4 Reasons Intermountain CCO's Mantra is 'Simpler is Better'

Using technology to make things easier for clinicians is one of four top priorities on J.P. Valin's schedule this year.

With stress and burnout at high levels this year, Intermountain Health's chief clinical officer wants to make things simpler.

"When I think about simplification for our physicians and APPs, with whom I work most closely, we need to look at some of the emerging technologies and to deploy emerging technologies that are going to reduce some of the tasks that they do and free up time for direct patient care," James P. Valin, MD, says.

"On the physician and APP side, I am really interested in some of the ambient listening tools. We are looking at a couple of different tools that will listen to a doctor-patient interaction to transcribe that and turn it into a note, which will simplify work for our physicians and APPs."

Here are four of Valin's priorities for Intermountain and how he plans to make it simple.

1. Simplicity

Valin, who was named CCO of the eight-state, 33-hospital health system in 2022 after its merger with SCL Health, lists simplicity as one of his four top priorities this year.

He says initial piloting of ambient listening technology at Intermountain has been promising in terms of freeing up time for physicians and APPs, reducing documentation time by as much as two hours a day.

"This can be life-changing for our providers," he says.

He's also looking forward to the enterprise-wide deployment of a single electronic medical record.

"We currently have a mix of electronic medical records across our footprint, and we are working to be on one platform—Epic," he says. "We will be spending a lot of this year planning for that transformation and doing the build for deployment in 2025. Enterprise-wide, we will be on a single longitudinal electronic health record. This is an opportunity to simplify our work and streamline a lot of our care processes."

J.P. Valin, MD, chief clinical officer of Intermountain Health. Photo courtesy of Intermountain Health.

2. Improving access to care

Another priority for Valin is improving healthcare access for patients. This includes opening new clinics, recruiting new physicians and APPs, and creating space within existing clinics to be able to accommodate more patients.

"We are in three of the fastest growing metropolitan areas of the country—Salt Lake City, Denver, and Las Vegas," he says. "There is a tremendous need for care in the population we serve, and we are focused on meeting that need."

Intermountain is facing the challenge of recruiting more physicians and APPs in a tight clinician labor market, Valin says.

"Our goal is to make Intermountain the best place to work and provide care," he says. "Some of that is giving our physicians and APPs the right tools such as ambient listening—we think that will be a differentiator. We have focused a lot on physician and APP well-being. We have put a lot of support tools around our physicians and APPs. In 2023, we were able to recruit more than 900 physicians and APPs to our organization."

Other efforts include building a talent pipeline. The health system is partnering with medical schools, graduate medical education programs, and APP schools as well as creating learning experiences across the organization for student learners.

To boost physician and APP well-being, Valin says Intermountain's leaders have spent a lot of time understanding the clinician experience.

"That has led to targeted efforts around simplification and making it easier to practice medicine," he says. "We also have a dedicated focus on keeping clear lines of communication open across our organization between our physicians and APPs and their leaders in the enterprise. Those efforts have helped people to feel connected and have a sense of belonging."

3. Value-based care

Valin is also at the forefront of moving the health system from fee-for-service to value-based care.

"As an organization, this is an enterprise-wide priority for us," he says. "We absolutely believe that the future for healthcare is in the value-based care arena, where we are taking full clinical and financial accountability for more patients."

Intermountain has a broad footprint across eight states, and each market is in a different place in its value-based care journey. The health system's goal, Valin says, is to identify and meet those markets where they are and increase partnerships with payers to advance value-based care.

Intermountain's primary value-based care strategies include increasing preventative services and embracing early interventions for illnesses, both of which can improve the overall health of the population.

The health system is also pursuing value-based care arrangements with commercial payers and participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and accountable care arrangements in Medicare Advantage.

4. Post-merger integration

Valin is also continuing integration efforts tied to Intermountain's merger with SCL Health.

"We are continuing to move and advance our clinical integration; as part of that, we are doing a lot of work with clinical best practice implementation at scale," he says. "Intermountain has had a long history of identifying clinical best practices and deploying them across a broad footprint, so that we have a high degree of reliability and consistency in care delivery. We can spread that even further across the legacy SCL Health footprint."

Valin says he wants to create a consistent clinical experience for patients regardless of where they interact with Intermountain.

"It starts with what it feels like when you walk into a clinic or a hospital," he says. "The feel and the interaction should be the same at all of our facilities. It is also about how people interact digitally and how they interact in terms of care processes. We want to ensure that our care processes are aligned and feel the same at our clinics and hospitals."