Becker's Hospital Review

8 HEALTH IT 8 Thoughts from Cleveland Clinic CIO Dr. C. Martin Harris on Decision-Making and Leadership By Akanksha Jayanthi T he intercon- nectedness of healthcare requires individuals to have skills and knowledge of areas and departments outside their specific area of expertise. An Atlantic story from 2014 explored the growing trend of physicians graduating from joint MD/MBA programs, noting the number of such programs increased 25 percent from 2011 to 2012 alone. e executive suite is no different, as a number of executive leaders have MD back- grounds, among other advanced degrees. C. Martin Harris, MD, CIO of Cleve- land Clinic, is one of those executives. Dr. Harris holds an MD and an MBA, both from University of Pennsylvania in Phil- adelphia. In addition to his executive du- ties, Dr. Harris is a practicing physician, board-certified in internal medicine. Here, he shared some insight on how his multiple backgrounds contribute to his daily decision-making, as well as what CIOs should keep an eye on in 2016. Note: Interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Question: You have a long, multifac- eted background in both the clinical and business sides of healthcare. What made you decide to pursue both an MD and an MBA? Dr. C. Martin Harris: I began my ca- reer with the intention of becoming an academic physician. I imagined I would split my time between actually practicing medicine and doing research around the macro healthcare questions related to quality, service and cost that might allow me to make a positive impact on the med- ical practice model itself. To do that work, access to accurate, timely data about the realities of clinical practice is crucial. And, during my research training, one of the first things I realized was that, at that time, access to that kind of real data sim- ply didn't exist. at was because comput- ers were not really used as part of patient care. So at least partially, the shi in my career trajectory from academic research to administrative leadership happened because I wanted to do everything I could to help get the kinds of health information technology systems deployed in the clin- ical space that would make the research work I originally envisioned possible for future generations of physician scientists. Q: How do you use your MBA in the day-to-day? CMH: One of the biggest and potentially consequential challenges in healthcare is driving real value for patients in ways that will keep high-quality care available and affordable for everyone. To address this challenge, we have to start by defining what real value is. In the healthcare indus- try, we do that by measuring the quality of the care we deliver over the cost of deliv- ering it. My medical education taught me how clinical outcomes and other metrics can reflect care quality. My MBA prepared me to more fully understand the financial and organizational intricacies represented by the cost side of the equation. Q: What advantages does having formal training in multiple back- grounds provide you? How does being a practicing physician influ- ence the decisions you may make as a CIO? CMH: My physician training is incredi- bly important because it grounded me in the practical, demanding activity that is the practice of medicine. at personal experience means that I don't have to try to imagine a clinician's needs; the clini- cian's point of view is my point of view. It is what I was trained to do. So when it comes to introducing technology into the practice of medicine, I understand the potential workflow or productivity impact of a decision in a way that only someone who manages a clinical practice can. My medical training allows me to see the world through the eyes of a practicing physician; my MBA helps me see how management decisions impact the health of an enterprise made up of many clinical practices and support functions. Both perspectives are important, and being able to see and understand the healthcare world in that way is critical. Q: As a CIO, what is the biggest challenge you face? CMH: Probably the biggest challenge for a CIO in a provider organization today involves helping an organization drive to scale, because I think healthcare in the future will increasingly be delivered by organizations who can demonstrate that they deliver quality in a cost-effective way. One way to achieve that is to efficiently increase the scale of the organization in terms of the numbers of patients that can be served while leveraging the econo- mies of scale that can only be understood through a detailed and real-time flow of actionable data. at critical data is really the foundational insight that will inform our future management. As a CIO, creating the infrastructure and integrated systems that will support that work has to be a priority. Q: How has Cleveland Clinic succeeded in doing that? CMH: Our administrative leadership team has been actively working to identify and align all the capabilities we need to succeed in a way that is scalable and

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