Northwell Health Senior Vice President and CIO John Bosco has been interested in technology since high school. But his passion for music almost led him down a very different career path.
Mr. Bosco, who's also a pianist, almost became a musician. Today, playing the piano is a hobby and a reprieve from his current role at New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, which involves everything from aligning Northwell technology deployment and business strategies to establishing IT policies and procedures. Mr. Bosco began his time at Northwell in 2004 as vice president and chief technology officer.
Here, Mr. Bosco spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about his background in IT, Health Connect Technologies and what CIOs should keep an eye on this year.
Editor's note: Responses have been edited lightly for length and clarity.
Question: What drew you to a career in IT, and specifically in healthcare?
John Bosco: I had a part-time job when I was in high school working in a big mainframe computer room. I'd go in there on weekends and do backups for them. I didn't know anything about it, but it piqued my interest. I sat there and started reading all the IBM manuals.
When I got out of college — and I did study computer science when I was in college — I went back and asked them for a job in IT. My first IT job was right out of college and it's been 30-some years now.
I was also very musical. I was almost going to be a pianist for my career. Ultimately I decided not to. Supposedly there's a connection between people who enjoy computers and people who play music.
My first job in healthcare was at [New York City-based] NYUMedicalCenter. Over the years, I realized there was something satisfying about knowing the industry you work in is geared around helping people, and helping people when they're not at their best. Some of what we do does directly impact the patient in many ways and some doesn't. It is a good feeling knowing you're doing something that has a greater purpose to it.
Q: Which other CIOs do you look up to and why?
JB: I think all healthcare CIOs are heroes because it is an extremely demanding job that takes a lot of courage, smarts and hard work. We feel for each other and what we're up against. This is a terrific role, but it requires a special breed of person to be willing to do it.
Q: A little more than a year ago, Northwell Health partnered with Newport Health Solutions to form Health Connect Technologies. Could you describe the partnership?
JB: Health Connect is a company we formed with Newport to develop software for us specifically around referral management solutions. We have software that we're going to begin to deploy over the coming months that will make it easier for physicians to refer their patients if they need follow-up care or need to see a specialist. It'll make it easy for us to provide that convenience to the patient and make their follow-up appointment on the spot.
We're hoping there are other initiatives we can do together. Our intent is that we can develop software applications that would be of value to Northwell and also to other healthcare institutions. The purpose of our partnership is to develop software that we can both sell and market to other healthcare companies.
Q: What are a few issues CIOs should keep top of mind this year?
JB: We're certainly all focused and concerned about cybersecurity and making sure our systems, networks and patient information are well-protected and secured from cybercriminals.
The continued push to value-based care and the new IT capabilities that are needed in that arena are top of mind. The consumerism movement is also something we're thinking about. Patients want care that's more convenient for them to access — often through websites and web portals.
The innovation side of healthcare is another thing we're focused on right now. There are new technologies and inventions coming out all the time. Wanting to be part of that and understand how some of these creative technologies will continue to fuel healthcare transformation is something we want to be taking advantage of.
Generally speaking, we continue to live in an environment in a lot of disruption. New payment models and new care models have been evolving. Healthcare is an industry that's undergoing a great amount of consolidation, so organizations like us continue to grow and expand. All these forces are happening at the same time, and we want to be one of the leaders and help lead the transformation. But we also want to make sure we're managing it, making the right investments and keeping up with the high volume of change that's going on.