You never know where the next big idea will come from.
It’s a talking point often used by leaders seeking to inspire creativity. But at Virtua Health, it’s more than lip service — and not just because the NJ-based organization has its own Center for Innovation. In fact, the idea that resulted in the deployment of intubation boxes to protect both providers and patients during Covid-19 came from outside the organization (and the industry, for that matter).
To Adam Glasofer, MD, who serves as both Chief Innovation Officer and Associate Medical Director of Informatics, it didn’t matter in the least where it originated; just that it had the potential to improve outcomes. “Ultimately, it’s about thinking outside the box and listening,” he said.
During a recent interview, Dr. Glasofer discussed the critical role innovation has played in Virtua’s response to Covid-19, and how the pandemic has “raised the bar” when it comes to digital engagement. He also talked about the organization’s bold plans for l predictive analytics, the challenges they faced in scaling up telemedicine, and what he believes is the “greatest tool” for clinicians.
Part 1
Part 2

* Virtua’s digital health strategy
* Practicing medicine to “maintain street cred.”
* Concerns with remote patient monitoring: “Who’s managing the data? Who’s responsible for it?”
* Long-term plans for patient engagement
* Contract w/ Epic for cognitive computing & cloud tools
* Leveraging analytics to predict ED admissions
* Actionable data – “The greatest tool for clinicians”
* Leading through “unprecedented” times

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Bold Statements
Providers are worried about the data that’s coming in. Are they responsible for it? Are they liable for it? Who’s managing it? Those are legitimate concerns, because without those processes in place numbers are just getting dumped into the system
This has rapidly raised the bar in a way that many organizations were ready for and, unfortunately, some were not. Fortunately, Virtua’s senior leadership had the foresight to invest in a lot of these things and not give up on them despite the lack of widespread success.
It has to provide data when they need it, where they need it, and be actionable. There are processes in place that say, ‘this is the data point you have; this is what you can do with it and this is what you should do with it.’
Nothing like this has ever happened before. We can only look around and see what models are working and what models aren’t, and at the same time, look internally and make sure what we’re doing is working, and if not, adapting it.
Gamble:  Aside from telemedicine, there are other ways in which technology is being leveraged to improve engagement. Can you talk about some of the initiatives happening there?
Glasofer:  In our digital health world right now, we’re trying to scale up some of our remote patient monitoring options. For example, we’ve launched a program in conjunction with our pulmonary physicians and our emergency departments where specific patients are being discharged with a pulse oximeter, which measures oxygen levels in the blood by attaching a clip to your finger. In doing that, we can monitor their clinical progress from afar. That’s just one example of some of the tools we’ve been investigating over the years. We’re now looking to figure out ways that we can...