In this ongoing series, our CEO Justin Dearborn reacts to conversations happening in the industry that are helping us better understand the consumer’s point of view in healthcare. Comments in this article were made in good faith based on statements that are publicly available and are not intended to imply any endorsement, promotion, or other affiliation between Praia Health and Dennis Murphy, Indiana University Health, or the Healthcare Rap Podcast.
Dennis Murphy is President and CEO of Indiana University Health, one of the state’s largest healthcare systems and employers, with over 38,000 team members. He joined the health system in 2013 as chief operating officer, overseeing the operation of IU Health entities throughout the system.
In an interview that originally aired on the Healthcare Rap Podcast, Dennis spoke with our Chief Marketing Officer Jared Johnson about the challenges and successes of senior-level hospital leaders in today’s environment and what they can do to keep making progress with consumer experience when they have so many other priorities.
This conversation hits on many shared beliefs that align with Praia Health’s point of view. We pulled out some key insights from the episode. For each one, read what Dennis said in the Jan. 9, 2024 episode, followed by Justin’s commentary today.
Dennis:
“We have rising demand from an aging population. We see people coming to us with more complex diseases. We have workforce challenges on both ends: people are aging out of our workforce, and our younger workers can have a different set of incentives, motivations, and desires. We have to acknowledge that and adapt to it. Then there is a series of other inputs that are driving costs higher. Demand is increasing cost pressures. And then I think legitimately in the United States, there are real concerns about the overall cost of healthcare. So those three things create a very interesting environment, and for us as an organization, the most important thing to ask is how we are going to adapt and change. Standing still will be the absolute worst thing we could do.”
Justin’s commentary:
Providers need to accelerate the rate of digital adoption that can help to offset the massive labor shortage every system is facing. This can be seen in tools that improve clinical efficiency around inbox management and AI-enabled documentation solutions. Additionally, self-service patient facing-tools have been around for a while, and continue to get better, but still face lower adoption rates. Patients need to receive a benefit for accepting some of the traditional administrative provider burden. Self-scheduling has tapped into this theme. Self-scheduling ranks at or near the top in patient requests and utilization. Patients appreciate convenience and have been well documented as being willing to change provider organizations for one that offers more convenient access.
Dennis:
“I think you start with the business model, and then when you step out and go a little wider, you think about how you are as broad and diverse a healthcare provider as possible so that you can accomplish that integration. I think the days of going from a clinic that has a different EMR to your inpatient EMR, that has no connection to home care, that has no connection to a pharmacy, that has no connection to other ancillary components of the system, just does not meet what patients want.”
Justin’s commentary:
Additionally, health systems need to provide patients with a compelling reason to return and be loyal consumers. Patients and consumers need a reason to interact with the health system for other than specific and limited episodes of care. Health systems have increasingly become community-driven organizations that rely on other partners and organizations to fill gaps in health activities — ranging from education to even nutrition access through community gardens and food hubs.
Dennis:
“You have to provide great care. People come to us when they're at their most vulnerable. Those of us in the industry spend our lives inside it, so we tend to take everything for granted. For most patients, they're in a hospital maybe two or three times in their life. They're intimidated. They're unsure of how to navigate it. So, we have to focus on making sure the core care is great. Then all of those softer-side components are great.”
Justin’s commentary:
Again, this is where health systems should focus on what they do best and need to partner with other organizations to help fill gaps in services. Additionally, health systems should offload patient demand in periods when access is constrained due to acute demand and limited supply. Increased behavioral health demand in recent years is a great offering that health systems can partner with community-driven or even national organizations to help manage provider calendar constraints, as patients often begin their search for care with the provider organization.
Dennis:
“I think one of the challenges is that people tend to think of this as a distinct set of work, while I believe this is a part of how to attract and retain people in your workforce. People got into healthcare to help people, and they want people to have an incredible, positive experience when they're here. The more that we can actually integrate systems and create structures and culture that yield happy, engaged patients, I think the better off we are with our workforce, because usually the things that annoy patients and create obstacles for them are the same things that are creating obstacles for our staff. I think understanding this yields higher quality, better financial outcomes, and more engaged employees. So, this isn't our patient/consumer strategy. This is our ‘how we improve the business’ strategy.”
Justin’s commentary:
What a great perspective. Even with an increased emphasis on self-service and digital experiences, a hospital’s employees can completely negate or reinforce all of the other positive touchpoints that hospitals are striving to provide in between the actual episode of care. Systems should be making sure they are the preferred place to practice for clinicians, which starts with removing barriers and giving them the right tools to do their job.
Dennis:
“It's just a very simple notion of asking what matters to you because that connotes a personalization of the care that you don't get when you ask all of the normal differential diagnosis questions. Every patient is unique. It may be as simple as, ‘Please keep my spouse informed every few hours.’ It may mean something more dramatic. But that simple question has now become a mantra for us in the emergency room, in a clinic, or wherever we are, because it humanizes the patient in a way that most of our conversations in healthcare never do. It gives the patient some level of control to say, ‘These are the things that are most important to me.’ Then we have to empower our teams to deliver on those things.”
Justin’s commentary:
This seems really obvious, and it is how consumers are now conditioned and interact with every other facet of their lives, but healthcare has always been different. A number of recent studies have found that for most care choices, an overwhelming percentage of consumers select their care providers based on the ease and robustness of the provider's digital experience. Scheduling and bill pay have become table stakes — really important table stakes — but consumers now desire a true personalized experience. Health systems are uniquely positioned by knowing lots about patients beyond their clinical record but have failed to bring that data into experiences beyond marketing use cases.
