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the description. We are excited to welcome you in October.
This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr. John cco,
assistant Chief Medical Information Officer at Common Spirit Health. Dr. Cco,
it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
Thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here.
Now, I know we have a lot of ground to cover.
There's so many exciting things happening in IT and clinical digital
transformation. But before we dive into the broader questions,
can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background?
Yeah, I would. Um, I am, I was a computer science, uh, student,
uh, software developer prior to go to medical school. Um, uh,
worked for two Health IT startups during, um, that time,
ended up going to medical school,
ended up pursuing formal training in internal medicine with formal training and
informatics. I like to say I, uh, trained in informatics before it was cool,
but since then I've been sort of a career cm. I, uh,
chief Medical Information Officer for a number of large health systems in, uh,
New York State, uh, including the Health and Hospitals Corporation,
NYU Lango Medical Center in the past 10 years at Northwell Health.
About a year ago, I joined Common Spirit Health, um,
as the system chief Medical Information Officer within our physician enterprise.
Our, uh, our medical group that essentially is across 22 states. Um,
but Common Spirit Health, um, just a little background is, um,
one the largest nonprofit health system in the country at this point with about
35 billion in revenue. But we, uh, practice in about 150 hospitals,
uh, across 22 states. Um,
we have about 1500 practice locations, and we work with, um,
either employee or work with about 25,000 doctors across the country.
So very exciting to be there. And, uh,
sort of in my year anniversary, um, I'm continuing to learn more about,
uh, what's happening across this, uh, wonderful health system that we have.
Absolutely. Well, congratulations on your year at Common Spirit.
I know it's been a big year, um,
and definitely a lot of exciting things to come.
So what are the big opportunities you see right now as well as the headwinds
that you have your eye on?
Yeah, no, I think we have opportunities, I think post Covid, um,
and Covid has definitely taught us a lot, um, taught us how to do things, uh,
a little bit differently. Um, but I think post to Covid,
I think we are dealing with a healthcare sort of system at large,
not just common spirit that is seeing significant staff storages in physicians,
nurses, frontline staff, even folks in in sort of doing,
running the business and everything else. Um, within our health system.
We also see sort of a decrease in volume, in revenue, um, that I think we're,
we're sort of dealing with as far as headwinds. Um,
but I think these are opportunities for us to sort of think a little bit
differently, uh, and,
and really see things a little bit differently in how we can approach, um,
sort of these age old problems that we sort of keep recurring in healthcare.
Absolutely. I I think that's such a, a great point.
I know all health systems and hospitals across the country are trying to get
used to what it takes, um, to keep running and serving patients.
A amid some of these shortages is definitely on the sa especially on the
staffing side. So how do you think about from the technology angle and,
and what you can do, um,
bridging that gap between technology and clinical care to really allow for your
teams, um, to serve patients the best they possibly can,
even amid some of these shortages?
Yeah, no, I think we have to think of new ways of doing things. I mean,
as a health, as a large health system,
and I learned this when I was at Northwell Health,
and I'm definitely learning how we can do this across, you know,
22 states of Common Spirit Health is the ability to see what things we can
actually, um, do at a,
at a system level that can sort of deal with staff shortages. So things like,
um, our call center strategy across the organization, um,
things like referral management that we can do at a, at a larger level.
But the idea is, the idea is that, um, you know,
if we can actually have a centralized function that would answer phones and, um,
deal with patient questions, um, at a system level,
we can do that for a group of physicians or, or across the country.
And I think the, the idea is that the folks in the, in, at the front lines,
whether it's in our, in a hospital location or a clinic, um,
somewhere in our organization is already taxed with a million things to do.
And I think whatever we can do to sort of, you know,
have that same interaction with our patients and that the same feeling
for our patients, that they're connected to our local practices,
but at the same time create a structure where they're really sort of speaking to
someone who's not just covering one part of the organization but maybe covering
multiple locations at the same time.
And that's sort of where we can really develop sort of economies of scale at a
system level and to really kind of deal with some of these, uh, issues,
to be honest.
Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense.
And definitely it sounds like a great strategy to really support the team you
have on the ground and do what you can, like you said at the system level. Now,
is there any other ways you look at, um,
from your vantage point adding value in growth to the organization as a whole?
Uh, what really stands out to you,
whether it's on the staffing side or just one of the myriad other ways that, um,
you know, you can really add value to a, a system like Common Spirit?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think, I think, um, we have a way to go to actually,
you know, use the oppor, use our electronic health record systems,
our technology partners to actually, you know, improve the care that we deliver.
Um, one of the things that, you know, I am I'm looking at,
at a national level is really like really creating standards, um,
by which we want to interact with our physicians, our nurses,
our care providers, our uh, and our patients really. Um,
and understanding how we can do that in multiple different environments. Now,
common Spirit Health is a large health system.
We have a number of large vendors, um, you name it, um,
Cerner, epic, Meditech, um, eClinical Works, Allscripts,
we have 'em all in some way, shape or form. And we are working towards,
you know, getting to a single platform and uh, you know,
at least getting to a smaller list of, of platforms. But until then,
we sort of at a,
at a national level need to sort of create standards by which we say, well,
every patient should have a virtual registration.
Meaning that every patient should be able to sort of do a number of things that
they normally would do with the front desk staff, but be able to do that online,
whether it may be through their portal or maybe through some robotic process
automation and HIPAA compliant text messaging solution.
But the ability for us to sort of, you know, deliver on that promise that,
you know, we can, we can get rid of the burden or that,
that work that has to be done by our front desk staff to collect, um, you know,
registration information, insurance information, collect copays,
collect consents, all of these things, uh,
have the ability and to even collect rudimentary clinical information for your
visit, um, can all be done sort of prior to the person even arriving at the, at,
within the, the, the office visit. Um,
it can be done for a procedure or it can be done for many other things,
but I think, you know, thinking about how we can sort of do that and,
and do that electronically, you know, it does sort of take burden off the staff,
gives much more satisfaction to the patient cuz they can do it in a more relaxed
environment and sort of,
I wanna say there's even an expectation for some of our patients that this is
the way you do things. I mean,
if you normally sort of now go shopping or call a taxi
or or you name everything else, everything else on your top, uh,
you know, six apps on your,
on your smartphone these days or deal with your bank,
you generally have an interaction that is maybe, you know,
asynchronous or online, um, before you actually do the in-person sort of,
um, tasks. And, and I think that's,
that's something that we want to do and how we deliver that in different
environments throughout the organization may be different,
but the feeling should be the same. And I think this is both for our patients,
but also sort of, you know, significantly, um, improves the care that, you know,
frontline staff are, are providing.
Got it. I I love that.
I think it makes a lot of sense and definitely great to know that, you know,
the technology's out there and just being able to leverage it and, uh,
get you into a space where the whole organization is, uh,
working like a well-oiled machine. I know it's easier said than done,
but at the end of the day, um, having that opportunity speaks volumes.
Now I know we've talked a little bit about some of the challenges,
whether it's staffing shortages or other areas that, um, you know,
really make now a,
a a challenging time in healthcare and certainly all resources are precious,
but where do you see us being still important for hospitals and health systems
to invest and, and maybe even take risks this year, um,
to make sure that they're set up for success in the future?
Yeah, no, definitely. It's a great question. Um, no, well, number one,
for a health system like ours, we may have some nuances in the sense that,
you know, as we came together as common health, we have a number of sort of, um,
you know, larger platforms that we work on,
whether it's in rev cycle or revenue cycle or our clinical systems or
even sort of the, the, you know, I would say, uh,
hundreds if not thousands of bolt-on systems that we have.
I think the one thing that we know that we need to deliver on from a technology
group for our organization is more efficiency and the ability to sort of make
changes. And with that in mind,
we're trying to really consolidate platforms so that our IT partners can sort
of, you know,
serve our staff and frontline providers much more easily.
And, and not being able to sort of like, uh,
having to make one change that's, uh, in, in 30 different systems but,
you know, make one change and maybe a handful of systems.
I think that's one thing that we're sort of coping with, um,
at Common Spirit Health. But I think, um,
we are well on our way to kind of get that to a common platform and a common
standard. I think that, you know,
we have the ability to sort of use some of our, you know, technology partners.
Um, one thing that kind of comes to mind is robotic process automation and the
ability to sort of again, um, you know,
decrease some of the burden from what we normally do,
the mundane stuff that we can do day in and day out to improve things in revenue
cycle, improve things in understanding cancer screening, uh,
and quality metrics and gaps in care. Um, and if we can sort of have, uh,
a robot sort of rung every night to, to really do all the,
the things that a doctor would otherwise need to do prior to sort of opening a
chart or prior to seeing a patient, um, you know,
why can't the robot go in and sort of understand where a patient may lie in
their, in their cancer screening and what gaps, um, are are there, um,
in their care,
but sort of deliver that to the provider as a task and a question to sort of
say, Hey, you know, this patient hasn't had their colonoscopy in 10 years,
or now they meet the age criteria for, for their colon cancer screening. Um,
and just really kind of lay that up, um, so the provider can sort of just,
you know, review it and, and, and move on with the patient that way. It's,
it's one less thing to sort of be burdened by, but it's one less, um,
one more importantly 1, 1, 1 very important thing for our patients to sort of
make sure that they got done. Um, there's countless sort of opportunities, um,
using those things, um, which, you know, we would need, you know,
hundreds and thousands of people in our workforce to sort of be able to sort of
automate and robotic process automation does have some promise in us, in in,
in what we are doing, um, at Common Spirit Health from a technology perspective.
Absolutely. I think that's amazing to hear and definitely it seems like it is a,
a great boost, um, to both the clinical as well as administrative workforce,
um, to, to really boost efficiency and especially as you mentioned times where,
um, you know, there can be shortages or, or challenges with stress and burnout.
That really seems like it'll be helpful. So I think before I wrap up here,
I wanted to look into the future.
Where do you see some of the best opportunities for growth and development from
your vantage point of C M I O as well as the teams that you work with?
Yeah, no, I, I mean, I think, um,
I see that the ability for us to use the data that we have within our,
our electronic health record platforms and all our systems to really understand
the data around the 20 million lives that we touch across the country.
There's been statistics like we take care of almost one in four patients across
the country or something to that effect, but whatever the case may be,
we ha we sit on, uh, sort of our treasure chest of data, um,
both sort of in understanding the structured data and how we collect it,
but really understanding how we can utilize that to improve the care of
populations that we sort of serve. Uh,
and the ability to sort of bring that, um, to the, to the forefront, um,
for our patients, uh, bring that and improve quality improvement,
but also bring it to our patients in,
in the form of research and being able to sort of contribute back to, you know,
in real world evidence or,
or even clinical trials with our life sciences partners.
The ability for us to sort of harness this large treasure chest that's of data
is gonna be something that we need to capitalize on. Now,
much of the data is sort of in our unstructured chart,
and I think that's something we need to sort of overcome with through good
partners and natural language processing, but I think we are definitely going,
getting further along in,
in the ability to sort of us to sort of query that part of the chart and,
and utilize it. I think the ability for us, um,
as a second thing in common Spirit Health is to use, um, some technology.
You know, common Spirit Health has some large tertiary quaternary care centers,
some academic centers that are, you know, are at the top of mind, um,
across the country. But at the same time, we also have small hospitals,
critical access hospitals throughout the country that, you know,
don't have access to the same care that we normally deliver in our qury tertiary
care hospitals.
And the ability for us to sort of bring the specialist to where the specialist
can't be or bring the specialist to the place where, you know,
there's no care setting for another three,
400 miles in places in the country is something that I'm excited for and part of
the mission of Common Spirit Health, and we can't do this without technology,
and the ability for us to sort of have that same feeling and interaction with
our patients or for our providers, um,
in those care settings is gonna be very important. Um, and as part of the, the,
the thread of what Common Spirit is all about and making sure that every patient
sort of gets the,
the same care no matter how they interact with our health system.
And I think we can only do that through technology and,
and through telemedicine and,
and virtual visits and even asynchronous e-visit and other things. We'll,
we'll definitely see a, a, a future, um, where, you know, common spirit, uh,
it doesn't matter where you walk into our organization,
you'll sort of expect and get the same sort of experience.
And however we can make that as frictionless as possible in our interactions
with our patients, um, I think we'll be, we'll,
we'll sort of carry a lot of weight for our patients and for our providers the
same.
Absolutely. I love that.
I think it makes a lot of sense and definitely it seems to be where healthcare
is headed in terms of just the efficient connections on multiple platforms and
on multiple levels. Dr. Cco,
thank you so much for being here on the podcast today.
I've really enjoyed speaking to you and I'm looking forward to seeing you in
person as well at our Health IT digital health or revenue cycle event in
October.
I know there'll be the specific C M I O forum that we're excited to have you
there, as well as at the broader event too. Um,
speaking on many of these themes. And,
and I can imagine at that point the discussion will be, you know,
even more interesting, um, with the way technology's evolving.
I am looking forward and honored to participate. Thank you so much.
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