Sandra Johnson is the Senior Vice President of Client Services at CliniComp, an EHR provider with 40 years of experience in the healthcare technology space. CliniComp is launching its first full EHR solution suite for the commercial market, focusing on providing integrated solutions that offer a holistic view of patient care across various healthcare settings.Key Takeaways:
- CliniComp's EHR system aims to provide a comprehensive, longitudinal patient record across all care settings.
- The platform incorporates real-time reports, alerts, and early warning dashboards for improved clinical decision-making.
- CliniComp is expanding beyond inpatient care to include ambulatory, ancillary, and revenue cycle management services.
- The company focuses on bringing superior technology at a more affordable price point to underserved communities, such as rural and critical access hospitals.
- CliniComp emphasizes the importance of integrating AI and telehealth components to enhance care accessibility and efficiency.
Sandra highlights the evolution of EHR systems from administrative tools to comprehensive platforms that enable better patient care. CliniComp's approach includes incorporating intrinsic AI to automate workflows and streamline processes, making it easier for healthcare providers to access and utilize patient data effectively.
The company's experience with the Veterans Administration has informed their development of robust telehealth and remote patient monitoring capabilities, addressing the needs of patients in rural or remote areas. This focus on accessibility and comprehensive care aligns with the broader industry trend of using technology to reduce barriers to healthcare access.
Sandra emphasizes the importance of customer feedback and rapid iteration in product development. CliniComp's agile approach allows them to quickly incorporate user insights and evolve their product to meet changing healthcare needs.
About Sandra Johnson
As Senior Vice President of Client Services, Sandra Johnson is responsible for delivering healthcare IT solutions and managing the customer experience to ensure CliniComp’s technology is continuously evolving to meet the changing needs within the healthcare community. Sandra oversees all aspects of the customer lifecycle including account & project management, application support, clinical services, cybersecurity, and learning & development for our global customer base.
Sandra Johnson is known for her understanding of today’s healthcare challenges and partnering with customers to provide innovative solutions that address their challenges. She shares the organization's passion for continuous innovation and improvement and has played an integral role in developing our System as a Service model.
This approach takes the burden of implementation and sustainment off the customer as CliniComp takes responsibility for all aspects of the system from configuration and testing to installation, training, optimization, maintenance, and 24/7 support.
A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself.
At The Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders.
In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.
If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link.
Hello, and welcome to The Glow Up: Fabulous conversations with innovative minds from HLTH 2024. Today I'm here with Sandra Johnson from CliniComp It's so great to see you today.
Sandra Johnson:Yes. Thank you so much for having me.
Nathan C Bowser:So can you start us off today by introducing yourself and what you do in healthcare innovation?
Sandra Johnson:my name is Sandra Johnson. I'm the Senior Vice President of Client Services at CliniComp. We are an EHR provider. we've actually been in this space for 40 years, but we've been working on the government side. we've continued to evolve and innovate our product to meet the demands of the market. we're very excited because we're now finally coming to market with the first product full EHR solution Suite, we've been known for our inpatient solution and our medical device integration. we're just responding with continuous innovation to make sure that we're meeting the needs of the industry.
Nathan C Bowser:Amazing. I'm not super familiar with the electronic health records space. Is there a specific area with the EHR? and the different populations of, providers and clinics, that, you specifically serve, with CliniComp services?
Sandra Johnson:We have been, in the inpatient setting for the majority of our, tenure. So we work with a lot of healthcare systems and, over the years we've evolved to offer beyond inpatient, the ambulatory setting. We're setting ancillary services and, supporting the revenue cycle management space as well. Our goal is to bring a fully integrated solution to market so that you have a holistic view of the patient and all of their experiences so that you can see that longitudinal record no matter where they received care, if it was another hospital, inpatient, outpatient, all the information that's necessary to make informed decisions on how to move forward and treat that patient would be available to you.
Nathan C Bowser:Interesting. So, really thinking of electronic health records, not just a place for doctors to store their data about your visits, but also using the data in the records to be a contributor and a player in that care cycle for the patients.
Sandra Johnson:Yeah, absolutely. I think a lot of people, when there was a transition from paper charting to electronic charting, it was really administrative tool and used for purely documentation. And that's really not servicing, the patient population or the clinicians. So the idea is, It's technology that enables you to focus on the patient care. And so we've incorporated real time reports, real time alerts, early warning dashboards so that there's clinical surveillance that can provide data points to you to make informed clinical decisions at the appropriate time. So making sure to serve the information in meaningful ways at the point of time that a decision is needed. And so really bringing all that data together, automating workflows. So that you can focus on patient care but have all the information necessary. that's really the goal. Make it as, as easy, intuitive to use and really actually add value to your day.
Nathan C Bowser:And you said you're working on this, or you've just launched, this new platform, comprehensive platform. Is this Where, you looking to innovate, by launching, the platform? How does that pull everything together?
Sandra Johnson:We, are excited to get back to the commercial marketplace. When we started 40 years ago, we actually entered into the commercial marketplace with our perinatal solution. And then we evolved to our inpatient solution on the federal space. And so we're returning to the commercial sector with A full EHR solution suite that really can help accelerate, the way EHRs are utilized within a healthcare system. So that's where we're hoping to, return. but we also see a lot of opportunity in that community, hospital, rural, critical access space where there's a need for, superior technology at a more affordable price point. there are cost constraints from making a change, and so we're trying to mitigate that as a challenge and really bring valuable technology to a community that is underserved.
Nathan C Bowser:Yeah, I come from a town of like 15, 000, 18, 000 that was a county seat, so it was the largest city for like an hour and a half in any direction, and still my family that's there often travel another hour or two to get health care. because the level of service, the level of communication, any kind of the automation, the ability to connect digitally just was not at the same level. So I could see how having a low cost system where I started to get really excited was like, if the EHR is contributing insights into the care cycle and you're bringing this kind of tool into a system that might be a little bit constrained, may not have a lot. A lot of resources for business or data insights, like how could a tool like this start to empower and bring AI, bring this kind of automation into a very small system that maybe not have the resources otherwise?
Sandra Johnson:Yes, absolutely. I mean, obviously the latest trend is AI and with our system having intrinsic AI as part of the product just ensures that you're. Able to automate those workflows, Really streamlining process so that all the data that's available to you, can be served up for you to make that decision and take the further action. But just contributing to, expeditious, diagnosis, treatment plans, whatever that might be by automating the workflows through intrinsic AI is very important. And when you were talking about the community that you grow up in, I think one of the biggest challenges is access to care. And so Making sure, that there is a telehealth component so that those that can't get to a brick and mortar facility can still receive care if they have chronic conditions, have remote patient monitoring. Just making sure that you have all the tools and technology to be able to support the community in whatever methodology is going to be best for them, and so there might be limitations to access or service, but trying to remove those barriers so that there is better access to care.
Nathan C Bowser:This idea of using technology to reduce barriers to access to care, it is something that I was, I feel like I've been hearing a lot at HLTH. And it feels, a little different, of a mindset than what I'm, I'm kind of used to experiencing, where like, it feels like insurance companies and doctor's offices really used to insist that like, all care has to happen with a one on one with a doctor. And it seems like what I'm hearing here is everybody in the ecosystem is ready to use technology to fill some of those gaps. to reduce some of those timelines, to give people, more time with the patients, what do you see as driving, how do you see that push to remote services and tech enabled services? how has that changed, how you approach your work?
Sandra Johnson:Yeah. I would say that one of the greatest things that came out of the pandemic was that acceleration to virtual care. you know, there were so many policies or limitations that really made that a barrier to receive telehealth services. And so the acceleration and adoption of technology for virtual care, was exacerbated by the pandemic. And so, we've really been able to leverage that and find ways to continue to innovate in that space and bring more options, to the communities. And so, you know, we work closely with the Veterans Administration and I feel like they're leading the way in telehealth. They, are making sure, the large veteran population are in rural and remote, areas. And so, yeah, and there's so many barriers, you know, transportation to a facility, distance to the facility. And so really finding ways to service the veterans in their homes. a lot of veterans have chronic care conditions. And so really being able To provide that type of service, it cuts down on the ED visits, inpatient admissions, and really, you know, again, brings access to the care that they need in a way that they can receive it. Amazing.
Nathan C Bowser:I'm having to reframe, how I understand health records, in my healthcare. but it's cool to hear, that, it's evolving and really meeting the opportunity and being that connector of where all the data sources are coming from. so Sandra, I would love to back up just a little bit, as somebody who is working in this, healthcare technology, healthcare innovation, data space, It seems like you would both need lots of, diverse skills. I'm very curious, what was your journey, to this role, and, where did you pick up all of those superpowers?
Sandra Johnson:A jack of all trades is what makes you a well founded individual to bring a new perspective. And so, when I, you know, graduated from college, I lived in the Washington, D. C. area. I grew up, my father was in the military and the Navy. And so I did a lot of government consulting work and had experience. I exposure to, you know, program management, system implementations, and I got a broad range of exposure that led me to identify where my strengths and skills were, where my interests and passion were, and that, you know, over time led me to the healthcare space. And so I had the great opportunity to work with, the Department of Defense in supporting all of the various systems that they implement, and that brought me then to CliniComp, as we were implementing our inpatient solution there. So I've had a great experience supporting our, Department of Defense customers and now I'm looking forward to bringing the solution that's been so well utilized in the inpatient setting, to the commercial market for all to take the benefit.
Nathan C Bowser:are there learnings, that you have working with veterans and working, in government systems that, give you unique perspective on how you approach your work in similarly large and complex, healthcare scenarios?
Sandra Johnson:Yes. I mean that's a great description because in the federal government it is one of the largest healthcare systems there are and there are so many unique services, and offerings that, are beyond the traditional commercial setting. So, all of those, opportunities, though, translate well to the healthcare industry at large. And so, you know, I've been exposed to so many wonderful individuals and people and learned so much, and I've seen so much over my career and I'm just excited to be able to bring the voice of the customer. I think that's the number one thing that we need to focus on. you mentioned earlier, individuals want to be a part of their patient journey. So it's not just the clinicians and the patients, it's the family members, and everyone wants to be a part of that process. Be informed and involved in what the care plan is going to be. So really, leveraging technology to expose more of that information and bring the consumers into the process and the healthcare planning is very important. And so, what I'm very proud of in the work that I've done at CliniComp is partnering with my customers to hear what their challenges are and then bringing that back to further evolve and innovate the product.
Nathan C Bowser:one of my favorite questions. Is there an example of learnings that you had from your customers that changed how you approached your product or how you, even the company maybe?
Sandra Johnson:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we put clinicians front and center when we're developing our product. They're embedded in our organization, Same goes to listen to customer feedback and so, you know, working with the VA, we have a robust medical device integration solution so that we can interface with all the various, bedside devices and bring that data and waveforms into the product.
Nathan C Bowser:that's not commonplace that all the tools that are used in an operating room actually can talk to the health records.
Sandra Johnson:Unfortunately not, there's a lot of disparate systems, devices, and all that data is not shared. And so that is the key, is bringing all that information to really have a holistic view.
Nathan C Bowser:I don't know that many patients necessarily know that, yeah, that's what a challenge, right?
Sandra Johnson:Yeah. But bringing that data in, it just, not only is it a time saving for the clinicians, they're not having to look at this device and then replicate the information in the EHR, it's just providing that integration, it's time savings per patient, per shift, and so, And then evolving that to also offer, recalibur tools within the products. So, we, just put the voice of the customer first and all ideas are good ideas. And if they're going to benefit our customer base at large, we're committed to making sure we continue to evolve the product to do that.
Nathan C Bowser:Amazing. do you have goals for, like, how quickly you can iterate on insights when you learn something like that? Is there, like, a product timeline goal for, that sort of iteration.
Sandra Johnson:I would say tomorrow.
Nathan C Bowser:We
Sandra Johnson:always want to do it as fast as possible. And so, you know, one of our founding, principles essentially is continuous innovation. So we're driven by bringing meaningful results to our customer base. So, as soon as we have a challenge and solution we want to solve, we're immediately taking action to make sure that that gets brought to fruition in the product. So we are very agile in the way that we develop the product.
Nathan C Bowser:How, do you include, your customers, in those sort of, product iterations and developments?
Sandra Johnson:Absolutely. Whenever we can, we do, because we wanna make sure that. The development is actually meeting the need, and who better to judge that, than those using the product. So, a lot of the requirements will come from there, sometimes we'll do focus groups to get additional feedback, we provide continuous site optimization visits to make sure we're hearing what's working, what's not, tips and tricks, how can we continue to optimize the system to meet your needs. So, we're constantly bringing our clinicians, into the fold and being part of that process.
Nathan C Bowser:I love this. It's awesome. it was a bit of a trick question, because I come from, a spatial computing, XR, AI background, and in the, tech startup space where I have a lot of conversations, there's a lot of, technology for technology's sake, and I see that where a lot of the gap in value, the gap in go to market success. This typically is around, like, are you actually showing this to customers, are you actually testing it, are you actually doing this last mile research to prove that it's valuable rather than just like a really cool slide deck, and so, asking, You know, health technology professionals, how do you learn from your, like, we do tests, we have to do clinical tests, we do adoption tests, we do in hospital trials with, you know, so thank you, and like, Message to all of you tech innovators out there, like, do the research.
Sandra Johnson:Yes, there is a full software development life cycle for a reason.
Nathan C Bowser:One of the questions that I've been loving to ask people has been, do you have any big takeaways or themes that, you're noticing from the conference or your conversations, here at the event
Sandra Johnson:Because I'm supporting the EHR sector, we are participating in the Marketing Connect program. And so we talk with a lot of healthcare systems about what their needs and challenges are. And I think what's really refreshing and exciting for us to hear is that there is a need for disruption in the marketplace to have more alternatives and options and really make sure that our systems and technology are solving the challenges of today and not just meeting the status quo. So It's really exciting and refreshing and re engaging to hear people actually be open to change, and so, you know, just having those conversations and dialogues and hear what people's current challenges and struggles are really, you know, resonate with us and give us more opportunities of where we can innovate, what problems we can solve, and what direction to go.
Nathan C Bowser:So, that leads me to my next HLTH, themed question. And, you talked about, what next problems to solve. so, the theme for the show this year is Be Bold, and if you had the opportunity to head over to the main stage and grab the mic after Dr. Jill Biden or whoever else is up there right now, and encourage this audience, this community to be bold in some way, how would you encourage, the HLTH community?
Sandra Johnson:think I would just really challenge, everyone to take big risks. Without big risks, you're not going to get big rewards. And I think it's really easy to go along with the way you've been doing something, or, you know, just, kind of the status quo, and really thinking outside the box. With AI being the latest trend, there's so many ways to utilize that and incorporate that into healthcare systems and really just challenging what is going to add value, how can we maximize our return on investment, where can we take this. So really just take big risks, you'll see big rewards and have faith in the process.
Nathan C Bowser:Amazing. Take big risks. That is, that is a challenging statement to bring to a health care. Some of my conversations on the podcast this week have been, you know, how it's hard to take risks or that, innovating in a risk adverse environment is, is a challenge, right? And even company to company, there can be challenges in, you know, what feels safe. Sandra, this is sort of a pop quiz, so, I hope you'll join me, on a little bit of a sidebar, but, the Glow Up is part of the Like a Girl Media Network, and I'm curious, if, you have any advice for other women, who might be interested in working in innovation or healthcare. Healthcare innovation, or just people who are interested in, healthcare product and innovation. How they can get started or think about starting a path, how they can be bold in the future of healthcare innovation.
Sandra Johnson:Yeah, well, I think it's always good to step outside your comfort zone. So even if you're not in healthcare and that's of interest, really just finding mentors, or colleagues, friends of friends that you can ask questions. Being inquisitive, learning from others, seeking out advice, seeking out mentorship is going to help catapult your success. And so really not being afraid to advocate for yourself, ask questions, be curious, and really seek out mentors. Because that's what's made me successful in my career is I've looked up to several people that I've worked with in various industries it doesn't matter if they're in healthcare or not, everyone has some skills and key lessons that you can learn and take with you, and apply as you move forward in any industry. And so I really just challenge people to take control of their own destiny and, yeah. You know, look for those that they want to emulate.
Nathan C Bowser:Be bold, find people that you want to learn from, and connect with them. Ask them to be your mentor. I have to tell you, like, I've seen it in action here. two people will walk up to each other. And one will be like, oh, you're a nurse too? And it's off, right? Yes. being here, being visible, being curious is enough to create great connections and great audience. this has been such a fantastic conversation, Sandra. I have, loved so much getting to learn about, these new ways that technology can help, make decisions, help doctor's days be, faster and more organized, and how, players in every part of the healthcare, chain of, care, can be contributing to the insights and user experiences, patient experiences, so it's great. Such a fantastic conversation. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Sandra Johnson:Yeah, thanks for having me.