Q&A with Patrick McGill, MD, Part 1: “We Should Not Be Competing on Social Determinants.”

When Patrick McGill, MD, became involved in the Epic optimization initiative at Community Health Network, it was, admittedly, for “selfish” reasons. “I wanted to make Epic more efficient for me to maintain the practice I had,” said McGill, who already had a full plate as a family physician. “I wanted to have a seat at the table to make sure we didn’t lose what we had, and it just blossomed from there.”

Despite lacking a background in computer science or informatics, he was named Chief Analytics Officer in 2018, and has relished his time in the role. Recently, McGill spoke with healthsystemCIO about his core objectives to become a data-driven organization, maintain a solid data governance strategy, and leverage analytics to address social determinants of health.

He also talks about why CHN restructured to separate analytics from IT; how they’re partnering with community organizations and competing health systems to more effectively address social determinants; understand why gaps exist and identify strategies to address them; why having a well-rounded team with diverse backgrounds is critical; and how he’s leveraging analytic snapshots to tie his team’s work to the overall mission of the organization.

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Key Takeaways



* On his relationship with the CIO, McGill said, “We really push each other and challenge each other to think differently and think strategically.”

* By pulling analytics out of IT and making it a separate department, CHA has been able to focus on “advancing technologies, transitioning the data warehouse to the cloud, and developing the skills of our analysts.”

* Two ways in which CHN hopes to achieve the system-wide goal of improving the measurement and capturing of SDoH data? By partnering with a social care network to connect patients with services, and launching a pilot to administer universal screenings during wellness visits.

* It’s inevitable that health systems will compete in several areas; understanding social determinants of health, however can’t be one of them, said McGill.

* At CHN, one of the core goals for 2021 is to improve the measurement and capture of SDoH data, and “identify network strategies through partnerships with community benefit organizations.”





Q&A with Patrick McGill, MD, Chief Analytics Officer, Part 1

Gamble:  You’ve been with the organization for a few years, and in your current role since December of 2018. Can you give an overview of your core responsibilities?

McGill:  Absolutely. As Chief Analytics Officer at Community Health Network, I oversee all of our data and analytic functions, including our Analytics Center of Excellence. We also have analysts deployed throughout the network. We have a unique structure at Community in that I also oversee all of clinical informatics and nursing informatics as well. I also oversee all of our all of our information technology, which means the CIO reports to me. In addition to that, I oversee our enterprise services, which includes our business process management, portfolio management, and regulatory reporting.

It’s definitely a unique structure. We pulled analytics out of IT in December of 2018 and created the chief analytics officer role, which I took on. And then about nine months later, we moved IT, informatics and business process management under a single vertical. We feel that marrying IT, analytics and informatics — especially with some of the digital transformation — really makes sense for our organization.

I always talk about how different organizations have differen...