From their thoughts on delivering hospital-quality care to patients' homes to tech companies' disruption of healthcare to why tech professionals want to work in healthcare, here are seven key quotes about the role of innovation in healthcare that executives from hospitals and health systems recently shared with Becker's Hospital Review:
Rich Rogers. Senior Vice President and CIO at Prisma Health (Greenville, S.C.). The CIO's job is to build high-performing teams and organizations that are completely engaged in the health system mission. Big tech and retail companies are providing great new advanced technology tools to our industry and providing new ways to improve patient access to care. This is necessary and welcomed. Reality is that the vast majority of care is still provided locally, to our neighbors and community members. The feeling our IT staff get while walking through a pediatric oncology unit supporting our nurses and physicians taking care of patients is something that cannot be duplicated by big tech or retail companies.
Daniel Durand, MD. Chief Innovation Officer at LifeBridge Health (Baltimore). What excites me the most about ["hospital at home" programs] is how rapidly innovations in remote monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics are expanding its potential. Advancements in sensor technology, miniaturization and machine learning are allowing for real-time remote monitoring of physiological parameters that traditionally could only be measured with costly hospital-based labs and equipment. I'm referencing breakthroughs like pocket ultrasound devices, portable MRI machines, non-invasive blood chemistry assessment, multiparametric cardiopulmonary testing and even smart toilet seats that can help monitor congestive heart failure patients.
Jennifer Doorly Magaziner. Senior Director of Strategy and Digital Innovation at Boston Children's Hospital. Optum and Amazon's national telehealth expansions remind us that if a hospital is using telehealth to replicate their current care model, they are missing the mark. These players have scale and integration points across the care continuum, and the tech and analytics to draw insights on their members' health, habits and needs. We know that the lifesaving pediatric care and clinical innovation we provide is not easily replicated, but we also know that we need to continue to partner with disrupters ourselves.
Claus Torp Jensen, PhD. Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York City). To compete for talent we are actively changing the narrative of what it means for a technologist to work in healthcare. We have an active technical leadership culture and we consider ourselves cutting edge in our ability to apply technology to real world healthcare challenges. The best jobs, in my opinion, are the ones with the most meaningful mission – and curing cancer is a very meaningful mission to all of us at MSK.
Tom Andriola. Vice Chancellor of IT and data at University of California Irvine. The availability of technology is opening people's minds on how we might deliver services differently, consider a more patient-centric experience, and discuss where this type of care is appropriate and where not. Technology is the enabler, but clinicians and caregivers will always be in the lead.
Richard Zane, MD. Chief Innovation Officer at UCHealth (Aurora, Colo.). The most important questions are: What's next? What is connected? What will be connected, and how does it bridge the void between virtual and bricks and mortar, synchronous and asynchronous care and communication? Where do remote patient monitoring, device integration, prescriptive intelligence and human adjudication become intertwined, and how does this help patients navigate the maze of healthcare? And can this improve access, efficiency and quality while reducing cost? That would be something. Connecting a patient with a provider via a smartphone, tablet or computer is not the promise of virtual health.
Nick Patel, MD. Chief Digital Officer at Prisma Health (Columbia, S.C.). External disruptors can serve as accelerators instead of threats if you have the right organizational support to grow your digital health strategy in an agile way. Healthcare routinely doesn’t move at the speed of business. Healthcare is hard, and no one group has figured it out. Health systems need to learn from these disruptors and on occasion, even partner with them.