Ash Goel, MD, MBA, serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Informatics Officer at Bronson Healthcare Group.
Ash will serve on the panel "Disrupt the C-Suite for More Diversity and Better Ideas" at Becker's Hospital Review 12th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place in Chicago from April 25-28, 2022.
To learn more about the conference and Ash's sessions, click here.
Q: What are your top priorities for 2022?
Ash Goel: This year is turning out to be one that, hopefully, will allow us to pick up where we left off at the end of 2019 . A lot of the planned and forward-looking activities in healthcare that had to be caused because of the pandemic will resume. Investing in some of the long-delayed initiatives has been keeping us busy, even though the possibilities and the needs have shifted significantly. One of the highest priority for me is to invest and reinvest in the people that have been working incessantly for the last two years and have, in some ways, put a pause to their own careers and growth. I look forward to focusing on talent development, building skills and identifying opportunities for gaps, the organization needs us to be focused on. We have a significant technology transformation work underway, which includes modernization of our infrastructure, rethinking of end-user device experiences, learning from the shifting demands that the pandemic has taught us to adapt to, including flexibility in collaboration, end-user device management and security, consumer experiences-both for our employees and also our patients, as well as investing in partnerships that will allow us to grow.
Q: What technologies and innovations are you most excited about in healthcare right now?
AG: I'm looking forward to the continued shift in how technical and operating systems are designed and used to help make better decisions and reduce information gaps and friction. This will play out both in the clinical space and in the consumer space. Focus on improving clinical decision-making via effective harnessing of data will accelerate, allowing better user interfaces in EMR's and mobile computing as well as progressive use of technologies such as IoT devices, and consumer centric designs of traditional applications and processes such as and patient engagement platforms and clinical communications. In addition there is a continued drive towards reducing internal waste and information gap, by enabling hybrid teams to work flexibly, enhance efficiency of individuals output through access to data in real-time (handheld devices, centralized command centers, unified communication platforms and devices) that will become more prevalent.
Q: What will the lasting legacy of COVID-19 be on the healthcare system?
AG: The last couple of years have demonstrated the ability of healthcare organizations to shake off inflexible and long-held beliefs around their business models and how they approach patient care. While the starkest examples came from the push forward in virtual technologies and new avenues to delivering care, from systems management perspective, the biggest legacy of the pandemic has been around reducing friction, opening up of ecosystems and mindsets to allow for rapid cycle change and recognition of the need for this to accelerate. Healthcare, as a whole, forms overheating percent of the country's GDP. The economic drivers alone are helping organizations rethink how they can compete with the tech giants and take some leaves out of their playbook, such as focus on consumer experience, reinvesting in technology to deliver more value and look at shorter planning cycles that are closer to where the market sentiments are going.
Q: What advice do you have for emerging healthcare leaders today?
AG: The healthcare industry has a lot to offer, a lot to learn and certainly a lot of opportunities to become better. What is unique about this industry is that there is an inherent connection to a cause which is so fundamental to how we live and work as a society – human health and well-being. This is why, I have, for the last 25 years, enjoyed every moment of it. It can be frustrating, it can be very slow moving and look grossly under resourced, under planned and disorganized place to work in. But, when you look at the culture that drives everyone in this field– it is all about helping others and excelling at what we do. This was evident throughout the pandemic – from the nurses and the doctors, to the EVS staff, the IT engineers, the Pharmacists, the Food services staff, to the researchers and the scientists, to the leaders that have worked with one purpose in mind – saving lives, comforting individuals, helping heal, improve well being and above all – helping us all be a bit more “human”.