Becker's Hospital Review

42 Health Information Technology Top Advice From Top CIOs By Helen Gregg T his has been and will continue to be a demanding year for healthcare CIOs. Many are working to attest to meaningful use stage 2 by the end of fiscal year 2014 as well as tackle challenges related to population health management, data analytics and information se- curity. Since November, Becker's Hospital Review has been interviewing leading CIOs from hospital and health systems across the country, asking what ad- vice they have for their colleagues to best handle this turbulent year. Selected pieces of advice follow. On relationships outside IT: Heath Bell. CIO and Vice President of Revenue Cycle at KishHealth System (DeKalb, Ill.). "One of the things I've learned — and I think more and more CIOs are getting this — is the relationships you have outside of IT are so important. Learn the operations of the areas you're supporting. You don't need specif- ic 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." 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 deci- sions 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. Part- nership with strong clinical, operational and fi- nancial 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 organi- zation and create strong, lasting relationships to make it work." On understanding the organization's business needs: Pam Banchy, RN. CIO of Summa Western Re- serve Hospital (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio). "The advice I would give is to be sure to understand the business needs of the organization. My pro- fessional 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." 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. Roland Garcia Heath Bell Pam Banchy, RN Ed Marx Phyllis Teater Michael John Archuleta

• Cover