In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Luis Saldana, MD, the chief medical information officer at Texas Health Resources, which is based in Arlington, Texas.
Dr. Saldana will speak during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference on "EHR Consolidation, Streamlining and Making EHR Useful," at 9:45 a.m. Friday, Sept. 21. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.
Question: How does your organization gain physician buy-in when it is implementing a new technology or solution?
Dr. Luis Saldana: The most important thing here is to involve your clinicians directly in the governance process so they have an active role in evaluating, prioritizing and in implementing these solutions. Their role in each of these steps varies depending on the scope of the clinical impact of the technology in consideration so you are best leveraging their capabilities. Physicians need to understand the value of a technology along with how it aligns with care delivery workflows. They don't necessarily want deep engagement on every technology we implement, but they do if it has an impact on their workflows or if it impacts patient care. So use their time and skills wisely.
Measurement from the start is important. Be clear with them about the goals the technology will support and the value it will help [them] to achieve. It is also important for the governance process to be viewed as fair and consistent, so having a broad representation of physician voices in the process is key. In the end, your processes will be judged by the results you achieve, so it is in everyone's best interest to engage key stakeholders early and often.
Q: What is the most exciting thing happening in health IT right now? And what is the most overrated health IT trend?
LS: There is so much exciting work going on in health IT right now. I am very excited about consumer-facing and patient engagement technologies. I believe these technologies can help to reshape the priorities of health systems. Consumers are demanding different experiences with their health and they tend to see it more holistically than physicians and other providers do. This will move the bar for health systems and reshape market dynamics, in my opinion.
At the same time, cognitive technologies including voice input show great promise in supporting improved care delivery for patients as well as physicians. I think the real challenge here is in learning how to leverage them most effectively so that everyone builds confidence in these tools. I think one way to do this is not necessarily in engaging them to solve our biggest problems, but in how they can support and enhance user experience with everyday tools and experiences.
I would hate to say a technology is 'overrated' as it is more likely that it is more of a 'right time, right place' issue. I do think we always tend to look at the moonshot use cases first, and while it is important to be visionary, we must implement technologies more for their value than their promise and to build confidence in them.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about health IT?
I think it is that health IT is all about the technology and that technology can solve all or most of the ills in healthcare. We always need to consider and view the people, the processes and the technology as an ecosystem. We need to ensure that the technologies are implemented in a way that they serve the user, the broader organizational goals and, ultimately, the health of the people and communities we serve. I always fear the situation of letting the tail wag the dog, a situation which we should absolutely try to prevent.