Having played leadership roles in a number of software and tech-enabled organizations, symplr CEO BJ Schaknowski has seen firsthand how connected, integrated technologies that centralize data and turn it into insights can fundamentally transform companies and industries. As health system leaders begin to embrace technology, BJ is seeing an evolution taking place that is dramatically streamlining operations, improving outcomes, and lowering costs.
Becker’s Hospital Review recently spoke with Mr. Schaknowski about some of the most significant challenges in healthcare today and how software can address these challenges and prepare health systems for the future.
The consequences of disconnected healthcare data
“You’ve got hundreds of disjointed, fragmented point solutions, a lot of times doing the same things,” Mr. Schaknowski said. This multitude of technological solutions decreases workforce efficiency, as individuals manually enter the same data into multiple systems, a slow process prone to errors. These disconnected systems and solutions create silos, making it difficult to get the right information to the doctors and nurses at a moment’s notice. As a result, healthcare workers and professionals have to spend more time on non-patient related tasks, and patient safety and outcomes are negatively impacted.
Disconnected data also add costs and contribute to system waste. There are significant inefficiencies, Mr. Schaknowski said, with systems having redundant contracts and purchasing departments having no idea about the actual spending at their facilities. Not only is money wasted in the purchasing process, but unnecessary human hours are spent doing things multiple times. Today’s disconnected systems, Mr. Schaknowski commented, contribute to the substantial amount of wasted spending in healthcare—to the tune of $760-$935 billion dollars, or roughly 25% of total healthcare spend.1
The evolution toward health systems with connected data
Mr. Schaknowski regularly speaks with CEOs, CFOs, and CMOs who want insights to better run their health systems. These insights require the centralization of data from across the health system, including clinical, operational, and financial information.
An evolution is underway, Mr. Schaknowski believes. Historically, different parts of healthcare have largely operated in silos, with their own limited data sets and operational practices. System-wide visibility was lacking.
But Mr. Schaknowski argues that many health system leaders realize this is a fragmented and broken approach to healthcare, and the pandemic has been a catalyst for accelerating change. He sees leaders who are increasingly hungry to bring together data from throughout their health system to run their operations more efficiently.
While health system leaders increasingly understand the need for connected data, they often comment to Mr. Schaknowski about the uncertainty: “We don’t know where to start.”
In advising health systems on where to begin, Mr. Schaknowski suggests, “You will need an internal champion to drive any modernization, automation, and standardization initiatives.” He also believes health systems must prioritize acquiring technical talent, which may mean bringing in talent from other industries. He noted that the executive team at symplr is composed equally of people with deep healthcare domain knowledge and people from outside of healthcare who bring an alternative perspective and complementary expertise.
He also sees value in health systems implementing technology in phases and not trying to do everything at once. As part of a multi-year phased technology deployment, a health system might start with compliance, quality, and safety, then address access management, contracts, spend management, and workforce management.
When it comes to developing and implementing enterprise software to improve a health system’s operations, Mr. Schaknowski cautions against healthcare organizations trying to build their own technology, instead of choosing to partner with trusted vendors for their software. Unfortunately, he argued, healthcare organizations attempting to build their own software often fail as they don’t have the singular focus and expertise necessary to build their own enterprise software.
Effective enterprise solutions have multiple benefits
Healthcare-specific software to centralize data and manage operational processes yields multiple benefits. The most obvious benefits, Mr. Schaknowski said, are improved patient satisfaction and better clinical outcomes, as well as better provider satisfaction, increased staff engagement, and overall cost reduction. Also, a healthcare-specific enterprise solution produces “better analytics and insights to make better decisions on how to run your healthcare system,” Mr. Schaknowski said.
Beyond these benefits, Mr. Schaknowski commented that an enterprise-wide system is “a demonstrable statement to all of your constituencies.” He added, “Whether it be your shareholders, your employees, or your patients, it shows that you are investing to become a health system of the future, not a system stuck in legacy ways.”
1. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2752664