Embracing Digital Transformation in Healthcare

Christine O’Farrell has 18 years in Labor & Delivery Quality Assurance & Risk Management since 2005. Christine O’Farrell, RN, BSN, CHPQ, CHPRM is currently serving as Director of Quality Management, Population Health, and Infection Prevention at Barton Health. Her Specialties include advanced Lean certification, cpr certified, editing, instruction, newsletters, nursing, quality, quality control, risk management, safety, emergency management, new service line director.

What Are Some Of The Major Challenges And Trends That Have Been Impacting The Healthcare Industry Lately?

Staffing shortages have had a significant impact on the entire healthcare industry. As a healthcare system in a rural mountain community, we face those same hurdles and the unique added challenge of housing shortages. Housing shortages were exacerbated during the pandemic as many people moved to the Lake Tahoe area to work remotely — occupying previously available homes to our workforce. Though these issues have impacted our recruiting efforts, we’ve succeeded by developing our own training programs and implementing a “new hire” program. In addition, we ensure travel staff are provided with a good orientation and help with housing when possible.

What Keeps You Up At Night When It Comes To Some Of The Major Predicaments In The Healthcare Industry?

We care deeply about the health of our community and uphold standards in which hospitals are held accountable for ensuring patients are successful and safe after discharge. Some of the components considered include housing, finances, food, transportation, and support at home. Our case managers work with community partners to help patients when needs are identified. For example, we help connect homeless patients with our local homeless shelter, provide taxi vouchers for transportation needs, and have a list of agencies that offer food supplies, such as churches and food banks. We even go as far as to buy groceries for patients in need. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented a food insecurity program to pick up groceries donated from local grocery stores and bring those to the local food bank, churches, or shelters. 

Though we face the challenges of a small community with limited resources, we Continue to take all possible steps to ensure the support of our community and address these issues long-term.

Can You Tell Us About The Latest Project You Have Been Working On And What Technological And Process Elements You Leveraged To Make The Project Successful?

As the healthcare industry moves toward a value-based care model, we are encouraged to embrace a digital approach, utilizing technology that meets patient expectations in an increasingly digital world. At Barton Health, we have implemented digital patient communication platforms like MyChart to expand care and streamline patient communication. MyChart allows patients to interact with the health system and access medical information online, fulfill needed medical questionnaires on their own time, access telemedicine services, and perform health tracking and virtual checkups with a provider regarding chronic conditions, such as blood pressure monitoring for hypertension. MyChart empowers our patients to take an active role in managing their health. In addition, the interoperability of MyChart has yielded benefits for physicians and staff, providing opportunities for education, patient-reported outcomes data collection, and timely reminders for compliance.

What Are Some Of The Technological Trends Which Excite You For The Future Of The Healthcare Industry?

I am excited that CMS announced a move towards a digital strategy by 2030. Increasing the use of technology to measure quality will enable quality professionals to focus on improvement efforts instead of data collection. We will be working closely with our Patient and Family Advisory Council to design our patient-facing digital strategy to ensure it is engaging and meaningful.