Giant steps: Digital health mavericks shine at CHIME Fall Forum

Inspiring moments are the norm at CHIME Fall Forum, and among this year’s highlights were record Digital Health Most Wired achievements and the debut of a groundbreaking smart children’s hospital. Yet, it was Apollo Hospitals’ transformational journey, shared in the Day 2 keynote, that captured the event’s bold spirit best.

This year’s Fall Forum theme of Digital Health Mavericks challenged healthcare CIOs and IT leaders to break away from traditional thinking and embrace bold, innovative approaches to digital transformation.

As this event is designed to bring healthcare IT leaders together to share ideas and experiences, the spirit of collaboration shone throughout education sessions, workshops, and individual discussions at the many networking opportunities.

Scaling new heights with award-worthy achievements

From the main stage, CHIME President and CEO Russ Branzell shared how Digital Health Most Wired is charting amazing digital progress in healthcare, with this year’s survey representing more than 48,000 care sites and a record 26 organizations achieving Level 10 status — this year, NJ-based RWJBarnabas Health had 11 of its facilities score Level 10.

“At Level 10, organizations have exceeded expectations and achieved the very highest levels of digital health and care transformation,” Branzell said.

CHIME partners with KLAS on Most Wired, including the 2024 Most Wired National Trends Report which was released on the main stage ahead of the day 2 keynote. To honor those at the forefront of technology adoption to enhance patient care, CHIME and KLAS Research introduced the brand-new Industry Synergy Award.

“By combining the accomplishments of KLAS Pinnacle Award winners and CHIME’s Digital Health Most Wired designees at Level 9 or above, this award celebrates organizations that demonstrate unparalleled synergy between exceptional EHR implementation and cutting-edge digital transformation,” said Adam Adam Gale, the CEO of KLAS. He presented the inaugural Synergy Awards to Children’s Nebraska and Memorial Healthcare System of Florida.

One giant leap for healthcare in India and beyond

Aiming for the stars is one thing; reaching them is another. The Fall Forum Day 2 keynote, led by CHIME’s Russ Branzell, featured Dr. Sangita Reddy, chair of G20 Empower and Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals. “Dr. Reddy is not only a global healthcare influencer and visionary technologist but also a humanitarian dedicated to transforming healthcare,” noted BJ Schaknowski, CEO of keynote sponsor symplr.

Dr. Reddy shared the inspiring story of her father, Dr. Prathap Reddy, who, after working as a cardiologist in Boston, returned to India in 1983 to establish Apollo Hospitals. “Our family now includes everyone in the Apollo ecosystem,” he told them at the hospital’s opening.

Apollo rapidly grew into a leading heart care center, dramatically reducing the need for patients to travel abroad. Anchored in compassion and a mission to expand care access, Apollo today serves over 300 million people, matching the U.S. population, in primarily underserved regions of India.

“I’ve never seen an organization move faster when it comes to technology,” Branzell said, praising Apollo’s commitment to innovation. “We push this way,” Dr. Reddy added, “because lowering costs is critical, and digital tools are among our best resources for efficiency.”

Some of Apollo’s remarkable achievements include:

• Bringing world-class tech to India – Apollo has invested in advanced infrastructure, including robotic surgery and minimally invasive procedures, making cutting-edge facilities accessible domestically.
• Pioneering telehealth – Launched 24 years ago with a pilot in Prathap’s home village, Apollo Telehealth now serves 140 countries.
• Creating centers of excellence – Specialized cardiology and cardiac surgery centers offer high success rates and innovative treatments, serving as “islands of excellence in an ocean of inadequacy,” Reddy noted.
• Quick labs, faster meds – Apollo’s at-home labs provide results in about 30 minutes, and its Apollo 24/7 app enables medication delivery within 19 minutes in some cities.

Despite Apollo’s far-reaching achievements, Dr. Reddy’s vision to make healthcare more accessible continues. Apollo aims to extend its transformative model worldwide, one region at a time.

Towards smarter healthcare

As the Apollo story shows, leveraging technology can improve patient and caregiver experience, operational efficiencies, and care outcomes. As hospitals move further along this transformation timeline, they become “smart.”

Day 2 kicked off with an update on the collaboration between CHIME, care.ai (now part of Stryker) and the Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence to create the Smart Hospital Maturity Model (SHMM), a framework that helps hospitals assess their progress toward becoming “smart.” The SHMM is designed to help healthcare organizations better understand their current level of smart care adoption, optimize their digital transformation, and accelerate their progress toward smart healthcare.

On Day 2, Steve Lieber, Alliance Founder and CEO, provided a sneak peek at the tool, which he said has seen 170 hospitals already complete the SHMM survey, which includes 89 questions and uses more 560 data points in its scoring algorithm. Participants receive not only a score but insights into gaps and opportunities to leverage smart technologies.

While many providers are transforming existing facilities into smart hospitals, Fall Forum attendees learned about the inspired construction of a smart hospital from the ground up.

Turning a cardboard city into a smart hospital with robots, in room cameras, and persona-based data access via RTLS badges might seem like magic but is purely the result of years of thoughtful planning, testing, and collaboration between stakeholders. As an example, the new Children’s Hospital of Atlanta smart hospital was designed with input from all stakeholders, including IT and clinical staff, patients, and families.

CHOA’s Jeremy Meller, CIO, and Michelle Tillis, VP IT, took CHIME members on a journey from conception to an emotional move in day — relocating 200 patients — about 10 years later. Along the way, entire floor layouts were modeled on site using cardboard; focus groups with patients and families yielded many opportunities to improve experience and engagement; and a “tech fest” day at the new hospital allowed staff to get their new badges and devices and test drive all the new technology.

To accomplish this tremendous creation, CHOA stayed laser-focused on the primary desired outcomes, including reducing steps and time, supporting better decisions, and improving patient experience. In addition to prioritizing collaboration and coordination with all stakeholders, they left room for the unexpected. From the parking lot to the OR and everywhere in between, CHOA’s Arthur M. Blank Children’s Hospital is a shining example of what a smart hospital should be.

A new era of wellness and wellbeing

Providers face many workforce challenges, including burnout and staffing shortages, and many organizations are turning to CIOs and IT teams for ways technology can help address these issues.

One Day 2 track session outlined ways to use technology platforms and partnerships across EHR, Erp, and service management to drive workforce wellness and improve efficiency and performance.

Ellen Wiegand, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Virginia Commonwealth University Health, talked about some innovative approaches her organization is taking around text-to-care: “We’re trying to make it feel safe and like a concierge service for our team members to get that care they need right now.”

Her co-presenter John Kravitz, CHCIO, Vice President and Head of Healthcare at Workday, a common current approach to enable AI to do the busy work while providers and care teams focus on caring for patients. Collaboration once again took center stage, as he stressed the importance of involving all stakeholders.

“We established a temporary AI worker group,” he said. “We brought together leaders and teachers from across the organization, clinical team members, administrative leaders, HR, IT, finance, all the stakeholders … to come together and think about how we might want to use AI.”

AI is also a promising technology to help modernize and streamline behavioral health, including mental wellbeing. Danny Gladden, General Manager and Director of Behavioral Health and Social Care at Oracle, reported 40% of behavioral health providers still primarily use paper. “As a specialty, we get to leapfrog all the technology innovations from the last decade and go right to AI,” he stated, explaining that the use of AI-based tools to generate notes holds great potential to free behavioral health providers to focus more on their patients. “There are no labs or tests to tell patient’s stories, so we rely on connecting verbally with our patients.”

Co-presenter Kevin Weise, Chief Information Officer at BestSelf Behavioral Health, said to be effective, AI needs to take an average 50-minute session and whittle it down to an impactful 5 to 7 sentences. “This takes a lot of training the models,” he noted, adding privacy (e.g. notes could be used in legal proceedings) and language nuances (slang, sarcasm) are additional challenges in behavioral health. Gladden added the “Holy Grail” would be for AI to be able to handle not just one-on-one sessions, but also 15-to-1 group sessions.

Another technology that is transforming behavioral care is telehealth. Not long ago, telehealth wasn’t favored for behavioral health due to concerns over the rapport with patients, privacy and other risk, according to Gladden, but the pandemic sparked rapid adoption of telehealth, as mental wellbeing became a widespread concern. Weise noted his BestSelf originally set up telehealth in 2017, but it didn’t get much use. However, it took off during COVID, and families liked the convenience. “No-show rates fell 15 to 17%,” he said.

CHIME Fall Forum 2024 was just a starting point

CHIME’s Fall Forum served as a powerful reminder that innovation often requires daring leaps and a willingness to embrace setbacks. For the digital health leaders gathered, the event reinforced that each step forward — whether a giant leap or a moment of learning — brings healthcare closer to its potential. And in this spirit, the digital health mavericks are just getting started.