1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,680 Would you like to exchange best practices and ideas to improve care, 2 00:00:03,830 --> 00:00:05,600 enhance operational efficiency, 3 00:00:05,660 --> 00:00:08,000 and address financial challenges with your peers? 4 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:12,320 Becker's Healthcare is facilitating these conversations at their eighth annual 5 00:00:12,620 --> 00:00:15,400 health IT Digital health and RCM meeting. 6 00:00:15,820 --> 00:00:19,120 You can check your eligibility for complimentary attendance at the Lincoln, 7 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,120 the description. We are excited to welcome you in October. 8 00:00:22,790 --> 00:00:25,200 This is Laura Ddo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. 9 00:00:25,780 --> 00:00:27,720 I'm thrilled today to be joined by Craig Richard Ville, 10 00:00:27,770 --> 00:00:30,480 chief Digital and Information Officer at Intermountain Health. Craig, 11 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:32,280 it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. 12 00:00:32,820 --> 00:00:34,360 Hi, Laura. It's a pleasure to be here. 13 00:00:34,940 --> 00:00:37,040 Now, I always appreciate you having you on the podcast. 14 00:00:37,310 --> 00:00:39,760 It's been so fun to have conversations throughout the years. 15 00:00:39,860 --> 00:00:43,240 But for our listeners who are just joining us or have just started listening to 16 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:44,120 the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, 17 00:00:44,420 --> 00:00:47,560 can you tell a little bit more about yourself and your background and really 18 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:48,520 what brought you to Intermountain? 19 00:00:49,270 --> 00:00:52,760 Yeah, sure. Well, um, initially I, uh, 20 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,200 began my career in healthcare over in ProMedica Health, 21 00:00:55,260 --> 00:00:59,000 and I spent 11 years in ProMedica based out of Cleo, Ohio. 22 00:00:59,620 --> 00:01:03,280 And then I moved to North Carolina and was with Carolina's Healthcare System, 23 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,280 which became h e m Health and now Advocate Health. 24 00:01:06,820 --> 00:01:10,920 And I was there for 21 years. Uh, I came out west and, uh, 25 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:14,840 with s e L Health, uh, about four years ago. Spent three years with them, 26 00:01:15,100 --> 00:01:19,160 and now with the merger with Intermountain Health and S E L Health, 27 00:01:19,900 --> 00:01:21,520 uh, been near a little bit more than a year. 28 00:01:22,790 --> 00:01:25,400 Fantastic. Well, in thinking through, I, 29 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,560 I can imagine it's been such a busy year, especially with that, um, 30 00:01:28,780 --> 00:01:32,240 merger and connection with S E L Health and bringing that into the Intermountain 31 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,440 umbrella. So, how are things going? How has that integration been and, you know, 32 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,440 what do you really, are you looking forward to in the future? 33 00:01:39,750 --> 00:01:41,040 Well, you know, there's a, 34 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,600 there's a big difference between merging organizations and acquiring 35 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,560 organizations. I know a lot of people talk about m and a work, 36 00:01:48,100 --> 00:01:51,120 but really the m and the a's are quite different. And, uh, 37 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:52,360 this is an m this is a merger. 38 00:01:52,780 --> 00:01:57,720 So there's a lot going into making sure that we ensure that we develop 39 00:01:57,820 --> 00:02:02,200 or that we bring to life the best practices of each organization across 40 00:02:02,780 --> 00:02:05,040 the combined entity, the new Intermountain Health, 41 00:02:05,700 --> 00:02:09,280 and also look to the outside and where there's something on the third party 42 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,920 perspective that we can bring in that would actually benefit, uh, 43 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:16,240 the new organizations and the different components that came together. 44 00:02:16,340 --> 00:02:20,840 We do that as well. So it's extremely, uh, challenging. It's a lot of fun. 45 00:02:21,500 --> 00:02:25,680 Um, the contributions we made are, uh, quite spectacular and a lot more, 46 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:26,760 a lot more to come. 47 00:02:27,380 --> 00:02:29,970 Absolutely. That's great to hear. Well, uh, you know, 48 00:02:29,970 --> 00:02:33,130 from your vantage point in perspective, what are the big opportunities, 49 00:02:33,130 --> 00:02:34,410 things you're focused on right now, 50 00:02:34,430 --> 00:02:36,370 as well as the headwinds that you have your eye on? 51 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:41,650 Yeah. You know, the things that, um, that we like to make sure is, you know, 52 00:02:41,650 --> 00:02:45,610 part of the vision of Intermountain Health is to be the, um, 53 00:02:45,780 --> 00:02:49,410 model of healthcare. And with that comes, you know, 54 00:02:49,430 --> 00:02:52,290 an opportunity and a challenge to, uh, 55 00:02:52,530 --> 00:02:56,770 continue to be on the leading edge of certain things. Uh, for us right now, 56 00:02:56,770 --> 00:03:00,240 we're focusing a lot upon data, focusing on interoperability, 57 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:05,040 making sure that we can capture data coming in from a variety of, of different, 58 00:03:05,060 --> 00:03:09,480 uh, sources both inside of our healthcare system, which we have a lot of, 59 00:03:09,500 --> 00:03:12,960 as well as externally in bringing that in, uh, making that data. 60 00:03:13,020 --> 00:03:17,280 And then also the big focus on digital. Now, how do we differentiate ourselves? 61 00:03:17,340 --> 00:03:21,880 How do we make ourselves easier to work with? Uh, 62 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:24,640 that's a focus on, uh, the caregiver side. 63 00:03:24,740 --> 00:03:29,440 So how do we make lives or bring back the joy of practicing medicine easier 64 00:03:29,540 --> 00:03:30,640 for our caregivers? 65 00:03:31,180 --> 00:03:34,800 We also focus on our patients and our members and our consumers. 66 00:03:35,180 --> 00:03:39,960 So all the things that are external facing to allow access into our 67 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,800 systems. And then the third category right now is really, uh, 68 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,560 a lot about what I would call digital health, a lot more about the therapeutics. 69 00:03:47,980 --> 00:03:52,440 So some of the things regarding, uh, the prevention, early detection, you know, 70 00:03:52,510 --> 00:03:56,640 diagnosis, treatment, bringing all that into the, uh, digital realm as well. 71 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,380 Got it. Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. You know, 72 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,820 it really seems like it's, uh, a place with a lot of, 73 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,260 in innovation and a ripe to, um, 74 00:04:06,260 --> 00:04:09,180 really make a difference in healthcare and healthcare delivery going forward. 75 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:11,980 Are there any challenges or, or roadblocks that you're, 76 00:04:11,980 --> 00:04:15,100 or that you're planning on in, in, what is your, does your response look like? 77 00:04:15,610 --> 00:04:17,620 Yeah, you know, we're not immune. You know, we're, 78 00:04:17,620 --> 00:04:21,140 we're going through a lot of the similar challenges, uh, that the industry is, 79 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:23,420 and we hope we can, uh, uh, 80 00:04:23,490 --> 00:04:27,220 shed some light to others and learn from others that are also kind of 81 00:04:27,420 --> 00:04:30,500 progressing through these times. Uh, the workforce, you know, is, 82 00:04:30,500 --> 00:04:31,500 is a component, you know, 83 00:04:31,780 --> 00:04:36,260 how do we maintain ourselves with getting the best and the brightest people to 84 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,980 be part of Intermountain Health, uh, expense management, you know, 85 00:04:39,980 --> 00:04:43,340 another big focus, you know, our revenues in healthcare don't change much. 86 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:48,140 So when people see other impacts of inflation hitting, uh, their industries, 87 00:04:48,140 --> 00:04:51,780 you know, the price of eggs, the price of gas, the price of other things, they, 88 00:04:52,090 --> 00:04:55,460 they can raise their prices and to bring that onto the consumers, 89 00:04:55,650 --> 00:05:00,460 ours does not change that much. So we have a very constant, uh, revenue stream. 90 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,540 So we've gotta make more with what we have, uh, 91 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:05,420 and manage our expenses appropriately. 92 00:05:07,660 --> 00:05:10,160 That's really helpful to know and, and definitely, um, 93 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,600 love to think through what that actually takes, 94 00:05:12,700 --> 00:05:15,960 and I'm sure a lot of discipline, but also, you know, really, um, 95 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,880 exciting to be able to improve healthcare in, 96 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,880 in that way with digital technologies and whatnot. So, you know, 97 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:23,720 when you look at growth and development, 98 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:26,600 and as you were just talking about with the workforce, um, you know, 99 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,120 resources are, are certainly scarce across the board. 100 00:05:30,380 --> 00:05:33,640 So what does it mean to you to add value to the organization? 101 00:05:33,660 --> 00:05:36,720 How do you think about that, especially during the time we're in right now? 102 00:05:37,790 --> 00:05:41,440 Yeah, you know, if you look at your, uh, classic value equation, you know, 103 00:05:41,470 --> 00:05:44,920 it's cost plus quality, plus the experience. 104 00:05:45,410 --> 00:05:50,000 We've always had a very high quality of services that we provide. 105 00:05:50,620 --> 00:05:54,120 So maintaining and continuing to hit on the, uh, 106 00:05:54,260 --> 00:05:59,040 top decile across the country is a, a continued focus of us. Uh, 107 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,920 we talked a little bit about the cost side of how we're looking to try to manage 108 00:06:02,950 --> 00:06:06,480 some of that with some of the newer technologies coming in. But really, 109 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,600 I think the big difference for us, and that's both internal and external, 110 00:06:09,740 --> 00:06:12,320 is gonna be the experience part of value. You know, 111 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,760 how can we make sure that the experience that we're giving to our patients, 112 00:06:15,860 --> 00:06:19,320 to our members of our health plan, to consumers, 113 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:23,680 people looking for service as well as for the caregivers, so that we can retain, 114 00:06:24,300 --> 00:06:27,520 uh, the caregivers that are here and also recruit, uh, 115 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,400 when we have opportunities. So the experience to me is, 116 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:32,800 is one of the places that we'll be spending a lot of time on. 117 00:06:33,790 --> 00:06:34,810 That's great to hear. 118 00:06:34,810 --> 00:06:39,050 And definitely something that I know is so important to really make a difference 119 00:06:39,110 --> 00:06:42,050 in and attract patients and get them to a space where it's really easy, 120 00:06:42,050 --> 00:06:46,090 simple and seamless to go through their healthcare journey. And to that point, 121 00:06:46,180 --> 00:06:49,090 where do you see some of the big opportunities, um, and, 122 00:06:49,090 --> 00:06:51,410 and risks or investments that are worth making this year? 123 00:06:51,410 --> 00:06:53,290 And and to your point earlier, you know, 124 00:06:53,330 --> 00:06:56,570 I know a lot of organizations are dealing with financial challenges, 125 00:06:56,570 --> 00:07:00,530 whether it's from inflation or, um, other shortfalls that, you know, 126 00:07:00,530 --> 00:07:02,810 have been coming about for all industries this year. 127 00:07:02,950 --> 00:07:06,850 So where do you really see places that are still important to focus and not lose 128 00:07:06,850 --> 00:07:09,730 sight of, um, even in a year o of some cutbacks? 129 00:07:10,290 --> 00:07:13,390 You know, you've, uh, you mentioned a little bit that in, in your, uh, 130 00:07:13,390 --> 00:07:18,190 recent response. So from our c e o, you know, he wants to focus on simplicity, 131 00:07:18,650 --> 00:07:20,750 you know, really taking out some of the complexities. 132 00:07:20,750 --> 00:07:25,350 Sometimes we have a tendency to over-engineer overthink things 133 00:07:25,730 --> 00:07:29,230 and bringing things really to be simple, you know, for those, again, 134 00:07:29,230 --> 00:07:31,150 patients and members are consumers, 135 00:07:31,150 --> 00:07:36,110 but also simpler for our caregivers and how they, uh, provide, uh, service, 136 00:07:36,530 --> 00:07:41,110 uh, to those that, um, that are seeking our, our, our services. Uh, 137 00:07:41,110 --> 00:07:44,750 that's one piece. And I think the other one is the experience side. You know, 138 00:07:44,850 --> 00:07:49,270 we became clear from our board that caregiver and patient experience are two 139 00:07:49,270 --> 00:07:52,510 things that, uh, we should be focusing on and, and, uh, 140 00:07:52,530 --> 00:07:55,910 be weighted a little bit heavier than any the other goals that we have. 141 00:07:56,050 --> 00:08:00,870 So we are looking to, uh, expand and, and to increase, uh, the experience, 142 00:08:01,330 --> 00:08:05,030 uh, that's gonna come with a lot of, uh, digital investments. Uh, 143 00:08:05,030 --> 00:08:07,670 a lot of the things that I would say, you know, 144 00:08:07,820 --> 00:08:12,110 whether you believe or don't believe in the hype curve and how people kind of 145 00:08:12,220 --> 00:08:13,550 work through that, you know, 146 00:08:13,630 --> 00:08:17,630 I think there's some realization of some actual opportunities, uh, 147 00:08:17,630 --> 00:08:22,150 within the artificial intelligence space within generative 148 00:08:22,450 --> 00:08:25,510 AI and conversational ai. And we are, uh, 149 00:08:25,750 --> 00:08:29,430 certainly jumping in with both feet to make sure that we can, uh, 150 00:08:29,460 --> 00:08:33,830 take the positive aspects of that work and bring it in for those that, you know, 151 00:08:33,850 --> 00:08:36,750 may need a little bit more caution, um, to, 152 00:08:36,750 --> 00:08:40,510 to take those and move 'em in the sandbox and help develop what that looks like. 153 00:08:40,570 --> 00:08:42,270 And that will really, I think, 154 00:08:42,410 --> 00:08:46,950 expand our opportunities to provide excellent services 7 24 155 00:08:47,490 --> 00:08:51,150 by allowing the machine to do a lot of that work for us. 156 00:08:51,220 --> 00:08:54,830 It's not displacing the workforce by any stretch of the imagination. 157 00:08:55,220 --> 00:08:58,480 We can't find in some cases, you know, the right talent, uh, 158 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,400 within the industry. There's a shortage. So how do we, how do we allow, uh, 159 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:05,160 the machine to do some of that work and what I would term to, 160 00:09:05,500 --> 00:09:08,000 to be creating a digital workforce? You know, 161 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:12,120 how do we either compliment or supplement, uh, those caregivers, uh, 162 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:16,960 on our side, but also how do we provide tools to our, uh, 163 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:21,000 patients and members to help them self-service? It's kind of similar, Laura, 164 00:09:21,060 --> 00:09:25,000 to what you do now and whether you want to purchase a product in, 165 00:09:25,300 --> 00:09:29,200 in retail or whether you wanna, you know, go ahead and pay a bill. You know, 166 00:09:29,220 --> 00:09:31,800 in the, in the, uh, financial services industry, 167 00:09:32,180 --> 00:09:36,120 you just pull some things out of your pocket and you do it at three o'clock in 168 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,600 the morning if you so desire. Uh, those tools have all been, 169 00:09:40,070 --> 00:09:41,640 they've gone through those industries, 170 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:45,680 have gone through the digital transformation and have put a lot of those tasks 171 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:48,600 back upon it's customers who want to do it, 172 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:53,000 but you gotta have easy to use tools. They gotta be, uh, very precise, 173 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:57,080 accurate, um, and we wanna be able to provide those to, um, 174 00:09:57,260 --> 00:09:59,240 our patients members and caregivers as well. 175 00:10:00,310 --> 00:10:02,070 I think that makes a lot of sense. And, you know, I, 176 00:10:02,150 --> 00:10:05,590 I love that kind of focus on that patient experience and really making sure 177 00:10:05,590 --> 00:10:09,990 people have what they need to make it easy. And, and just really, like you said, 178 00:10:10,010 --> 00:10:13,830 get into a space where, um, more and more, you know, 179 00:10:14,130 --> 00:10:17,670 things can really fall in line and have the data infrastructure and platforms 180 00:10:17,670 --> 00:10:21,070 and technology to, um, bridge everything together. Now, 181 00:10:21,070 --> 00:10:22,510 before we wrap up our conversation, 182 00:10:22,550 --> 00:10:24,270 I wanted to look into the future a little bit too. 183 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:28,030 Where do you see yourself growing and developing as a chief information and 184 00:10:28,030 --> 00:10:30,310 digital officer? What does that role look like, uh, 185 00:10:30,490 --> 00:10:32,070 one or two years down the line and, 186 00:10:32,070 --> 00:10:35,150 and how your team's growing to meet the needs of their patients and the 187 00:10:35,150 --> 00:10:35,983 organization? 188 00:10:36,910 --> 00:10:41,520 Yeah, this is where, you know, in, in my opinion, you start to, uh, you know, 189 00:10:41,860 --> 00:10:44,280 tap into your network. You try to, uh, 190 00:10:44,300 --> 00:10:47,680 try to grab some of the good things that are happening across the country and be 191 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:52,320 able to bring those in. There's no need to, you know, recreate the wheel, uh, 192 00:10:52,340 --> 00:10:55,240 as an old example that people have used. Yeah. 193 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:59,840 Take some of those good ideas inside the industry and outside the industry and 194 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,240 bring those in and personalize 'em for, uh, 195 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,280 your environment and what that comes in my opinion, a lot of partnerships, 196 00:11:06,820 --> 00:11:08,640 you know, working with some of the, uh, 197 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:12,680 larger companies and how to continue to advance their product into new areas and 198 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:13,513 modules. 199 00:11:13,740 --> 00:11:18,200 But also there's a very crowded space with a lot of new startups coming into 200 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,880 this, uh, digital health, uh, type arena. 201 00:11:21,340 --> 00:11:25,200 So to be able to selectively go through and filter through and find the best 202 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:29,200 partners for you, uh, they're very, uh, there's a lot of talent out there. 203 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,360 There's a lot of investments being made in some of these companies. 204 00:11:32,780 --> 00:11:35,920 So how can you bring that in and be able to accelerate, you know, 205 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,600 the contributions that they'll be making, uh, to your, to your patients, 206 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,960 your members, and your, and your caregivers. So, you know, 207 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:46,760 partnerships is a big thing for me as well as networking and, uh, 208 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:50,120 really sharing some of the good ideas and then learning from others. 209 00:11:51,170 --> 00:11:54,520 I love it that that really is the bottom line is being able to partner and 210 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:55,640 connect and learn from others. 211 00:11:56,420 --> 00:11:59,200 Has there been anything recently that you've learned or something that's really 212 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,200 interesting that's crossed your desk that you feel like would be, uh, 213 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,360 helpful to share with other chief information officers and digital leaders 214 00:12:05,380 --> 00:12:06,213 across the board? 215 00:12:07,110 --> 00:12:10,920 Yeah, you know, the, the thing that I would highlight in terms of, uh, 216 00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:16,360 specificity would be just the continued, uh, growth of, uh, the Microsoft, 217 00:12:16,980 --> 00:12:20,640 uh, ecosystem including, uh, not only their Azure environment, 218 00:12:20,700 --> 00:12:25,560 but really the nuance acquisition and how we've been able to take some of that 219 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:29,080 ambient intelligence and bring that into the physician space. 220 00:12:29,140 --> 00:12:32,080 And now we're looking at bringing that into, you know, 221 00:12:32,100 --> 00:12:35,600 the nursing space and other allied health, uh, members. 222 00:12:35,980 --> 00:12:40,680 So the continued part of taking some of the artificial intelligence that's being 223 00:12:40,700 --> 00:12:43,840 put out there. And there was another friend of mine once told me, 224 00:12:43,890 --> 00:12:47,880 don't call it artificial intelligence, call it advanced intelligence. And so, 225 00:12:48,380 --> 00:12:53,000 uh, i, I will start to lean more towards that way cuz it's not fake. 226 00:12:53,110 --> 00:12:57,120 It's a reality in bringing that in and continuing to advance it. And again, 227 00:12:57,220 --> 00:12:59,240 you know, when you strive to be the model, 228 00:12:59,510 --> 00:13:03,040 once you start proving these things out and getting some good returns, 229 00:13:03,060 --> 00:13:06,080 how do we then allow other markets and other, uh, 230 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,560 healthcare systems across the country to take advantage of some of the learnings 231 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:10,393 that we have? 232 00:13:10,930 --> 00:13:13,770 I love it. Craig, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. 233 00:13:13,770 --> 00:13:15,730 This has been a fun conversation as always, 234 00:13:15,790 --> 00:13:19,970 and I'm really looking forward to having you live in person at our Becker's 235 00:13:19,970 --> 00:13:22,410 Health IT digital health, the revenue cycle event in October. 236 00:13:22,570 --> 00:13:26,130 I know you're always a big part of the great conversations we have there around 237 00:13:26,130 --> 00:13:30,330 technologies and innovation and really how the digital space is changing for 238 00:13:30,330 --> 00:13:33,490 healthcare providers and patients. So I'm looking forward to seeing you then. 239 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:36,290 Yeah, thank you Laura. And, uh, we'll see you soon. 240 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,490 It's so important for leaders at the top of organizations to keep learning, 241 00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:45,570 stay sharp, grow their networks, 242 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,050 help our audience better do this in a more simplified, personalized, 243 00:13:49,150 --> 00:13:53,090 and meaningful way. Becker's Healthcare has launched my bhc, 244 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,570 it's your trusted Becker's healthcare experience and more with content, 245 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,810 connections, events and learning opportunities. 246 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:04,170 Join the community free of charge@www.my dot becker's 247 00:14:04,370 --> 00:14:06,450 hospital review.com and we'll see you there.