Robert Budman, MD, MBA CDI-P, serves as the Chief Medical Information Officer for Piedmont Healthcare.
On May 10th, Dr. Robert Budman will present at Becker's Health IT + Clinical Leadership 2018. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place May 10-11th 2018 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Dr. Budman's session, click here.
Question: Describe one of your best colleagues. What it is that person does/brings that makes them indispensable to your organization?
Dr. Robert Budman: I feel the best colleague is the collaborative, cooperative and open-minded coworker. That is the person who does not succumb to the human tendency of being egocentric on every decision. They truly dive in and do what is best for the patients or the organization. There is also a fine line between over managing and under managing employees on a project. The indispensable person understands what requires a mapped-out plan and that which does not.
Q: What did you notice about your healthcare experience the last time you were at the receiving end as a patient?
RB: There are couple things that stand out for me as well as others whom I've spoken to. First and foremost is the insurmountable amount of paperwork and forms, even digital ones. Secondly, the number of times questions are repeated when answers already exist within the database of the EHR is significant. And finally, even for myself after 35 years in medicine, I still cannot figure out a medical bill. After all this, the care I received from the providers and ancillary services has been outstanding. I have been very lucky in that respect.
Q: Share a new consumer-centric capability your organization has built or tapped into within the past 18 months.
RB: We recently installed a way-finding app that patients can download to their smartphones. One just enters the location like an X-ray department or an office and it will help navigate the way. The interesting part is they have incorporated some game-like features to see who can accumulate points and stars, so it makes it a little fun along the way. The beauty of it from my perspective, after a long career in healthcare, is people are often lost in the maze of the hospital and clinics. This helps to solve that.
Question: Who or what are the disruptors that have your attention? Why?
RB: Epic. I believe its market focus on moving to a "light" product as well as cloud-based hosting makes sense. On top of their already stellar customer service and engagement with expert consulting services in-house, plus the numerous third-party consultants, makes the Epic-integrated EHR product hard to beat.
Q: How do you define patient engagement?
RB: Firstly, patient engagement seems to be one of those catchy terms lately, like meaningful use a couple years ago. Then the catchphrase became population health, and now again with machine learning and artificial intelligence. Patient engagement is so wide reaching with different organizations focusing on many varied tools and pathways to a presumed goal. In the end, I believe what they are really looking at is maintaining brand loyalty through a good product — satisfied patients who do not leave for another doctor or organization. [These are organizations that] remember patients, who deliver good care and trust you [to] make referrals to others. It is not always because of some fancy app or high-tech intervention. It is a plus if you do have fancy high-tech tools if they work and they are reliable and easy to use.