Digital Transformation Healthcare

Healthcare Meets Hospitality

Healthcare Meets Hospitality

Complete with flat screen TVs in every room, room service, a grand piano in the foyer, elegant architecture and amenities for the whole family during your stay, hospitals are beginning to look more and more like upscale hotels. Healthcare should continually strive to improve the patient experience and remove the sterile, sickly environment that has long been associated with hospitals. Should Healthcare CIOs consider looking to the innovations in the Hospitality industry, where technology and data has been utilized to predict the needs of guests and provide a completely integrated experience that feels memorable and pleasant? How have other hospitals already made their patient experiences more memorable? What can Healthcare CIOs begin implementing today in a way that makes sense for their industry’s demands?

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Transcript

Sanjog Aul [00:00:26]:

Hello, and welcome to CIO Talk Radio. To learn more about the show, please visit www.ciotalkradio.com. And as always, we invite you to join the discussion on Twitter, hashtag CTR live, and look for this show as hashtag health care. Today’s topic is Healthcare Meets Hospitality  , and our guest for today’s show is Mitze Amoroso, who’s the CIO of ArchCare. How are you, Mitze?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:00:51]:

I’m great. Thanks. How about yourself?

 

Sanjog Aul [00:00:53]:

Very good. Ready for the holiday season now?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:00:55]:

I sure am.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:00:57]:

So to that, Mitze, when we look at the health care industry, there are pressures. Would you agree that there are competitive pressures where we want the health care organizations to do better? What are some of the reasons why this competition or we are requested by the business to become more competitive and show that we are better than others?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:02:00]:

So I would say absolutely. There’s definitely more pressure on anyone in health care to become more competitive. And I think that is really because of the information that’s available out there on the Internet. The residents themselves, the patients, the members, the participants, depending on what group within health care that you’re in, are able to get information, whether they’re able to achieve the 5-star ratings, whether they’re able to see the survey results, whether they’re able to see from Yelp or other Google searches what word-of-mouth is on the hospital or health care system. There’s definitely information out there. And because of that information, there’s certainly more pressure on the businesses to be better than what they see and what that information is. So there’s always a strive to reach the 5-star results and you want to be the best in your, I guess, vertical, in your health care vertical. And I think that there is definitely something to be said for that.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:03:17]:

It’s interesting the way you said it. It’s typical of a restaurant or anyone in the service industry who would look at the feedback which the patients are providing. So earlier, health care was a noble profession, and it is still a noble profession. But earlier, it was more and more and more like, okay, we go to a select set of hospitals or doctors or long term care, and we would just stick with them. But now, in a way, it looks like even for health care, it is becoming a buyer’s market. Is that what you’re seeing?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:03:44]:

Yeah. I would say, yes. Definitely. There are definitely people out there shopping and going to those. Back in 2010, there was an article from Karen Kaplan for the LA Times. The title of the article was “Hospitals Are Transforming into Luxury Hotels.” One of the things at that point was that people went to health care facilities because they were referred by their physician or were affiliated with the community. But nowadays they’re looking for what amenities are out there. Not only are you going to get the best care, but what other amenities are going to assist you with that care. For example, I was in the hospital recently due to a back injury. I went into the hospital with my laptop, my iPad, my BlackBerry, my iPhone, and I fully expected that I was going to be able to continue business as usual in the hospital in addition to getting my care and getting better. So from the experience from 10, 15 years ago to where people are today, you can definitely see the transformation from just needing a basic phone and additional cable TV channels in the hospital to not only having a phone and cable TV channels, but to having instantaneous access to the Internet to be able to conduct business as usual and do everything that you would do in the community in a health care setting as well.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:05:28]:

So when you look at hospitality or the kind of things that you’re referring to, were we talking about just the Internet access as the holy grail, or would you say that there are other demands that somebody, when they go to a hotel, for example, they like to be checked in immediately. They want to be able to take care in terms of the preferences that they may have for food, but, of course, a patient cannot get a steak when they are having a heart attack, for example. So we’re not going that direction. However, there is some connection to how much do we know our customer. And in this case, the patient is the customer, and we go beyond just providing Internet service. So where is this evolution heading? Or is it if you provide them instantaneous access to the Internet, is that about it?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:06:13]:

No. I don’t think that’s the bottom at all. If you look at 15 years ago, the expectation when somebody broke a hip, for example, and they went temporarily into a nursing home for some care, was that they would have a telephone and some cable TV. But when you go to a hotel, your expectations right off the bat are a clean, quiet room, a good place to sleep, a comfortable bed, cable TV, Internet access, a place to get something to eat, and a place where you can get information. If you call the front desk, you want information on local restaurants and all that. I don’t see that much different than being in a hospital. Going back to my hospital stay a few weeks ago, I was fully connected, I had a clean room, a comfortable bed that could move up and down, and I had somebody coming in and asking me my choices as to what meals I wanted. They came in with their iPad and said, okay, these are the menu items for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we went through what I was going to have for each meal. I had a welcoming committee come in to make sure that I had everything and all the information I needed access to. Anytime the nurses gave me any medication, they handed me a paper printout as to what the medication was and any additional information I could possibly need. So it’s the entire experience. It’s not just the Internet access or the telephone or the cable TV that makes the whole hospitality experience. It’s the whole package, everything from having a clean, quiet room so that you could rest, to having everything else you need at your fingertips as if you were in the community. I think that’s really where it’s going.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:08:31]:

Interestingly, when we look for such services, you can go to a luxury hotel versus a regular one and see the difference, and that is in a way reflected based on the kind of room rates you pay. In this case, do you think we are in an interesting position with health care where somehow we can expect the insurance companies to pay for all these luxuries and you are able to provide those services? So it’s the challenge in bringing that hospitality mindset within the management and staff so you deliver those services where there is no problem with the cost part of it, or is that still a pressure? We do not get everything paid by the insurance company as a hospital or a long term care provider, but we still are expected by the patient to provide that excellent luxurious service, and that’s where we start getting crushed between the two.

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:09:23]:

Yeah. I do think that is correct. I do think that’s where we’re going to get crushed between the two because the expectation is there. From my perspective and my personal experience, I expected it regardless of what the rate was that the insurance company was paying. That expectation from the patient side of things is there regardless of what they would pay. So it’s certainly a challenge. It’s something that kind of stops us a little bit from being cutting edge. But in order to achieve these ratings and stay on top and be as competitive as possible, we do have to stay a little bit ahead of the curve. For example, at one of our locations, we were installing new elevators. We installed new touchpad elevator screens like if you were in one of the high-end office buildings where you just touch the panel. It has the ability to scroll through and show what events are going on in the nursing home for that day. So you can have bingo on this floor, for example. And I think really it’s the whole package out there from the patient perspective that helps the hospitality piece of it. I really think that care is one piece, and hospitality is another piece to make the total experience the best possible that it could be.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:11:10]:

Now with all those different elements that we want to put in place, one is to provide the service as a service. But there is a behind the scenes engine and that like, you could say hospitality industries also leverage technology. Since we are a CIO Talk Radio and the focus is on making sure technology, how it delivers value, now comes the time perhaps where the technology can rise and shine by making everyone proud, doing what they’re supposed to do by increasing efficiencies or maybe enabling innovation in this space. How much of that do you think is even being thought of and has been implemented today?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:11:47]:

Definitely thought of. I can tell you from my perspective, everything from digital signage in the elevator waiting areas gives you different elements of all of our programs, whether it’s nursing home care, home care, managed care programs, or what’s going on within the location itself. That means something from a recreation perspective. Digital signage is just one of the technologies being thought of. From a patient care perspective, we get into discussions of patient portals and having the ability for you to log in to your portal and access all of your patient information, whether it’s medications, scheduling an appointment with your physician, asking a question, and getting a real-time response within a reasonable amount of time. I think technology breaks it into two sectors. You have the hospitality sector, like the digital signage and how we improve that, and you also have the patient portal and how do I get more information and verify that the information I see on Google or WebMD is accurate.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:13:17]:

So when you go to a hotel, you basically have a problem that you’re solving: you’re away from home and you want to be as comfortable as possible, and you pay for it, and accordingly the services are rendered. In a hospital or in health care, there is a problem where you may be in pain or you have an ailment which you want taken care of, but all along you want to be treated as if you were at home and be cared for by people who provide anything and everything that you would have desired when you are in pain or going through treatment. The mindset may be a little different, but inherently we are trying to be as close to being taken care of by somebody of our own as possible. What is that experience? How is that experience being defined, and how is that being converted into a set of benchmarks and goals so that you have something to work towards? Because if you create digital signage, which is great, that’s not what a patient will use to say this organization is better than others. So what are those benchmarks? What are those patient-centric goals that we are creating to be able to get to the next level?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:14:34]:

Yeah. I’m going to go back to the 5-star reviews for that. When you look at the 5-star reviews, you look at quality of care, staffing levels, the quality of the dietary and all these different aspects of a care perspective. I think that’s the first place we would look. We keep striving to make sure that we hit our 5-star goals and we’re a 5-star running entity. The digital signage is just an added bonus. It shows the communication and that we are committed to meeting our 5 stars. We’re committed to making sure that you get the best care possible, and by the way, we’re going to give you these tools that will enhance your communication so that you know what’s going on within the building, so that you get the best experience, so that you can attend these recreation events if you would like to. You’ll know that the cafe is open from 11 to 2. You know the bar is open from 5 to 7. Those types of amenities are out there for the overall patient experience. From the care perspective, you’re going there for an ailment to be resolved, or in some cases, like in long term care, you’re there because you’re unable to care for yourself properly at home. There are programs such as the PACE program, which is a program for all-inclusive care for the elderly who are nursing-home eligible patients that want to stay in the community. There are things or programs out there that will enable the patient, resident, participant, or consumer, depending on your health care vertical, to get the best possible care and possibly utilize technology in that care. Whether you’re using an EMR, a patient portal, or eCare diary for your family members to keep track of your care, there are technology tools available.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:17:10]:

Let’s take a quick break, listeners. We’ll be right back. And let’s look at behind the scenes chaos or madness that may be happening in order for us to be able to deliver that seamless experience to the patient and our customer who we are hoping to satisfy. Please stay tuned listeners. We’ll be right back.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:19:21]:

Welcome back. So, Mitze, as we all know that in order for us to be able to create that seamless experience, whether it’s hospitality or health care, there has to be some behind the scenes madness and chaos, which we have to manage and maybe innovate in and optimize and at the same time, make sure that we don’t have cost overruns. So share with us and our listeners a few areas where you feel as it goes about that the chaos does exist, the madness does exist, it’s just the nature of the game and how it’s being managed.

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:19:56]:

Right. So chaos definitely exists. The biggest challenge, I think, that helps us manage some of the chaos is we implemented EMR. So across all of our continuum of care, we have an EMR in place. With the EMR, it allowed us to improve efficiencies, give good quality documentation, and eliminate handwriting interpretation mistakes from poor or illegible handwriting. The EMR was a big challenge to get up and going across our continuum of care. But once that was in place, the efficiencies we’re seeing are certainly there from a care perspective. It allows us to do benchmarking, look at what data is out there from different diagnoses, and help manage some of these outcomes for patient care. In addition to the EMR is the ability to communicate with other systems, whether it’s another HIE, health information exchange, or dumping the data into a data warehouse so that we’re able to do better analytics and look at BI a little bit better. Those things are challenging from a technology perspective. But once all the data is there and you’re able to analyze it, the patient experience and having the data at your fingertips and the ability to provide information to the patients quicker and more seamlessly and get lab results really quickly so you can determine the quality of care, I think it’s significant for the patient experience.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:22:04]:

So imagine you put in the plumbing a couple of years ago, and the business has expectations to say you put in great plumbing. It seems it is going faster. Then what next? Do you think if you have given them a fiber connected backbone and applications which are working lightning fast, then you can go for your two weeks’ vacation?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:22:33]:

Well, it’s funny that you say lightning fast. I would love to go on a two weeks’ vacation if it was lightning fast, but there are things that always prohibit it, whether it’s firewalls and web filters and other things that prevent us. Bandwidth costs a lot of money. It’s probably not as fast as I would like it to be, but we’re working towards that. It’s not only lightning fast; it’s having the ability to do video broadcast across the organization if you wanted to send a message. It’s the ability to bring radiology results, as big as those files are, into your EMR system and have the doctor simply and seamlessly integrate that into their EMR. We’re not there yet. We’re certainly working towards that, and I think that every year we get closer and closer to what the major hospital systems are at right now. It’s definitely a challenge.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:23:57]:

So you have the speed. And now coming to the hospitality aspect where we have to essentially get creative in the sense of that wow effect we want, which is not just one thing working fast. It has to be effective. It has to be timely, and it has to be very close to what the customer expected or even exceed their expectation, and that’s where the wow effect is created through hospitality. So having the plumbing in place is one thing. Then what else is being thought of or put in place to come close to that wow effect for the patient?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:24:34]:

Yeah. I agree. The plumbing is in place. The wow effect is what we’re looking to get. I go back to my hospital experience because as a patient I know what my expectations were. People are a piece and technology is another. In my hospital experience, one of the aides assigned to my room wore very strong floral perfume, and I’m highly allergic to it. I mentioned to the nurse that I was highly allergic to this perfume and preferred a different aide. I spoke to the aide herself and explained, and the next day she came into my room without any perfume on. I just thought that made my entire hospital experience. Taking the care out of it, taking the technology out of it, the fact that she cared enough to come back without perfume was my wow effect while I was in the hospital. Take the technology, take the care I received, take all of that combined, and I had one of the best hospital experiences I could ever imagine having while I was there. So the people piece is a big piece to hospitality. Combine that with technology and I think that’s how you get the wow. I don’t think technology alone is going to give any patient the wow effect. You need to combine the two. You take the person who cares enough to do what’s best for you, the physicians and nurses who want to give you the best care possible, and you add in the technology benefits beyond basic cable TV, the ability to get to the Internet, the ability to do business as usual as if you were in the community. You take the communication factor from the welcome committees. You take the technology piece from the digital signage and the ability to communicate to your different team members. You take the patient portals and the ease of use to get that information to assist in your care. You take all of that together and I think that’s what gives you the wow effect. Technology alone is not going to give you this wow. It’s all the pieces combined that give you that 5-star rating and that wow effect the patients are looking for.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:28:03]:

You’ve given him a very good segue for the next question. So first, let’s take a quick break, listeners. We’ll be right back. And, Mitze, let’s look at when you mentioned that all of these things are to be combined: a good caring set of aides and the physicians and nurses, etcetera, and at the same time, good solid technology. How do you arm these people? It’s not that they don’t have the caring attitude, but sometimes the patient gets what they just expected and then the wow is not created. Where is the opportunity for us to innovate so that the same caring people are able to go the extra mile or come across as going the extra mile by getting to know the patient a little better, getting to know their preferences, and taking care of them in a way which they would have expected? And all of that information was shared with them timely and in an appropriate manner for them to be able to do what they are supposed to do. So where are we enabling those people is where the key is going to be, where technology can rise and shine. Please stay tuned, listeners. We’ll be right back and explore.

Sanjog Aul [00:31:02]:

Welcome back. So, Mitze, we spoke about the wow effect in the past and, in the early part of the program. And you mentioned that all of these have to be combined: good, strong, caring people and technology. How do we enable these people leveraging technology? What are the not so obvious ways the possibilities are there which are still being explored, and what are the obvious ways that you think, if implemented but done well, will do the trick?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:31:32]:

Sure. Education, education, education is a way to help the workers along. We use e-learning as one of the main forms of education. We have videos out there from basic hand washing to how to deal with somebody who doesn’t want to take a bath. I think education and the way you approach the patients is certainly a way to help this along. Technology is definitely out there in many different ways to educate, like e-learning modules, videos, and classes. Staff development teams at each of the locations do a fabulous job keeping everybody informed about the strategic direction of the organization and how to work with patients and do certain functions properly. From an IT perspective, we have an IT course that we ask everybody to complete that tells you basic passwords, how to protect your PHI, and basic standards. Education from the leader standpoint combined with technology and e-learning courses gets the word out about what is acceptable from a mission and standard perspective for users, and that goes a long way. The aide I mentioned earlier who came in without perfume was incredible. It was something she didn’t have to do and she did on her own. You have to care for the patient. When you’re in your EMR doing the assessment and you know what the patient likes and doesn’t like and how to address the patient—my name is Mitze but perhaps I want to be called Mitts—you have to know how the patient wants to be talked to, what their likes are, how they’re going to behave, and what their sleeping patterns are. For example, in hospitality one expectation is a clean, quiet room and quiet time from 10 PM to 6 AM so that TVs are at a reasonable level and patients get the best experience. Technology and people combined, the EMRs asking the right assessment questions, and sharing that information across the continuum—housekeeping, dietary—so that everyone knows how to work with the patient to provide the best possible care. Perhaps I want to go down to the cafe every day at 2:00. That should be documented in my chart. You should be able to assess and assist me getting down to the cafe every day at 2:00 so I can read a blog or a newspaper while I’m down there. That type of thing, with technology and people combined, gives you that wow effect.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:35:51]:

Now when we are looking at customer service and you mentioned that people we need who will really care, would you say that the fact that there are not as many hospitals that I can point my finger on or health care organizations where they are giving us the wow, is there a talent issue which is causing it or is it the way we are creating a system so that even though you have the people, you’ve not been able to enable the processes, which could be with or without technology, for us to get to that end result?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:36:29]:

As far as talent goes, I can’t really speak to it as if it’s a talent issue. I think people who go into health care generally care and want to help people. I do think employee morale plays a big role. If you feel appreciated, your boss thinks highly of you, you like your job, you understand the mission, and your work environment is good, I think that transcends into better care. You want to come to work and do a good job, and that helps care for people. I do think that says something about the organization itself and the people that work for them. I can’t say that someone who doesn’t want to help is put into a nursing role because I don’t think they’re going to help. Generally, the underlying motive for anybody coming into the health care industry is that they want to do the best job they can caring for people.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:38:06]:

So when we think about technology, we say that technology can help automate a process, enable a process, optimize a process, and perhaps innovate in the process or make it a new or better process. If you’re talking about automation, enabling it, optimizing it, or innovating in it, in order for health care to transform into hospitality and become competitive, where do you think there is a need to leverage technology more and where are we facing challenges in that regard?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:38:52]:

Yes. We definitely have to leverage technology more. EMRs were the first step that needed to be taken. The next steps and future steps are how you take that data from the EMRs and communicate it with anyone who needs access. Whether you’re going to communicate that data directly and seamlessly with other hospitals, institutions, providers, or home care agencies, how do you transition the data from your location to another location as a warm handoff? I’m in a nursing home, I broke my hip, I’m going to home care now—how does that data go from the nursing home seamlessly to the home care agency so they don’t have redundancy of information and don’t have to ask the patient for demographic information? Managing care transitions is a big buzzword right now. How do we do that seamlessly and communicate across the board? They started with HIEs, individual RHIOs, and having that information go from an EMR to one of those entities. I don’t think it’s 100% there yet. In New York particularly, they were looking to create SHIN-NY, which would combine information from the health information exchanges to one central location so that if you go from one hospital to another, your record and medical history will go with you. I think that is the ultimate goal. That will help with ultimate care. Information being exchanged accordingly will help better outcomes. You’ll understand information from different conditions easier. Having the transition will help the patient across the board. As long as that handoff and information is exchanged, you’re not asking the patient for additional information. They will feel everything’s taken care of. The impression will be that I was in a nursing home and now transferred to home care and the whole experience was perfect. I went to a provider that continued working with us, whether within the continuum of care or outside it; the end-user experience needs to be the same. It needs to be seamless. All the information needs to go, and the next person needs to be able to pick up as if they were involved in that care from the very beginning.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:42:07]:

That’s awesome. Now actionable insights is what makes a difference because you could have blobs of data floating around or lots of reports being offered. At the end of the day, people who are offering the care, they are the end point where they’re touching the customer and making sure that they are getting the type and level of care that they are supposed to be offered. Where are we with that part? That’s where hospitality really works hard so that whether it is a person taking a food tray to a given room or you’re at a restaurant, you are being able to invite people and based on their name you are able to see their preferences and do those things. Would you say that we are a little more sterile in the way we approach it because we’re health care, or are we really thinking as hospitality even though we may not have the systems, but we have the intent to go there?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:43:07]:

I think that’s the intent, and that’s our goal to get to that point. I don’t think anybody is 100% there. Many organizations are implementing measures to work together. There’s more collaboration between organizations in New York on how we’re going to work together to address some identified outcomes. The goal is to get there; I just don’t think we’re 100% there yet. Technology is going to be the big driver to deliver an integrated delivery system to seamlessly give access to each of the providers and give the end user—the patient—the best experience possible. All of that together is our goal; I just don’t think we’re all 100% there yet.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:44:34]:

Let’s take a quick break, listeners. We’ll be right back. And let’s look in this last segment that we are expecting technology to play a key role in being able to transform healthcare as in from a sterile to a hospitality oriented experience. That requires, of course, technology to play a part. Now that also brings an important point as how is your technology department structured? What are its internal processes? What is the amount of funding that’s available to be able to go about doing innovation? What kind of leadership you have? What kind of culture you have? So let’s look at the last segment about what would it take in terms of transformation or improvement within the technology organization for technology to be able to help deliver the experience that we are expecting as patients, and that would turn health care into hospitality. Please stay tuned, listeners. We’ll be right back.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:47:19]:

Welcome back. So, when we look at the technology organization, which is essentially expected to deliver and support those innovations that will transform health care into a hospitality organization and make it competitive, there are some challenges. Let’s inventory those challenges and what is to be done. Typically in a health care organization, where does the IT organization stand and what does it need to help the health care organization turn into hospitality?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:47:54]:

Yes. I think it needs to come from the top. If the executive director or the CEO is pushing technology, it’s a lot easier. Fortunately, our CEO is very technologically savvy. He likes all his gadgets and the latest tools, which makes our job easier from an IT perspective and a little harder because you always have to worry about securing the information and making sure everything works within our current environment. The good thing is we want to be one of the leaders in the industry from a technology perspective. You need to invest, have proper bandwidth and plumbing in place, and ensure the infrastructure needed to support these initiatives. If you don’t have the foundation, no matter what you try, it’s just not going to work. We’re fortunate that we have been working on the foundation and have the plumbing in place. Now we’re going out there to be as innovative as possible to stay within our 5 stars, give the amenities our patients and residents expect, and provide that wow factor. From my perspective, if you have the funding and the plumbing and the infrastructure and that foundation in place, the rest comes easier as long as you have the money to implement. Our next challenge is we have all these different programs of care and several different EMRs. We have EMRs for the long term care industry, for the managed care side, and for home care. How do we get everybody talking to each other so we can manage our transitions and make sure handoffs from one program to another are seamless internally and externally? If somebody leaves our nursing home and goes to a home care that is not within our continuum of care, the expectation is that patient will have the same exact experience as if they stayed within our continuum. We are using technology and have created a patient portal to start to manage some of these transitions and help give the end user that wow factor we promised. While they’re in-house, technology plays a similar role as in hospitality to make sure that when they first walk in we know they’re coming, their demographic information is entered, they go right up to their room, they meet their welcome committee, nurses know what medications they’re on, and they still have to go through assessments. That’s all done on the computer. We have kiosks on the wall to do documentation of basic activities of daily living (ADLs). I do think technology helps tie everything together from a hospitality to a health care perspective.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:52:17]:

Now there are a lot of needs and, of course, we need to work with the business and make sure that we get them. What kind of leadership, in your view, and what cultural differences within the IT organization would eventually lead us to that end goal where we are able to effectively support our business that is health care and also introduce that wow effect?

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:52:42]:

So really, you have to understand technology and you can’t be afraid of it. If you’re not afraid of it and you understand it, then you’ll embrace it. I’m very fortunate our organization has embraced technology and wants to be cutting edge, to communicate with all users using video, for example. Looking strategically ahead, if you want to do communications through the entire organization using something similar to Skype and be able to do presentations that way, you need the infrastructure in place and cameras on desktops. You can’t just give a video presentation to desktops without cameras. We planned accordingly knowing the end result we wanted. From a resident perspective, when you have Mass in one of our chapels, you want to be able to broadcast that mass to rooms for patients who can’t come down to the chapel for health reasons so they can participate. We have that ability as well. Those amenities go a long way in giving you that hospitality wow factor and marry both hospitality and health care. Not everybody can get down to the chapel to attend a service, a concert, or a choir coming to the facility, but they still want to participate, and technology allows that to happen. Combine that feature and functionality with basic amenities and you get the overall experience that I think everybody is looking for.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:55:08]:

On behalf of the show and our listeners, I’d really like to thank you, Mitze, for sharing your thoughts on how the health care organizations working together with their respective technology leaders and the staff to make sure that they are able to create that wow effect, which we come to expect from hospitality. Thank you so much again.

 

Mitze Amoroso [00:55:28]:

K. Thank you.

 

Sanjog Aul [00:55:30]:

And please like us on Facebook, search for CIO Talk Radio, and be sure to follow us on Twitter. Thank you again for listening to CIO Talk Radio. This is Sanjog Aul, your talk show host. Have a happy Thanksgiving, and till next week, take care and God bless.

 

Contributors

Mitze Amoroso

Mitze Amoroso, CIO, ArchCare

Information Technology Leader with more than 20 years of strategic, operational IT and business planning experience in a ever changing complex environment. As a proactive, solution-oriented leader, Mitze has taken charge of the design, dev... More   View all posts
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Mitze Amoroso