HLTH21 – Cynthia Perazzo with AVIA
Episode 20722nd October 2021 • This Week Health: Newsroom • This Week Health
00:00:00 00:10:43

Transcripts

Speaker:

Today in.

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Health it interviews from the health conference in Boston

Speaker:

My name is bill Russell.

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I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system and creator of this week and

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health it a channel dedicated to keeping health it staff current and engaged.

Speaker:

Just a quick reminder, I'm going to be dropping interviews

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over the next couple of days.

Speaker:

And into next week from the floor of the health conference.

Bill Russell:

All right.

Bill Russell:

We're here from the health 2021 conference in Boston.

Bill Russell:

We're here with Cynthia Barraza with.

Bill Russell:

Uh, welcome to the show.

Bill Russell:

I appreciate you coming

Cynthia Perazzo:

on.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Thanks, Belle.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Excited to be here.

Bill Russell:

So what's your

Cynthia Perazzo:

title?

Cynthia Perazzo:

What's your role with Avia?

Cynthia Perazzo:

I'm the executive vice president for insights and advisory.

Cynthia Perazzo:

So I work with our health systems driving the core research around digital

Cynthia Perazzo:

transformation and lead our advisory project projects to help actually

Cynthia Perazzo:

drive digital transformation at scale.

Bill Russell:

Yeah.

Bill Russell:

So what's, what's the focus right now for health systems?

Bill Russell:

What are they

Cynthia Perazzo:

looking at?

Cynthia Perazzo:

Well, the good news is that most health systems have finally gotten

Cynthia Perazzo:

the joke that digital is going to be.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And the C-suite is now looking around, asking the question

Cynthia Perazzo:

on how, how are we going to do

Bill Russell:

yes.

Bill Russell:

You know, it's, it's when I was see, I was interesting.

Bill Russell:

Cause we would look at these projects and we would, uh, the technology wasn't easy.

Bill Russell:

I mean, we still needed companies like yours, who would help us to

Bill Russell:

identify cause there's so many players.

Bill Russell:

I mean, we're at the health conference, you just walked through there and it's

Bill Russell:

amazing how many players are and you guys would help us sift through those things.

Bill Russell:

But these really ended up becoming a heavy lift from an operational side.

Bill Russell:

And I assume that's areas

Cynthia Perazzo:

where.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Right.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And that's really the challenge of 2021 is how do we create the operating

Cynthia Perazzo:

models that are supported by digital?

Cynthia Perazzo:

How do we make that transformation?

Cynthia Perazzo:

You know, picking the technology.

Cynthia Perazzo:

It turns out is the easy part.

Cynthia Perazzo:

The hard part is really rewiring your operations to support new processes.

Bill Russell:

Well, I don't want to minimize how easy it is because when

Bill Russell:

we looked at an Avia, when I was at St Joe's, we partnered with Avia.

Bill Russell:

And one of the things you guys did is you went through that landscape of.

Bill Russell:

Solutions and helped us to say, all right, we're going to do something

Bill Russell:

around, uh, you know, filling, filling, uh, unfilled or, uh, spots for

Bill Russell:

physicians and those kinds of things.

Bill Russell:

And you guys would narrow down the whole field and help

Bill Russell:

us to evaluate those things.

Bill Russell:

That's, uh, that's still a big part of what you

Cynthia Perazzo:

guys do.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And what we do is understand who the players are in any capability, landscape.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And part of our value proposition is to help health systems move

Cynthia Perazzo:

faster through the decision-making.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And line up the specifications that they have for technical requirements

Cynthia Perazzo:

with what the, the solution provider.

Bill Russell:

But I assume what's happening is we get the technology.

Bill Russell:

A lot of these projects, we get the technology and we put it

Bill Russell:

in and then we just fall down on the, on the operation side.

Bill Russell:

And I have enough of those projects under my belt to know that if you don't

Bill Russell:

get the entire organization bought in, uh, with, with the vision, with.

Bill Russell:

Uh, with the approach and whatnot, you'll get a lot of silent vetoes along

Bill Russell:

the way, and it really does slow these

Cynthia Perazzo:

projects, the silent vetoes, the vein of our health

Bill Russell:

system.

Bill Russell:

Well, we all agreed.

Bill Russell:

It's like, no, no, you agreed with yourself.

Bill Russell:

And we didn't

Cynthia Perazzo:

really agree with you.

Cynthia Perazzo:

We do spend a lot of our time upstream on creating that value proposition,

Cynthia Perazzo:

really doing the, uh, accounting work on the return on investing.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Stakeholder management change management.

Cynthia Perazzo:

It has a different flavor.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Went in digital.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Now, when it digital is a team sport, we like to say, so it's not just the

Cynthia Perazzo:

CIO or the chief innovation officer.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Even the chief digital officer, you need CFO, human resources, nursing, you know,

Cynthia Perazzo:

everyone has to play their role to be a

Bill Russell:

success.

Bill Russell:

So health systems that work with Avia, it used to be, we, we became members of.

Bill Russell:

Is that

Cynthia Perazzo:

the right word members still the same.

Cynthia Perazzo:

We are a membership organization and part of our value proposition is being better

Cynthia Perazzo:

together so we can learn from each other.

Cynthia Perazzo:

We can collaborate.

Cynthia Perazzo:

It's a very open model, uh, that enables us to have, you know, more

Cynthia Perazzo:

experience collectively than any one system could have singularly.

Bill Russell:

So you had the great researchers in the background, but

Bill Russell:

now you have advisors that are.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Yeah, we have several levels of advisors now,

Cynthia Perazzo:

like research is at its core.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And that part of that research is, you know, understanding what's

Cynthia Perazzo:

happening in the collective.

Cynthia Perazzo:

We have a digital transformation guide, which is your client success type person

Cynthia Perazzo:

who really embeds in the organization to understand how things get done,

Cynthia Perazzo:

uh, what your critical problems are.

Cynthia Perazzo:

We have an advisory group that actually helps service the membership,

Cynthia Perazzo:

identifying those critical projects that you need to get done in support.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Um, the implementation of those projects.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And then finally we have a consulting group that's really grown over

Cynthia Perazzo:

the past four years, um, because of this need to really start at

Cynthia Perazzo:

the top with a digital strategy.

Bill Russell:

The, you know, as I, as I'm thinking about this during, during the

Bill Russell:

pandemic, I would assume your business actually grew during the pandemic.

Bill Russell:

There was so much movement around chatbots and digital front doors and

Bill Russell:

engaging people from a distance safely, remote patient monitoring and whatnot.

Bill Russell:

Your phone rang

Cynthia Perazzo:

off the hook.

Cynthia Perazzo:

We were incredibly busy starting right in the February timeframe, uh, because

Cynthia Perazzo:

virtual visits, helping health systems get, um, video visits, standing up, um,

Cynthia Perazzo:

contactless testing, contactless visits.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Um, so it was, it was the activity levels were fever pitch with Avia as with, with

Cynthia Perazzo:

all of our health systems who were really going through, you know, Uh, levels of

Cynthia Perazzo:

change and that pace is really maintained.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Um, we've had some spectacular growth in our business.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Um, you know, one of the things we're most proud of is when new members join us.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Um, and we've had really incredible, um, staying power with the existing members.

Cynthia Perazzo:

So it's really gratifying to build a network that's really committed

Cynthia Perazzo:

to this level of transformation.

Bill Russell:

Wow.

Bill Russell:

So what's top of mind from a, from a technologist.

Bill Russell:

So this week in health, it, we have a lot of practitioners listening to this.

Bill Russell:

You know, what, what, what are the, the, and we talked earlier about some

Bill Russell:

of the primary projects that people are looking at, but is it digital front door?

Bill Russell:

Is that one of the things or is it bots?

Bill Russell:

Is it robotic process automation?

Bill Russell:

I mean, what's

Cynthia Perazzo:

the focus.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Yes, yes.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Yes.

Cynthia Perazzo:

So digital front door, you know, has become table stakes.

Cynthia Perazzo:

So there's a lot of folks still trying to put the pieces together there, but what's,

Cynthia Perazzo:

you know, what's top of mind for people, you know, because of the workforce.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Burnout.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And this shortages is how do we change our operating models to create more

Cynthia Perazzo:

capacity for the workforce that we have.

Cynthia Perazzo:

So a lot of automation, business process redesign, um, we've been talking to just

Cynthia Perazzo:

really cool companies who are doing, um, new orchestration technologies to

Cynthia Perazzo:

enable, um, technology, to help move a patient through a care journey in a much

Cynthia Perazzo:

more automated and personalized way.

Cynthia Perazzo:

That's what I'm really excited about.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Automation, orchestration and personalized.

Cynthia Perazzo:

I think if we could get our act together around personalization,

Cynthia Perazzo:

a lot of really positive changes could happen in our school.

Bill Russell:

Well, that's been the holy grail of personalization.

Bill Russell:

We have all this data and we're getting better at even collecting

Bill Russell:

personal data from, uh, from consumers and from patients.

Bill Russell:

And it's bringing all that stuff together to do personal insights.

Bill Russell:

Like I need to be told different things than you do with regard to health.

Bill Russell:

And that's still feels a little ways

Cynthia Perazzo:

off to me.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Yeah.

Cynthia Perazzo:

It is.

Cynthia Perazzo:

I think we're starting to get our data house in order.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Folks are starting to understand what types of data that they need.

Cynthia Perazzo:

We had a really fantastic discussion in the service of health equity and what type

Cynthia Perazzo:

of information you need to personalize an experience, um, to help close gaps

Cynthia Perazzo:

in health equity, like culturally relevant information that can help us

Cynthia Perazzo:

guide a person through their journey in a way that's more relevant to them.

Bill Russell:

Well, tell me about the health conference.

Bill Russell:

It's fun to be in front

Cynthia Perazzo:

of people.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Again, it is fun to be in front of people.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And I think the venue has been fantastic, you know, and the amount of

Cynthia Perazzo:

companies that are here is astounding.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Um, I do wish more of my health system friends were here, uh, to see this,

Cynthia Perazzo:

but, um, bill and I will be ambassadors and bring back the information that

Bill Russell:

we're learning.

Bill Russell:

That's what I said yesterday on my, uh, today's show.

Bill Russell:

I do a daily.

Bill Russell:

I was just saying, you know, the thing of note here is that none

Bill Russell:

of you, my listeners are here.

Bill Russell:

I mean, there's a handful I saw, uh, I saw a couple of CEO's yesterday, but, but not,

Bill Russell:

not a lot, uh, some from the Boston area.

Bill Russell:

And I know that some have a challenge.

Bill Russell:

I mean, there's the, the chime conferences next week.

Bill Russell:

So they had a choice and others are still under travel restriction at this

Cynthia Perazzo:

time.

Cynthia Perazzo:

So that's what we're hearing to the travel restrictions.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Uh, but I do think the health group has done a really great job of

Cynthia Perazzo:

making things available virtually.

Cynthia Perazzo:

And I think this is a new world.

Cynthia Perazzo:

We're going to be doing hybrid conferences.

Bill Russell:

This is I, we joked earlier, this probably could be the

Bill Russell:

safest place on earth right now.

Bill Russell:

I mean, it's, they created a little bubble everybody's tested,

Bill Russell:

everybody's, uh, double vaccinated.

Bill Russell:

Um, and so, you know, I just, I feel like this is probably safer than

Cynthia Perazzo:

where I live.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Yeah.

Cynthia Perazzo:

It's been a pretty amazing, um, response by the health industry to

Cynthia Perazzo:

keep work workers and, and our staff.

Bill Russell:

So have you, have you gone to any of the general sessions

Cynthia Perazzo:

or I've mostly been on the exhibit hall and doing the hosted

Cynthia Perazzo:

buyer program, which has been really fun.

Bill Russell:

Tell us about

Cynthia Perazzo:

the hosted buyer program is really a great way.

Cynthia Perazzo:

If you want to come to the conference without paying the price of entry, if

Cynthia Perazzo:

you're a buyer, a health system or an influencer like Avia, you can meet with

Cynthia Perazzo:

a variety of, of solution providers.

Cynthia Perazzo:

Um, have a 20 minute speed.

Cynthia Perazzo:

So I spent two hours back to back talking to eight companies yesterday, learning

Cynthia Perazzo:

about kind of what they've been up to.

Cynthia Perazzo:

What's new with them taking lots of great notes, telling them about what our health

Cynthia Perazzo:

what's important to our health systems.

Cynthia Perazzo:

I mean, part of what we want to do at obvious amplify what's

Cynthia Perazzo:

important to health systems.

Cynthia Perazzo:

So that solution providers actually get out there and solve those

Bill Russell:

problems.

Bill Russell:

So we're in the same business.

Bill Russell:

I amplify great thinking to propel healthcare forward and your.

Bill Russell:

The thinking as well to your, to your members.

Bill Russell:

Absolutely fantastic.

Bill Russell:

Cynthia, thanks for sitting down with us.

Bill Russell:

Really

Cynthia Perazzo:

appreciate it.

Bill Russell:

Great to see a bill.

Bill Russell:

Check back for Morris.

Bill Russell:

The, we continues.

Bill Russell:

A lot of great interviews, a lot of great conversations.

Bill Russell:

I'm looking forward to sharing them with you.

Bill Russell:

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Bill Russell:

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Bill Russell:

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Bill Russell:

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Bill Russell:

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Bill Russell:

Thanks for listening.

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