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Keynote: The Future of Healthcare: Tech, Leadership, and the Next Era of Care

[00:00:00]

Bill Russell: My name is Bill Russell. I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system and creator of This Week Health, where we are dedicated to transforming healthcare one connection at a time. Our keynote show is designed to share conference level value with you every week.

Now, let's jump right into the episode.

INTRO: The Future Is Already Here

Bill Russell (2): (Main) Welcome to a special Keynote Rewind episode.

Over the years, I’ve talked with hundreds of leaders across healthcare, and one thing is clear—change isn’t waiting for permission.

Technologies we once called 'the future' are already here. Data is flowing in ways that can finally guide decisions at the bedside. Care is reaching beyond hospital walls into homes, communities, and even the most remote corners of the map.

But this moment isn’t just about tools. It’s about people—leaders willing to challenge old systems, break down silos, and imagine what care could look like if we built it from the ground up today.

In this episode, you’ll hear [00:01:00] from visionaries at the helm of transformation—sharing what’s working now, where we’re headed next, and the bold steps needed to redesign the system for the next era of care.

Let’s start with the sparks already igniting change

Taylor Davis: So let me give the corollary, some point we don't know the date. Humans discovered how to make fire they didn't understand how fire works. They just understood how to create it and and now you all of a sudden have something that is incredibly powerful.

I'm sure it was a game changer back then for them. But also somewhat dangerous. And they didn't understand how it worked. They just knew how to create it. Generative ai, we have to face the reality. Generative AI is the same type of thing. We understand a little bit about it. We understand how to add fuel to it.

We understand that it can burn. We understand that it has heat. But we don't understand all the way, why is this thing lighting up and why is it working as well as it is? That creates, as you look forward into what's gonna happen in healthcare, that creates huge [00:02:00] questions about how it's gonna impact.

Glen Tullman: -

You say I need surgery. Before you need surgery, we recommend that you get a second opinion. I can connect you right now. It's covered a hundred percent by your plan. And here's why, Bill, we do too many surgeries in the US and it can be dangerous. Here's some side effects. Let's get you a second opinion.

It's free. You wouldn't go to a restaurant without Checking the ratings on the restaurant. So let's do that. Now we get better buy in. People understand it. And they say, okay if it's free, it makes sense. Now you get that. Now let's say you need surgery. We know, we have the data today to tell you that all surgeons aren't the same.

And all facilities aren't the same. If someone said a restaurant had just been shut down by the health department, You wouldn't go there. So wouldn't you want to know if a particular facility in a hospital chain, the chain might be great, but there may be one hospital that they're having some challenges at.

Why would we send you there? We wouldn't because we have the data.

Doug King: we spend a lot of time as CIOs talking about [00:03:00] artificial intelligence and data insights.

Still, the most important thing we do are making sure that the lights are on and the doors are open. Those core systems have got to be Working and working well, or we never get to play in the AI and the ML space.

Bill Russell (2): From the spark of AI to the fundamentals of care, the future is being built one decision, one connection, one breakthrough at a time. Transformation isn’t a concept—it’s a reality. Across the country, leaders are modernizing core systems, reimagining care, and delivering measurable results. These aren’t pilots—they’re progress in motion.

B.J. Moore: A year ago, July 4th of last year, we were kicking off our Oracle Cloud implementation. So consolidating all of our ERPs on Oracle Cloud. And I'm happy to say that we completed that this year as well.

And so we've... Fully migrated our operations, HR, finance, supply chain, all of the core ERP functions over to Oracle Cloud and we completed that journey. So it's been a busy year. [00:04:00] And as we've talked in previous episodes, my strategic Directives are, Simplify, Modernize, and Innovate.

And you can see the Simplify side of things getting on a single instance of Epic. Again, Oracle Cloud, we've really lived that mantra of Simplify.

Shakeeb Akhter: - And one of the first things we worked on is remote patient monitoring programs. we started this work last year, probably 12 months ago. And our goal was to launch a handful of programs. with, maybe a few thousand patients enrolled in these programs. In 12 months or so, in partnership with our chief medical officer, chief medical informatics officer, we've launched 11 programs with close to 8, 000 kids enrolled in these programs.

And, some of them, I'll give you an example, like the NICU Catch program is a program dedicated to catching Kids that are very sick, leaving the NICU, but allowing them to get their care at home and have access to a digital care team. So when they leave, they get digital tools, like a digital stethoscope, and other tools, weight [00:05:00] scale, etc.

The ability to contact the care team directly, report out, telehealth. capabilities when the family's at home. We're even training these families on how to insert tubes, take care of their very sick children while they're at home. And so we've got a couple of stories where, we had two very sick children.

That both of which would have passed away if they didn't have access to the digital care and the digital teams that are supporting these families. that's why we're doing the work and I think we're grounded and we're doing this work to improve the quality of the care that kids are receiving.

Chad Brisendine: - we're building a 250 million heart hospital at that campus right now. It's a beautiful campus, 500 acres. We have an organic farm there, a huge walking trail and pond, and it's overlooking the river.

It's really a magical sight in our valley and our care there is obviously phenomenal, but the new heart hospital is going to be huge nice addition for our folks with heart failure and other progressing heart [00:06:00] disease, as one of the leading causes of death in the country.

And as baby boomers continue to grow, we're going to need more space, and so we're building that new capability for everyone within our region.

Bill Russell (2): Here innovation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s life-saving. And whether it’s digital tools in the NICU or new facilities on the ground, the goal is the same: better care, for more people, in more ways.

ACT II: Where We're Going—New Models of Care

Bill Russell (2): Tomorrow’s care won’t be confined to hospital walls. It will meet people where they are—in homes, in communities, and even on islands—using tools, logistics, and imagination to remove barriers.

Bradd Busick: We are actually really bullish on that, particularly back to our previous conversation about rural areas who may not be able to make it in Washington State, as you know it, there's islands all over the place.

Well, if it takes. Brad Busick, who lives on Vain Island, 45 minutes one way on a ferry, 45 minutes, another and 30 minutes to get to that ferry. Why wouldn't I just drone delivery this stuff to his house, let him do a telehealth visit, put on the box and the drone picks it up and [00:07:00] brings it back home. Or even better, he just goes to a locker and hits the MultiCare locker, opens it up and pulls the hospital at home kit out.

Brent Lamm: have this dream that our nurses are going to walk into a patient room. With a smartphone and have a smart TV on the wall, and that's the only technology devices in the room, and they're going to be able to talk to the electronic health record system. They're going to be able to display what they need to with these to patients and other care team members

Bill Russell (2): From smart rooms to smart routing, the shift is about more than convenience—it’s about access, equity, and tailoring care to fit lives, not the other way around.

Tim Skeen: The largest piece of our business from a care delivery standpoint. So we were going to, as part of that program, as far as community care, to also help Medicaid, but also uninsured, we were going to open up 14 clinics to do that, right? And originally that was 12 clinics. With two of them being mobile.

The two mobile ones we opened up and we, one, we opened up one brick and mortar. And the two were so successful that we're pivoting [00:08:00] to having only three brick and mortar and nine mobile clinics. And what that allows us to do is look at the data, look how things are trending across the state in various rural areas, and even populace, urban areas, and move those mobile clinics accordingly to get the best impact on that community.

Andrew Rosenberg: You can see some of that starting to be focused in hospital care at home programs, where, for example, we're now working with Medically Home to do the logistics, that incredible ballet.

Of things that have to occur for something that we would ordinarily only do in the hospital to now not only feel comfortable doing it at home, but showing superior outcomes.

Bill Russell (2): And in this future, home-based care won’t be the exception—it will be a preferred path, offering outcomes that rival, and sometimes surpass, the traditional hospital stay.

 ACT III: Rewiring the System—Interoperability, Policy, and Data Liberation

Bill Russell (2): But none of this works without the backbone—the systems, policies, and agreements that let information flow safely, securely, and where it’s needed most.

Micky Tripathi: [00:09:00] The last thing that I would point to that TEFCA will enable is for jurisdictions to use commodity secure network services to communicate with each other.

Think about, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. A lot of people go across those state lines, and as it exists today, and this isn't a criticism of Texas, Oklahoma, and and Arkansas. It's any three states in the country. They don't have the ability to securely exchange information with each other in real time. They have an ability to exchange information in real time. It's called a telephone. That's how they do it, right? They do it via telephone, email, fax. And all of the inefficiencies and errors that, system has embedded in it, but the ability for us to be able to say, you know what, let's assume no one's made any commitments, but if Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are TEFCA participants, they could exchange information with each other as per what their state and local authorities allow them to do in much more, secure and real time ways and scalable ways than they're able to today.

Bill Russell (2): We’ve spent years laying the pipes, writing the rules, and cleaning the data. Now, the framework is [00:10:00] ready.

Bill Russell: It's so interesting because people are like, man, this has taken a long time. But, we're at the point now where the frameworks are in place.

Yep. The mechanisms are in place. . The data is probably in the best state that it's ever been. And we have, all the pipes, all the contracts and negotiations. We're ready. It's we're ready.

Aneesh Chopra: We're ready. So what's left is the business model. So if you want Aneesh's little opinion, let's lock down the neighborly treatment to treatment.

In value based care contracts where I'm already paid for quality, under total

cost of care accountability, call that the umbrella, for those of you who are nerds, HCP LAN, Category 3B and above. Let's make that an extension of the neighborly.

Bill Russell (2): And with readiness comes responsibility—using shared data not as a weapon, but as a foundation for collective progress.

Criag Richardville: - We shouldn't really compete on data. That whole thing about interoperability. We should all have the same data about every patient, every provider, every consumer. It's just what you do with the [00:11:00] data should really make yourself different than others.

But we shouldn't, kind of hold or anything of that nature with that data that should be really free flowing

Bill Russell (2): Interoperability isn’t just a tech challenge—it’s a cultural shift. And when data flows freely, innovation follows.

ACT IV: Leadership at the Helm—Voices from the Top

Bill Russell (2): Bold visions mean little without bold leadership. The future will be built by those who can set strategy, clear the path, and empower teams to lead from every seat.

Christopher Longhurst: - I came down to UC San Diego almost nine years ago to serve as the CIO.

I took on additional roles in quality and patient safety and ultimately the chief medical officer role. So my job is really ensuring the high quality care that we continue to deliver. here at UC San Diego Health by any means necessary. And sometimes that's education and process redesign, and sometimes that's introduction of new technologies or optimization of existing technologies.

-

Daniel Barchi: My job is to say, Hey chief, look I'm the anti-submarine warfare officer here on the ship and I'm your boss, but what do you need? What's the focus? [00:12:00] What does our crew need? What can I do for you? And so recognizing early on that the leader didn't need to be the one with the answers.

It's the one who makes the resources available that has the vision that can communicate the larger strategy and then protect the team so they can do their job. That was a great learning experience at 22. And I think that I've used it almost every day of my entire career.

Alistair Erskine: -

i'm trying to model the behavior that I really want the rest of the digital team to engage in.

In other words, be with the customer, put yourself in the shoes of the customer, understand what they need and take your expertise, your knowledge. Your talent and be verbal about the fact that you can see an improvement. If we were to implement this or add that or whatever it may be

OUTRO: "The Future We Build Together

Bill Russell (2): In a landscape this dynamic, leadership is more than a role—it’s a commitment to listen, adapt, and model the change we want to see.

The future isn’t waiting. It’s being shaped right now—through focused choices, rapid [00:13:00] advances, and visions that stretch beyond what’s possible today.

Keith Perry: You have to make sure that you're not saying yes to everything. That you're really trying to make sure that you're doing the right thing for St.

Jude. Not just today, but, a year from now, five years from now, ten years from now

Taylor Davis: This is like the iPhone being released. In December, which was G P T 3.5, and then the iPhone eight being released in late March. And that type of progression cycle is pretty startling in terms of where it goes.

Stephen Klasko: when Elon Musk brings folks from Mars to Philadelphia, And they say where's Jefferson. I hope five years from now. You can't define that. You mean Jefferson my phone Jefferson on my TV, Jefferson at home Jefferson 12 micro hospitals.

Christopher Longhurst: I think we're going to look back at the introduction of generative AI and healthcare as a huge milestone, as big as the introduction of penicillin.

So generative AI and these tools applied to our healthcare data are going to [00:14:00] revolutionize the way that we deliver healthcare

Alistair Erskine: I can't wait to find out what are going to be the three to five major changes this year so what I'm trying to tell the team is be resilient, be curious, be adaptive, to whatever is going to happen to us, because inevitably something will, and we just want to be in a position where we can pivot.

Our center of gravity so that we don't get taken off guard and off balance.

Bill Russell (2): From moonshot disruptions to everyday innovations, today’s leaders aren’t just imagining the next era of care—they’re creating it. The only question is: What role will you play?

Bill Russell: Thanks for listening to this week's keynote. If you found value, share it with a peer. It's a great chance to discuss and in some cases start a mentoring relationship. One way you can support the show is to subscribe and leave us a rating. it if you could do that. Thanks for listening. That's all for now..