, we're, we're, we pulled together multidisciplinary team, 322 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:22,180 um, from the operations side, IT leadership, 323 00:20:22,570 --> 00:20:26,740 working together to formulate that solution and, uh, move us forward. 324 00:20:26,740 --> 00:20:29,300 Unfortunately, us at Sky Lakes, we, 325 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:34,180 we recently had a change in our senior leadership, and we've, 326 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:35,020 uh, 327 00:20:35,020 --> 00:20:40,020 brought in some vice presidents that really have a passion for this area and 328 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:44,900 get the value of it. So having that support from the senior team to say, 329 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:45,753 Hey, we, 330 00:20:45,810 --> 00:20:49,940 this is a priority for the organization and we're gonna support this process 331 00:20:50,410 --> 00:20:52,380 that makes all the difference in the world as well. 332 00:20:54,710 --> 00:20:57,070 Absolutely critical. And, and I can imagine, you know, 333 00:20:57,070 --> 00:20:59,350 it makes you really feel like, uh, you're in a, 334 00:20:59,470 --> 00:21:02,670 a space where you can have the resources that you need in order to do something 335 00:21:02,670 --> 00:21:07,590 that's truly impactful. And, um, you know, along those lines, I, 336 00:21:07,710 --> 00:21:10,110 I think when you look at resource allocation, 337 00:21:10,580 --> 00:21:14,550 what do you think is one area where it's still important to make investments or 338 00:21:14,630 --> 00:21:16,270 a risk that's worth taking this year, 339 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,350 given the limited resources that most organizations have? 340 00:21:21,580 --> 00:21:26,310 Yeah, so I, I'm sorry, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, um, go back to something we, 341 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:30,310 we've said earlier, but, uh, um, investing in people. 342 00:21:31,790 --> 00:21:35,450 So I would say it's our, it's our people, 343 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:40,450 because if we don't have that, we're not gonna get any, anything else. And so, 344 00:21:40,990 --> 00:21:43,690 uh, going back to, uh, in fact, 345 00:21:43,730 --> 00:21:48,130 I had this conversation with my boss yesterday around resourcing, 346 00:21:48,470 --> 00:21:53,370 so looking at the number of applications we have in the hospital. Um, so, 347 00:21:53,390 --> 00:21:57,370 so the risk I think that we need to take as an organization is saying, 348 00:21:57,580 --> 00:22:02,290 let's make sure we're right sizing, um, the resources around, um, 349 00:22:02,470 --> 00:22:03,890 it so we can be successful. 350 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,450 It's one thing to implement a product, uh, 351 00:22:08,970 --> 00:22:13,730 a software, bring it into the health system, and it's another to maintain it, 352 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,570 keep it upgraded, keep all the security patches, uh, 353 00:22:17,710 --> 00:22:22,490 all of that work that happens around it. So I would say that, 354 00:22:22,670 --> 00:22:23,160 uh, it, 355 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:27,930 it's making sure that we have the right set of resources so we can be 356 00:22:27,930 --> 00:22:30,690 successful. We have some very good systems within the hospital. 357 00:22:30,750 --> 00:22:34,930 We have some wonderful vendor partnerships, um, 358 00:22:35,070 --> 00:22:38,810 at the hospital that we experienced through the ransomware attack that just 359 00:22:38,810 --> 00:22:41,690 incredible people stepping up and, and so, 360 00:22:42,070 --> 00:22:46,330 but now how do we grow and mature these systems? And, and the risk, 361 00:22:46,330 --> 00:22:50,930 and the reason I say it's a risk is we're trying to balance that right at a time 362 00:22:50,930 --> 00:22:55,810 when the hospital is having some coming out of covid and coming 363 00:22:55,870 --> 00:22:57,730 out of a time where the, 364 00:22:57,730 --> 00:23:01,890 the funding that was supporting healthcare systems through, 365 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,450 through covid is, is really coming to an end. 366 00:23:05,270 --> 00:23:09,970 So making sure our travel agency costs, right, and, 367 00:23:09,970 --> 00:23:13,730 and expenses, uh, compare with the revenue that's, 368 00:23:13,730 --> 00:23:16,810 that's coming in and, and balancing that. So, 369 00:23:17,470 --> 00:23:22,170 so the risk I think that we need to take as an organization is making some 370 00:23:22,170 --> 00:23:27,090 investments in the right people so that we have the resources so that we 371 00:23:27,090 --> 00:23:30,090 can sustain the technologies that we have in the hospital. 372 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:34,500 That's such a great point. And definitely, you know, uh, 373 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,580 it seems like finance 1 0 1, but easier said than done in terms of, um, 374 00:23:38,580 --> 00:23:41,660 you know, keeping your costs low and, um, 375 00:23:41,860 --> 00:23:45,100 bringing in revenue as much as possible today. I know, um, 376 00:23:45,220 --> 00:23:48,580 there's just so many challenges in, in so many, um, you know, 377 00:23:48,710 --> 00:23:53,220 areas where inflation or, or other things that are, are really, uh, 378 00:23:53,220 --> 00:23:54,420 make it challenging to, 379 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,460 to get that equation to work for hospital and health systems right now. 380 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,500 So I appreciate you kind of talking through that and, and definitely, um, 381 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,660 you know, that that culture, uh, within the hospital and health system, 382 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,220 um, is just so needed these days. So before we wrap up our conversation, 383 00:24:10,380 --> 00:24:13,540 I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about where you see the best 384 00:24:13,540 --> 00:24:17,260 opportunities for yourself and in growing in the future and the teams that you 385 00:24:17,260 --> 00:24:18,093 work with? 386 00:24:18,870 --> 00:24:22,930 That's a, that's a great question. Um, I would say, 387 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:29,110 again, I, for, for us in our organization and, um, my, 388 00:24:29,330 --> 00:24:32,750 my colleagues and staff that I have the privilege of working with here, 389 00:24:32,890 --> 00:24:35,950 I'd say there, there's two areas. Uh, 390 00:24:36,330 --> 00:24:39,230 one is we've talked about is around analytics and data, 391 00:24:39,270 --> 00:24:43,790 I think is gonna be critical for our hospital going forward. And, 392 00:24:44,130 --> 00:24:47,670 and secondly, uh, is, um, 393 00:24:47,690 --> 00:24:52,270 our infrastructure making investments in our, our infrastructure. 394 00:24:52,410 --> 00:24:54,430 So growth for us internally as a team, 395 00:24:54,430 --> 00:24:57,590 we're building out a secondary data center, our size hospital, 396 00:24:57,590 --> 00:24:59,950 that's not something we've had. We've had, um, 397 00:25:00,750 --> 00:25:03,150 a data center where we have things in pairs, right? 398 00:25:03,210 --> 00:25:06,310 But we don't have a true redundant business continuity platform, 399 00:25:06,490 --> 00:25:09,350 and we're building that out. So building out our infrastructure, 400 00:25:09,500 --> 00:25:14,230 upgrading our core switches so we can go into this next, uh, 401 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:19,110 cycle of, of care. And, and, 402 00:25:19,250 --> 00:25:20,590 and I'll just mention this, 403 00:25:20,930 --> 00:25:25,630 really growing the platforms we're using around nursing. And so to do that, 404 00:25:25,630 --> 00:25:29,030 moving, you know, to handheld devices at the bedside, um, 405 00:25:29,090 --> 00:25:32,910 epic's got products around that rover, uh, to, but to do that, 406 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,470 we've gotta have the wireless infrastructure, right? 407 00:25:35,850 --> 00:25:39,790 And you've gotta have the switching infrastructure, uh, 408 00:25:39,930 --> 00:25:43,270 not having end of life switches and, and all that infrastructure. 409 00:25:43,490 --> 00:25:48,430 So for us personally, um, we're focused on, on, on, 410 00:25:48,730 --> 00:25:52,470 uh, reestablishing our foundation and reestablishing the foundation on our 411 00:25:52,470 --> 00:25:55,950 infrastructure so that we can take on, uh, 412 00:25:56,030 --> 00:25:58,150 the additional work and, 413 00:25:58,170 --> 00:26:02,990 and the next strategic steps in terms of helping a nurse do the work they're 414 00:26:02,990 --> 00:26:06,910 doing at the bedside better, and giving them tools that help them, um, 415 00:26:07,090 --> 00:26:10,510 be successful and ease some of that burden that's sitting on them. 416 00:26:10,610 --> 00:26:14,830 So we're motivated to do that and really driven to do that focus in that area 417 00:26:14,830 --> 00:26:15,663 right now. 418 00:26:17,470 --> 00:26:21,230 Absolutely. That's so important, just getting that infrastructure down. Um, 419 00:26:21,230 --> 00:26:24,070 just fascinating to hear. And, you know, uh, 420 00:26:25,410 --> 00:26:28,750 for the conversations that you have with your team, is it pretty, um, you know, 421 00:26:28,770 --> 00:26:31,030 are, are people pretty excited about doing this? 422 00:26:31,090 --> 00:26:34,430 How do you make sure they're motivated around, uh, some of the, 423 00:26:34,430 --> 00:26:37,790 the nuts and bolts things that are important in getting the platforms together, 424 00:26:37,890 --> 00:26:39,230 the infrastructure switches and, 425 00:26:39,250 --> 00:26:42,310 and really understanding what potential it has for the future? 426 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,130 Yeah, so right now, um, 427 00:26:47,790 --> 00:26:52,490 to directly answer that question, it's resourcing, right? 428 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:57,210 It's, so I'll just tell you, our, our team is feeling the weight of all this, 429 00:26:57,350 --> 00:26:59,850 and I mentioned it earlier, product life cycle development, 430 00:27:01,310 --> 00:27:04,450 having to re reestablish foundation, right? 431 00:27:04,510 --> 00:27:07,410 Our equipment's coming to the point that it needs to be changed out. 432 00:27:07,470 --> 00:27:11,370 So that's a another opportunity for us to, um, 433 00:27:11,670 --> 00:27:15,210 really make a difference. And, and on the other side of the coin, 434 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:16,890 there's the excitement around it, right? 435 00:27:17,410 --> 00:27:21,480 Recognizing the kind of speeds we're gonna get, the kind of, um, 436 00:27:21,850 --> 00:27:22,620 technology, 437 00:27:22,620 --> 00:27:27,080 the kind of efficiencies that some of the new switching technologies 438 00:27:27,190 --> 00:27:28,023 provide. 439 00:27:28,100 --> 00:27:32,560 So some motivation around it is knowing where we're going and knowing 440 00:27:33,260 --> 00:27:35,320 the, the value we're gonna bring to the organization. 441 00:27:36,020 --> 00:27:38,000 The challenge around it is, okay, 442 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,000 how do we do this work with everything else we're doing? 443 00:27:40,140 --> 00:27:43,560 And so that goes back to the prioritization conversation and the resourcing 444 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,870 conversation. So, and in our case, 445 00:27:47,010 --> 00:27:50,030 it was having a conversation with our CFO saying, look, 446 00:27:50,030 --> 00:27:53,870 if we really want to do this and we want to do it well, we need to consider, 447 00:27:54,130 --> 00:27:57,230 we will it take from a resourcing perspective to make this happen. 448 00:27:57,810 --> 00:28:01,710 So having a very good conversation. And so of course, um, 449 00:28:01,710 --> 00:28:03,750 part of that process is benchmarking, right? 450 00:28:03,750 --> 00:28:08,270 Comparing ourselves to other healthcare organizations of our size 451 00:28:09,010 --> 00:28:12,670 and figuring out what makes sense from, from a resourcing perspective. 452 00:28:12,970 --> 00:28:15,950 The reason I bring that up is because, um, 453 00:28:16,260 --> 00:28:20,950 there's hope in that hope knowing that if we can, um, you know, 454 00:28:21,170 --> 00:28:26,030 add an additional resource that can come alongside us to help us renew 455 00:28:26,170 --> 00:28:29,590 our infrastructure, uh, there, there's value in that. And, 456 00:28:29,610 --> 00:28:32,070 and our team is at a point where, um, 457 00:28:32,940 --> 00:28:35,270 knowing that we're gonna need to, 458 00:28:35,310 --> 00:28:38,230 and then the organization understanding that and the organization willing to 459 00:28:38,230 --> 00:28:42,430 make that investment that really helps drive and motivates people, 460 00:28:43,330 --> 00:28:45,270 uh, to, to do the kind of work that we're doing. 461 00:28:47,530 --> 00:28:50,090 I love it. John, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. 462 00:28:50,090 --> 00:28:52,890 This has been a really fun conversation and I look forward to connecting with 463 00:28:52,890 --> 00:28:53,723 you again soon. 464 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,030 Thank you so much. 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