Becker's Hospital Review

56 INNOVATION Most promising healthcare tech in 2021: 13 execs from UPMC, Mount Sinai, Kaiser Permanente & more By Katie Adams, Jackie Drees and Hannah Mitchell T echnology took on an elevated role in 2020 and 2021 as health systems rap- idly expanded telehealth, data analyt- ics, artificial intelligence and remote moni- toring capabilities to provide care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, 12 healthcare executives reveal the most promising technology for 2021. Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length. Shaun Miller, MD. Chief Medical Infor- mation Officer at Cedars-Sinai (Los Ange- les). Patient-generated data continues to be a major focus in healthcare delivery. Ideally, this type of data — including remote mon- itoring, wearable device information, health diaries and the patient's medical history — is seamlessly available to clinicians in a digital format, if the patient so desires. One specif- ic tool that likely will see rapid growth and maturity in 2021, given the need to efficiently capture and synthesize such data, is the ex- panded use of previsit digital patient ques- tionnaires. ese allow clinicians to collect more data in the EHR up front, so the visit, either in person or virtual, is streamlined, including the associated required documen- tation. Ideally, these questionnaires will facil- itate more face-to-face time with patients and improve the ability to focus on key issues that need to be addressed during each visit. Michelle Stansbury. Vice President of IT Innovation at Houston Methodist. is year is the year of "self " — self-scheduling, self-wayfinding, self-checking in and room- ing, etc. Social distancing has required indi- viduals to focus on helping themselves more, and healthcare organizations should be fo- cused on enabling that ability. Consumers are very comfortable with using this type of technology and the conveniences it provides. Voice is another promising technology. e use of voice in homes and automotives has gained strong adoption. Consumers are comfortable and expecting voice controls of TV remotes, playing music and changing environmental controls. Healthcare is chang- ing quickly to adapt — from interacting with smart home pods to listening to healthcare information, to requesting nurse assistance while an inpatient, to creating efficiencies with voice for clinicians in the clinic and sur- geons within operating rooms. Automation is another emerging technology helping with reducing costs, improving re- sponsiveness and timing and creating more productivity. Healthcare is awakening to what banking, media and retail have been adopting for years. Healthcare is primed to expand automation with digital workers to gain these types of efficiencies. Diane Comer. Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Technology Officer at Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.). I believe machine learning is a very promising technology in the healthcare de- livery space this year. Kaiser Permanente is using this technology to improve the health outcomes of our members and patients while also reducing the workload for our clinicians. An example of where we have used machine learning to streamline our clinician work- flows is with our antimicrobial stewardship program. e California Department of Pub- lic Health requires antimicrobial stewardship any time hospitals administer antibiotics, which requires many hours of combined physician and pharmacist time to review pa- tients' charts. We have begun to use machine learning to support clinicians and pharma- cists to complete these tasks in around 10 minutes per patient, per day, for what used to take up to eight hours. is type of tech- nology holds the promise to help transform care while also lowering the rising costs of healthcare. David Peng, MD. President of USC Care Medical Group at Keck Medicine of USC, and Smitha Ravipudi, CEO of USC Care and Ambulatory Care Services at Keck Medicine of USC (Los Angeles). At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Keck Medicine of USC quickly converted to tele- health appointments, training physicians and staff, and creating a flexible video con- sultation platform. Our telemedicine visits have increased roughly from 10 per day pre- COVID-19 to approximately 800 a day, for a total of some 120,000 telehealth visits across the health system as of March 2021 and with patient satisfaction ranking in the 99th percentile in terms of quality of service. We saw increased accessibility and conve- nience in psychiatry, neurology, medicine and primary care. Clinical and consumer adoption cannot be ignored, so as telehealth secures its positioning in rendering outpa- tient services, the future will undoubtedly need to leverage this transaction and enhance the service offerings to go beyond the visit it- self. is will include monitoring and diag- nostics alongside enhanced evidence-based care protocols. Kristin Myers. Executive Vice President, CIO and Dean for Information Technology at Mount Sinai Health System (New York City). As a data-driven academic medical center, we continue to see promise and invest in machine learning to provide better patient care and drive our innovative research capa- bilities. e ability to process large datasets to generate clinical insights that support our cli- nicians has led to improved patient outcomes and lower costs of care. Nader Mherabi. Executive Vice President and Vice Dean and Chief Digital and In- formation Officer at NYU Langone Health (New York City). Two-way digital commu- nication with patients is a promising technol- ogy that allows patients and their families to have even greater participation in their own care. Following the rapid adoption of tele- medicine in 2020, two-way digital communi- cation enables us to get direct feedback and securely engage with patients throughout their care journeys. is technology plays a crucial role in the patient experience at our organization and will remain an important tool as digital patient and consumer adoption continues post-COVID. Aaron Martin. Chief Digital & Innovation Officer at Providence (Renton, Wash.). e most promising technology is AI combined with what we call "digital endpoints" for each "Healthcare is awakening to what banking, media and retail have been adopting for years." - Michelle Stansbury, Houston Methodist

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