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Hi. Welcome to the Becker Health care podcast.

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I'm Paige 20. I'm a assistant editor here

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at Becker Healthcare care, and I'm thrilled to

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interview. Doctor. P Via today. She joined us

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from Bj Christian Hospital as Vice President and

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Chief Medical Officer.

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You know, thank you so much for, joining

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us, but before we dive in, you know,

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I'd love to have Doctor. Villa, introduce themselves

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and tell us a bit about background.

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Hi. Thank you for having me. So I'm

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an internal medicine

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physician, and I practice as a hospital list.

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I've been at Bj since 2019,

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and I've been in my current role as

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the Chief Medical Officer for the past 2

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and a half years.

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So

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thank you for having me. I'm excited to

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be here.

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Yeah. And we're we're honestly thrilled. So can

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you kind tell me about, you know,

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your most successful project initiative from the past

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few months or even from the past 2

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and a half years that you've been Cmo.

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I would love to. So, you know, the

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1 thing that I'm sure most hospitals are

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trying to tackle is length of stay.

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Last year, we started what we call the

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contemporary care model with our case managers and

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social workers.

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This really helped to align their rule at

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the hospital with what their

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education was that they went to school for.

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This sort of deviation between the 2 roles

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helped us improve our length of stay last

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year from I would say

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6.5

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when we first started to a arrange of

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0.2 to 5.7

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when the year ended.

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To add to those efforts, this year, our

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hospital decided to do inter

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rounds on our floors.

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And to just explain our inter

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rounds are meant for the hospital list.

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The case manager, social workers, diet,

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pharmacists,

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and nursing to all come together and discuss

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the patient in a cuddle

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to make sure everybody's on the same page,

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and, you know our big question is,

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what is the reason the patient cannot go

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home today. And we try to help

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alleviate the barriers to discharge as quickly as

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we can to get the patients back home

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where they really want to be.

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So if I heard correctly, the length of

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stay average in days went from 6.5

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to 5.2

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dash 5.7

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range. Was this gonna be expected

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results or product?

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It was, you know, our overall busy index

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length of stay dropped significantly,

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and we're starting to see that our inter

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rounds are also making an effect. So I

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think by the end of this year, we're

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really hoping to bring down our length of

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stay even more.

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Mh.

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Yeah.

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Statistic number in mind for that length to

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stay average by the end of 20 24?

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I would love to surpass 5.2

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if possible, but we'll just see.

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Okay. Right down of my nets, less than

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5.2.

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Is the goal.

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Yes.

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So whether it's related to Length of stay

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or another initiative,

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you know, what I've Bj Christian

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is kind of the biggest challenge you expect

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to face in the next coming months.

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Biggest challenge, you know, I think for us

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is really to help our patients,

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get the care that they need outside the

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hospital set setting. We really wanna hire more

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Pcp,

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get the patients the care they need in

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the outpatient setting,

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get them the resources that they need to

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be able to

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get to their appointments and help with transportation

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or

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get them to healthy food ops, you know,

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where our hospital is located, we're in a

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food desert, and it's really difficult for patients

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to find healthy options when they really needed

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the most.

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We have a high diabetes

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population, lots of patients that have end stage

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renal disease in heart failure.

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So you can imagine some of these resources

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are really important for them.

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I know that 1 thing that we'd love

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to do is see if there's ways that

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we can touch those patients so that they

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don't need to come to the Ed,

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but the care can be taken care of

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even at home.

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There's 2 projects that we're really proud of.

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1 is our chat program, which is our

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community health access program.

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We have community health workers, nurse practice

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social workers helping to reach out to these

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patients. And really, there is no rule. The

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idea is to be able to help the

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patient in whatever they need to get them

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the health care that they need. And another

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program we have is our paramedic program that

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tries to reach out to our C patients,

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congestive heart failure patients,

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We try to get them the care they

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need at home as well from taking care

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of their lower extremity edema to any issues

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with shortness of breath, equipment issues, medication changes

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and things like that so that they don't

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have to travel away, and they can get

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the care they need where they feel the

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most comfortable?

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And are those programs the check program in

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the paramedic program, are those fully flush out

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or those being launched in, you know, waves

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or phases?

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I will say our chat program is pretty

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fully launched.

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The paramedic program is what I'll say in

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semi pilot phase. We've done. We've started a

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while back, and now I think we're starting

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to

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get more robust. We're learning from our own

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process and, you know, just trying to continuously

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improve the program.

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And I think we're off to a great

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start.

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Yes, I mentioned, you, growing just

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overall growing that outpatient, care capabilities, especially in

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the home.

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The stuart you mentioned having more of Pcp

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which I know is a big struggle across

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the Us with, you know, physician shortages and,

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you know,

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expectations and forecasts of, even a larger dear

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of Pcp,

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what has been your strategy, your thoughts on,

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bolstering that workforce.

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I think we really need to focus on

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physician well being,

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you know, to be a primary care provider,

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it really needs

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to

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happen when

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somebody

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when somebody is able to spend the time

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that the patient needs,

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without worrying about the other burdens of health

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care is when you can really have a

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program that works.

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And I believe that the providers will want

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to be primary care providers when being a

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care... A primary care provider becomes a bit

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easier.

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Right now, with physicians, there's a lot of

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you know,

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administrative burden in terms of

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documentation and how long

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documentation takes

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we spend a lot of time actually away

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from the bedside, and you rather be with

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the patient more and be able to problem

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solved together and have those conversations

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rather than be stuck behind a computer screen.

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I think artificial intelligence, there's a lot of

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programs that are coming out that are gonna

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make it easier for the provider,

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so that we can spend more time talking

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to the patient rather than being behind a

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computer screen.

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And also be able to get the patients

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the care they need without having to jump

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through so many hurdles.

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Do you think those Ai capabilities are viable

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option of or viable kind of

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pollution or kind of mitigation strategy to, you

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know, that time spent?

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Patients and kind of encouraging more to enter

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the physician practices.

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You know, I do. I think it depends

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on what you use and how that Ai

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tool is able to help you. We've piloted

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a few at our hospitals,

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and we've learned that

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1, the user needs to be able to

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use it. So if the physicians are struggling

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to use the tool, it's not gonna be

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helpful. So

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instead of it, all burden, it's causing more.

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The other thing is that Ai learns the

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more you use it. So I do believe

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that when you find a good product, the

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more you use it, the more likely it's

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gonna start to incorporate into your patient to

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visit and

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make it easier each, time.

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The 1 that we use was about just,

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you know, as scribe and Ai being able

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to listen to the conversation and creating a

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note for you that the provider can edit

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afterwards.

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Just that basic concept is very popular because

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providers love the idea of not having to

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write down things or be behind a computer

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when they're talking to the patient. This really

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allows you to just have a conversation with

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the patient, explain the plan, talk about what's

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things the next step. And then once you're

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done with that visit, you could quickly just

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look at your note even on your phone

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and and make edits if you need to,

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and then sign it on your way to

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your next patient's room.

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I I feel like what I just said

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there sounds great, but I think it it

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will require a lot of work and a

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lot of education to get the full value

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and benefit out of it.

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Gotcha. Gotcha. Is there Anything I know we're

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coming up on time, but is there anything

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that I haven't gotten the chance to ask

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about that you'd like to add or,

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like to mention?

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Nothing in particular, You know, I think nowadays,

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being a chief medical officer, you're you're starting

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to think more

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about

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strategically growing

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care and increasing access to health care. And

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I'll say that the work that I've been

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doing with length of stay or community health

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or even just trying to tackle some of

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our metrics like quality metrics in in the

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hospital versus read admission rates

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it it really all comes down to us

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coming out of what the typical Cmo role

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was and and venturing out into areas where

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you learn more about

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how to really make an influence and

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grow

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financially as well as in quality realm without

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having to decide... Precise 1 or the other.

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Right. Right. Well, that's all great. I wish

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we could talk more, but we promised our

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podcast

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short. But, you know, thank you so much,

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For Joining me today,

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ensuring nurse thoughtful and insightful

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points. And for audience, we'd love to see

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you all and for hear more of these

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conversations happening at our upcoming clinical leadership forum

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at the Becker Ceo and Cfo Round table,

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which is taking place Chicago, November 11 through

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to fourteenth.

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There's limited space available, but please let us

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00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:38,076
know if you're like to join. Alright. Thank

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you again so much.

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Thank you. In