The Digital Patient - Episode 62 - Duska Kennedy: The Role of a Chief Digital Officer & Implementing a Digital Front Door

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Audio:

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Video:

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In this episode of the SeamlessMD Podcast, Dr. Joshua Liu, Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD, and marketing colleague, Alan Sardana, chat with Duska Kennedy, Chief Digital Officer at North York General Hospital, about "The Role of a Chief Digital Officer & Implementing a Digital Front Door".

See the full show notes below for details.

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Guest(s):

Duska Kennedy, Chief Digital Officer at North York General Hospital

Dr. Joshua Liu (@joshuapliu), Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD

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‍Episode 62 – Show notes:
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[0:00] Introducing Duska Kennedy, Chief Digital Officer at North York General Hospital (NYGH);

[1:36] How Ms. Kennedy got involved with digital healthcare at UHN after receiving her MBA as she found healthcare to be more personally rewarding than her previous career in technology consulting and investment banking;

[4:30] How the Chief Digital Officer is a “change agent” responsible for implementing digital initiatives that help the organization achieve their strategic goals focused on business transformation; 

[7:55] Why Ms. Kennedy feels joining NYGH at the height of the pandemic in April 2020 accelerated her onboarding and helped her determine her team’s agility quickly as they were tasked with standing up COVID-19 assessment centers and vaccine clinics;

[10:55] How NYGH puts patients at the center of everything they do by engaging patient advisory groups throughout their building processes;

[13:20] Why Ms. Kennedy advocates to not make assumptions on the patient’s behalf and how she actively works to ensure they pull a diverse patient advisory group and not simply the patients who are able to volunteer their time to better reflect the views of the community they serve; 

[15:18] Why Ms. Kennedy believes an organization is ready for a Chief Digital Officer if they have a culture that is ready or open to change as well as an investment commitment to support digital transformation;

[17:05] Why Ms. Kennedy is cognizant of the “digital divide” that come with digital tools and how NYGH designs new programs with multiple access methods across different channels including access to devices for underserved communities;

[20:12] Why Ms. Kennedy believes that patients want to be involved in their care and how democratizing access to care means health systems need to evolve their care to treat patients as humans where they have all of the information available so they can be more involved; 

[25:27] Why NYGH implemented SeamlessMD to guide patients before and after surgery as part of their broader “digital front door” strategy that enables an intuitive and easy way to access and navigate healthcare to provide a more universal experience for patients and providers;

[27:55] Why Ms. Kennedy believes integration is paramount for patient engagement tools and how she prioritizes IT / EMR integration requests by considering both patient experience and provider workflow efficiencies;

[31:40] Why Ms. Kennedy prioritizes working with partners who are willing to integrate services into NYGH’s “North York Navigator” digital front door application that aggregates disparate applications together across the care continuum for patients;

[34:16] Why Ms. Kennedy believes women often feel like they don’t have the experience or qualifications required to apply for roles and why she recommends having confidence to put yourself out there as there are huge benefits to failing and learning and has found her biggest growth through discomfort;

[35:58] Why Ms. Kennedy believes being a strong communicator and somebody who can manage and maintain relationships are skills that necessary to be a successful leader;

[38:05] Why Ms. Kennedy believes it’s important to have a network that you can bounce ideas off of and how both LinkedIn and conferences can be a great places to start a conversation as long as you are specific about your intentions – explaining why you’re reaching out to them, what has inspired you and what you want to learn – to see if there’s a mutual fit;

[40:15] How Ms. Kennedy and her family got a new bernedoodle puppy, Stella;

Fast 5 / Lightning Round:

1. What is your favorite book or book you’ve gifted the most?
   “The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World" by Melinda Gates
   
   

2. How has an apparent failure set you up for greater success?
   “Childhood failures such as trying out for a play (not getting the part), applying for student council, etc. and then building resiliency to do it again despite the failure.”
   
   
3. Would you rather have Super strength, super speed, or the ability to read people’s minds?
   “Mind reading because you can use it day-to-day.”
   
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4. What is something in healthcare you believe that others might find insane?
   “The level of red-tape / bureaucracy for approvals.”
   
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5. COVID-19 lockdown related – what is 1 hobby or activity you’ve gotten into since the pandemic?
   “Cooking, eating and ice skating!”