In today’s complex and fragmented healthcare landscape, delivering connected, efficient care depends on coordination across stakeholders. Healthcare organizations, technology partners and others must align around shared goals — supported by interoperable systems and data-driven workflows — to enable more informed, streamlined care delivery.
Strategic partnerships are central to this transformation, according to Jason Burum, vice president and North America provider segment general manager for health clinical effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer. In a recent conversation with Becker’s Healthcare, Mr. Burum shared insights on how purposeful collaboration can support clinical decision-making and help care teams drive better outcomes.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: Why are strategic partnerships more critical than ever, and what defines effective collaboration?
Jason Burum: To start, it’s always important to highlight our mission: to help clinicians make better decisions about their patients’ care. At the same time, we acknowledge that the system of care is only getting more complex. With challenges like rising costs, staff shortages, the use of AI and shifting patient expectations, the burden is often placed on burned-out clinicians, care teams and other professionals to improve outcomes and quality.
What is clear is that all of the problems — and therefore all solutions — exist in an interconnected system. This is critically important because we look for strategic partners who match our vision. To maximize impact, we must work well within this system, together. Setting up collaborative partnerships enables us to have a greater impact for both clinicians and patients than if we were to go it alone.
A recent patient encounter comes to mind — involving a provider we’re collaborating with to improve efficiency and the overall patient experience. Clinicians now have ambient scribe solutions that automatically capture notes and leverage natural language recognition with AI. This allows clinicians to focus more attention on patients. While that is happening, Wolter Kluwer’s clinical and patient decision-support solutions can automatically connect to the content created by the ambient scribe, making the experience more powerful with evidence-based diagnosis, treatment choices and suggested treatment paths. This workflow is possible thanks to a partnership between the ambient scribe technology and Wolters Kluwer, which makes that experience better for the clinician and patient.
Q: How can partnerships break down data silos and create a more connected, efficient system?
JB: We have to embrace interoperability.
In clinical decision support and solutions that offer clinical guidance and recommendations, these solutions do not need to wait for the doctor to ask a question. When a clinician is seeing a patient, we can proactively and automatically look at the chart. We can then apply evidence to that specific patient profile and take into consideration the primary clinical question. Through that proactive overview of clinical data and the applicable evidence, we can suggest the best treatment or care plan to guide clinicians and their patients.
Technology-enabled partnerships will break down various silos, creating a more effective, efficient system and care pathway. That’s work that we’re actually doing now with many clients — we’ve got some select partners who are helping us create that type of innovation, and later this year, we expect to announce even more progress along these lines.
Q: How can partnerships help alleviate clinician burnout?
JB: Burnout is real and remains a top challenge for hospitals and health systems. Leaders are aware of the overwhelming amount of work heaped on clinicians and care teams are looking for solutions.
Our mission and purpose is aligned with reducing this burden.
Part of the burnout problem is that the care journey has numerous workflows, each with multiple steps. The primary workflow solutions — specifically, the EHRs — and secondary workflow solutions, such as ambient scribes, are constantly innovating to improve their workflows.
We don’t want to further complicate the clinical processes by adding more workflows. We want to support clinical decision-making by showing up seamlessly within those primary and secondary workflows. By working in partnership to show up within existing workflows, we’re helping improve decision-making and are reducing burnout.
Q: How do you see the role of healthcare executives evolving when it comes to managing strategic partnerships?
JB: Executives need to roll up their sleeves and be personally involved in forming strategic partnerships.
To determine which partnerships to pursue, executives must first identify the specific problems they aim to solve. From there, they can assess how different organizations — by working together — can address those challenges. This involves understanding what unique capabilities each organization brings to the table and how, collectively, they can solve a problem that neither could tackle alone. I call these “opportunity zones.” You’re continually identifying areas where your organization’s strengths intersect with those of potential partners.
To find those opportunity zones, start with your end users in mind and work backwards from their needs, like saving costs and improving care.
Partnerships are a lot of work, and there can be a clash of perspectives. But it is possible to overcome these clashes if organizations have alignment around their mission and purpose.
If a prospective collaboration would make things easier and improve the experience for clinicians and patients — you’ve got the right recipe to start a partnership.
