Asher Kramer, Director of Strategic Consulting at Leidos Health, discussed why the CIO and the IT department today play a significant role in healthcare organizations at the Becker's Hospital Review Annual CIO/HIT + Revenue Cycle Summit in Chicago.
For years, the mantra of IT was a coming together of people, processes and technology. However, the balance of these three things changed over the years. Technology used to matter the most, but IT now has to partner with clinical leaders in an organization.
Hospital IT departments are much more collaborative with other departments of hospital and health systems today, and CIOs face new demands as leaders. CEOs expect CIOs to provide clear communication about IT strategy, proactive use of emerging technology, guidance about innovation and analytics and effective talent management.
Overall, Mr. Kramer encouraged CIOs and IT departments to become ambassadors for their organizations. "The intersection of technology with humanity is where healthcare, for some reason, has not been able to get it right," he said.
IT challenges
"Despite its size, every organization faces the same challenges," Mr. Kramer said. He explained the importance of creating a separate IT strategic plan, making IT governance inclusive and forming interpersonal relationships that lead to a more cohesive organization and workplace.
"The culture that touches all of an organization depends on IT becoming engrained in all departments," said Mr. Kramer.
Mr. Kramer presented a case study analyzing 25 organizations and the IT challenges they face. He highlighted the challenges faced by seven of the organizations. Four organizations faced IT governance that's not inclusive, one faced an IT system that's not user friendly, one faced a lack of robust vendor solution and one faced a complex system. The challenges resulted in similar outcomes for all the organizations, including poor end user processes and a lack of adoption.
Planning and alignment
An organization must utilize strategic planning and alignment to confront health IT challenges. The planning process should be driven by organizational purpose and strategy. Organizations should understand their vision for the future and implement a strategy to achieve it. "You've got to measure and manage who's doing what and move it to alignment," Mr. Kramer said.
When the plan is implemented, IT can become a unification of strategy and execution, according to Mr. Kramer. IT departments are then able to better assist organizations.