Podcast Q&A with Dr. Bradley Crotty, Part 1: “Technology is Leveraging the Playing Field.”

During the past few years, a number of healthcare organizations have added digital titles to the C-suite, whether it’s a Chief Digital Officer, Chief Digital Information Officer, or, in Bradley Crotty’s case, Chief Digital Engagement Officer. It’s certainly a step in the right direction for the industry, which has notoriously been late the party. But what needs to happen along with assigning an individual to lead the charge, is acknowledging that digital transformation has to be a team effort.

For Crotty, that means it has to be treated as both a “key competency and an area of accountability” for team members. Recently, he spoke with healthsystemCIO about how Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin is working to instill that mindset across the organization. He also talked about why Inception Health, the hub that was created “as a vehicle to affect digital transformation,” remains a separate entity; the “low-hanging fruit” that leaders should be focused on when it comes to leveraging technology to improve care; and how Froedtert is partnering with nearby organizations to address social determinants of care.

Key Takeaways



* Inception Health, the hub created in 2015 “as a vehicle to affect digital transformation,” was created as a separate structure for a simple reason: “It’s very difficult for legacy organizations to disrupt themselves.”

* Having a full-time remote monitoring and clinical team housed within Inception Health enables Froedtert to roll out digital solutions without burdening local care teams.

* During the pandemic, the need increased for Crotty’s team to be “an evangelist for how we make digital more available in different aspects of administrative and clinical operations.”

* When used right, digital tools can improve the care process by “integrating data across devices and getting them into a central location where they can be accessed.”

* From a clinical standpoint, the biggest opportunity for digital health is in helping those with chronic conditions manage day-to-day care.





Q&A with Dr. Bradley Crotty

Gamble:  Let’s start with a brief overview of the organization — what you have in terms of hospitals, how it’s structured, etc.

Crotty:  Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin Health Network is probably best described as an academic community health system. It’s based in Southeastern Wisconsin. We have three full-service hospitals: Froedtert Hospital, which is the academic medical center; Froedtert Menomonee Falls, which is also a teaching hospital; and Froedtert West Bend Hospital.

We’ve just entered into an affiliation agreement with Holy Family Memorial Medical Center in Manitowoc. We have two other affiliates and three community hospitals in different areas around Southeastern Wisconsin to make receiving care more convenient for people instead of having to come to one of our bigger hospitals. We’re about a $2.6 billion health system.

 

Gamble:  And in terms of the Medical College of Wisconsin, is that a partnership? How would you describe it?

Crotty:  It’s a strategic partnership. That’s how we brand and run our clinical enterprise. It’s a combination of efforts between Froedtert, which is the parent healthcare organization, and Medical College of Wisconsin, which is the academic university. It’s a free-standing, private medical school.

 

Gamble:  I want to talk about your role as chief digital engagement officer, but you also have the title of CMO of Inception Health, which is the digital health hub. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Crotty:  Absolutely. Inception Health is a wholly owned subsidiary of Froedtert Health. It was created in 2015 as a vehicle to affect digital transformation and digital change. The reason we created a separate structure and space for it is because it’s very difficult for legacy organizations to disrupt themselves and essentially get ...