Jon Russell, former CIO of John Muir Health in Walnut Creek, Calif., shares three key thoughts on the health system's strategy to improve the patient experience with technology.
1. Engage customers digitally with tools to provide an "Apple-like" experience. "As the whole world becomes more digitally engaged, healthcare has to continue to figure out how to provide that kind of digital environment that patients expect," said Mr. Russell. "There is a huge opportunity for a lot of third-party companies that are focused on this space to really partner with health systems and thrive."
2. John Muir invested in Epic's patient engagement tool and plans to continue leveraging that next year. The health system plans to build off the Epic foundational toolset to find new ways to improve the patient experience. "You've got to have the rationalization for adding something new," said Mr. Russell. "We need to identify the tools we want to provide to our customers to be competitive and provide them a seamless experience."
3. The health system will also look to third party partnerships to plug any gaps in the patient experience. Ideally, the patient won't know the difference between the Epic foundational tool set and the added applications. "We need to tie all the tools and applications together, and that has to be part of the organizational strategy," said Mr. Russell.