Roundtables

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 man- agement 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 anticipating where the business is headed before they know it from the news. Insight creates oppor- tunities for innovation and clever solutions that sustain market advantage. William Lewkoski, CIO of Met- ro Health (Wyoming, Mich.): We have moved beyond going digital (implementing our Epic electronic health record), meet- ing meaningful use and planning for ICD-10, to [being an organi- zation] focused very strategically on the future of healthcare de- livery. We are working with our physician partners and devel- oping our organization to be a much more horizontal clinically integrated health system that pro- actively manages our population of patients. We certainly need to continue to be focused on quality, safe- ty, patient satisfaction and cost efficiencies, but we also need to ensure great value to those that purchase and receive healthcare. is will be our focus over the next several years. Richard Ong, Vice President and CIO of Saint Vincent Hos- pital (Erie, Pa.): ere's a greater collaboration that's happening now between healthcare CIOs and their senior executive coun- terparts because IT is involved in so many departments. We're exposed to so many different op- portunities 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 hospi- tal, 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 opportu- nities and nuances, [the CIOs would be] more active in achiev- ing 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 essen- tial 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 organi- zation and a critical element at present to support the business and clinical strategy and opera- tions of the enterprise. Moving forward, we're looking to drive strategy as healthcare becomes more of a digital indus- try. We have caught up quickly, very quickly, in my opinion, to other industries such as bank- ing, and will need to continue to learn more with the intent to surpass other industries, such as retail… some retailers, 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 Presi- dent 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 consum- erization of our industry. Natu- Healthcare CIOs: Past, Present and Future 3 "Given our need to achieve better patient engagement, we have to look at the technical modalities a patient would favor. We found patients visit our website 50% of the time using a mobile device." -Richard Ong, Vice President and CIO of Saint Vincent Hospital

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