Kelly Morrison serves as Director of Remote and Retail Pharmacy Services for Cardinal Health.
On May 3rd, Kelly will serve on the panel "Patient Satisfaction and Cost Reduction in Pharmaceutical Care" at Becker's Health IT + Clinical Leadership + Pharmacy conference. 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 2-4, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Kelly's session, click here.
Question: What do innovators/entrepreneurs from outside healthcare need to better understand about hospital and health system leaders?
Kelly Morrison: It’s important for business partners to understand three key aspects of hospital and health system leaders: First, they need to understand the economic drivers behind healthcare that are impactful to and challenging for-profit and non-profit systems. Second, they should have a clear understanding of innovation that has a direct impact on patient care. There are great innovations in other industries that can appear to expand into and benefit healthcare; however, these must comply with national- and state-specific regulatory requirements or have the flexibility to be easily modified as the landscape continues to change. This leads to the third aspect: they need to acknowledge the complexities of the regulatory landscape. Without a clear understanding of the regulatory landscape and an ease to adapt with continuous changes, innovations and investments could adversely impact a hospital’s economics and negate or minimize the expected benefits to patient care.
Q: If you could eliminate one of the healthcare industry’s problems overnight, which would it be?
KM: Interoperability continues to be a significant challenge for healthcare, especially as new technology solutions continue to enter the market, and because virtually all providers across the entire healthcare continuum use various, disparate technology providers to facilitate patient care. Integration is critical to maximize safety and efficiency by enabling a seamless workflow for the providers, payers and patients.
Over the last several years, many health systems have diverged from using ‘best in breed’ niche technologies and instead invested in large EHR technology platforms to achieve greater integration. While this helps address integration within the hospital setting, many EHR platforms still lack functionality to address specialty areas and non-acute care settings, which is why additional technology providers must be leveraged to help manage the patient population throughout the care continuum.
Moreover, with merger and acquisition activity on the rise, many health systems find themselves managing multiple EHR platforms, often for long periods of time, and are challenged with integrating these technology platforms. As a result, health system leaders must contend with a fragmented technology environment that does not facilitate efficient workflows or easily provide real-time, accessible information when managing patients throughout the care continuum.
Q: What technological advancement is poised to change healthcare the most?
KM: There are many advancements taking place with Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly with the development of ‘bot’ automation commonly referred to as Health Chatbots. Chatbots are services that people interact with through an automated messenger, and Health Chatbots are designed to help with health-related issues, such as providing health-related information, setting up appointments and reminders and guiding you through insurance-related needs. While these chatbots certainly have limitations compared with person-to-person support, a key benefit is the convenience of quick responses and guidance. We are just beginning to explore the potential this technology can bring to healthcare.
The key with this, and any technological advancement in healthcare, though, is to ensure that we preserve and strengthen the human, compassionate part of care delivery. Technology advancements and innovation should facilitate interpersonal care delivery or free up provider time to focus more on patient care activities.