← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Sha Edathumparampil, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Baptist Health South Florida
00:19:09
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- [00:01]
A
This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Shah Edafin Parampo, who is the Chief Digital and Information Officer at Baptist Health South Florida. Shah, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- [00:14]
B
Thank you. Great to be here.
- [00:16]
A
Absolutely. Now, I'm excited to talk with you because I know you've been doing some really cool things at Baptist Health South Florida. So we'll talk through some of your perspective on what's going well, how you're thinking about the future and really what means to continue to incorporate digital technologies, AI and more into the broader health system. But before we do that, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background?
- [00:39]
B
Oh, for sure. Thank you. Once again, thank you for having me. I've been in technology for over three decades. At this point, I've worked in different industries, media and entertainment, financial services, travel, transportation. So this is my first gig in healthcare, if you will. So, you know, at Baptist Health, which is a large faith based, not for profit system, I have the privilege of leading our technology and digital transformation strategies, which obviously ensures that our physicians, nurses and all of the staff have the tools they need to deliver excellent patient care in a highly increasingly complex environment.
- [01:31]
A
Absolutely. And it's so critical to have that kind of vision in the healthcare space, especially knowing how, as you said, complex it is and how much is going to change in the coming years. And so, in thinking about that and from your vantage point as leader of the technology business, what opportunities and headwinds do you have your eye on right now? What's top of mind for you when you're thinking about the next 12 months or so?
- [01:54]
B
Yeah, see, that's the core question for any leader in healthcare industry today as we're facing a mix of significant challenges and obviously incredible opportunities as well. On the headwinds front, the financial pressure is immense. Hospitals are grappling with expenses for labor and supplies. All of this cost is increasing faster than inflation. But then you compare that or couple that with the Medicare and Medicare reimbursements that don't necessarily cover the cost of actual or the actual cost of care. So this squeeze on margins is a major concern. As you've seen last year, a number of hospitals closed or otherwise, had to deal with that situation in really tough ways. And on top of that, we also have the persistent workforce shortage, which is high levels of clinician burnout, which also impacts everything we do. And last but not the least, the cybersecurity threat is also an ever present and growing situation. It's not just an IT issue. When you have an event or a situation like that, what that does is it disrupts operations in significant healthcare operations in significant ways and it becomes a patient safety issue. So opportunities. Right. So we've been monitoring closely the rapid sort of ascension of artificial intelligence and adoption into all industries. Healthcare traditionally has lagged in terms of adopting new technologies. But I am glad to see that the adoption of AI in healthcare has been, I think, close to. I saw an article that said it's close to double the rate of the broader economy, which is fantastic to see because the opportunities to apply like we discussed earlier, all in all of those headwinds or challenges that we're seeing, there are ways that AI can and other technologies, but specifically AI can help. So great to see that adoption. And this isn't just about efficiency. So it's about. This is a strategy to address a number of different things. Everything from clinician burnout as well as the bad actors are using AI to, to attack health systems from a security perspective. And we need to be able to use AI to protect ourselves. So across the board, I think as hyped as AI is, and I think the hype is in many ways justified because it is a powerful and transformative technology. And I think that opportunity sort of is really broad within healthcare to be able to use AI and associated digital capabilities to make a meaningful impact. Not just from a healthcare operations perspective, but especially from a patient care perspective.
- [04:49]
A
That makes a lot of sense. And I think it's so interesting that you're talking about AI, how you can boost clinical workforce as well as what it can do in order to ensure that you're operating in a successful way. Especially given some of the challenges that you mentioned, looking at financial inflation, additional pressures coming down the pipe in the next couple of months here, and then, you know, also thinking about workforce shortages and clinician burnout. So, you know, when, when all of those things are brought together, are there any use cases that you've been really successful at Baptist Health South Florida to incorporate AI in seeing some tangible results?
- [05:30]
B
Yeah, I think on the clinician or provider side of the house, ambient listening has been a significant, you know, new addition to the toolbox, so to speak. Right. It's still being deployed across all of our physician base, but it's already showing significant improvements in terms of the pajama time reduction, which is the time that physicians are having to spend after hours updating documentation, but also the cognitive load. We really want the physicians to be able to use their bandwidth to care for the patients and diagnose and treat and so on, as opposed to figuring out the documentation. So even the cognitive load improvement is sort of very visible as we, you know, as we are deploying this on the operational side too, we have, we've deployed a number of different capabilities, everything from, you know, tracking and following up on incidental findings or on the pharmacy side, being able to automatically detect and label things. So there's quite a few of those capabilities that we are, we've. We've deployed or, and are in. And then there's a very healthy roadmap of these new capabilities as well. So we are very, very about sort of being clear about the value of these projects upfront. So there is a, you know, we send it through a process where we look at a, is this, you know, is the quality there? B, is this going to help in meaningful ways across all of those different things that opportunities and challenges that we.
- [07:15]
A
Talked about.
- [07:17]
B
As an example, physician burnout, does this help with that? Does this help with operational efficiency? Does this help with better care for patients? So we look at all of those things, but we have now a roadmap that's being methodically rolled out.
- [07:33]
A
That makes a lot of sense. And I appreciate you taking us a little bit further behind the curtain there to say how you're thinking about things and, you know, what's really elevating the most importance and, you know, again, kind of keeping that future focused. How are you looking at growth and adding value over the next year? So I think especially, you know, getting that roadmap in place, I know is important, but then what else is coming down the pipe? When you think about the most meaningful ways that AI can be incorporated into.
- [08:01]
B
The organization for a little bit now, I think we've seen that the, you know, care is expanding beyond the traditional hospital walls. Right. So your systems across the board across the United States are investing in improving their ambulatory footprint, developing hospital home type of programs in some cases, and definitely strengthening their virtual, digital telehealth type of services to meet patients where they are. Right. So that does two things, both growth and value. It allows us to grow seamlessly, especially in the context of the challenge of not having enough people, whether it's physicians or other healthcare workforce, we have a shortage. So being able to deploy these technologies alongside building capabilities, care capabilities outside of the traditional worlds through ambulatory and outpatient types of services, putting that together, I think is certainly having a very positive impact in terms of our growth plans. And our ability to support the community that we serve.
- [09:18]
A
That makes a lot of sense. It's really a helpful strategy when you're looking at how you can bring care closer to the patients, whether it's at home or those ambulatory facilities across the broader footprint for the health system, I think is critical. And I'm curious, when you look at that as being an important aspect of the future and what you're doing as the health system strategy, and then, you know, from the IT department too, is there anything that you are needing more of from your teams or skills and technical abilities to do that, or, you know, really what are the types of, I guess, people who are going to be top performers as you're looking at, you know that from the technology perspective, in how you can really think about your teams differently in the next year or so?
- [10:06]
B
That's actually a great question because two things. One is, you know, we were talking about growth, which typically means growth in cost as well, right. So we need to add these capabilities. We need to have the people or the providers to support the patients, and then everything else supporting functions or administrative functions such as it. Now, if we don't manage the cost from an IT perspective, which tends to be a meaningful portion of the overall cost of growing the footprint, what then happens is if the cost of IT grows linearly with everything else, then from a margin perspective, it becomes really difficult for healthcare systems to operate. So IT themselves has had to transform and evolve all of these new capabilities, including AI and everything else that has come forward. We have to take advantage of it ourselves and be able to bring our costs down. So some of this growth or much of this growth can be addressed in a cost advantages or a cost neutral kind of a way. And that's been something that we've been very focused on here over the last year to two years to make sure that we are making smart IT decisions as well that keeps the overall cost lower or bend the cost curve, as we say internally, to be able to support all this growth, but allowing at the same time to make sure that the system has the margin to be able to operate.
- [11:41]
A
That makes a lot of sense. And that operating margin is so critical. I know every healthcare dollar is precious for sure. And so when you look at where you're at today and then headed into the future, where there's a lot of uncertainties and, you know, even a lot of organizations are seeing some of their margins being compressed. And so if you're talking to your colleagues out there, what do you see as being really One risk or investment that's still worth making, you know, knowing that there's going to be potentially even more scrutiny on every cost or spending decision coming up in the next couple years.
- [12:15]
B
Yeah, look, I mean, we are in this phase or time where, you know, the, the technology advancements are coming at us really, really fast. Right. So I mean, when you, if you look at the technology news and updates every week, there is a new AI development or capability that comes to market. So, you know, and that's just AI. But there are other things as well in the horizon. There is quantum coming and then there is a number of other clinical technologies that are coming forward as well. So the, the, there are two underlying necessities, if you will, the core infrastructure from an IT technology perspective, as well as the cybersecurity sort of system, if you will, which includes the team as well as the tools and the processes, everything including resilience capabilities and business continuity planning. So that underlying foundation, core infrastructure with all the processes as well as security and everything else around that. I think a lot of our, when I look around in the industry, unfortunately many systems or many systems haven't had the opportunity for a number of different reasons, haven't had the opportunity to upgrade their systems or upgrade their infrastructure. So I think whether, whether you invest in, you know, buying a new capability today or two years from now, that's that foundation is absolutely critical. In the absence of that foundation, two things or three things are likely are going to happen. A, it's going to be difficult for you to implement these technologies, to take advantage of these transformative technologies. B, it will be more expensive to take care of, to take advantage of it. And then three, it'll take longer. Right. Because time to market has become a major, major imperative for us. So investing in the core infrastructure and the foundation, as I call it, which includes cybersecurity as well, I think it's going to be something that everyone must do and there are many systems that are ahead of that curve and that's great, wonderful. But there's a lot of others that are in IT and I think that's something that they should. I would look at it as a no regret investment, investing in the foundation to upgrade and getting it up to currency. I think that would be something that I recommend.
- [14:49]
A
That's great advice and really critical to have that kind of foundation because I know there's, like you said, there'll be so much more advancement and technology is just going get better. And so, you know, having the data and that infrastructure in place to Take on whatever comes next will be so, so helpful for health systems as they're trying to navigate uncertainties on a variety of fronts. I think as we're wrapping up the conversation here, I just wanted to take one more look with you, you know, in the best opportunities for additional growth in the future, whether it's for yourself or your teams or the health system at large. What are some of the big picture items that you're excited about and are really preparing for, for.
- [15:27]
B
Yeah, also a great question. I think as I look ahead, perhaps not next month, next year, but just a longer term roadmap, it's clear that people are starting to take their wellness more seriously than before. Right. Especially the younger generation, Which would mean many different things to a lot of different folks. As such, you see the, the supplement industry exploding, which is expected to be, I don't know, 120 or $130 billion industry by 2030. But people are making efforts to take care of themselves, take control or ownership for their own health and wellness, which is wonderful to see. But I think where that goes is ultimately now we would need to cater to the community or a population that is, that needs or wants personalized medicine. Right. So we are also starting to see breakthroughs in genomics. Recently there was news that using crispr, someone was able to I think, address or take care of the cholesterol, high cholesterol issue. So I think increasingly personalized medicine using some of these highly advanced technologies are going to start, they start playing a much, much, much bigger role or factor in healthcare. Now, in addition to that or with that, there's also, I think, with an opportunity for something like an ambient intelligence kind of an effort both inside the hospital environment, but as well as outside of it, when people are out and about doing, you know, going about their life, an ambient intelligence agent or an assistant, a health assistant that both the providers and the patients or the consumers can rely on to take in, take care of, you know, a monitor the patients, anticipate some of those needs, but on the provider side of it, streamline clinical workflows without actually having to do a lot of work manually. I think all of that, you know, from a, from an ambient intelligence perspective or an intelligent AI agent healthcare assistant, which, whatever you want to call it, I think that's going to be a big piece of it as well. Ultimately what all of this means is, you know, between technologies and the capabilities that support personalized medicine as well as, you know, ambient intelligence, all of that, what that fits into, as you know, is the integrated digital health ecosystem. Right. So the journey that we've been on for the last decade or two to assure in sort of this digital era into healthcare, I think that's going to now sort of take off in major ways and see really steep adoption and growth. So that's my sort of view for the future. I'm really hopeful that comes through because then it helps people as well as providers sort of do whatever that we have to do to take care of people much, much better and faster.
- [18:47]
A
I love it. Sean, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This has been a really fascinating conversation, and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
- [18:55]
B
Thank you. Thanks for having me. This was wonderful. And thanks for the great questions. I really enjoyed the conversation. Talk to you.