Becker's Hospital Review

34 INNOVATION Bon Secours Mercy Health's chief digital officer: Digital health without patient engagement is like 'electronic trees falling in an electronic forest' By Kelly Gooch J ason Szczuka became Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health's first chief digital officer June 28, and he brings a wealth of payer experience to the role. Mr. Szczuka most recently served as Cigna's chief digital officer. Before that, he worked at UnitedHealth Group and GE Capital. At Bon Secours Mercy Health, he serves an orga- nization with 50 hospitals, thousands of provid- ers, more than 1,200 points of care and 60,000 employees in seven states and two countries. "What I was most excited about [in joining Bon Secours Mercy Health] was their leader- ship through the pandemic," he said. "When I think about their response to the rapid roll- out of virtual services, and then as vaccines became available, the way they so quickly got vaccine sites out into our many markets, I knew it was an all-star team I'd be joining." Coming to the position from the payer space also gives him a chance to be on the care de- livery side with a digital health focus, he said. "e way I view the promise of digital health and where, as a society, we have not optimized it yet, is the extension of the actual delivery of great care in the more convenient, connected and consis- tent forums, so that all participants can be greater contributors and greater receivers of the benefits of this new forum. And that will require that we connect at the nexus of virtual care and in-person care. Only by doing that will we begin to fulfill the digital health promise," said Mr. Szczuka. He spoke to Becker's July 15 about his strat- egies to improve digital patient engagement, use technology to improve health equity and grow the system's innovation programs. He described patient engagement as "the life- blood of digital health work" and said that without it, "We're electronic trees falling in an electronic forest." He also noted that patients desire and de- mand convenience when it comes to their healthcare because, "You have minutes to sat- isfy a customer in today's world, and patients have the same standards." He said hospitals and health systems, includ- ing Bon Secours Mercy Health, "need to have the multiple systems that are working for a pa- tient to be talking to each other and reacting with each other." at way, health systems have patients' pre- dictive analytics to know what patients need from the organizations in terms of digital health, said Mr. Szczuka. He said health systems should have more fre- quent digital interactions with patients, "so it is as much a part of [patients'] daily [healthcare] main- tenance as it is their journey across their care." "e reality is we not only have the right, but we also have the obligation as a provider of care to be doing this for the patient," said Mr. Szczuka. "It's what they are expecting of us. It's what they are demanding of us." Health systems have also increasingly focused on health equity and addressing disparities in healthcare, as these disparities have become even more apparent amid the pandemic. Mr. Szczuka said he believes there is oppor- tunity to bridge the digital divide between technology and health equity among poor and underserved populations. "Too oen, too many people stop short with the excuse that the digital divide among these populations is too big to help them digitally. We think the exact opposite [at Bon Secours Mercy Health] in that it's even more critical that be- hind the scenes we have advanced technologies driving predictive analytics so we can get ahead of the care needs for these patients so we can more effectively outreach to them, intercept further regression and get them connected to the care they need at that point of time," he said. "If we don't attack it like that, that population will dri farther and farther into the abyss, which is to their personal detriment and to the overall industry's detriment as well," he said. At the same time, he said Bon Secours Mer- cy Health is proactive in innovation, and his message to innovators is that the health system can be a great supporter and accelerate inno- vators in whatever direction they're looking to go to solve big healthcare problems. n Walgreens, VillageMD to open 29 primary care practices in Texas By Maia Anderson W algreens and VillageMD plan to open 29 Village Medi- cal at Walgreens locations in Texas this year, the companies announced July 8. The locations will be in Houston, Austin and El Paso, and are part of Wal- greens' and VillageMD's plan to open at least 600 sites in more than 30 U.S. markets over the next four years. "This strategic partnership between Walgreens and VillageMD demonstrates our continuing commitment to the care and well-being of our patients, and we're excited to expand our primary care and pharmacy service offerings in Texas," Jamie Vortherms, vice president of healthcare services at Walgreens, said in a news release. The partnership between Walgreens and VillageMD aims to remove barriers to access for primary care and pharmacies by having them both in the same place. The companies opened their first Village Medical at Walgreens location in November 2019 in Houston. Walgeens said the two companies are also allowing Village Medical patients access to the same type of pharmacy services from select Walgreens sites that don't have a connected Village Medical in the Houston and Phoenix areas. Phar- macy services include between-visit refills and medication substitutions. n

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