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- This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr. Matthew Sullivan,
chief Medical Information officer of ADV Health Southeast,
Dr. Sullivan, it's a pleasure
to have you on the podcast today.
- Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
- Now, I know we've got a lot to talk about, you know,
especially thinking through what you're looking at
for the next 12 months or so
and just, you know, really what you're excited about.
But before we can dive into that conversation,
could you tell me a little bit more
about yourself and your background?
- Yeah, I'm, uh, one of our, uh,
chief Medical Information Officers.
I've been, um, with our legacy Atrium Company
for my entire career in medical training.
I'm an emergency physician, um,
board certified emergency medicine and informatics.
I'm, I'm grateful to be part of a, uh, a large IT team
that's now across our entire Advocate Health Enterprise.
And, um, I'm really looking forward to, um,
this next upcoming year as we continue to, uh, grow
and continue to scale, uh,
projects across now a very large geography.
- Well, that's great to hear. And you know,
definitely exciting to see how advocate has grown.
From your perspective, what are the biggest issues
that you're following in healthcare right now?
- Well, I think it would be, uh, awkward to ignore, uh, two
of the large, uh, elephants in the room, cybersecurity
and artificial intelligence, which you can't attend any kind
of a conference, uh, on, on virtually any, any area of,
of informatics
or information technology without hearing a large
chunk on both of those things.
Uh, we've had a number of cyber events, uh,
recently in the news that have been very troubling
and it should really raise concern for everybody in health.
It, um, it's, it's really troubling.
And, um, and so as a result of that, I think we have
to think about how our focus is ever changing, not just
for the next upcoming 12 months,
but for beyond what's the next threat, uh, so
that we can ensure that the safety of our information
and the safety of our patients is, is really preserved.
So that's one of the major issues. And the second is ai.
I, I think everybody's been talking about AI
as if it's a buzzword
and, um, there's various levels of,
of artificial intelligence, machine learning,
everything from simple to,
to really aggressive, uh, computing.
And, and I'm very interested in that.
But I think the challenge there is how do we,
how do we identify it, ensure that it's safe,
make sure it's ethical,
and then understand the cost that comes with it
and what that cost is as it relates to an ever-growing cost
of healthcare in the United States.
So I think we've got a lot on our plate.
If we take, if we take just those two, um,
that's over the top of what I think has been
what multiple decades of EMR rollout,
where we're still looking very closely at how
to make a physician and nurse and,
and advanced provider everybody's job, try to make
that more efficient and bring joy back to the medicine
that we've, we've all, uh, grew up learning.
I think that's really going to continue to be a challenge
for every healthcare organization.
Um, and how to do that, uh, effectively is really still
right there on our mind.
So those are the big things.
Um, I hope that, I hope that helps.
- Yeah, I think that's fascinating, especially
as you mentioned, looking at cybersecurity, obviously trying
to figure out what the next thing is going to be
and then, um, the various stages of AI and,
and what that means for healthcare organizations.
I know so many different leaders across the country are
taking various approaches to how the aggressive
or not aggressive, they're approaching AI and,
and what their teams can really do
to make sure it's done safely.
Um, it is just been fascinating to see that in addition
to it, as you were talking about the EHR, um, how
to make them more efficient, I think I've heard some
leaders, you know, saying that 2024 is going to be, um,
the era of optimization in terms of, you know,
how do we really focus in on the few areas
where we can make a big difference
to optimize what we already have.
And so it's just, it's really interesting
to put all those things together.
And from your perspective, do you see, um, you know,
how do you, I guess, approach that strategy and,
and really zero in on the spaces
that are gonna be most effective, um,
for the next 12 months or so?
- Well, I think that, um, that's a very,
it's a hard question to answer as it relates to generically,
uh, from the advocate health perspective.
It's a little bit easier in so much that we know
where we have our strategic goals
and we, we know where we want to deliver better healthcare,
a higher quality of healthcare in a way
that is in some ways unique because of who we are.
Um, it, it, it, it is not a holding company of lots
of different variations of healthcare
that are all cobbled together under one brand.
We're really looking to deliver care in a single,
unified way and to provide that care equally
and effectively for all.
And that, that is a very interesting challenge for us.
So not only are we trying to figure out how
to make it standard across, uh, the environment so
that no matter if you are to hit rural Illinois
or uh, central Georgia, it,
you get the same exact healthcare
that you would get in downtown Chicago
or downtown Charlotte.
Um, so I think we are really trying to make sure that we
look at where we can impact that healthcare delivery.
And so that excites me and
and how we do that is, is multifactorial.
You have to have the operational buy-in for that.
And, and I'm excited, uh, that our leaders are, our,
our operational leaders are very excited about that.
Um, and you have to have a really good data strategy,
and we have great folks working, uh,
to deliver data across the enterprise, which, uh,
is getting better and better
and allows us to be really insightful as to where we,
where we try to make that impact.
So I, I think it is really going
to be a year of optimization.
I would agree with that. And then the question is, is
where do you make your optimization?
Clearly, I don't think any healthcare organization
of our size has the ability
to make optimization changes in every space,
but being targeted and strategic as to
where you make those changes is really
what's exciting to me.
- That makes a lot of sense. And you know, it's a lot
to be excited about, I think, for the future.
Is there anything that makes you nervous?
- Well, I think that, um, both the cybersecurity
and healthcare finance makes
everybody in healthcare nervous.
Um, I think we saw coming out of a conference, um, a couple
of weeks ago, like, there's going
to be a lot of change in healthcare.
I think that's would be foolish to be
getting yourself.
You really have to be ready for change.
Um, my hope is that we're able to change in a positive way
that continues to help us, um, be financially viable.
We've obviously watched over the last decade a number
of hospitals, uh, particularly in our rural areas, close
because they can't make ends meet.
Um, so healthcare finance makes me a little nervous.
I wanna make sure that we are very mindful about
how we deliver care
and deliver it in a frugal way that
that has the best outcomes for patients.
Um, and, and obviously anything like in the cybersecurity
realm that that takes away from that just slows us down
and harms, harms healthcare as a whole.
So I think those are the two things that make me nervous.
The rest of it I think is just challenging and exciting and,
and I look forward to that.
- That's absolutely, I I think that would certainly align
with a lot of, uh, um, other executives in,
in looking at especially, um, finances
and cybersecurity as areas, you know,
that keep a good number of people up at night.
Uh, when, you know, kind
of considering all these trends we've talked about, um,
in looking ahead, what do you think most successful
healthcare leaders will need over the next two
to three years or so to really continue
to grow the organizations and, and be successful?
- I think the first, uh, thing I would
respond is resilience.
I think there will be a tremendous amount of change.
Not all of it, uh, , not all
of it you might sign up for.
And so to have the fortitude to hang in there
and really set a strategic direction
and be a little bit adaptable in the process
takes a lot of resilience.
Um, I, I think that, um,
specifically from the IT perspective, it's going
to take a lot of partnership work, um, both
with vendors and internally.
So when you look at trying
to scale a simple thing across three
or four hospitals, that's, that has a number of challenges.
Scaling that over 67 hospitals in a number of states
is very difficult.
And so you have to have a really great
operational partnership.
You have to have a lot of trust within our leadership
and, um, I really think that will will drive
healthcare systems to be successful over the next two years.
Uh, anything short of that.
And I think they're gonna struggle.
And so that would be my advice
and my hope, um, in the same sentence.
- Dr. Sullivan, thank you so much
for joining us on the podcast today.
This has been a really fun and fascinating conversation
and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
- Laura, thank you so much for having me.