As Vice President of Consumer Digital Strategy and Operations at UPMC Enterprises, Chris Katz is responsible for product strategy and digital transformation efforts within UPMC’s patient-facing technology portfolio, which includes the MyUPMC digital platform.
Katz, who holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Economics from Tufts University, has spent his entire career in health care, including in technology, consulting, and life sciences. The mission-driven element of health care initially attracted him to the industry and is what has kept him in the industry as his career has evolved.
Since joining Enterprises in 2016, Katz has worked to identify, develop, and scale innovative, patient-facing solutions across the system. While he finds great satisfaction helping health care to grow and evolve, it’s the “great people here at Enterprises who make it special,” he said. “That’s what has kept me here.”
We talked with Katz to learn more about him and his work at Enterprises. Keep reading for details from the interview.
What are some of the unique challenges and opportunities you encounter when it comes to consumer digital strategy at a health system?
In many industries, a robust digital experience is table stakes, but that’s not always been the case with health care — that’s the challenge. Here at UPMC and with the MyUPMC team we’ve made a strong strategic commitment to prioritizing the digital patient experience. There’s a huge opportunity to meet consumer expectations and we’re getting there.
Health systems — like many other industries in our current economic environment — are also facing financial pressures. But we believe that pressure gives us a unique opportunity to focus on the role that digital solutions can play to help improve efficiency and financial outcomes. In times like this, those financial pressures can lead some systems to slow down the pace of investment and decrease their risk tolerance, but here at Enterprises we are positioned to continue innovating because our leadership believes that MyUPMC is key to the future of our system.
Another trend that we’re starting to see is consumer-focused technology companies from adjacent industries entering the health care world. That increases options for patients and consumer and ultimately should lead to an overall faster pace of innovation in support of patients’ health care needs.. There is also an opportunity to establish partnerships that will bring greater value to the system and our patients. There’s a lot of opportunity in health care to figure out what we’re going to build ourselves and what can we work with others to build. And that’s tremendously exciting to be a part of that innovation ecosystem.
The MyUPMC team has been very successful in engaging patients digitally – is there an end goal for engagement and what is it?
MyUPMC has been around for more than 10 years and during that time we’ve innovated many new features and capabilities that are driving greater and greater engagement with patients. And that work will continue because digital engagement with consumers doesn’t have an end point. It’s an ongoing way of doing business. If we’re doing things correctly as a health system that places a priority on meeting patients where they are and providing the most convenient experience, then we’re always offering new capabilities to engage with patients and consumers.
But with that said there are definitely milestones along that journey that we are working to hit. We have built a fantastic app that hundreds of thousands of UPMC patients know and love but the work to improve never ends as the need to give patients greater access points to the system only grows. That’s why we’re expanding online scheduling capabilities, continuing to support a robust telehealth experience, and embedding personalization features that keep patients better engaged in their health and wellness. What I’m really excited about is that we are evolving as the clinical needs of UPMC evolve over time. We’re helping the system by growing this platform with an evergreen approach.
Who has inspired you in your life and why?
My wife. She has a natural ability to successfully handle all sorts of different situations while also staying very humble. It’s really amazing to me how she balances so much, and it inspires me.
If you were stranded on a deserted island, what is one item you would want and why?
Does my family count as one item? If not, then I suppose I’d say my phone, for better or worse. It gives you everything, from a good book to read to a way to stay connected with people.
What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
My first job was teaching tennis in the summer when I was a teenager. I’ve been a big tennis player all my life, and honestly teaching tennis is probably my ideal retirement gig. But from that experience I learned patience and adaptability. When people try to learn a new skill like playing tennis, it can be challenging and frustrating for them. And so you as the instructor have to be thoughtful and creative and aware of how different people learn and grow in different ways. That’s been such an important element of how I approach leading teams throughout my career and was so fortunate to have that instilled in me from a very young age.
