Becker's Hospital Review

26 INNOVATION Hospitals 'innovate aggressively' to stay relevant By Laura Dyrda H ospitals will likely look very differ- ent a decade from today as more brick-and-mortar institutions em- brace virtual care, "hospital at home" and remote patient monitoring. CIOs are at the forefront of reimagining healthcare deliv- ery focused on consumers. "It took us hundreds of years to build a healthcare system, whether you think it's good or not, and we're looking to poten- tially build an entirely separate healthcare system," said William Carracino, MD, chief medical informatics officer at Lee Health in Fort Myers, Fla. "e hospital of the future is going to be cloud-based, and the points of connection to brick-and-mortar hospi- tals are going to be complicated surgeries, intensive care units and morgues. When you think about it, everything else can be done at home." e healthcare industry is primed for dis- ruption, with billions of dollars spent on care today. Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product is now in health- care, making it a huge market for nontra- ditional players like CVS Health, Amazon, Walgreens and more to partner with or to offer digital care delivery technologies. "ere is also a lot of activity in the mar- ket for new types of nontraditional players coming in, and the whole nature of how care is delivered is changing," said Sara Vaezy, executive vice president and chief digital officer at Renton, Wash.-based Prov- idence. "ere are lots of consumer-facing offerings out there. It's really important to continue to innovate aggressively around that domain and figure out ways by which we can remain relevant for consumers." Consumerization of healthcare isn't unique for urban areas or big health systems. Across the board, healthcare providers are being pushed to rethink and modernize care delivery processes, especially in prima- ry care. "e largest volume of services is in prima- ry care," said Darrell Bodnar, CIO of North Country Healthcare in Lancaster, N.H. "at makes me a little nervous, but also sets the tone. When you look at Amazon, Walmart, Walgreens and CVS Health, all these companies are partnering or buying cutting-edge technologies to deliver care." With these companies thinking different- ly about healthcare delivery, more care is shiing to home care, data collection from consumer wearables and remote pa- tient-monitoring. Mr. Bodnar said wearable devices are really influencing the way care is delivered for many patients. "Here in North Country Healthcare, we have a large area of primary care, and tele- health and virtual care platforms are going to continue to grow," he said. "Consumer- ism is going to demand it." But digital transformation and developing a data ecosystem is easier said than done. e business models are changing, and opera- tions in most hospitals are convoluted. "ere is a lot of strategic value in doubling down on how we think about disruption as anything that is consumer-facing, be- cause consumers have expectations," said Ms. Vaezy. "We've been talking about this for a long time; it isn't a novel concept. But consumer expectations are more advanced [and influence] where they get their care." It's clear healthcare delivery needs to change, and data will be the fuel for deliver- ing better, high value care. It's the "common currency" across the big trends in health- care today, from precision medicine to vir- tual care, population health, operational efficiencies, automation and more. Hospi- tals and health systems are developing data ecosystems to generate solutions for big challenges in delivering care, especially on a tight budget and with workforce and sup- ply shortages. Brad Reimer, CIO of Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health, said he believes data is the life blood of key initiatives, including interoperability, artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives, that will all work together to provide better care and elevate the provider and patient experience. "Providing a modern and adaptable data ecosystem is incredibly important as a huge need and opportunity for organi- zations to partner with health systems, universities and the third-party vendor market," said Mr. Reimer. "If we can crack the nut on how we build a modern data ecosystem for healthcare, it will truly rev- olutionize healthcare for our patients and our communities." n Providence combines existing investments to create an analytics company By Naomi Diaz R enton, Wash.-based Providence has launched a new analytics software company that combines the capabilities and technologies of six com- panies to focus on population health and revenue cycle management tools for providers and payers. The company dubbed Advata will combine Providence's existing investments and acquisitions including KenSci, Colburn Hill Group, Alphalytics, Lumedic, Quiviq and MultiScale to sell software products that provide clinical decision support and back-office management, according to a June 8 press release. "Providence has been on a journey to transform health care through innova- tion, and Advata is a culmination of this important work," said Rod Hochman, MD, president and CEO of Providence. "It represents our belief that when you pair data science with responsible artificial intelligence, machine learning, au- tomation, and other technological advancements, you can better support cli- nicians at the bedside and in clinics, improve patient outcomes, and decrease overall healthcare costs." Advata will use insights and data to create workflows that help emergency departments, operating rooms and revenue cycles. n

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