Piedmont

David Kelly

David Kelly currently works as a Director of Operational Excellence at Piedmont. He is a healthcare revenue cycle professional responsible for oversight of a large, complex health system's revenue cycle of over $10 billion in net revenue. He has 16+ years of overall healthcare industry experience, including over 12 years of revenue cycle and acute care expertise. Prior to working with  Piedmont, David Kelly worked as a system director - revenue performance and revenue financial reporting system at Bon Secours Mercy Health.

How has EMR and EHR space evolved through the years?

Today, many organizations are shifting away from paper charts and toward digital EMR in order to save time. Organizations are spending more time and money on their EMR in an effort to incorporate add-on software or bolt-on software, depending on their preference and the functionality that their EMR provides. At the same time, EMR software companies have been trying over the years to add more functionality to their main product.

What are some of the challenges and trends impacting this space lately?

Spending a significant amount of time on EMR maintenance is one of the major obstacles that caregivers, doctors, and nurses face today. From a project management perspective, more and more healthcare businesses are adopting agile to meet these problems. Now more than ever, businesses are investing heavily in EMRs and other similar technologies.

"We'll continue to see some of the trends, such as EMR suppliers attempting to go native with features that bolt-ons have historically provided"

What are some of the recent projects you have worked on?

One of the projects I have worked on previously is with two EMRs, Epic and Meditech, where we were attempting to incorporate level-based charge capture from Boltons into the EMR natively. We found that we were spending a substantial amount of money on Bolton software that we did not need to spend as the manner in which they accomplished the leveling was opaque. And since we're the ones who carry the compliance risk, it was not a desirable trait. Additionally, price transparency and surprise billing have recently made headlines, and it is something that is becoming increasingly evident to patients. It is important for organizations to be able to explain to patients how they arrived at certain pricing. Therefore, moving that in natively is crucial. So if organizations haven't done it yet and are still utilizing a third party, they should seriously consider a project to integrate it natively into the EMR.

How do you envision the future of this space?

The Oracle acquisition of Cerner is going to be one of the key events to follow. Despite the fact that I don't have much experience with Cerner, there will undoubtedly be some upheaval when such a large firm makes that kind of acquisition and secures a significant, multi-billion dollar contract with the government to supply Cerner to the VA. I believe that Amazon's purchase of significant primary healthcare providers may result in a demand from Amazon or whatever the new organization is to change how they handle electronic record-keeping and documentation. This could potentially entice new players into the game who weren't previously involved. In addition, we'll continue to see some of the trends, such as EMR suppliers attempting to go native with features that bolt-ons have historically provided.

What is your piece of advice for budding professionals in the field?

Most of the people I work with are not directly from an organization's IT department. Instead, they work in the areas of revenue cycle or finance. I would tell them to make sure that they connect with their peers when they can. This isn't to say that their IT colleagues aren't hard workers who want to find solutions. Instead, I would tell them to connect with peers when they can by having detailed technical conversations at user groups or by contacting their EMR vendor and technical experts directly and solving their problems fast as possible. One should not be shy about discussing technical details with your vendor or fellow industry professionals.