Becker's Hospital Review

22 Question: How has your job changed over the past few years? How do you expect it to change in the next few years? Mike Canfield, Vice President of Operations and CIO of Firelands Re- gional Medical Center (Sandusky, Ohio): Several years ago, CIOs were talking about aligning IT strategy with their business partners and be- ing a strategic partner in the C-suite. While this is clearly still important, our focus has been forced to shift toward regulation and incentive pro- grams. Where we used to develop plans primarily based on our organi- zations' needs, we now plan primarily based on regulatory incentives and requirements. The two drivers are not diametrically opposed, but they are not completely aligned either. Assuming data reporting and interoperability requirements move from a standalone program into an ongoing structure like value-based purchasing, this new challenge of balancing the organization's strategic needs with federal requirements will be the new normal. Steve Hess, CIO of University of Colorado Health (Aurora): With the in- creased maturity and adoption of our IT tools, there isn't much that we try to do as an organization that doesn't include some component of IT. From strategy, to outreach, to patient engagement to process improvement, our IT tools are a foundational component of those discussions. This is daunt- ing and challenging, but also so rewarding in that we feel we are finally us- ing IT to drive efficiencies, impact care and improve the patient experience in a way that has been envisioned for years, if not decades. Because of this, my role, and the role of healthcare CIOs everywhere, is one that is directly and indirectly involved in just about everything going on across the orga- nization. We need to know a lot about a lot of things and attempt to be a thread that helps weave the strategy and execution together. I don't see this changing in future years, and will more than likely only expand. This de- mands that the CIO has a team that really understands the organizational strategy and can connect the dots quickly. It is imperative that the IT team understands where the organization is going and how the IT projects and deliverables fit in. It is also imperative that the IT team is structured in a way to focus on the key objectives of the organization. This creates agility and the ability to work on many major initiatives — the right major initia- tives, simultaneously. Dan Kinsella, Executive Vice President and CIO of Cadence Health (Win- field, Ill.): I started my career as a CIO in September of 2012, prior to that I spent 32 years in the industry as a consultant focused on IT. So in many ways, my job changed dramatically. My sense of the changes across the country in the same period are that most CIOs have seen dramatic changes in the expectations of their output: Not just doing more with less, which implies prudence and efficiency, but more importantly providing insight as a member of the management team, versus [providing] only a baseline level of assurance that applications will be highly available. Providing that insight requires looking at existing operations with fresh eyes and antici- pating where the business is headed before they know it from the news. In- sight creates opportunities for innovation and clever solutions that sustain market advantage. William Lewkoski, CIO of Metro Health (Wyoming, Mich.): We have moved beyond going digital (implementing our Epic electronic health re- cord), meeting meaningful use and planning for ICD-10, to [being an orga- nization] focused very strategically on the future of healthcare delivery. We are working with our physician partners and developing our organization to be a much more horizontal clinically integrated health system that proac- tively manages our population of patients. We certainly need to continue to be focused on quality, safety, patient satis- faction and cost efficiencies, but we also need to ensure great value to those that purchase and receive healthcare. This will be our focus over the next several years. Richard Ong, Vice President and CIO of Saint Vincent Hospital (Erie, Pa.): There's a greater collaboration that's happening now between healthcare CIOs and their senior executive counterparts because IT is involved in so many departments. We're exposed to so many different opportunities and nuances because of our work with a wide variety of information [systems] and processes. We're asked to be more involved and integrated with the op- portunities faced by a hospital, to help the hospital be more innovative in the way we conduct business. I wouldn't be surprised if this type of involvement leads to CIOs being asked to help lead these initiatives more directly. Rather than being supplemental to discovering these opportunities and nuances, [the CIOs would be] more active in achieving enterprise goals. Craig Richardville, CIO of Carolinas HealthCare System (Charlotte, N.C.): A decade ago, IT was an expense item. Now, IT has become a vital enabler, no longer an expense, but an essential investment. It is integral to nearly all strategy and operations — there are no more silos, very few "IT" projects. IT has become threaded throughout the organization and a critical element at present to support the business and clinical strategy and operations of the enterprise. Moving forward, we're looking to drive strategy as healthcare becomes more of a digital industry. We have caught up quickly, very quickly, in my opin- ion, to other industries such as banking, and will need to continue to learn more with the intent to surpass other industries, such as retail… some retail- ers, like CVS, Wal-Mart, Target and Walgreens are now our competitors. My colleagues and those we compete with are no longer only in the traditional healthcare industry, but many of my interactions and peers are across many digitized industries. Ryan Smith, Senior Vice President and CIO of Banner Health (Phoenix): A primary change in the CIO role over the past few years has been focused on positioning the organization for innovation, growth and consumerization of our industry. Naturally, we all must continue our focus on the successful delivery of highly visible initiatives such as meaningful use and ICD-10; how- ever, we are in a new era where healthcare organizations are in pursuit of new revenue streams and reducing operating expenses through technological in- novation. In addition, the consumerization of healthcare is rapidly evolving and a differential service experience is becoming the expected norm. These changes are requiring the CIO to develop new skillsets if the IT organiza- tion is to remain relevant to the business environment we're now operating within. We will continue to see these themes play out for the foreseeable fu- ture, requiring a new level of strategic partnership between the CIO and the rest of the executive team. "A decade ago, IT was an expense item. Now, IT has become a vital enabler, no longer an expense, but an essential investment. It is integral to nearly all strategy and operations — there are no more silos, very few 'IT' projects." — Craig Richardville, CIO of Carolinas HealthCare System

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