CHIME Day 1 – My Initial Conversations

Bill Russell 00:00:03 Good morning. Bill Russell 00:00:03 It's day one at the chime conference, actually it's day one and a half, Bill Russell 00:00:07 I guess, because last night we got together at the reception, got to hang Bill Russell 00:00:12 out with people for the first time in a long time and just get a pulse Bill Russell 00:00:17 of what's going on in the industry. Bill Russell 00:00:18 And that's what I wanted to do today is just share what I am Bill Russell 00:00:23 hearing from initial conversation. Bill Russell 00:00:26 And set up what we're going to be doing over the next couple of days. Bill Russell 00:00:29 So today is Thursday and I'm going to be doing a bunch of interviews today. Bill Russell 00:00:34 There's five to 10 minute interviews that you've gotten used to, and Bill Russell 00:00:37 I'm just going to grab people, probably just hit on one topic. Bill Russell 00:00:40 So these aren't going to be deep dives, but I'm going to take people Bill Russell 00:00:42 that, you know, from the industry, ask them specific questions about Bill Russell 00:00:46 the topics that are top of mind. Bill Russell 00:00:49 And just get some sound bites for you to get a feel for what's going on in Bill Russell 00:00:54 the conference and in the industry. Bill Russell 00:00:56 Let me give you, so my initial reactions I've talked to, I would Bill Russell 00:01:00 say a good half dozen to two, maybe even two dozen CEOs at this time. Bill Russell 00:01:06 We did the news day recording yesterday afternoon and that Bill Russell 00:01:11 will air on Monday and directs. Bill Russell 00:01:13 And I sat down and then a couple of CIO's dropped in on us. Bill Russell 00:01:16 Erin, Mary Lee, Milligan William Waldo, stopped in Dr. Bill Russell 00:01:20 Colin Banas from Dr. Bill Russell 00:01:21 First stopped in as well. Bill Russell 00:01:22 That is, I think, going to be a must listen to it was, I loved it. Bill Russell 00:01:27 And Aaron pushed back on me a little bit on some of the things I was saying, and Bill Russell 00:01:31 that is always great for the industry. Bill Russell 00:01:33 And you could hear some of that back and forth on. Bill Russell 00:01:36 I think the biggest issue going on, and this is kind of surprising to me, Bill Russell 00:01:41 but as I thought about it is not as surprising as I might have thought Bill Russell 00:01:46 if I had really spent some time thinking about it, cybersecurity, Bill Russell 00:01:48 I think is taking the number two position in people's minds right now. Bill Russell 00:01:53 And it's not because it's not important. Bill Russell 00:01:54 It's because we've made a bunch of progress in this area. Bill Russell 00:01:58 We've been thinking and doing things on it for the better part of. Bill Russell 00:02:03 You know, nine months, maybe even a year, in some cases, maybe even a little Bill Russell 00:02:06 longer for the forward-thinking health systems so that the plans are moving, Bill Russell 00:02:11 the money has been freed up around cybersecurity boards are aware of it. Bill Russell 00:02:15 And so that work is underway. Bill Russell 00:02:17 So not , as top of mind, as you would think it would be the, , issue, which Bill Russell 00:02:22 is top of mind is labor and staffing. Bill Russell 00:02:26 And so we have a couple of things that are going on right now. Bill Russell 00:02:28 One the vaccine mandates. Bill Russell 00:02:31 And so they, those are slowly rolling out across health systems across the country. Bill Russell 00:02:36 Some health systems, United Methodist and others, uh, got well ahead of this Bill Russell 00:02:40 and were some of the early organizations do this, and then others just waited Bill Russell 00:02:44 for their states or for the federal mandate to kick in, to have backing, Bill Russell 00:02:49 to do it in states that may not have been as open to the, uh, to having. Bill Russell 00:02:57 So regardless either way, cause we're not going to talk about vaccine mandates. Bill Russell 00:03:00 Do they make sense or not? Bill Russell 00:03:02 They are going in pretty much across the board in health systems. Bill Russell 00:03:06 And what we're seeing is that that's impacting health, it staff, right? Bill Russell 00:03:10 I talked to one CIO, they lost 19 people talk to another CIO there Bill Russell 00:03:15 they're facing losing about 30 people. Bill Russell 00:03:17 And it's not necessarily those numbers. Bill Russell 00:03:19 Aren't staggering. Bill Russell 00:03:20 They're not huge numbers, but it was already a challenging Bill Russell 00:03:23 market to find staff. Bill Russell 00:03:26 And now it's becoming even more challenging, especially when you, you Bill Russell 00:03:30 know, it's not, Hey, I lost 19 people. Bill Russell 00:03:32 It's Hey. Bill Russell 00:03:34 Yeah, two or three very strategic people. Bill Russell 00:03:36 My head of network operations PR potentially could be somebody you Bill Russell 00:03:40 might lose that you're sitting there going, this is the person Bill Russell 00:03:42 who understood our routing tables. Bill Russell 00:03:43 Understood. Bill Russell 00:03:44 , how our network was set up, how our disaster recovery was set up. Bill Russell 00:03:47 That's a significant loss. Bill Russell 00:03:49 I'm not saying that, you know, I'm not valuing people, but in terms Bill Russell 00:03:52 of the skills that are brought and the difficulty in replacing it, Bill Russell 00:03:56 replacing some of these positions that we're losing is , very challenging. Bill Russell 00:03:59 And I think this is top of mind for almost. Bill Russell 00:04:02 So the conversation about labor, what we're doing around it, how we Bill Russell 00:04:06 are preparing to backfill some of those positions, how we are getting Bill Russell 00:04:12 creative with where we're hiring people and how we're thinking about Bill Russell 00:04:15 work environments, how we're managing people through the pandemic, how Bill Russell 00:04:20 we're communicating with people. Bill Russell 00:04:21 These, these are the topics that are, interestingly, at least for the leaders Bill Russell 00:04:25 of the organization, really top of. Bill Russell 00:04:28 Kinds of, conversations. Bill Russell 00:04:30 And so those were, I guess again, I, if I really thought about it, that would make Bill Russell 00:04:36 sense to me that that would be bubbling up because it's the, , the issue of the day. Bill Russell 00:04:40 If you will, it's the issue. Bill Russell 00:04:41 That's hitting them right now. Bill Russell 00:04:42 And that's the nature of being a CIO. Bill Russell 00:04:45 You're going along. Bill Russell 00:04:45 You have a strategic plan, you're doing a lot of different things and you are Bill Russell 00:04:49 moving all those, all those balls down the field to use a football analogy. Bill Russell 00:04:54 The, uh, the unexpected just continues to hit us, you know, it's the pandemic. Bill Russell 00:05:00 And then it's, , everybody worked from home then it's, , figure out Bill Russell 00:05:03 how to do remote care, figuring out how to do telehealth overnight. Bill Russell 00:05:06 Uh, that's been the nature of the job for roughly the last two years. Bill Russell 00:05:11 And it doesn't look like that is going to change anytime soon. Bill Russell 00:05:14 I will say this digital. Bill Russell 00:05:17 One of the, obviously the top five things going on. Bill Russell 00:05:20 And when I say digital, it's kind of pretty broad in terms of the definition, Bill Russell 00:05:24 but it's applying technology to clinical workflows to administrative processes. Bill Russell 00:05:30 , and data obviously I think is in that top five as well, figuring Bill Russell 00:05:33 out how to do things with the data. Bill Russell 00:05:36 We are collecting how to collect new types of data, how to, , visualize that. Bill Russell 00:05:42 , also seems to be top of mine. Bill Russell 00:05:43 So that'll give you some idea of where the interviews are going to Bill Russell 00:05:46 be going over the next week and just give you another little heads up. Bill Russell 00:05:50 So I go from this conference to another conference, I'm going to Bill Russell 00:05:53 have interviews on this channel probably for the next two weeks. Bill Russell 00:05:58 , the five to 10 minute interviews with people who are in positions of Bill Russell 00:06:01 influence within their health systems. Bill Russell 00:06:03 So hopefully you're enjoying. Bill Russell 00:06:06 These short snippets, we will get back to my commentary on the news, Bill Russell 00:06:11 probably in about two week timeframe. Bill Russell 00:06:13 After I get back from traveling, get back in my studio where I can actually sit Bill Russell 00:06:18 down and breathe a little bit and read some articles and catch up on things. Bill Russell 00:06:24 We are back to traveling and getting used to that and all the things Bill Russell 00:06:28 that it entails is kind of fun. Bill Russell 00:06:30 So, , if you have anything or anyone that you would like for me to interview, shoot Bill Russell 00:06:35 me a note bill@thisweekinhealthit.com. Bill Russell 00:06:37 I'm going to interview as many people here at chime, as I possibly can. Bill Russell 00:06:40 Five to 10 minutes, try to get you a flavor for what's going on. Bill Russell 00:06:45 That's all for today. Bill Russell 00:06:46 If you know someone that might benefit from our channel, Bill Russell 00:06:47 please forward them a note. Bill Russell 00:06:48 They can subscribe on our website this week called.com or wherever you listen Bill Russell 00:06:51 to podcasts, apple, Google, overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, you get the picture. Bill Russell 00:06:56 We are everywhere. Bill Russell 00:06:58 We want to thank our sponsors who are investing in our mission to develop Bill Russell 00:07:00 the next generation of health leaders. Bill Russell 00:07:02 VMware Hill-Rom Starbridge advisors, McAfee and Aruba networks. Bill Russell 00:07:07 Thanks for listening.