On this episode of The Vurge, Rebecca is joined by Rachini Moosavi, Chief Analytics Officer at UNC Health. Together they dig into all things data & analytics, unraveling the magic of data and its transformative impact on the healthcare industry. Join Rachini as she elaborates on the community analytics model adopted by UNC Health, an innovative approach that arms clinicians and practitioners with data insights to enhance their efficiency, thus revolutionizing patient care. Additionally, she unveils their trailblazing data mining projects and provides a glimpse into the promising potential of large language models in healthcare and so much more!
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On this episode of The Vurge, Rebecca is joined by Rachini Moosavi, Chief Analytics Officer at UNC Health. Together they dig into all things data & analytics, unraveling the magic of data and its transformative impact on the healthcare industry. Join Rachini as she elaborates on the community analytics model adopted by UNC Health, an innovative approach that arms clinicians and practitioners with data insights to enhance their efficiency, thus revolutionizing patient care. Additionally, she unveils their trailblazing data mining projects and provides a glimpse into the promising potential of large language models in healthcare and so much more!
Thanks for listening! Like what you hear? Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and be sure to subscribe to The Vurge for the latest episodes and more!
Interested in being a guest on the show? Click here to learn more.
Hi everyone and welcome to the Verge, another episode. Today we have Ratchanee Musavi. She is the VP of Enterprise Analytics at UNC Health Welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you, reca. I'm thrilled to be on here with you today.
Speaker 1:I'm so happy to have you on a nice Monday. We'd love to start off with just getting to know you know your background and how you got up to the job role that you have today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, today I'm the VP of Enterprise Analytics at UNC Health, but I think, if I take us back in time, this is definitely not where I thought I would be when I first started my career, just like a lot of folks. Yeah, I've done a little bit of patient care, so I've been a nurse aide before and did that while I was in high school, got certified and always thought I wanted to be in direct patient care. I've always known I want to be in healthcare, so I've stayed true to that part at least. My degrees are both in health policy and management, so I really thought I would be on the business side for forever. But what I discovered, through both my consulting job as well as working at UNC Health for the last 16 plus years, is that I really just love data, I love analytics, I love the value it brings to an organization and, taking my meandering path to get here, I really am just loving the job that I'm in currently.
Speaker 1:So how big is the organization and how big is the analytics team that you have working alongside you?
Speaker 2:So I'm part of UNC Health, which is a state hospital, so we are spread across the state of North Carolina. We have about 16 hospitals today, but as we grow and do more to serve the residents of North Carolina, that number could change over time. My team is a central analytics team for the health system, so we have about 120 folks that are dedicated to that central data and analytics capabilities everything from the acquisition of data all the way through to how we visualize it and in the data science and forecast side of things. So just a really broad spectrum of what we're trying to do with analytics. But I think one of the other really great things that we do is that we have a community analytics model at UNC Health. So for all of those hospitals and the thousands of clinicians and practices that we have across our state, we have an enablement model that we support either folks who are meeting data or analysts that are spread across the system so that they're capable of doing their job effectively in a data-driven format too.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. How did you or maybe it was your predecessor that put together that structure to enable people to get the data themselves, and how have you found the adoption of that amongst the end users?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I will say that I cannot claim that this was all my doing.
Speaker 2:I've been in a lot of great conversations with the multitude of leaders that are involved with data and analytics at UNC Health for many years, but I think one of the things that we did right around the 2015 timeframe was we acknowledged that we needed to act more like a system, a health system that's working together and not just in silos.
Speaker 2:But that acknowledgement allowed us to also recognize that we needed to decide if we were going to have a central analytics model, a decentralized model, or a hub and spoke, or community model, as we like to call it. That decision alone, I think, was like the first launching point. It's the step towards doing all the things that come from it. My former boss was really integral in helping to make sure that we have the right resources in place to think about not just that community aspect, but also how do we differentiate ourselves with data and analytics. He brought both data governance as well as data science to UNC Health around 2016. And then you fast forward a few years and we brought our IT side of that to the same table and we joined forces to create one centralized analytics group, which has really helped to revolutionize the way that we were able to serve our customers across our organization.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course. What is one of the biggest data mining or projects that UNC Health is proud of? You're really like making a difference in people's lives, with some particular information.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so many.
Speaker 2:There's so many to choose from.
Speaker 2:I think during COVID we were able to use more of a community reflection index model to make sure that, when we partnered with some of the organizations that are in the communities, ensure that vaccines were getting to a very diverse group of folks across our state.
Speaker 2:So it was a great partnership, not just using data to highlight it, but also leveraging information to drive action that really impacted lives and made sure that we were getting vaccines out to folks. We've also used data to start up our hospital at home program. So, as you likely know from the news and other things, how hospital at home is a growing trend, it's something that we've got to embrace. We've used a data science model to drive who's a good candidate for that, and so that doesn't necessarily say that this person is the right candidate. It might help us eliminate the folks that are not the right candidates first and then allow the folks who do that work to really dive in and focus on the folks that are the best candidates for it. They can be treated in the comfort of your own home, which is exactly what we want folks to be at the right space to be able to get the care they need.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Moving over towards AI and chat, gpt. How do you see the large language models providing utility to healthcare, whether it be education or workflow, or to help physicians really focus on the patient in front of them and not on the computer so much? How are you seeing this of all?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Rebecca, I think that is probably the biggest question that is circulating across our healthcare system these days. You know, just a multitude of educational conversations that are happening with our leaders and staff around what large language models are, what they can offer.
Speaker 2:Really great conversations about how we should be wary of that kind of technology and why it can mean, but also a lot of enthusiasm and visionary conversations around what can we do with things like large language models to change the way we deliver healthcare. So I'm going to stay out of the education aspects of it and the research aspects of it and just focus on operations our clinical. But the hospital and clinical side of things I think there is a lot that happens within our EHR that's being explored. So we're an Epic customer. They recently put out their announcement about leveraging Microsoft's open AI services to embed that into Epic. Unc Health is partnering with is piloting that capability within Epic. We're one of a few hospitals that's going to jump on board to do that, just because we feel strongly like that's a path forward to really considering things like provider burnout and better clinical care, because you can get some things like summarization of charts or some drafting of in-basket messages.
Speaker 2:Just really great potential that can come from tech like large language models.
Speaker 2:But, there's a multitude of other use cases and I don't want to focus so much on the clinical that we don't highlight the gains in a health system. It's a full business. There's a lot we can do in the operational space and the administrative space to make our staff more efficient, to reduce cost, to really think about the capabilities that can make us a better organization to serve our patients, so that we can put our resources where they need to be, to really drive great innovation as well as progress as a health system and be available for all of our patients across the state.
Speaker 1:How do you feel that it will help with the quality of care for patients All HIPAA and all of that aside if we push that all away and just focus on being able to use this type of model for quality of care and for patients?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So if we stayed purely on the clinical side, I will say that with any kind of technology this is not specific to any given EHR or tool that we use, because there's lots of products that we use for patient care it's almost information overload for the nurses and the respiratory therapists and the physicians and everybody that's part of that care team. When you gather that much data, the really big part that we need to be able to look to this technology for is how do we help to summarize it, synthesize it, provide the most critical information that might be in the form of an alert, in the form of just things that a provider should be aware of, and put that front and center. So it's a prioritization of information, taking it from data and making it meaningful information that we're looking for with these kind of capabilities and I think the potential is high. Do we have to still worry about how this technology hallucinates? 100% percent? Yeah.
Speaker 2:That is why we're doing a lot of vetting. It's why we're doing a lot of pilot groups and going slowly but in a way that we're talking about the integration directly into where people are working, because that's how we really make those leaps forward in terms of how we change the care and delivery that we do for our patients. That will hopefully then lead to the quality that you're mentioning.
Speaker 1:How do you feel that AI and chat GPT will either assess or inhibit data analytics teams across the country? Are you worried about getting data out? Are you excited because you'll have more data at your fingertips?
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, what a great question, right? I think what I worry about, if we want to put it that way, is our ability to give our staff enough focus to be able to really drive value out of the capabilities that we're trying to get to. The reason I'm saying it that way is things like large language models. Some of this technology has been around forever. In healthcare. We're slow adopters, so it's very new for us. Other industries, too Chat, GPT is something that is revolutionizing the way that people are looking at, the way that they work and how they get there In healthcare, because we are now thinking about this as a transformational type pivot point for us, and many of us are at least I don't want to speak for everyone I think the biggest challenge for people like myself and the folks I work with is can we enable the data to be available for those folks to take advantage of those tools?
Speaker 2:When we think about the interoperability across our different systems and tools to be able to enable those models, do we have enough information? Is the data that these large language models we're trained on, is it sufficient to be able to provide the results we need For really diving in and making that available? It's time, it's attention and it's resources that we need to be able to give towards really vetting it and making sure it can be done in a safe and effective way that adds value.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw you post on social about the changes coming. We need to move forward aggressively but cautiously, and so what are you giving advice to your team and your providers in the organization? It seems like you all are really moving forward aggressively, but I do hear the caution in your voice, and what are some of the topics that come up when you're talking to the other leaders?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I like to focus a lot on the enthusiasm when I'm talking with other leaders, because I think the naysayers are definitely there and they're right in the things that they're worried about. I mean, for us, even with chat GPT that balancing act that we do of enthusiasm and excitement against the realities of things that we should be rightfully worried about we've had to work collaboratively with other data leaders across different industries, even to talk about what are the dos and don'ts of chat GPT on a web-based format, right. How do we take advantage of that and let it accelerate where we're trying to get to without us putting our data and our patient's data and our information at risk? So that's the wary side of it, right?
Speaker 2:The enthusiasm side of it is really trying to think in a way, of how this evolution of healthcare could take place if we leverage the technology effectively right. And building that enthusiasm doesn't mean that it sands the things that we need to be wary of. It means it needs to be inclusive of it. We do need to run forward ahead as a health system if we intend to be a leader in this space, and I do feel like that's something that UNC Health is excited about, that we want to remain in some of the upper echelon groups of health systems that are taking advantage of AI, but it can't be with just blinders on and ignoring some of the things that could put us at risk. So it's baking that into our path forward, but still enthusiastically driving those possibilities in a way that people are onboarding with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah and excited. Right, it's easy for us to be excited we're the healthcare IT geeks in the room, but there's other people that will perceive it more caution. I really truly hope that it helps move, help IT forward, because we still are so far behind. I want to switch over because I saw one of your posts on social about your puppy courtyard at one of your organizations. Can you tell us a little bit about that? It looks really amazing.
Speaker 2:Well, one of our hospitals, Rex Hospital I think they posted on that and I saw some colleagues that I knew taking advantage of the opportunity to snuggle a puppy. I think this is just one example of many of how our folks at UNC Health are really caring for teammates and thinking about their well-being and providing opportunities to take a break from their everyday stress and rigors of their roles, to fill their hearts and their souls with some goodness. Like a snuggle from a puppy, there's nothing better than a puppy lick in that tongue.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, there was a puppy petting area at Vive and then I didn't make it to the one at Hymns, but I heard there was one at Hymns. It was very well received. I think it speaks to a lot of the culture at your organization. What is one thing that you're doing as a leader to really embrace that culture of the puppy courtyard and help your staff through as we come out of COVID and move forward?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I think there are so many different ways that we're doing that as an organization. You can tell I'm a fan of UNC Health. I've been here for coming up on 17 years this January and I have no intention of really going anywhere else because I love the culture that we've built. It's one where it's open doors, where leaders are accessible to you. It's one where the hard conversations happen and if you have concerns or you need something to change that's personally impactful to you, that you can be part of it. We have employee resource groups to really drive the equity and inclusion aspects of our organization.
Speaker 2:I'm personally I sit on two committees that I feel very passionate about. I might be on the data and analytics space, but HR has always been a passion of mine, just because I feel like if you're going to be a leader, you've got to really influence how we take care of our people. I sit on our retention committee as well as our equity and inclusion committee for the health system. Those are two areas that I try and go all in to make sure that even either on the data and analytics side I can support them or from the leadership aspects of where I sit, that I can support those activities. Then the same is true for my team. I've got a big team with amazing directors and managers that I work with. I think they just do a phenomenal job of listening and being available in this hybrid and remote work kind of opportunity as well. I think there's a lot they're trying to do to make sure they're touching base with people and making sure that they feel heard and have someone to talk to. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think there's one other thing I'll add to that I think in this kind of climate that we're in and I really want to say this because I want to acknowledge that all of our workforce has gone through a lot since COVID we have to really acknowledge that the people who come to work are not just workers, but they're whole people and we talk about that a lot with our staff that as a whole person. If you need something, we are here for you to help you get through whatever. Whatever that is and I think that's an important thing as leaders for us to embrace as well that recognition of the person behind the worker that's doing something for you.
Speaker 1:I love that, like as one good thing that came out of COVID. I feel like that is one of the good things that came out. It's embracing that we are a whole people in that. Not today, but another day my seven-year-old will pop in and say hi to you.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 1:And I might be taking a call from the car because we have something going on, and so to hear that you all are embracing that as such a large organization is really wonderful. Wonderful to hear Tell us about this conference that's coming up in the fall and you are lucky enough to be one of the speakers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So the Health Data and Analytics Association is a consortium of really all the health systems in the country. Anybody that wants to be a part of it. I like to call it our Coalition of the Willing within the analytics space. It's leaders, it's practitioners, it's everyone, and it's really meant to be that we're trying to enhance and further the mission of data and analytics within health care, really try and help it do the everyday work that it needs to do, as well as advance it, and I'm going to be attending the one in Denver this November and hopefully, others who are in the health care data and analytics space. You can become a member as well, for free, and come join us.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so exciting. Now how many people usually attend this conference?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I don't have the final counts. I'd have to check with my colleagues who are.
Speaker 1:Denver children.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's around 400. So it's not massive, but in some ways it's really great to create one of those intimate, more personable sessions where you can get to know folks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. Do you know what your topic will be speaking, or you're still working that out?
Speaker 2:Well, I haven't gotten my abstract approved yet I've just submitted it but I'm actually hoping to collaborate with one of our vendors to discuss the potential for AI and generative AI in health care. So a lot of what you and I are talking about right now and discuss how we, as leaders, should be prioritizing the advancements for those capabilities in health care.
Speaker 1:Awesome, that's super exciting. So I'd love to ask you my question. I always end our podcast with and it is what is your superpower?
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, I love that question, oh goodness. I think for me it's a combination of being a connector of things, of peoples, of opportunity, and a lot of that is driven by empathy. So I think I let myself dive in and really understand a situation and a person and an opportunity. I think being able to see it from different perspectives really helps me to with that connection piece and that and that aspect of how can we make some weeks and balance together.
Speaker 1:You're able to see the person as a whole person, which is exactly what your organization embraces Absolutely, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for your time today and being on the podcast and good luck at your speaking engagement and we will talk soon, thank you so much I appreciate it.
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