Becker's Hospital Review

65 INNOVATION The game-changers: 4 CIOs share the tech that has humanized the healthcare experience By Jackie Drees F rom the advent of EHRs to rapid telemedicine adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has drastically transformed the patient and provider experience. While people looked to stay connected during one of the hardest periods in our lifetime, technology became a vital source of interactions across all industries includ- ing healthcare. From widespread telemedi- cine usage to ushering in devices like iPads and tablets when hospital visitor restric- tions were enacted, technology has helped us maintain human connections through- out the pandemic. Here, four hospital and health system CIOs share the tech they view as game changers in humanizing healthcare interactions. Question: What technology has been a game-changer in helping humanize the healthcare experience, and why? Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length. Richard Mohnk. Associate CIO for Oper- ations at Bayhealth (Dover, Del.). I would say that the one item that we experienced as perhaps a game changer would be in-room use of tablets to communicate with family. Our patient advocates would set up and co- ordinate video calls or WebEx with family members. Two special circumstances that hit me were one call with a family to a pa- tient in the intensive care unit so they could say goodbye one last time. e other was a video streaming to a patient so they could attend a funeral virtually. ere are many examples, however, feedback is that per- sonal visitation cannot be replaced. Perhaps augmented, but not replaced. Sheila Sanders. CIO at Emory Healthcare (Atlanta). At Emory Healthcare there were several scenarios where technology helped enhance the patient experience during COVID 19. We rolled out iPads with Zoom in the early days to provide a connection for our patients to their families when they were unable to be on site. is was import- ant for our patients and their families to maintain this connection during their heal- ing. e rapid expansion of telemedicine us- ing Zoom also allowed us to quickly provide continued care to our patients in the safety of their home. Steven Smith. CIO at NorthShore Universi- ty HealthSystem (Evanston, Ill.). I wouldn't call providing video access to allow patients and their families to see and talk with each other during COVID-19 game-changing technology, primarily because the technol- ogy is commonplace these days. at said, by adjusting procedures and providing this functionality so quickly during the pandem- ic truly made an impactful difference for our patients, their families and our employees' lives. e functionality helped with preserv- ing and improving human life. Donnie Parish. CIO at Cherokee Nation Health Services (Tahlequah, Okla.). For me the greatest opportunities converge in two areas: digital patient engagement strategies and remote patient monitoring/Internet of ings/hospital at home strategies. ese strategies allow patients to become more engaged in their own healthcare and will create a better health and wellness culture. Providing open communication through text, email, chatbots, digital forms and other digital engagement for all areas of both clinical and non-clinical healthcare functions not only creates that 'digital front door,' but also allows both the patient and care providers the ability to proactively engage in care. is convergence 'humanizes' care because so many people feel healthcare is cold and difficult to navigate. Better communication and interac- tion by both patients and providers should lead to a better overall feeling of connection. is will not be easy as there are roadblocks such as lack of infrastructure and inequality of technology cost and organizational willing- ness to change or adopt these new practices, not to mention reimbursement issues. n Biofourmis taps former Amazon medical officer to lead virtual hospital-at-home program By Jackie Drees D igital therapeutics and virtual care provider Bio- fourmis named Maulik Majmudar, MD, its CMO, the Boston-based company said May 10. Dr. Majmudar most recently served as CMO at Amazon, where he led the retail company's healthcare-related initiatives including the launch of Amazon Halo. Ama- zon unveiled the wearable health-tracking device in August 2020. Before joining Amazon, Dr. Majmudar was the associate director of the Healthcare Transformation Lab at Massa- chusetts General Hospital in Boston. As CMO of Biofourmis, Dr. Majmudar will oversee prod- uct management, data science and clinical affairs. He has served on the company's clinical advisory board since 2015 and the board of directors since 2019. In December, Biofourmis launched its virtual hospi- tal-at-home program after developing it with Bos- ton-based Brigham and Women's Hospital. n

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