Digital Transformation in Healthcare: Amanda Russo of Cornerstone Paradigm Consulting On How Medical Practices Can Use Digital Transformation To Provide Better Care
Change is hard in healthcare, so many are stuck in the old ways of doing things and refuse adoption of modern technology. I also know there are budget constraints, while there are ways around it and it doesn’t always mean spend millions of dollars there is always change and not everyone will be on board with it.
As part of our series about “Medical Practices Can Use Digital Transformation To Provide Better Care”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amanda Russo, Cornerstone Paradigm Consulting, LLC.
Amanda A. Russo, Founder & CEO of Cornerstone Paradigm Consulting, LLC.
As CEO and founder of Cornerstone Paradigm Consulting, LLC, Amanda Russo empowers companies to dream bigger by fixing what isn’t working so they can make room for larger and better things. It is gratifying as the go-to professional they come to for advice.
Her company focuses on end-to-end business operations. They concentrate on the people, the processes, technology, and customer experience. She provides business advice, strategy, solutions, and solutions to scale your business. She follows the markets and latest trends in technology and collaborates with thought leaders to implement cutting-edge solutions to address my client’s pain point.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My personal story begins with my inherent gift of problem solving. Whether I wanted to or not all have always found myself in the middle of fact finding and problem solving both personally and professionally. I am now able to help our clients get to where they want to go.
Can you share the most interesting or most exciting story that has happened to you since you began at your company?
The most exciting thing for me is having a voice. Early on in my career I had a boss tell me in so many words that I was never going to amount to anything, I wasn’t good enough or smart enough. And now I get to share my perspective on the topic I love which it business operations with notable publications. Whether he or I knew it or not this isn’t something I just picked up because I saw money in it or thought it was a cool trend; in fact this is an inherent gift of forever problem solving and it has saved companies 10’s of millions of dollars over the years. I know now that anyone who feels inclined to discount another clearly sees something in that person that may very well be threatening, the person on the receiving end may not see it; fortunately for me I did, but that is not always the case.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Then, can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Oh boy I will have to say it was definitely my on camera presence. I am not from the age of selfies and video meetings where really becoming the norm 5–6 years ago I had no training with on camera presence and naturally being my own worst critic seeing myself on camera made me nervous which made my presence even worse. Now I suppose I know what to expect so I am a little more comfortable with it. I suppose a takeaway would be get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
I will always say one of my best and worst traits is how tenacious I am. I think it really has played an instrumental role in my success; it can also lead to burn out which speaks to the negative side of being tenacious I think its all a balance I don’t always get it right.
Be reasonable, I think as a leader you must be reasonable with timelines and how things get done, I know not everyone works the same, learns the same and has the same process. I am comfortable with the results and I don’t care how one gets there.
Remembering your mind is your strongest muscle and it’s important to keep the noise out. This is always easier said than done.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
So many exciting projects we have now and are on the docket to start shortly. Financial services, call centers, science, and manufacturing bio-tech.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview about Digital Transformation in Healthcare. I am particularly passionate about this topic because my work focuses on how practices can streamline processes to better serve their patients. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what exactly Digital Transformation means? On a practical level what does it look like for a medical practice to engage in a digital transformation?
Digital transformation means improving patient access by offering other outlets for them to meet with their physician. It’s streamlining and speeding up a usually very long full of paper process into a seamless in and out visit. Enabling patients the ability to get the answers they need like the test results and scheduling their next appointment all at the tip of their fingers. Digital transformation makes incredibly challenging procedures safer and more accessible with the help of technology. The possibilities are limitless if you are willing to embrace realigning and adjusting at the very basic level you will be able to serve more patients, increase the bottom line, improve your turnover rates or FMLA challenges, and ultimately have the budget to purchase equipment your physicians, nurses, and non clinical staff need to get the job done and done well.
What are the specific pain points that digital transformation can help address in a medical practice?
Literally everything from patient access to onboarding, all the way through the triage process to getting paid. It matters at every stage in healthcare.
What are the obstacles that prevent a medical practice from engaging in a digital transformation?
Change is hard in healthcare, so many are stuck in the old ways of doing things and refuse adoption of modern technology. I also know there are budget constraints, while there are ways around it and it doesn’t always mean spend millions of dollars there is always change and not everyone will be on board with it.
Managing a healthcare facility is more challenging than it has ever been. Based on your experience or research, can you please share with our readers a few examples of how digital transformation can help a medical practice to provide better care? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
Patient self serve must be done right, but if it is this is a great way to cut down on intake time and accuracy.
Cutting down on paper allowing patients to fill out that information digitally and on their own time prior to their visit.
Telehealth appointments have dramatically improved patient access, it allows patients who are unable to make the trip the ability to have a doctors visit.
Can you share a few examples of how digital interactions or digital intake processes can help create a frictionless patient experience and increase access for patients?
There are so many fantastic things companies like Epic are doing for the healthcare space. Intake specifically has improved with digital patient portals the app, onsite kiosks or patient hand held ipads. The thing I really love is the seamless sharing of information from one site to the next when a patient stays within the providers ecosystem.
Based on your opinion and experience, what are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Effective Medical Practice” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
Get out of your own way, I mean do what you are good at and outsource what you are not.
Technology matters, you’ll need technology to run this business I have seen this time and time again practices choosing what they “think” the need and wind up burning a ton of the budget. You need an expert that doesn’t have an agenda, an impartial expert to map out your current state and then talk about choices. Do no cut corners or it will cost you.
Whatever you do not understaff, I know budget it tight but you really need a seamless process and the right people if you want this practice to be successful.
If you have an FMLA problem just know there are reasons for it and it very likely begins with your process, technology and your management in no particular order.
Choose a select list of specialties not anything and everything you can fit into a day it send the wrong message to your patients.
Because of your role, you are a person of significant influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most people, what would that be? You never know what your ideas can trigger.
Truly understand where you are in the business to then talk about making real actionable change, and for this there is only one way. It is the longer way but the tortoise always beats the hare.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Check out our blog www.cpcchangeagent.com/blog we publish a new one every week.
You can sign up for our newsletter on our website
We also offer plenty of resources https://www.cpcchangeagent.com/resources
Ans we do have a great live show that is on every Tuesday 2pm ET on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/cornerstoneparadigmconsultingllc/?viewAsMember=true
Or you can follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandaarusso/
This was truly meaningful! Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your expertise!
