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- Prepare to dive into the forefront

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of healthcare innovation at
our 14th annual meeting coming

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up on April 8th

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through 11th at the Hyatt Regency
in Chicago, with thousands

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of industry leaders converging
over four dynamic days

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of discussions on crucial
topics from health IT

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to executive leadership.

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It's where the future of
healthcare takes shape.

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We can't wait to connect
with you in person

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and engage in these
important conversations.

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- This is Laura Dedo with the
Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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I'm thrilled today to be
joined by Dr. Matthew Sullivan,

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chief Medical Information
officer of ADV Health Southeast,

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Dr. Sullivan, it's a pleasure

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to have you on the podcast today.

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- Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

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- Now, I know we've got a
lot to talk about, you know,

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especially thinking through
what you're looking at

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for the next 12 months or so

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and just, you know, really
what you're excited about.

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But before we can dive
into that conversation,

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could you tell me a little bit more

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about yourself and your background?

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- Yeah, I'm, uh, one of our, uh,

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chief Medical Information Officers.

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I've been, um, with our
legacy Atrium Company

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for my entire career in medical training.

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I'm an emergency physician, um,

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board certified emergency
medicine and informatics.

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I'm, I'm grateful to be part
of a, uh, a large IT team

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that's now across our entire
Advocate Health Enterprise.

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And, um, I'm really
looking forward to, um,

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this next upcoming year as
we continue to, uh, grow

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and continue to scale, uh,

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projects across now a
very large geography.

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- Well, that's great
to hear. And you know,

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definitely exciting to see
how advocate has grown.

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From your perspective,
what are the biggest issues

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that you're following
in healthcare right now?

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- Well, I think it would be,
uh, awkward to ignore, uh, two

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of the large, uh, elephants
in the room, cybersecurity

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and artificial intelligence,
which you can't attend any kind

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of a conference, uh, on, on
virtually any, any area of,

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of informatics

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or information technology
without hearing a large

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chunk on both of those things.

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Uh, we've had a number
of cyber events, uh,

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recently in the news that
have been very troubling

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and it should really raise
concern for everybody in health.

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It, um, it's, it's really troubling.

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And, um, and so as a result
of that, I think we have

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to think about how our focus
is ever changing, not just

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for the next upcoming 12 months,

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but for beyond what's
the next threat, uh, so

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that we can ensure that the
safety of our information

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and the safety of our patients
is, is really preserved.

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So that's one of the major
issues. And the second is ai.

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I, I think everybody's
been talking about AI

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as if it's a buzzword

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and, um, there's various levels of,

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of artificial intelligence,
machine learning,

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everything from simple to,

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to really aggressive, uh, computing.

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And, and I'm very interested in that.

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But I think the challenge
there is how do we,

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how do we identify it,
ensure that it's safe,

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make sure it's ethical,

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and then understand the
cost that comes with it

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and what that cost is as it
relates to an ever-growing cost

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of healthcare in the United States.

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So I think we've got a lot on our plate.

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If we take, if we take just those two, um,

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that's over the top of
what I think has been

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what multiple decades of EMR rollout,

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where we're still looking
very closely at how

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to make a physician and nurse and,

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and advanced provider
everybody's job, try to make

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that more efficient and bring
joy back to the medicine

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that we've, we've all,
uh, grew up learning.

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I think that's really going
to continue to be a challenge

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for every healthcare organization.

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Um, and how to do that, uh,
effectively is really still

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right there on our mind.

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So those are the big things.

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Um, I hope that, I hope that helps.

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- Yeah, I think that's
fascinating, especially

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as you mentioned, looking at
cybersecurity, obviously trying

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to figure out what the
next thing is going to be

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and then, um, the
various stages of AI and,

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and what that means for
healthcare organizations.

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I know so many different
leaders across the country are

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taking various approaches
to how the aggressive

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or not aggressive, they're
approaching AI and,

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and what their teams can really do

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to make sure it's done safely.

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Um, it is just been fascinating
to see that in addition

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to it, as you were talking
about the EHR, um, how

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to make them more efficient,
I think I've heard some

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leaders, you know, saying
that 2024 is going to be, um,

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the era of optimization
in terms of, you know,

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how do we really focus in on the few areas

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where we can make a big difference

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to optimize what we already have.

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And so it's just, it's really interesting

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to put all those things together.

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And from your perspective,
do you see, um, you know,

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how do you, I guess,
approach that strategy and,

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and really zero in on the spaces

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that are gonna be most effective, um,

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for the next 12 months or so?

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- Well, I think that, um, that's a very,

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it's a hard question to answer
as it relates to generically,

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uh, from the advocate health perspective.

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It's a little bit easier
in so much that we know

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where we have our strategic goals

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and we, we know where we want
to deliver better healthcare,

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a higher quality of healthcare in a way

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that is in some ways unique
because of who we are.

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Um, it, it, it, it is not
a holding company of lots

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of different variations of healthcare

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that are all cobbled
together under one brand.

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We're really looking to
deliver care in a single,

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unified way and to
provide that care equally

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and effectively for all.

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And that, that is a very
interesting challenge for us.

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So not only are we
trying to figure out how

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to make it standard across,
uh, the environment so

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that no matter if you
are to hit rural Illinois

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or uh, central Georgia, it,

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you get the same exact healthcare

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that you would get in downtown Chicago

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or downtown Charlotte.

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Um, so I think we are really
trying to make sure that we

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look at where we can impact
that healthcare delivery.

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And so that excites me and

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and how we do that is, is multifactorial.

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You have to have the
operational buy-in for that.

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And, and I'm excited, uh,
that our leaders are, our,

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our operational leaders are
very excited about that.

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Um, and you have to have a
really good data strategy,

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and we have great folks working, uh,

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to deliver data across
the enterprise, which, uh,

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is getting better and better

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and allows us to be really
insightful as to where we,

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where we try to make that impact.

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So I, I think it is really going

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to be a year of optimization.

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I would agree with that.
And then the question is, is

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where do you make your optimization?

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Clearly, I don't think any
healthcare organization

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of our size has the ability

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to make optimization
changes in every space,

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but being targeted and strategic as to

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where you make those changes is really

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what's exciting to me.

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- That makes a lot of sense.
And you know, it's a lot

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to be excited about, I
think, for the future.

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Is there anything that makes you nervous?

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- Well, I think that, um,
both the cybersecurity

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and healthcare finance makes

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everybody in healthcare nervous.

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Um, I think we saw coming out
of a conference, um, a couple

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of weeks ago, like, there's going

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to be a lot of change in healthcare.

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I think that's would be foolish to be

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getting yourself.

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You really have to be ready for change.

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Um, my hope is that we're able
to change in a positive way

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that continues to help us,
um, be financially viable.

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We've obviously watched over
the last decade a number

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of hospitals, uh, particularly
in our rural areas, close

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because they can't make ends meet.

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Um, so healthcare finance
makes me a little nervous.

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I wanna make sure that
we are very mindful about

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how we deliver care

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and deliver it in a frugal way that

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that has the best outcomes for patients.

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Um, and, and obviously anything
like in the cybersecurity

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realm that that takes away
from that just slows us down

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and harms, harms healthcare as a whole.

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So I think those are the two
things that make me nervous.

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The rest of it I think is just
challenging and exciting and,

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and I look forward to that.

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- That's absolutely, I I think
that would certainly align

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with a lot of, uh, um,
other executives in,

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in looking at especially, um, finances

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and cybersecurity as areas, you know,

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that keep a good number
of people up at night.

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Uh, when, you know, kind

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of considering all these
trends we've talked about, um,

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in looking ahead, what do
you think most successful

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healthcare leaders will
need over the next two

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to three years or so to really continue

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to grow the organizations
and, and be successful?

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- I think the first, uh, thing I would

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respond is resilience.

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I think there will be a
tremendous amount of change.

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Not all of it, uh, <laugh>, not all

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of it you might sign up for.

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And so to have the
fortitude to hang in there

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and really set a strategic direction

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and be a little bit
adaptable in the process

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takes a lot of resilience.

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Um, I, I think that, um,

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specifically from the IT
perspective, it's going

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to take a lot of
partnership work, um, both

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with vendors and internally.

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So when you look at trying

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to scale a simple thing across three

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or four hospitals, that's, that
has a number of challenges.

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Scaling that over 67 hospitals
in a number of states

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is very difficult.

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And so you have to have a really great

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operational partnership.

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You have to have a lot of
trust within our leadership

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and, um, I really think
that will will drive

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healthcare systems to be
successful over the next two years.

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Uh, anything short of that.

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And I think they're gonna struggle.

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And so that would be my advice

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and my hope, um, <laugh>
in the same sentence.

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- Dr. Sullivan, thank you so much

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for joining us on the podcast today.

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This has been a really fun
and fascinating conversation

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and I look forward to
connecting with you again soon.

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- Laura, thank you so much for having me.