Due to the growing strategic importance of IT in healthcare, hospital and health system CIOs around the country are seeing their IT budgets increase, according to the 2014 HIMSS Leadership Survey.
Growing budgets are giving CIOs a bit more freedom to invest in improving their departments and organizations. Below, five CIOs reflect on their best investments.
Pamela Arora. Senior Vice President and CIO of Children’s Medical Center Dallas: In my view, Children’s enterprise electronic medical record has been the best investment we have made to date. The EMR is the “heart” of our organization — it is the central organ that holds our patient data, and it pumps that information through our organization to the clinicians so they may deliver informed care to our patients. The EMR provides medication alerts, best practice advisories, and a myriad of other features that enable Children’s to increase quality and decrease cost. It also serves as a conduit to share information across the care community through our health information exchanges.
Pam Banchy, RN. CIO of Summa Western Reserve Hospital (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio): At Western Reserve Hospital, I believe our best investments have been, in order: people, process and technology. Investment in each of these focused areas has, and continues to contribute to the overall success of our patients by providing our organization the means to deliver the safest, high-quality and most conveniently available care in the region. By hiring the right people that believe in and practice our patient-centered vision; putting into place the right processes that allow these people to achieve their own and organizational goals; and supporting both with the right technology, our patients benefit from these investments through an improved care-delivery model. Thoughtful leadership has guided the integration of these three “investments,” with the resulting benefit being our improved ability to move forward as a unified organization that both supports our vision and continues to meet our community’s changing healthcare needs.
David Bradshaw. Chief Information & Marketing Officer at Memorial Hermann Health System (Houston): One of the best investments Memorial Hermann Health System has made recently, from an informatics perspective, is the launch of our online patient scheduling system, also known as ScheduleNow. With the help of this new system, Memorial Hermann is changing the definition of patient access — making it easier and more convenient than ever for our patients to book appointments for primary care physicians, specialists, mammograms, diagnostic imaging, physical therapy, colonoscopies and much more — all with a few simple clicks of the mouse. You can even digitally hold your place in line at one of our emergency centers, cutting down on time spent sitting in a waiting room.
In today’s modern, self-service world, we saw this as the perfect opportunity to build relations with our managed care patient population, by empowering them to play an active role in attending to their personal healthcare needs. Over the course of a recent weekend, while clinic offices were technically closed, one of our service lines had 52 patients successfully book upcoming appointments. That’s a prime example of a ‘best’ investment: one that is paying off not only for us, but also — and most importantly — for our patients.
Keith Jennings. CIO of Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston): I saw a quote attributed to Richard Branson recently: "Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to," which is the moral of my story.
A few years back, I had a very talented team of developers, whizzes at a dying technology, who were getting antsy, rightfully so, about their future. I gave them an enormous stretch goal — automating a critical business process [patient schedule and location tracking] using brand-new technology. I provided training opportunities and some consulting support — they put in the long days and nights.
This "investment" (or prudent risk-taking) paid tremendous dividends. For the team it recharged their skills, and years later, most of them are still with us. For my hospital, it opened a new segment of informatics and formed a team who could exploit it. For me personally — that team's successes helped establish my own bona-fides as a visionary leader who can provide innovative solutions in a timely and efficient manner to support Mass General's mission.
Patrick O'Hare. Senior Vice President and CIO of Spectrum Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.): As a CIO it would be fairly typical for me to mention some application or technology that we have acquired and implemented as being the best investment. However, I think the best investments that we have made are hiring and developing our talented workforce. Having the right staff is what will make or break any organization.
More Articles on CIOs:
The Life of a Healthcare CIO: Penn State Hershey's Rod Dykehouse
3 CIO Strategies for IT Cost Management
Chad Eckes Joins Wake Forest Baptist as CIO