Crystal Broj and Franco Cardilllo from the Medical University of South Carolina spotlight digital health transformation teams and how to set them up for success. Get ready for a super tactical discussion from one of the teams that's leading the charge to incorporate digital health into the lives of those who are seeking and providing care.
All that, plus the Flava of the Week about Target rolling out a thousand new wellness products. Does Target see wellness journeys differently than the sick care industry, and how do we pay more attention to the merchandising aspects of healthcare?
This show is produced by Shift Forward Health, the consumer advisory firm that partners with you to operationalize consumer-first health. (#306)
New choices, new players, new models of care. You know, consumer first health care is everywhere for us to build the future, to see what's new. We gotta look at the world from a different point of view. Consumer innovation ain't going away, I say. It's here to stay. Today it leads the way. We gotta drop the silos. We're all the same team experience.
Business, tech and marketing. So join us now. Join the revolution. Consumer first health.
Is the evolution status 12 or like status. No.
Yeah. This is the health care rep. Yo. Come on, let's go.
Welcome back to the leading podcast about consumer innovation. I'm Jared Johnson, founder of the consumer advisory firm Shift Forward Health. And here's what's gonna go down today. We have the flavor of the week about target rolling out a thousand new wellness products. Does target C wellness journeys differently than the sick care industry? And how do we pay more attention to the merchandising aspects of health care? I'll talk about that then. We welcome Krystal Broy and Franco Cardillo from the Medical University of South Carolina to spotlight digital health teams and how to set them up for success. Get ready for a super tactical discussion from one of the teams leading the charge to incorporate digital health into the lives of those who are seeking and providing care. It's time to dive right in. Are you ready? Let's go. Flavor of the week does target C wellness journeys differently than the sick care industry? Could that journey not only mean visiting the doctor, but also include a stylish workout outfit, the latest probiotic powder, or a pair of smart goggles. The retail giant seems to think so. On January 24th, target announced that they're introducing more than 1000 new wellness related products. According to the press release, these products are starting at just $1. 99 to support guests on their wellness journey without stretching their budgets. From apparel and accessories to supplements, vitamins and the latest tech. Target is the one stop shop where guests can feel celebrated and supported in living well. Close quote Rick Gomez, executive vice president and chief Food essentials and beauty officer at target, said wellness has been redefined to encompass a more holistic way of living, and it's also different for every person looking deeper. The products that they mention include categories like vitamins and supplements, exercise and fitness, nutrition management, activewear, hydration, smart health technology, and even footwear. In addition, they've launched an online wellness destination on target.com. It's essentially a collection of curated health and wellness products, and a set of ideas and even meal inspirations that guests can tap into as they begin or continue that journey. Do you see right off the bat how they're positioning themselves here as celebrating and supporting consumers in a journey? Now, I'd like to think that this didn't just catch my eye, because it feels like a step towards my prediction from last year. That target would be the next major retailer to get into primary care. But the fact is, with new offerings from GNC, HEB, Hy-Vee, Albertsons, and even Costco, there's a growing trend towards blurring the lines of health, health care and wellness. This is also converging with the growing health at home market and improvements in wearables and personalized tech. So I'm not going to be dismissive about this strategy or, say, their online wellness destination, for instance. The fact is, grouping products together according to the needs of the people they serve is a retail strategy called merchandising, and we're slowly starting to talk about it more when it comes to patient education and the inventory of providers, aka booking appointments. So I like the way that target's grouping. Some of these new products online, but I'm more interested in the insights about consumers desires for health and wellness that led to their new strategy. Because one of the reasons I've done my best over the years to refer to consumer first health as opposed to health care, is that our desire is to ultimately live well. As human beings. We prefer not to receive any health care at all, and that's important to consider as we look for ways to innovate around the real needs of those whom we serve. Let's pay attention to the merchandising aspects of retail health to see how they're positioning consumers wellness journeys, and better understand where health care fits in. That's another way that will build the health care of tomorrow, and that's the flavor of the week.
The flow. The flow. The flow.
All right, let's get into the flow. Zane. Welcome back. You know, I'm trying to set up our interview today, but let me hear from you first. What are you looking forward to from our interview today? And then we'll have you introduce our guests.
Sure. I'm super excited to have some of our guests from the Medical University of South Carolina on their digital transformation team. And what I'm hoping to get out of this discussion is really some pragmatic advice for our health system leaders and others on how to actually set up your digital transformation chassis, if you will like. What are some of the roles that exist? The tools. And you know, what should these teams be focusing on? I know over the last couple of years here, we've talked a little bit about tools and structure, but I'm really excited to hear from two of some of my favorite people on this on this very subject. So first we have Crystal Broy, who's the chief digital transformation officer for Musk, and one of her lieutenants who's come on with her as well is Franco Cardillo, who's the executive director of digital strategy and operations. So welcome both to the show. Thank you for being here.
Thanks for having us.
Perfect. Well, let's start with you, Crystal. Tell us a little bit more about you and your background. I know Musk isn't isn't your first gig, so to speak. You've been doing digital transformation across a number of health systems and some other agencies. So give us the Cole's notes of who you are and what you've achieved so far in the industry. Yeah.
So, you know, I started out as a lonely programmer back in, you know, doing COBOL and so on. You know, I don't know if you want to know that, but, um, but I did grow up through learning about digital transformation before anybody ever called it that. Right. We were just trying to figure out how to solve business problems with digital solutions. And things that I learned along the way were like how to make people's lives better, how to make, you know, software programs and things that don't make people feel stupid because their first line of work has nothing to do with the computer. Things like when I worked for the athletic clubs in Chicago where, you know, you have a tennis person or a sales person who that's not their day job. The computer isn't, but it's just a means to an end. So making sure that, you know, you create something that they can work with and work with easier from there. You know, I was a chief digital officer at the American Association of Diabetes Educators, spent some time at Northshore University Hospital working on their digital teams. And then my dream got to be reality when I got to move to my favorite city, Charleston, and actually live here full time. So I started here about a year ago and, uh, started up a brand new area for the organization, the digital transformation department, with a team of one, which was me. And then I brought on Franco. And now we're starting to grow our team. And, uh, and we're really building it up and building it up slowly, but with really strong components. So I think we'll get into that in a little bit.
Fantastic. Uh, Franco, over to you. Tell us a little bit about yourself. I know this isn't the first role you've held at Musk, and you've worked elsewhere as well.
Yeah. So, yeah, thanks for the group for having me here. So my background is traditionally I came up through a patient access center within the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. So it was always interesting because I was on the front lines when my chart first got deployed. And that for me, was like my first kind of foot into what technology can do for patients. And, you know, we had lofty goals at that time. We wanted adoption rates at about 80% of the patients in our primary care location to adopt Mychart. And that really kind of piqued my interest in what does actual digital software in health care, what can it do for the patient? So every kind of step along the way in my career, I've kind of tried to take on a piece of of technology within my department because to Krystal's background, right. You have your traditional staff who are really embedded in that work, but then you have frontline people who kind of get an awareness of it, but not always involved. So I made it a I made it a priority. And it's funny, you know, full circle moment was in 2018, I came to Musk to present at the East Coast Core event that was held at Musk, and I was asked to do it on automation for estimates. At that time, it was a big thing, and my me presenting at Musk actually led to me like falling in love with the city of Charleston. So, you know, three years later, I actually, you know, show back up at Musk. And I worked I've worked in revenue cycle for probably the past decade or so. So, you know, coming over to Krystal's team with my background in operations and leveraging some of that technology and knowing, you know, that piece of it has kind of lent to kind of moving into this role a little bit more seamless than I would have anticipated, actually. So, you know, the long term revenue cycle, professional patient access and operations while also kind of transitioning, you know, in the digital space. So very excited to take on this work.
Fantastic revenue cycle. So when I was working in health systems I avoided revenue cycle like the plague. But I'm so glad to have someone like yourself who's deeply involved in operations as part of the digital strategy team, because I think, you know, people who are more on the strategy and big vision and consumers, yeah, sometimes can be a little bit unhinged from reality. So I'm sure the skill sets you bring are well needed in the transformation team. Um, let's start a little bit. I. I would imagine not everyone is familiar with the Medical University of South Carolina. And so I wonder, Chris, if you could just, you know, take a few minutes to explain the organization, as I've come to know know it more. I've realized it's a true beast in South Carolina in that region. But we'd love for you to just take it, take some time to explain who you are, the breadth and depth and scope of the organization. Yeah.
So we are celebrating our 200th anniversary as a medical university here in South Carolina, which is really exciting. It's our bicentennial year. We handle over 1.6 million patient encounters annually. We have grown from being just in Charleston to supporting the entire state of South Carolina. So that gives us some some interesting opportunities, because not only do we have big city Charleston, but we have rural populations in very, very spread out areas without throughout South Carolina. So that whole breadth of things we have, you know, 1500 physicians, over 26,000 employees, we have research, we have university, we have six colleges. We have a lot of specialties. I think people, when they think of the Medical University of South Carolina, think about our specialty practices. We have an award winning cancer center, a great children's hospital, a lot of really deep specialties in cardiology and oncology. And so so those are some some of the exciting places that we're at. We also have a one of two centers of telehealth across the country. And so one of the places I mean, we are very much into innovation and what innovation can do, and we embrace that as a core fundamental of what we try to do. So we were doing telehealth way before Covid hit. So when Covid hit, you know, little old South Carolina was one of the states that really was able to embrace and take care of things very quickly and, and come up to speed before other states were.
That's fantastic. And, Franco, what would you add about South Carolina, about Charleston in general? What's it like being a resident there and being someone that's from there?
Yeah, I have to say southern hospitality is a real thing. Okay. I have never, you know, being from a big city up north, you know, was kind of you wouldn't think it's intimidating to come to a kind of a small town vibe. But it is, right, because you never know how you know the perception. But I've felt every step of the way, like this city and and really, the state of South Carolina has been just welcoming and crystal. And I know Crystal probably feels the same way. So Charleston is really there's a there's a charm to it that really you know, I see this as home.
It's fantastic. I've heard your downtown floods from time to time. Is that true?
Yes. Are we.
Dabble?
All right. Well, that's that's a good trade off for the she crab soup that I've tried a few times when I'm in Charleston.
That's it. Nothing but the finest.
Yes. All right, well, let's dive into that and start talking about this transformation team that you all have set up. Maybe starting with you, Chris. So can you tell us a little bit about, you know, what is it that your team is actually trying to achieve and what does it look like in terms of people and roles and how you thought about it as you've been with Musk now for just over a year? Yeah.
So, so transformation is a bunch of different things. Zane, as you and I have talked before. But it's you know, a lot of it is our consumer strategy and our digital front door. But as we think more about I and some other things, it's not just taking care of our consumers and giving them access and, and making it easy to find the care that they need. But it's also taking care of our providers and our team members. Right. So making a doctor's life better because they use an automated scribe, helping other care team members, helping revenue cycle get through, you know, that billing cycle so that they're doing the hard stuff and not having to to type in to various provider sites, helping our patient access center handle the hardest calls and letting you know, maybe a bot answer the earlier calls. And so looking for places where we can solve pain points to make people's lives better, whether it's on the care team or it's our providers. So as we look at that and we're bombarded every day with a variety of digital solutions, one of the things that my team is tasked to do, we're outside of it, by the way. So we have our great IT folks. They keep the lights on, they have epic, they have ServiceNow, they have workday, all of those really big heavy core systems. My department was brought on to kind of take, you know, once we decided that we might want to work on a solution and try to pilot it, see if it's going to work, figure out how we could operationalize it and grow it within the organization. So that comes from everything from Dax, which is a pilot that Frank has been working on to a whole new website redesign that we're working on with our marketing team. So as we started looking to this department, how we were going to grow originally, I thought, oh, it's going to be a skunkworks. We're going to get a bunch of programmers in there and they'll start, you know, connecting things and developing things. And and then I got here, I was like, well, wait a minute. We're we're not building anything. We're bringing in providers because for us to build something, we just don't have the staff to do that. So instead we're we're partnering with various software developers packages, whatever you want to call them, taking them, bring them in and then figuring out how to plug them into epic or plug them into workday to make them work. And so it's it's a lot of business and. Analysis, which we're actually going to hire a business analyst this year. Thinking about configuration analysts, somebody that actually much like an epic configurator for cadence or something, some of these softwares are becoming such grown up pieces of work onto themselves. They need an analyst to work out their dashboards or look at those KPIs. Things like that really knew that we needed someone with Franco's expertise to kind of make sure that operational component, which Franco is so strong in, can, you know, talk to the people in these departments, figure out what they need, how it's going to make it work in the workflow, because you can't just put software on top of the work that they're doing. It has to take away something you can't keep adding to the people and what they work they have. But I think our biggest one, and I think Franco can expound on this one that we hired was a change manager, because while we bring in technology, that's 25 to 40% of what we do. The rest of it is the change management. It's communicating that this is coming, communicating again how you can work, communicating how you can change your things, making sure that you know that soup to nuts from when we pilot all the way through to how we're rolling it out to supporting people at the elbow afterwards, to making sure they're still using it 3 or 4 months from now, because that's another big problem with new technology. You bring it out, you try it, everybody's really excited about it. And then a couple of months later, they've gone back to their old ways because it wasn't as easy as they thought and it was just extra work. Franco, I talked a lot about what would you add to to that kind of our thought process for this?
Yeah, I think really going into the change management piece. Right. That has been such a it's been a learning experience for a lot of people because the idea of change management, in theory, it makes sense, right? It's making sure that there's a liaison between the old and the new and making sure that the staff feel comfortable with the implementations. But as we've gone on this journey, we've really seen that we get bogged down with project management versus change management versus project management. And where does the Venn diagram start and begin for some of these folks? For us, it was important to kind of hit a home run with this hire and make sure that this person came with years of experience in deploying technologies and making sure that we have a framework for what change management looks like. So, you know, as we've kind of deployed and we've had some projects over the last few months that are in different, probably different cycles of where they're deployed. So our change manager, starting in December has really seen projects, mid flight projects that are being optimized and projects that are teeing off to launch. And there's you know, it's been a lesson learned for us to you know, what will we do differently next time. Who would we engage differently. Right. Communication is so key. Yet it's so difficult. Right. We talk about it all the time, but we never have the conversations with the key stakeholders at points. You know, I think in terms of technology when we're deploying this, it's been as long as you're communicating and people are in the know, then people really give you grace and like, okay, if things go south, they know it's technology and people are a lot more agile than you would than you would think. But the key has been communicating what the change is, what the impact is, what resources they need. And then, you know, working with clinicians. Right. It's we're we're trying to give them the white glove treatment to make sure that we get this technology in your hands. You have minimal questions to ask in terms of usage. So we're learning a lot. And I think, you know Crystal, just to push on that piece of change management, it's been it's probably been a long time coming with the different things we've done. And it doesn't you know, change management is not just specific to technology. I think we needed it previously for process changes as well. So yeah, that's been our world the last few months is making sure that we have to learn to get better. And that's we're definitely in the learning phase right now. Sure.
You know what I'm hearing, what I'm taking from what you both said is sounds like, you know, a successful digital transformation team, in a sense, are really diplomats in an organization shuttling diplomacy around the organization and getting stakeholders to see the vision and then buy into it, I guess, what have been some maybe surprises or revelations, as you all have been pulling people together to, you know, go after your consumer digital vision. Has anything interesting come of it from stakeholders? Maybe negative, maybe positive? Yeah.
I think one thing is that, you know, we started when we started working on our roadmap involving a bunch of stakeholders and putting them all in the room together. They were like, thank you so much for organizing this. Thank you for bringing us all together. We never talked to each other and it was like, yeah, yeah. I was like, what? Like, we're so glad you're here because you're making us talk to each other and we're solving problems that, you know, because we were never brought into a room before because we were so busy doing our day to day that we didn't take time to do this. And so now it's like, oh, it's another crystal workshop. There'll be paper on the walls. We'll be talking about this and this, but but, you know, the energy and stuff that you get from talking to people and hearing about their problems and how they solve or how they can work together, I think that that there isn't enough of that. And I think part of this, because we came out and I just started this right after Covid, so people hadn't been used to being with each other either. So, so getting them back together, getting them back in the same room and actually having them have those discussions, I think has been has been, I think, a key to our secret sauce in the success. Franco, what else would you say? Yeah, and.
I actually, Chris, I actually forgot about that because I actually complimented you way back. Want to say. I'm actually shocked that, you know, having been here for two and a half years at that time, that it was shocking to me that we just never sat down to talk about the current state of just technology and where are we at with the innovation space. And then I think what you saw was a lot of the leaders in that room all agreed with some of the principles that we kind of like, we kind of put down on paper and that that hadn't happened, you know, probably a few years. Right? We had Covid, we had other things. But just to sit down with certain groups and just to understand, like what their pain points are, how can we help? Because at the end of the day, right, we're all doing this with the patient at the forefront. So with that common goal, right with with what we're trying to achieve, like we could all get on, we could all get on board with that thought, because at the end of the day, we all have the same goal. And that's the support. You know, our patients, our students, our providers, really everybody who we view as our clients.
Well, on that point, typically, and in my experience trying to herd cats within a massive institution, it can be a political nightmare. There's a lot of ego sometimes, and people who might agree to your face but disagree behind your back or in reality. And so curious. Franco and Crystal, as you all have again been, these diplomats trying to push the organization towards the future. Are there any like leadership behaviors or facilitation methods that have proven themselves to be really helpful to get people on one page and ultimately do what you just described? Maybe Franco, if you want to start with your opinion?
Yeah, I think and that's a great question because it's a cultural thing too, right? Like, hey, we're bringing in this technology. And honestly, I found that just being like, you know, we're using buzzwords, but if you just be transparent and open, like, listen, this is new technology. We haven't done this before. Here's the steps. And if you start to call out some of the risks and barriers that you might anticipate down the road, I think again, using that transparency and just being honest and open, and also not saying that the technology we're implementing is going to solve all of your problems, right. Like with recently with Microsoft, the Dax copilot that we launched, we're saying we want it to be a tool in the provider's tool belt. We don't need you to go to it 100% of the time. We just need you to use it when it's when it's best for you and to make sure it's used there. So I really feel like just having a genuine approach and just saying, like, listen, we don't know what this is going to look like, but if you use it to its capabilities, we're confident you'll see whatever that ROI is, right? A reduction in providers spending, documenting after hours. Right? What a novel concept. We would like to take the burden off providers. So if you lead with the why and especially with Dax, we had a bunch of providers signing up saying, I would love to use that because I would like to spend less time documenting on the weekend. So that's part of it. So, Chris, I don't know what other thoughts what you have there.
I think, um, we're Switzerland, right? We're not for or against or anything. So everybody tells us their problems and they sometimes that is, you know, oh, this group here doesn't want to talk to us. This group won't work with us. And we're just kind of like, okay, well, but together on this project we can make that happen. And so we do a lot of brokering of communication to which, which is kind of an interesting place to be because we're trying to do something new. And so we have to bring in, you know, this group or this group or this group. I said, but I also think that we're very, very fortunate here because we have a very supportive senior leadership team. I think Doctor Cauley is very forward thinking. I think he really wants to see us using technology. I think Doctor Cole feels the same way. He's our president. So across the organization you know he's all about you know teaching people AI and making sure people understand how to use AI. So you know, when we were putting together something, he's like, well, I was in ChatGPT today and I did this and this and this, and that's where I got this list. And I'm like, okay, well, you did it better than I could. So that's perfect.
That's awesome.
So the fact that, you know, they're doing that and that, you know, we get books from them and we get articles and we, you know, we are in an early stage. We were already like, hey, you know, put together some stuff so that we can teach our senior leadership about AI and start bringing that over and over again to meetings so people will understand what it is. And, you know, they've been talking about digital transformation for two years before I got here and what that might be and what you know, that it was a necessary part of where we were going to be if we wanted to compete in the, you know, new global marketplace. So I think that really helps set the stage for me and my department to grow into that. And, you know, when I need support and, and something maybe isn't flying exactly the way I had hoped, which rarely happens, but occasionally it does then, you know, I know I can go to the leadership team, whether it's the overall leadership team or Doctor Corley for advice, or Rick Anderson, who's on the university side and say, hey, I'm stuck here. I can't, I can't move this lever. What can we do to make this happen? Or how should I approach this differently? And, and, you know, I get a lot of really good counsel and advice, which I really appreciate.
Krista, what would your advice be to some of your peers in the industry who maybe are struggling to engage their either colleagues in the C-suite or their CFO or their CEO? I mean, obviously it sounds like the Musk leadership team, before you came, you know, had already primed the pump. But how have you maintained. Those relationships and continue to demonstrate you and your team's value, and also continue to continue to communicate the vision to them. Like, why is this important to achieve? Give us, give us some tips.
We have to communicate often. So, you know, bringing back, you know, oh, we started this project. This time I'm going to come back and just tell you where we're at. So it doesn't become a pilot. That just kind of flew under the radar. And now it's doing something, you know, bringing back, you know, that everybody likes the hard ROI, right? They like to know that you cut this headcount, or you save this much money or bring in this much other money. There's some other things that that are as important to, you know, bringing back stories from the providers. Franco and I are working on this now for Dax, like actual providers and what they're saying about how they use it or bringing in, you know, patient experience. You know, we lean on our folks to to go, okay, we're thinking about check out what would you like it to look like. What would you like it to sound like. You know, what should the icon be? And getting some of that feedback back and then sharing that amongst, um, the organization or in our case, we're actually going to have our employees vote on our chat bot, what her name should be, what she should look like.
Call it Zane, please call it Zane.
Perfect, perfect.
That would be amazing.
That would be amazing.
But I'll tell you, you know, we did bring it to, you know, some of our, our feedback and they're like, you know, don't give it a really wild name. Make it very comfortable, very homey, that kind of stuff. So so it's not going to be named Crystal either, I'm sorry to say.
Oh my goodness.
But there can only be one, so that's fine.
That's fantastic. Curious. And you sort of brought it up here a little bit in my view, like so many health systems, even though they're going down their path towards digital transformation, aren't always great at really incorporating the voice of the customer or the voice of health consumers or patients. And so I know you talked about your Patient Family Advisory Council just now, but we'd love to hear a little bit more. How are you thinking about truly incorporating the voice of end users into how you think about designing your digital transformation, your roadmap, your roadmap, your products, your services?
Yeah, I think, you.
Know, we've definitely been circulating the vision and talking about it amongst a variety of teams around the organization. When we've talked about designs of certain things, we've brought them to our folks and go, okay, do like A or B better and Y. And they've been really good about giving us advice. We just did a survey with about 375 users that came back. You know, we just asked them, how do you feel about AI? Where would you feel comfortable having AI being used or not used? And we gave them a variety of, of opportunities to, to comment on that. And it was it was surprising. You know, everybody knows AI. They know about it. About 60% of the people are comfortable with it. But, you know, they don't want it in their clinical space. They're happy if I'm using it for the back office or some other stuff. But so that really opened our eyes to, to go, you know, we need to make sure that when we communicate out that we're using certain types of technology, we need to share why, how what we're using this for. And, you know, we're not taking your data and sending it to the cloud so that it can do something crazy. We're using this for this. Our bots aren't going to be taking over all of your care. Everything will have a human in the loop kind of thing is what they're saying now. Right. And so we have, you know, Dax, when it does, when the provider's done, they have to read the note before it goes in your chart. Or if we do AI in the inbox, it'll be, you know, reviewed before it goes in the chart, that kind of stuff. So so we're definitely making those allowances. And we need to make sure that we share that with, with the public that, you know, that's how we're using these types of tools as well.
Nice human in the loop. I've not heard that phrase yet. I'm gonna hold on to it.
And I think, uh, just to kind of compliment some of the things that Crystal said, the fact our patient family advisory councils are critical to our success, just to kind of lay it out there. Right. And, Zane, your question about the end user, it's really twofold for us, right? The end user being the patient, but also internally the user of the technology. So like the way that I see this too right. The reason that we go to the patient advisory councils is to solicit feedback on, you know, what we're deploying, good, bad or indifferent, we need to hear it because that has to shape how we deploy things or what we're looking at. And it really goes even a little bit further than that. Right? It's called it's all about that brand protection and making sure that if the patients know that we're taking into consideration their opinions and what they feel, then at the end of the day, they feel like they have a trusted partner versus us just, you know, and I think a lot of health care organizations do this. You operate from 30,000ft. You just you implement the nice shiny tool, but you didn't ask your end users, you didn't ask your patients. Or in our scenarios with Amelia coming out with our voice chatbot, it's, you know, what does the patient Access center feel when this change happens? So with our patients, it's making sure that the patient family advisory councils are engaged. It's also a strategic marketing campaign as well to make sure that we're glossing not glossing over, but making sure we're hitting on all the points that, you know, would impact the patient's experience with Musk. And then internally, that's where that change management comes for those end users, right. Making sure that we're doing our own internal campaigning and making sure that those users feel fully confident that when we do deploy on this date, that everything and all of your concerns. Been taken into consideration and addressed because if not, we haven't done this correctly. So I think we protect the brand by just being transparent and a little bit more thoughtful in how we deploy things.
Yeah, I think that's an important connecting piece here, if you will, because I think it comes even more into play when I'm considering the deployment of what we'd consider consumer centered solutions, because I feel like there's this perception out there, and maybe it isn't the situation in your institution, but maybe it is to some degree. But I feel like there's a perception out there in general that when you talk about putting consumers needs more at the center of the design process, that means clinicians needs get pushed away and no one wants that. I do feel it's easy to feel that way when we start talking about something that needs to be consumer centered. Maybe we need to redesign a process or the operations of how something works. And I don't know if that's the case first and foremost, but if it is, if that's what an institution is working through as one of the ways to become more consumer centered, they're dealing with this perception. Any tips on how to do that and how to work through that perception? How do we help everyone understand that when you're putting the consumers needs in the center, that doesn't mean that someone else's needs get forgotten or ignored?
Yeah, I think it's it's a combination of both. I mean, let's face it, EHRs were meant to be the back end for the system. They are not a consumer digital strategy or a consumer front door. Right? So they're just to gather that information. And and I think a lot of doctors, when the EHRs came out hated them too, because it was so much more work and it was so much harder. And and even now, I don't know anyone that goes, I can't wait to go work on my EHR today. You know, no nurse said, I want to be in nursing so I can work in an EHR. But you have to. I mean, that's that's the nature of the beast. But wherever we can do to have a shortcut or an AI or something else that, you know, you can speak instead of type, those kinds of things are ways to make those things better for people. And I think, you know, the teams appreciate when we try to find solutions to do that. But when we start adding like, okay, well, you're going to use this now, and that means you have to do ten more steps because the patient will see this. That's not a good balance of a choice between the two. You want something that's easy, really easy for the patients because you want them to have easy access to care, but you don't want it to overburden the front desk. You don't want it to overburden the doctors, the nurses, whoever. Um, and so in some, some cases, we've been really, really successful. We had we now do pre-registration through notable. And you know, that cuts down 3 to 5 minutes per person who comes in the door so the front desk can actually look at somebody and go, hello, Mrs. Smith. It's so nice. That's wonderful. Instead of passing that clipboard over and then making them go sit down. Right. That's the difference in what we can do and start bringing joy back to patients and the providers and letting them actually look people in the eye and start feeling like they're being taken care of again. I think that's satisfying on both sides of the aisle. Absolutely.
And it sounds like a big part of that is how we market it or sell it, if you will, internally to those stakeholders and help everyone understand not only how it works, but how it's benefiting them. The more that that message gets out there over time, you get this recognition eventually that these are all good things. These are helping us. So when I start to think about where all of this gets us, what's the destination? We always like to look ahead about what if things go right? I for one, I feel like we can easily focus in this industry on what if things go wrong? But what if things go right? What if we keep making progress in this area? What if digital health continues to take hold? What does that future start to look like? And are there some areas that we think are more naturally going to improve faster than others?
A lot of what we're doing is process refinement for them. Looking at the opportunities to implement a technology solution that betters, right the scenarios that we're looking at. And one of the one of the items that we're looking at right now is right. Everyone knows about it. Patient access. Right. It's unlocking schedules online. Right. To make sure that patients can meet us where they want to be seen. So that what does that mean? That means if that means looking at 1500 provider templates to make sure that we can give patients access all across the state of South Carolina, then we have to do that. And really over the next three years, right. We almost have like our prerequisites. Let's unlock access. Right. Let's look at some of our journey. And maybe let's look at a personalization for what our patients are actually looking for. So if we look at the access piece, if we open up how patients can receive care at Musk, right then we can start to play with the nice toys and the certain areas. But it's almost like for us, it's digital transformation is almost like reviewing a process, making sure that process is sound, and then leveraging leveraging technology where we can we don't want to layer technology on the bad process, right? We want to layer technology into a group that knows what they're doing, so that we could focus on some of those other tactics. So, Chris, I'll turn that over to you for additional thoughts.
Yeah, I think it's it's that I think on the other side of it, if we if we get the processes right to be able to have the technology come in, I think one thing that we have to start seeing from these technology companies is making it easier. If it takes me 18 months to put in a project. By then, we've lost the momentum, we've lost everything else. There is no health system in the country that's like, I have unlimited IT resources, and I can't wait to deploy them on a project where we have to connect our EHR to. Software in a second software and a third software, because the EHR doesn't do it and have all these people to scuttle around and do this all day, I think, you know, we have to, you know, we have to find ways to make that connection easier so that we can just plug in and then unplug and plug in something else when something doesn't work. And we are so not there yet in a place where it's easy for us to deploy these solutions and make them, you know that there's a lot of work and a lot of in it stretched, and we can't just get more bodies on it. That doesn't exist because our air is different from everyone else's EHR, because everybody can set it up a different way. So there is no plug and play, and that's something that, you know, that we will continue to struggle with in order to make these changes and make them better.
Oh, I love that. And I think it all winds up getting us to realize again what all this is for, right? Who does it benefit? It benefits everyone. It benefits not just clinicians, not just patients, not just one set of groups anywhere. It benefits everyone. It benefits our whole community. And so it gets us to a better state of health at the end of the day for our entire society. So if you could share a message with consumers who do feel like they're getting caught in the system, they feel it's too difficult to navigate the system, but they do want care. At the end of the day, maybe they're just struggling with the process. We've talked a lot about that process. So what message do you have for them?
I would say provide feedback.
I think there's a lot of mechanisms. You know, you get your press ganey at the end of a cycle and it's like, oh gosh, I don't want to enter another survey. But you know, if you don't put in your feedback on it, we don't know what to do to make it better. With our notable solution, we get feedback all the time. We ask at the end of every encounter was that a thumbs up? Thumbs down, and we give people a paragraph to fill in if they want to. Some people don't, but we get a lot of feedback there and we've changed the process. We've put it into Spanish. We took, you know, people that have multiple appointments in a week. We now send one reminder instead of three. And like because patients told us this was too much and we like we like the process, but we'd like it more smoothed down. And so we've made those changes because of our patient feedback. And I think I think that's a big part of being able to make things better. On the flip side, for those systems that are just starting with this, don't be afraid to reach out to other systems. I think one of the things that I found, I mean, I've worked in a lot of industries, but healthcare, especially at the end of the day, everybody's just trying to make it better for the patient. And so I haven't found someone that I've met yet. That's like, I'm like, hey, how did you do that? And they say, nope, I can't talk to you because you're another health system. They're all like, hey, let me tell you. Let me show you the reports. Let me talk about the ways we went through this. And I've made a lot of friends across the country just by asking questions, or vice versa. If I'm at a conference and they ask me, and then we stay in touch and share ideas and share. So this is the most collaborative community on the planet is the digital transformation community. In health systems, people just want to share and they want to make it better for everyone. It's not like I'm going to be the best and nobody else can touch me. It's like, let's make it better for all of America. And I think that's something that is really unique in healthcare today.
Yeah. And just to complement that, I'd say, right. It's important for our patients to know and our consumers to know that we're not we're not implementing things to just increase our costs. Right. We're doing this to improve access to care. At Musk, we're doing this to increase or improve patient outcomes. We want to enhance patient engagement. And without their direct feedback or their direct involvement in those deployments were the sum of our parts. And the patients and the consumers are a part of that. Everything we're doing is to put the patient at that forefront and and that continuous feedback loop to make sure that we're not making any assumptions when deploying, whether that's how a voice bot sounds or an icon looks right. We want to make sure that we take into account all opinions and backgrounds. So we're not we're not just doing what we think is best.
We'll have to maybe bring you back in a year to see what progress you've made. Wow.
Well, you've both given us so much to think about. And I want to thank you for joining us today with that. That's a wrap for this episode. We've had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Krystal Broy and Frank Cardillo from Musk. Thanks so much for joining us today. We had a great time.
Thanks, guys. Thank you very much.
Thanks for tuning in. If you like what you heard, please spread the word. Tell your colleagues to tune in for all the awesomeness, then leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. This show is produced by Shift Forward Health, the channel for change makers. Subscribe to Shift Forward Health on your favorite podcast app, and you'll be subscribed to our entire library of shows. See our full lineup at Shift Forward Health.com one subscription. All the podcasts you need, and it's all for free. And remember, we might have a lot of work to do in healthcare, but we'll get there faster together. Thanks again!