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Would you like to exchange best
practices and ideas to improve care,

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enhance operational efficiency,

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and address financial
challenges with your peers?

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Becker's Healthcare is facilitating these
conversations at their eighth annual

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health IT Digital health and RCM meeting.

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You can check your eligibility for
complimentary attendance at the Lincoln,

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the description. We are excited
to welcome you in October.

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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. Salim Saed,

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vice President of and Chief
Medical Information Officer,

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as well as the diplomat of
clinical informatics at U
P M C Central Pennsylvania.

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Dr. Saed is a pleasure to
have you on the podcast today.

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It's pleasure to be on. Thank you.

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Absolutely. Well, you know,

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I'm looking forward to jumping into our
conversation because I know there's so

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much happening and innovative things
going on in the health technology space,

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and especially that
intersection between, uh,

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clinical care and informatics and it,

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but before we dive into
the broader discussion,

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will you tell us a little bit more
about yourself and your background?

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Yeah, sure. Um, so I'm, as you
mentioned, I'm the CM i o at, uh,

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U P M C in central pa, uh,

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double board certified in
clinical informatics as well
as family medicine and a

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practicing, uh, physician.
Um, I oversee our, uh,

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region of seven hospitals,
uh, over 200 clinics,

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um, with one and a half million
encounters per year with 2,800 doctors.

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Um, I lead all implementation of, uh,

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clinical technology optimization,
informatics analytics,

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digital health and
telehealth solutions. Um,

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lead all innovations in terms
of reimagining healthcare, um,

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thinking outside the box, and really
passionate about improving, uh,

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clinician and patient experience
using, uh, technology.

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Also published, uh, quite a
bit on both telehealth and, uh,

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informatics as well.

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Fantastic. Well, I, I suppose
we can dive right in and,

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and I'm excited to learn
more about just, you know,

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your background in all your expertise
and experience in, uh, informatics, uh,

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telehealth, virtual care, and more.

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So when you look at all the things
you're accountable for as a C M I O,

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where do you see the big opportunities
for growth and development in the future

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as well as, you know, what are some of
the challenges that you have your eye on?

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Yeah, so, you know, since covid, um,

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a lot of health systems
have been appended and, uh,

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economic uncertainty that most
of healthcare organizations are,

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um, going through, and, um,
that has led to, I think,

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created a lot of opportunities.
Uh, first one is, uh,

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is ranked as patient access. That,

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that remains a big challenge
in how we can improve that, uh,

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using technology. Our, uh, center
of connected medicine with,

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with class had done a,

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a survey of almost 61 health
systems where, uh, executives,

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a variety of executives ranked, um,
access as, as the biggest challenge.

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And I think that's where, uh,
growth opportunities lie as well.

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Um, and how we can improve
access for our patients,

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how we can take care of
the most patients, uh,

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delivering still the top quality
healthcare, uh, in our region. And,

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uh, we see, um, telehealth as, as a
big part of that, uh, solution as well.

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And I think the second opportunity
is how, how do we use, um,

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how do we improve healthcare
efficiency as burnout and turnover

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effects, um, not just physicians, but
nurses and other clinicians as well.

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Um, and probably have seen AI
as artificial intelligence is,

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uh, the hot topic right now
with, uh, Chad, G P T, and, uh,

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other such, uh, generative AI models,
and how can we sort of leverage those,

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uh, technologies to improve,
uh, not just efficiency,

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but automate a lot of those tasks.

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So I think those are two big opportunities
in healthcare, um, currently.

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Absolutely. I, I think that makes
a lot of sense. And, you know,

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when you just mentioned some of the
generative AI chat, G P T and automation,

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you know, those are areas that
seem to be emerging very fast and,

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and changing rapidly. So how do
you keep up with all of that?

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How do you really make
sure that as you're, um,

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implementing those types of technologies
as well as, um, other things, you know,

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you are adding value in, in overall,
um, growing, you know, um, what,

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I guess bringing the organization
closer to the mission,

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vision and values that you wanna see in
improving care as well as efficiencies

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internally?

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Yeah. Um, so I, I think, uh, one of the,

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one of the biggest, um, initiatives, uh,

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for us in terms of AI
is, uh, using a bridge,

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which is using generative AI to help, uh,

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physicians and clinicians, uh,
improve the documentation burden.

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Um, we have been piloting and, uh,
leveraging that, uh, technology like,

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um, some of the other healthcare
organizations have as well. Um,

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early results we're really seeing, um,

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docs being able to quickly get
through their documentation, save,

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uh, an hour or two of their day in,
in terms of just documentation and,

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uh, EHR burden, uh, which really
frees up time, whether, uh,

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they're able to get home early or, um,

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being able to get back, uh, get
back some of the time to, um,

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see patients, um, instead of
being, um, stuck with, uh,

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EHR sort of tasks. So
that's, that's one, uh,

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one way we're looking at it in
terms of improving, uh, efficiency,

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um, and future. We're looking also, um,

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as how do we automate some of the
tasks? Um, so whether it's, uh,

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removing some of the in basket, um, uh,

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messages that we receive, um,
whether it's just simple things as,

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um, using machine learning to remove, um,

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thank yous from patients that might
not be as, as critical to, um,

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to our clinicians, but still create
nuances and, um, create that extra,

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um, cognitive burden. So how do
we improve that, uh, workflows?

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And then also teeing up, uh,

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some of the responses for, uh,

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for our clinicians to
different types of routine, uh,

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messages and, uh, really
helping, um, make them faster,

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um, and getting, uh, again, um,

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getting out of the, um, uh,

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the burden of sort of
the EHR automated, uh,

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our EHR tasks and kind of how do we
automate that? So that's one way,

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one way we're looking at it,
um, in terms of, you know,

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how do we get back to the
mission of providing, um,

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more accessible healthcare?

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Absolutely. I love that. And
that's so important, you know, to,

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to really improve that access to care
and to the experience of the clinicians

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and, and team members who are, um, working
through the operational processes in,

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in using the E H R. Um, you know,
i, I, you talked a bit about it,

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but making sure doctors aren't, um,
you know, spending too much time, um,

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doing that record taking
and keeping and whatnot,

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that they're getting burned
out. You know, that's,

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it's just a huge challenge and
a huge issue. So, um, you know,

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thank you so much for
talking through that,

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and very impressive to see what you've
been able to do at U P M C. Now,

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when we look at, um, you know,

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obviously right now there's just a
lot happening in the healthcare space.

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Healthcare resources are precious,
whether it's on the human capital side or,

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um, you know, on the financial side
for most organizations. So, you know,

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where do you see an area that's still
really important to invest in, especially,

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um, you know, as,

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as resources are a little bit more
scarce than they have been in the past?

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Yeah. Um, absolutely. So I think, um, um,

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so going back to access as our top, um,

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priority in terms of,
um, investments and, uh,

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in ways of, um, access.
I think of, of course,

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how can we leverage some
of the digital tools and

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technologies, um, such
as patient portals, um,

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self-scheduling, um, symptom checkers,

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navigating the, the healthcare
space, um, you know,

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from eTech in, um, to,

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to refills and, and other sort
of tools that can improve,

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um, patient access, uh,
but also engage, um,

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patients in that, um, in their, in
their healthcare. Um, so we are,

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we are heavily, uh, investing in
it as well as, um, some of our, uh,

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peer healthcare organizations in
terms of digital front door, uh,

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technologies and how can we, um,

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implement some of these self-service
tools, uh, that not only, um,

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helps patients sort of take, um,

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ownership of their healthcare,
but also really streamlines, um,

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access, right? Um, most of
us are right, used to, um,

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just getting on a phone, um,
you know, opening an app to,

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from, uh,

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whether they're booking for an
airline ticket or e checking

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and for or boarding, um, on a
plane, right? Um, I don't know,

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when was the last time you probably
booked an airline ticket calling a phone,

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uh, calling an airline, right?
Maybe 10, 15 years ago. Um,

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so we're, we're sort of
reimagining that, right?

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Most of the healthcare appointments,
if you look at it, uh, right now, uh,

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I would bet 90 to 95% of, um,

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appointments are made either
in person or by calling, uh,

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a call center. And usually
there are long wait times. Um,

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patients don't prefer that we, right,
uh, majority of the patients, uh,

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some of the surveys we've seen, uh, 70
to 80% of the patients would prefer,

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uh, doing it themselves and
doing it online, um, and, uh,

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doing it on times that they
are, uh, that they can, right?

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Whether it's an evening or
when they're off work. Um,

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and not only does it streamline, right,

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it also saves them patients time as
well. Calling, uh, human usually takes,

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or calling a call center usually
takes, uh, a little more time than, um,

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than, uh, just doing it online
also gives them, uh, opportunities.

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Things come up, uh, whether you
want, you want to reschedule,

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you want to cancel an appointment or,
or things like that. Um, so that's,

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that's, that's the start.
Um, but also we, uh,

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we want to sort of flip and
reimagine the entire workflow

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of patients arriving to clinic,
whether checking in, um,

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grooming the patients and how do we, um,

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leverage, uh, some of
these, uh, workflows, uh,

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leverage technology to improve
some of these workflows.

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And not only it helps improve
the efficiency, but also, uh,

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helps the staff that we have,
uh, to focus on things, um,

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that, that can, uh, on other
things that can really help, uh,

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help our operations.

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Absolutely. I think that makes a lot
of sense. And, and, and, you know,

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really is helpful to think through from
the operational perspective as well as,

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um, you know, the, um,
the people perspective,

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how the technologies can really make a
difference and why it's so important to

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the future success to, to be able to
put some of this stuff in place, um,

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right now and, and continue
to make investments there. Um,

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now before we wrap up our discussion,
I just wanted to ask as well,

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where, where do you see some of the big
opportunities to grow in the future?

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What does that look like for you?

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Yeah, so I think, um, um, kind of
summarizing right, I think two,

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two big areas of, uh,
opportunities I think are, um,

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expanding, um, ambulatory
care, um, in, in different, uh,

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uh, different ways. Uh, not just the
traditional brick and mortar, but also,

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uh, virtual first care. Um, so
we're betting heavily on, uh,

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virtual first care. We have
several, um, programs from, uh,

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virtual first primary care,
but also, um, after hospital,

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um, discharges, which we're delivering
via telehealth, um, as well as remote,

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uh, patient monitoring and hospital,
um, home programs that leverage,

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uh, not just technology, but also,
uh, telehealth to deliver, uh,

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some of the care outside the
traditional, um, healthcare spaces.

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Um, so I think, um, that those
opportunities will continue to grow,

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um, and be leveraged as we, um,

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as more and more care is delivered
outside the hospital for walls.

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Um, and on to layer on top of that,

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there's this huge
opportunity, uh, of AI to,

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um, help with some of these
tasks as more and more, um,

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more of these, um, ways of, uh, care
that is being delivered is using,

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um, technology, right? Whether
it's on a portal or it's on,

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um, uh, on a portal, uh,

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messaging app or our other
remote monitoring apps. How,

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how can we use sort of ai uh,

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generated AI type technologies
to streamline some of that, uh,

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some of that work. Um, so I
think, um, a a lot of, uh,

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value shift is, is going to happen,
uh, right? And, and one of the,

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one of the reasons, right, as,
as care is moving away from, uh,

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from hospitals is also to, uh,
reduce cost, uh, and improve value,

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um, um, to what we
deliver to our patients.

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Absolutely. Got it. I think that
makes a lot of sense. You know,

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and it's really a great
place to focus, um,

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as we are trying to inject more value
into the health system, as you said, um,

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you know, the outpatients setting, the
virtual care and whatever you can do to,

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to really give people access
at an earlier stage. And,

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and so they're able to manage their
health a lot better. And, um, I,

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I just really appreciate you taking
the time with me today, Dr. Syk,

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and this has been such a fun conversation.

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I'm looking forward to continuing it in
October when you are at our Health IT

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Digital Health and Revenue Cycle event.
Um, it should be a really fun one,

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and I'm looking forward to
meeting you there in person.

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Yeah, really looking forward to,
uh, vias speaker at the October, uh,

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conference and, uh,
meeting, uh, other, uh,

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steam speakers and colleagues there, as
well as, uh, Becker's uh, staff there.

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It's so important for leaders at the
top of organizations to keep learning,

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stay sharp, grow their networks,

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help our audience better do this
in a more simplified, personalized,

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00:15:33,230 --> 00:15:37,170
and meaningful way. Becker's
Healthcare has launched my bhc,

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Join the community free of
charge@www.my dot becker's hospital

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