Dan Burton: Why Health Catalyst supports Clinician Mental Health
Health Catalyst partnered with Sharp Index for the 2022 Sharp Index Awards. We asked them a few questions about why it is important for healthcare leaders to support mental health.
Why does Health Catalyst support physician mental health?
Supporting physician mental health is a high priority at Health Catalyst. Championing physicians is woven into the fabric of our operating principals and mission. In order to be the catalyst for massive, measurable data informed healthcare improvement we need to make sure those on the front lines are supported and feel valued. Many years ago, we introduced operating principles and cultural attributes to our own team that apply here. One operating principle we ask every team member to emulate in their day-to-day activities is to respect every one of their colleagues. We recognize the immeasurable value of every individual and respect should be the foundation for every relationship we have, and that extends to physicians.
At Health Catalyst we put tremendous value in the timeless principles of humility, respect, loyalty, trustworthiness, and the Golden Rule. These principles are guides for not only how we treat our team members but every member of the healthcare community. People want to feel of value, they want to know their sacrifices are honored and appreciated, and that their work has meaning. If they don’t, turnover will increase.
Supporting physicians’ mental health and making their job easier through technology is one way to combat the turnover the healthcare industry is facing. If not, the healthcare industry will continue to suffer from the significant turnover problem it was experiencing even before the pandemic.
In November 2019, Health Catalyst surveyed clinicians and other healthcare professionals to learn more about professional burnout and how technology can help. From that survey, we learned that the majority (76 percent) of participants reported that, at their organizations, clinician burnout was a major or moderate problem, and an overwhelming 95 percent said the clinician burnout was a major to moderate problem industrywide. With research linking clinician burnout to depression and suicide—as well as twofold increased risk unsafe care, unprofessional behaviors, and low patient satisfaction—provider dissatisfaction is an urgent issue across healthcare. If this isn’t addressed, it will negatively impact customer service, patient safety, employee engagement, and result in higher healthcare labor costs.
At Health Catalyst, we believe that dedicated, engaged team members who feel loved, valued, and respected, will lead to stronger, more meaningful client relationships, high client satisfaction, and ultimately yield strong business performance. This same philosophy applied to physicians and other frontline workers will lead to similar meaningful outcomes. The more valued and supported our physicians feel, especially as they shoulder the increased demand for care during the pandemic, will help assuage some burnout and lead to better health outcomes.
What is the future of physician and healthcare frontline worker burnout?
As the world recovers from the worst aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rise of the Omicron variant, healthcare workers need meaningful opportunities to recover. The COVID-19 pandemic has easily been one of the most difficult, taxing, and draining periods in the healthcare ecosystem’s history.
Healthcare organizations and leaders that neglect to appreciate this ongoing need, that neglect to provide time, space, support, and meaningful resources to enable this critical recovery and renewal will likely see much higher attrition, which only serves to exacerbate existing staffing challenges for years to come.
Leaders can address physician and healthcare frontline worker burnout by providing recognition and ample support, especially in the way of compensation and benefits, including time to recharge, mental health support and tools, even if it means in the short term, an organization requires some incremental investment in team members from a financial perspective.
This is a critical time for healthcare labor and leaders to acknowledge how many sacrifices occurred and realize that it may take another year or two for the workforce to be well.
What is the role technology plays in physician burnout? Does that role match the potential that you see?
In addition to offering time to recharge and providing additional investment in healthcare workers, a critical step to mitigating future burnout would be to apply solutions that meet clinicians where they are. We need to provide more attention to clinician and other healthcare professionals experience with and understanding of digital solutions—targeting messaging, education, and services around what healthcare end users need, when they need it. Tailoring these tools to providers will help improve their experience and ensure the technology supports the clinician’s needs instead of acting as an obstacle.
Further, the industry must continue to prioritize finding ways data and analytics platforms can aid clinicians in their work and help leaders effectively staff their organizations.
I see great potential in what outcomes improvement companies have to offer to solve that problem. For example, Health Catalyst has made it a priority to develop technologies and point-of-care analytics services that will empower clinicians with customization options that can be optimized for existing workflows, resulting in fewer “clicks”, reduced time behind a computer, and improved adoption and ease of use for end users.
In addition to ensuring our solutions are accessible, efficient, and effective for clinicians, we’re also working with healthcare organization leaders to help organizations pinpoint areas where staffing hours exceed or fall short of patient needs and quickly recalibrate without compromising the quality-of-care delivery.
With the newly launch Health Catalyst PowerLabor™ application, healthcare decision makers have access to a comprehensive view of labor data by organization, department, team, and job role. Timely insight into current and future hospital needs allows leaders to staff to patient volume, control escalating labor expenses, and ensure optimal resources for excellent patient care.
This application is just one example of our efforts mitigate burnout, identifying over- and understaffed areas, and understand exact staffing volumes that support the needs of clinicians and patients.
Can you tell us about your work?
Health Catalyst is a leading provider of data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations committed to being the catalyst for massive, measurable, data-informed healthcare improvement. Its customers leverage the cloud-based data platform—powered by data from more than 100 million patient records and encompassing trillions of facts—as well as its analytics software and professional services expertise to make data-informed decisions and realize measurable clinical, financial, and operational improvements. Health Catalyst envisions a future in which all healthcare decisions are data informed.
Since 2015, Health Catalyst has generated more than 650 documented, customer-verified improvements, favorably impacting thousands of lives. Examples of success include one customer seeing a 45 percent relative reduction in their severe sepsis mortality rate after implementing Health Catalyst solutions; another reduced surgical site infection by 33 percent; another reported a nearly $15 million reduction in denials and avoidable write-offs; and another realized $74 million in operational improvements. These significant results are not unique to just those customers.
We thank partners like Health Catalyst for their support of recognizing leaders in healthcare mental health.
Feb 2022
Sources:
How Gratitude, Communication Can Help Engage and Retain Healthcare Workers
Health Catalyst Leaders Share 2022
Predictions Survey Points to Major Burnout Concerns Among Clinicians
Dan Burton, CEO, Health Catalyst | 2021 CEO of the Year
Optimize Your Labor Management with Health Catalyst PowerLabor™
More Healthcare and Technology leaders should support physician and healthcare worker mental health. Thank you for your leadership, Health Catalyst.
