Ed McCallister, SVP & CIO, UPMC, Chapter 3

There’s a lot of talk about innovation in healthcare IT, but when Ed McCallister says it’s in the DNA of his organization, it’s not just talk. In addition to more than 20 hospitals, 500 outpatient sites and a health plan, UPMC comprises an innovation arm that has launched several products and companies, including an ACO initiative. It’s no wonder McCallister says innovation is a verb — not a noun. In this interview, he talks about the growing trend in consumerism and how his team is leveraging data to transform the patient experience; the partnership that he believes will transform the way care is delivered; and what it really means to be an integrated delivery system. He also shares his thoughts on where the industry is headed, and what he learned from being on the payer side.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3



* Creating a PCMH

* Leveraging analytics to arm docs with “more precise info”

* From payer CIO to system-wide CIO

* Having a “total 100 percent vision of what’s happening”

* Trends in M&A

* Evolent Health initiative

* “We have a lot of opportunity ahead of us & we’re in a good place to make the change happen.”



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Bold Statements

It doesn’t start with the technology; it starts with what the patient-centered medical home and creating the care team, whether it be a virtual care team or a physical care team around that particular member.

We have more willing participants in the healthcare consumer today than we had 5 years ago, so I think that you’re going to see an acceleration in the advanced analytics world and what that could mean as far as patient care.

I’ve always felt that I had the ability to cross boundaries and create a true and integrated experience for myself, but most importantly for a person that’s within the UPMC environment — as a patient, as a member, as an employee, as an employer group.

If you start with that piece, it allows you to actually extend your abilities and your efforts in a way that’s different than if you were just trying to create a product. We’re not a product creator. We’re a company that cares deeply about our patients.

I think the blurring of lines between payer and provider is either going to happen through people trying to create what UPMC is as an integrated delivery system, or creating that insurance capability from within the provider organization.

Gamble:  With everything being focused on patient-centered, person-centered health, what kind of outreach do you do to stay on top of what patients want and where they are willing to share information? What is your approach as far as really understanding the patients’ needs?

McCallister:  When we talk about patient-centered medical homes, that’s really what you’re describing. It’s the doc and the hospital and the payer and everybody working together as a care team for the member. So when you’re talking about the outreach, that’s speaks to my role in the field of technology and how does that person want to be engaged. Some people are fine with a phone call. For others, it’s a text message. It doesn’t start with the technology; it starts with what you described as that patient-centered medical home and creating the care team, whether it be a virtual care team or a physical care team around that particular member.

When I say we’re uniquely positioned, we are, because everything I’ve mentioned, we are involved with that particular person in some fashion many times. And where we’re not, we have many UPMC patients who are not health plan members...