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the description. We are excited to welcome you in October.
This is Laura Ddo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Craig Richard Ville,
chief Digital and Information Officer at Intermountain Health. Craig,
it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
Hi, Laura. It's a pleasure to be here.
Now, I always appreciate you having you on the podcast.
It's been so fun to have conversations throughout the years.
But for our listeners who are just joining us or have just started listening to
the Becker's Healthcare Podcast,
can you tell a little bit more about yourself and your background and really
what brought you to Intermountain?
Yeah, sure. Well, um, initially I, uh,
began my career in healthcare over in ProMedica Health,
and I spent 11 years in ProMedica based out of Cleo, Ohio.
And then I moved to North Carolina and was with Carolina's Healthcare System,
which became h e m Health and now Advocate Health.
And I was there for 21 years. Uh, I came out west and, uh,
with s e L Health, uh, about four years ago. Spent three years with them,
and now with the merger with Intermountain Health and S E L Health,
uh, been near a little bit more than a year.
Fantastic. Well, in thinking through, I,
I can imagine it's been such a busy year, especially with that, um,
merger and connection with S E L Health and bringing that into the Intermountain
umbrella. So, how are things going? How has that integration been and, you know,
what do you really, are you looking forward to in the future?
Well, you know, there's a,
there's a big difference between merging organizations and acquiring
organizations. I know a lot of people talk about m and a work,
but really the m and the a's are quite different. And, uh,
this is an m this is a merger.
So there's a lot going into making sure that we ensure that we develop
or that we bring to life the best practices of each organization across
the combined entity, the new Intermountain Health,
and also look to the outside and where there's something on the third party
perspective that we can bring in that would actually benefit, uh,
the new organizations and the different components that came together.
We do that as well. So it's extremely, uh, challenging. It's a lot of fun.
Um, the contributions we made are, uh, quite spectacular and a lot more,
a lot more to come.
Absolutely. That's great to hear. Well, uh, you know,
from your vantage point in perspective, what are the big opportunities,
things you're focused on right now,
as well as the headwinds that you have your eye on?
Yeah. You know, the things that, um, that we like to make sure is, you know,
part of the vision of Intermountain Health is to be the, um,
model of healthcare. And with that comes, you know,
an opportunity and a challenge to, uh,
continue to be on the leading edge of certain things. Uh, for us right now,
we're focusing a lot upon data, focusing on interoperability,
making sure that we can capture data coming in from a variety of, of different,
uh, sources both inside of our healthcare system, which we have a lot of,
as well as externally in bringing that in, uh, making that data.
And then also the big focus on digital. Now, how do we differentiate ourselves?
How do we make ourselves easier to work with? Uh,
that's a focus on, uh, the caregiver side.
So how do we make lives or bring back the joy of practicing medicine easier
for our caregivers?
We also focus on our patients and our members and our consumers.
So all the things that are external facing to allow access into our
systems. And then the third category right now is really, uh,
a lot about what I would call digital health, a lot more about the therapeutics.
So some of the things regarding, uh, the prevention, early detection, you know,
diagnosis, treatment, bringing all that into the, uh, digital realm as well.
Got it. Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. You know,
it really seems like it's, uh, a place with a lot of,
in innovation and a ripe to, um,
really make a difference in healthcare and healthcare delivery going forward.
Are there any challenges or, or roadblocks that you're,
or that you're planning on in, in, what is your, does your response look like?
Yeah, you know, we're not immune. You know, we're,
we're going through a lot of the similar challenges, uh, that the industry is,
and we hope we can, uh, uh,
shed some light to others and learn from others that are also kind of
progressing through these times. Uh, the workforce, you know, is,
is a component, you know,
how do we maintain ourselves with getting the best and the brightest people to
be part of Intermountain Health, uh, expense management, you know,
another big focus, you know, our revenues in healthcare don't change much.
So when people see other impacts of inflation hitting, uh, their industries,
you know, the price of eggs, the price of gas, the price of other things, they,
they can raise their prices and to bring that onto the consumers,
ours does not change that much. So we have a very constant, uh, revenue stream.
So we've gotta make more with what we have, uh,
and manage our expenses appropriately.
That's really helpful to know and, and definitely, um,
love to think through what that actually takes,
and I'm sure a lot of discipline, but also, you know, really, um,
exciting to be able to improve healthcare in,
in that way with digital technologies and whatnot. So, you know,
when you look at growth and development,
and as you were just talking about with the workforce, um, you know,
resources are, are certainly scarce across the board.
So what does it mean to you to add value to the organization?
How do you think about that, especially during the time we're in right now?
Yeah, you know, if you look at your, uh, classic value equation, you know,
it's cost plus quality, plus the experience.
We've always had a very high quality of services that we provide.
So maintaining and continuing to hit on the, uh,
top decile across the country is a, a continued focus of us. Uh,
we talked a little bit about the cost side of how we're looking to try to manage
some of that with some of the newer technologies coming in. But really,
I think the big difference for us, and that's both internal and external,
is gonna be the experience part of value. You know,
how can we make sure that the experience that we're giving to our patients,
to our members of our health plan, to consumers,
people looking for service as well as for the caregivers, so that we can retain,
uh, the caregivers that are here and also recruit, uh,
when we have opportunities. So the experience to me is,
is one of the places that we'll be spending a lot of time on.
That's great to hear.
And definitely something that I know is so important to really make a difference
in and attract patients and get them to a space where it's really easy,
simple and seamless to go through their healthcare journey. And to that point,
where do you see some of the big opportunities, um, and,
and risks or investments that are worth making this year?
And and to your point earlier, you know,
I know a lot of organizations are dealing with financial challenges,
whether it's from inflation or, um, other shortfalls that, you know,
have been coming about for all industries this year.
So where do you really see places that are still important to focus and not lose
sight of, um, even in a year o of some cutbacks?
You know, you've, uh, you mentioned a little bit that in, in your, uh,
recent response. So from our c e o, you know, he wants to focus on simplicity,
you know, really taking out some of the complexities.
Sometimes we have a tendency to over-engineer overthink things
and bringing things really to be simple, you know, for those, again,
patients and members are consumers,
but also simpler for our caregivers and how they, uh, provide, uh, service,
uh, to those that, um, that are seeking our, our, our services. Uh,
that's one piece. And I think the other one is the experience side. You know,
we became clear from our board that caregiver and patient experience are two
things that, uh, we should be focusing on and, and, uh,
be weighted a little bit heavier than any the other goals that we have.
So we are looking to, uh, expand and, and to increase, uh, the experience,
uh, that's gonna come with a lot of, uh, digital investments. Uh,
a lot of the things that I would say, you know,
whether you believe or don't believe in the hype curve and how people kind of
work through that, you know,
I think there's some realization of some actual opportunities, uh,
within the artificial intelligence space within generative
AI and conversational ai. And we are, uh,
certainly jumping in with both feet to make sure that we can, uh,
take the positive aspects of that work and bring it in for those that, you know,
may need a little bit more caution, um, to,
to take those and move 'em in the sandbox and help develop what that looks like.
And that will really, I think,
expand our opportunities to provide excellent services 7 24
by allowing the machine to do a lot of that work for us.
It's not displacing the workforce by any stretch of the imagination.
We can't find in some cases, you know, the right talent, uh,
within the industry. There's a shortage. So how do we, how do we allow, uh,
the machine to do some of that work and what I would term to,
to be creating a digital workforce? You know,
how do we either compliment or supplement, uh, those caregivers, uh,
on our side, but also how do we provide tools to our, uh,
patients and members to help them self-service? It's kind of similar, Laura,
to what you do now and whether you want to purchase a product in,
in retail or whether you wanna, you know, go ahead and pay a bill. You know,
in the, in the, uh, financial services industry,
you just pull some things out of your pocket and you do it at three o'clock in
the morning if you so desire. Uh, those tools have all been,
they've gone through those industries,
have gone through the digital transformation and have put a lot of those tasks
back upon it's customers who want to do it,
but you gotta have easy to use tools. They gotta be, uh, very precise,
accurate, um, and we wanna be able to provide those to, um,
our patients members and caregivers as well.
I think that makes a lot of sense. And, you know, I,
I love that kind of focus on that patient experience and really making sure
people have what they need to make it easy. And, and just really, like you said,
get into a space where, um, more and more, you know,
things can really fall in line and have the data infrastructure and platforms
and technology to, um, bridge everything together. Now,
before we wrap up our conversation,
I wanted to look into the future a little bit too.
Where do you see yourself growing and developing as a chief information and
digital officer? What does that role look like, uh,
one or two years down the line and,
and how your team's growing to meet the needs of their patients and the
organization?
Yeah, this is where, you know, in, in my opinion, you start to, uh, you know,
tap into your network. You try to, uh,
try to grab some of the good things that are happening across the country and be
able to bring those in. There's no need to, you know, recreate the wheel, uh,
as an old example that people have used. Yeah.
Take some of those good ideas inside the industry and outside the industry and
bring those in and personalize 'em for, uh,
your environment and what that comes in my opinion, a lot of partnerships,
you know, working with some of the, uh,
larger companies and how to continue to advance their product into new areas and
modules.
But also there's a very crowded space with a lot of new startups coming into
this, uh, digital health, uh, type arena.
So to be able to selectively go through and filter through and find the best
partners for you, uh, they're very, uh, there's a lot of talent out there.
There's a lot of investments being made in some of these companies.
So how can you bring that in and be able to accelerate, you know,
the contributions that they'll be making, uh, to your, to your patients,
your members, and your, and your caregivers. So, you know,
partnerships is a big thing for me as well as networking and, uh,
really sharing some of the good ideas and then learning from others.
I love it that that really is the bottom line is being able to partner and
connect and learn from others.
Has there been anything recently that you've learned or something that's really
interesting that's crossed your desk that you feel like would be, uh,
helpful to share with other chief information officers and digital leaders
across the board?
Yeah, you know, the, the thing that I would highlight in terms of, uh,
specificity would be just the continued, uh, growth of, uh, the Microsoft,
uh, ecosystem including, uh, not only their Azure environment,
but really the nuance acquisition and how we've been able to take some of that
ambient intelligence and bring that into the physician space.
And now we're looking at bringing that into, you know,
the nursing space and other allied health, uh, members.
So the continued part of taking some of the artificial intelligence that's being
put out there. And there was another friend of mine once told me,
don't call it artificial intelligence, call it advanced intelligence. And so,
uh, i, I will start to lean more towards that way cuz it's not fake.
It's a reality in bringing that in and continuing to advance it. And again,
you know, when you strive to be the model,
once you start proving these things out and getting some good returns,
how do we then allow other markets and other, uh,
healthcare systems across the country to take advantage of some of the learnings
that we have?
I love it. Craig, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
This has been a fun conversation as always,
and I'm really looking forward to having you live in person at our Becker's
Health IT digital health, the revenue cycle event in October.
I know you're always a big part of the great conversations we have there around
technologies and innovation and really how the digital space is changing for
healthcare providers and patients. So I'm looking forward to seeing you then.
Yeah, thank you Laura. And, uh, we'll see you soon.
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