Kelly Robke, US Chief Nursing Officer at Microsoft

Microsoft is empowering health care organizations to improve the experience of patients and caregivers while furthering innovation across the system. Through partnerships with health systems and pharmaceutical organizations, Microsoft has helped personalize care for patients through data and enabled improved information sharing across care teams. Pulse writer Jamie Marvil connected with US Chief Nursing Officer Kelly Robke to learn more about her experience at Microsoft and some exciting trends in healthcare.

The Pulse: Can you please provide an overview of your background and how you got to Microsoft?

KR: I am a registered nurse by background, and I’ve worked in healthcare innovation for thirty years. I initially worked in a variety of academic healthcare settings, primarily in maternal fetal health. It was through this path in maternal fetal medicine that I really developed a love of data and using data to make complex care decisions. This drove me towards research, where I learned a lot about regulation, primarily with the FDA but also in the realm of medical devices and research methodology.

The next part of my career was in innovation, working on a number of studies in women’s health. I then transitioned over to more of the pharma/devices product space, helping to conduct clinical research. If I look for a common denominator across my career, it is really around innovation. After I received my MBA, I pivoted to technology and worked at Hewlett-Packard as an engineering product manager in their healthcare vertical. I applied my knowledge of healthcare to storage and storage networks that were really taking off for HP due to the onset of the HER in healthcare and the EDC in pharma and device companies. Since then, I have worked in multiple technology companies, including Microsoft today.

The Pulse: Can you provide insight into your current role at Microsoft as US Chief Nursing Officer?

KR: As CNO for the US market, it’s an opportunity in two key areas. The first would be in thought leadership which encompasses quite a scope when you look at the opportunity to influence and educate. The second is empowerment and really working in the healthcare system to ensure we are using platforms that allow our customers to transform healthcare. Providing robust and comprehensive sets of information to clinicians and executives is an area we have to support in order to see progress in the healthcare space.

The Pulse: In recent years, we have heard a lot about the impact Big Tech can have in the healthcare ecosystem. What role do you foresee Big Tech playing and how do you imagine this will evolve over time?

KR: It starts with knowledge as power, and I see it as being two-fold. You’ve heard a lot about the necessity for patient-centric care. It is a novel paradigm shift where we focus on the individual, the family, and the community that surrounds that patient. The first priority is being able to access data that is generated as a result of care instances that occur across the continuum. Care isn’t just in the hospital anymore – it’s in the community, it’s at the retail pharmacy, and it’s in the home. So, being able to have a robust set of data that we can access how and when we need it is critical to effectively supporting each patient. In doing that, big data helps strengthen the provider-patient relationship, a relationship that in some ways has been eroded over time.

. “Care isn’t just in the hospital anymore – it’s in the community, it’s at the retail pharmacy, and it’s in the home. So, being able to have a robust set of data that we can access how and when we need it is critical to effectively supporting each patient. In doing that, big data helps strengthen the provider-patient relationship, a relationship that in some ways has been eroded over time.”

I think the second area where Big Tech can play a role is almost at the opposite end of the spectrum with the population. We have data coming from individuals that is informing population subsets, especially population groups that may be particularly vulnerable. Providers can be armed with knowledge around entire populations and ultimately have a better view on where to be mindful. That in turn drives value-based reimbursement models and benefits organizations as they aim to achieve specific outcomes around quality and compliance.

The Pulse: Can you talk about some specific ways that Microsoft is enabling more personalized care for patients?

KR: I think it starts around efforts to build the platforms that healthcare providers require both in terms of today’s challenges, which are formidable, but also in looking towards the future. There are many ways that Microsoft is actively participating in addressing those needs. This can include everything from enabling virtual visits to the utilization of cloud services that provide uninterrupted care to providers and patients. It goes back to that idea of the right information at the right place in the right form.

The Pulse: As a leader at the intersection of healthcare and technology, what have you found to be some of the most fascinating innovations in healthcare in recent years?

KR: Within healthcare, we have driven innovation into the core construct of our business models – it’s no longer an afterthought or stretch goal to innovate. I see a lot of leaders who have actively championed the need to build transformation into their strategic plans, and I think they do this for three distinct reasons.

First, they know that providing care is extremely interpersonal. It’s interpersonal in terms of the family unit and in terms of how we collaborate. It is also intersubjective which really speaks to that need to not only innovate within a specific environment but to scale that innovation across the continuum of care towards population benefit.

The second thing I think is really driving the pace of development is the science. Science continues to be a rich engine of novel and disruptive capabilities that are driving healthcare delivery, whether it be a new technique for surgery or new mechanism to deliver medications. I think the scalability of these technologies to appropriate populations is something that healthcare communities are really seeing a lot of momentum around.

Finally, in order to effectively incorporate the caring component and the science component, you need the business and financial elements. You need to be able to use the data to demonstrate the value-add, the productivity gains, and the demands that necessitate disruption. So, I really think those three things – the caring, the science, and the business – really have been the catalyst for innovation, and I look forward to being a part of it.

The Pulse: COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of innovation in many sub-sectors of healthcare. What transformations have you found to be most exciting? Which trends do you think are here to stay?

KR: I see telehealth, being able to address the care of certain population segments within the home, as being here to stay. I think being able to understand when and where telehealth makes sense is an opportunity to learn and grow as an industry. I also feel that advances in technology around telehealth will continue to emerge. For me, it’s been fascinating to see the scalability of many telehealth solutions. Furthermore, when these capabilities are augmented by supportive foundations around telehealth, you see a lot of the opportunity. For example, bots can be used to navigate patients to the right venue of care and provide the information they need at that moment of time. So, I do believe that telehealth is here to stay.

Interviewed by Jamie Marvil, January 2021