This year has been and will continue to be a demanding year for healthcare CIOs. In addition to the ICD-10 transition Oct. 1, many CIOs are working to attest to meaningful use stage 2 by the end of fiscal year 2014 as well as ensure all of the hospitals' data security practices comply with the HIPAA omnibus rule.
Since November, Becker's Hospital Review has partnered with CHIME to interview leading CIOs from hospital and health systems across the country, asking what advice they have for their colleagues to best handle this turbulent year. Selected pieces of advice follow.
On relationships outside IT:
Roland Garcia. Senior Vice President and CIO of Baptist Health (Jacksonville, Fla.). "We need to bring clinicians to the table more often to be part of the decision-making process up front. This is critical when developing clinical technology. Our clinicians need to help us make informed decisions about what technology to deploy and when to deploy it, because it impacts their workflow."
Keith Neuman. Senior Vice President and CIO of Lutheran Health Network (Fort Wayne, Ind.). "I've learned the information systems governance structure is one of the most important things, and that governance structure must include leaders from across departments, not just IT folks. Partnership with strong clinical, operational and financial leaders has helped us be successful."
Marc Probst. CIO of Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City). "IT is a team sport. There's no way one person or one department can have all the knowledge and information required. You have to be able to work with the whole organization and create strong, lasting relationships to make it work."
On understanding the organization's business needs:
Pam Banchy, RN. CIO of Summa Western Reserve Hospital (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio). "The advice I would give is to be sure to understand the business needs of the organization. My professional experience as a nurse has enhanced my ability to be effective in understanding the needs of the organization and provide leadership for our IT services. By staying engaged from a clinical and business perspective as CIO, I feel I can provide technology solutions that assist with those caring directly for the patient. To understand healthcare is critical for the success of the CIO and learning that early in your career and staying current with changes in the delivery model is beneficial."
Heath Bell. CIO and Vice President of Revenue Cycle at KishHealth System (DeKalb, Ill.). "Learn the operations of the areas you're supporting. You don't need specific details, you don't need to know how to walk into a department and draw blood, but it's about watching or observing or listening to how the work is done in an area so any solution you implement there doesn't totally interrupt the workflow."
Ed Marx. Senior Vice President and CIO of Texas Health Resources (Arlington).
"Dive deep into strategy and learn the business if you don't know it already. I personally spend a lot of time with clinicians to learn their workflows and challenges. It's the same on the business side. I hang with the financial folks to learn billing and their business. I require my IT division to do the same. Too often we stay in the silo of technology, and when we do that we make ourselves somewhat impotent. I would admonish people to get out there and spend time with people."
Phyllis Teater. CIO of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (Columbus). "I think one of the big lessons is to be willing to understand, and to put yourself into the customer's shoes, whether they're patients, a department chair or a registration clerk … Without that, you run up against so many barriers because you just get so sure your customers don't know enough or don't see the real reason behind something or don't understand IT, or all of the above. But, most often it's because you as the CIO or IT leader don't understand them."
On the importance of a strong IT staff:
Michael John Archuleta. Director of IT at Mt. San Rafael Hospital (Trinidad, Colo.). "Going forward, I think we are facing many challenging items coming down the pipeline, and, I love to say this — we need to develop a strong team. With a strong team comes great communication, great processes and then comes great success. For any project implementation, make sure you have that strong team. It's challenging at times, but make sure every individual coming in is qualified and understands healthcare."
Kumar Chatani. Senior Vice President and CIO of Mount Sinai Health System (New York City). "Hire a strong IT leadership team and delegate effectively. Between the hospitals, clinics, the School and the accountable care organization, I oversee the IT function for over hundred sites. I cannot do it all by myself. I need to have a strong leadership team to delegate to so I can focus on the more strategic work."
Joey Hobbs, CIO of Community Hospital Anderson (Ind). "My biggest piece of advice is to build a great team and then trust them. There's no question, you will not be able to do it all alone. You need to build a strong team that you trust and allow them and empower them to do things. It's the only way to accomplish everything in today's world."
On leadership:
Keith Jennings. CIO of Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston). "I've learned to see the value of having a long-term plan. You need a two-, three- even five-year plan, even if you think it's going to change. If you don't have a plan, there's nothing for anyone around you to react to, there's no milestone for staff or an icebreaker with other leaders… Going forward, more and more of the clinical activity will be IT-based. By no means is IT most important, but the things we do are the underlying foundation for many of the things the hospital needs to do. That's why we need to get our roadmap out in front of clinical and administrative leaders so they can react to it and no one is caught off guard."
Steve Robertson. CIO and Executive Vice President of Revenue Management and IT at Hawaii Pacific Health (Honolulu). "Have a sense of humor, focus on the things that matter and be creative about it. Don't focus on IT. Instead, focus on the operational areas you know you could help improve, and don't wait to be asked. The benefits of doing this is that you proactively make others successful while improving the company's performance."
On the changing role of CIOs:
Mary Anne Leach. Senior Vice President and CIO of Children's Hospital Colorado (Aurora). "I think the biggest lesson we all need to keep in mind is this is a time of opportunity. It can be a very challenging and demanding time for CIOs, and I think we need to turn it on its head and think about the opportunities here. Where can we be catalysts or agents of change? Where can we really be the chief innovation officer?"
Patrick O'Hare. Senior Vice President and CIO of Spectrum Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.) "[A]t the end of the day it's not about the technology, the technology is the easy part. It's about the change management process required to benefit from the technology, and that's where leadership is required. Getting the best contract with the hardware supplier is assumed. That just allows you to have a seat at the table, the things you actually discuss there are the business value [of the technology]."
If you would like to nominate a CIO for this series, please contact Helen Gregg (hgregg@beckershealthcare.com).
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