The path from data overload to useful information and from there to true insight can take a number of turns. Moreover, it can be easy to get lost among the seemingly endless branches of information available today.
Among the healthcare leaders navigating these paths is Mark Rosenblatt, MD, PhD, who serves as CEO of the University of Illinois Hospital and Clinics at UIC, or UI Health, based in Chicago, a position he assumed permanently in July after serving in the role on an interim basis.
He also continues as the G. Stephen Irwin Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Additionally, he is professor and physician surgeon in the UIC Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, professor of pharmacology in the College of Medicine and associate vice chancellor for physician affairs within the university's office of the vice chancellor for health affairs.
Dr. Rosenblatt told Becker's he is focused on gleaning meaningful insights from the large amount of data available today. He discussed this focus, as well as listening as a leadership superpower, and offered some advice for his peers.
Editor's note: This is a regular series of conversations with CEOs of the nation's health systems. Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What's something the healthcare industry isn't talking about enough?
Dr. Mark Rosenblatt: We are talking about it, but I don't think that we've really considered what the deluge of information that healthcare and health systems are dealing with. In the world nowadays, with the Internet of Things and all sorts of different modalities, the amount of data in the world is doubling every couple of years, and may even be faster than that. It continues to accelerate. And how do health systems help their patients when they're confronted with so much data, and data from all kinds of sources, whether it's from electronic health records, outside sources, or devices that we're placing in people's homes? It's not just about having a lot of data; how do you go from data, which we're rich in, to information, which I think we're also often very poor in? But more importantly, how do we get to insights? How do we derive meaningful insights from this vast amount of data? More and more, we're leaning on technology like AI and machine learning, but we're not sure how effective those mechanisms are for dealing with so much data.
So, that's where I confront the issue: often, it's not that I don't have enough data; sometimes, I have too much data. How do we really figure out where the critical data is, and how does that data interact with other data that may be on my plate to make the very best decisions for our health system and ultimately for our patients?
Q: What's an unpopular (or uncommon) leadership or healthcare opinion you have?
MR: I'm not sure it's really necessarily unpopular, but I work in a public institution. I'm very, very fortunate to work in a part of the University of Illinois system. And so, as a public institution, there's this huge expectation around transparency, and so it's really a critical part of how we build trust, both within the university and also within the communities that our hospital serves.
But I think that often transparency is misconstrued as, "Okay, I'm going to give you a spreadsheet with some data or a PowerPoint with some interesting figures." Really, I think true transparency has to come with context. So, if we're having an important meeting about an issue, I think sometimes it's not enough to distribute a PowerPoint ahead of time; it's better to walk through, in a very engaging and interactive way, the data sets as they are, and talk most with each other about what it really means. If you look at any kind of financial report, it only tells part of the story. Similarly, as we make other decisions, even non-financial decisions, to have real transparency involves a lot of work — not just transferring data, but actually discussing and engaging around that information.
Q: What is one of your lesser-known talents or leadership superpowers?
MR: There's the old adage: sometimes you must get along with people you don't get along with. And that's something I've focused on. Over time, I've gotten much better at it. Frankly, I don't know if it's a superpower yet, but the idea that it's invariably going to happen in our jobs — that you're going to have disagreements, sometimes significant disagreements, with leaders and/or others in your organization. So how do you work through that?
Because it's really the organization, the health system, that requires us to work through this. And I find that if one can engage and listen, maybe more than one talks, more often than not, you find some germ of commonality around which you can then grow some trust and work through some of the more important areas of disagreement. And even if you can't fully resolve the disagreement, the fact that you took the time to listen and share, I think, often can get you through some of the dicey or more difficult situations that CEOs encounter.
Q: If you could give one message to other health system CEOs, what would it be?
MR: As health system CEOs, our responsibilities to our communities and to our patients lie far beyond the work that happens within the four walls of our hospital or clinics. We know that, really, it's a minority — maybe 20% of a person's health is related to what happens in a hospital or clinic. It's really a number of other factors, including social determinants of health, and health systems need to interact with those other support systems for our patients, whether it's around housing, safety, or education. It's not just someone else's problem — health system CEOs need to engage. It's not our primary responsibility, but things we learn in the areas of education, safety, food or diet — such as having adequate food — will impact patients' health. Moreover, what we know about health can also help those working in other areas. So, it needs to be a multidisciplinary effort. It's far beyond just delivering healthcare to create health in our communities, and that's something many CEOs understand. But I think, really, that's a primary message that I think about.