Don’t be fooled by the appearance of Children’s Hospital of Central California. The brightly colored building may look more like a children’s castle than a hospital, but inside those walls, the IT team – led by VP and CIO Kirk Larson – is leading a transformation that will make it one of the most sophisticated pediatric hospitals in the country. Children’s Hospital, which is located in the San Joaquin Valley, is going live on advanced clinicals and CPOE this summer, and will soon deploy an application that enables clinicians and staff to view electronic records from anywhere in the building using an iPad. In this interview, Larson talks about the IT strategy that is driving Children’s Hospital, how his experience on the vendor side has helped shape his role, and what it’s like to work in a pediatric hospital.
Chapter 3
- From vendor to provider
- From adult hospital to pediatric facility
- Helping the kids
- Best practices in vendor relations
- Networking and career management — “I have LinkedIn open all day long every day that I’m at work”
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The Cerners and Epics and Meditechs of the world certainly each have their own unique culture, but at the end of the day, they’re all vendors, and there are a lot of common themes there. Having been on the vendor side, I think I’m able to be that much more of an effective CIO and an advocate for the hospital.
I’m not sure that the IT piece is real different. I mean, there are different considerations in terms of how we support it to some degree, but I think it really comes down to the mission of the organization. And I always encourage folks, myself, my leadership team, and everyone in IT to always be thinking about that the mission; that we’re here to serve the kids that come to see us.
When you go to a restaurant, you expect a good meal, and when it’s good, you get up and leave. But the second there’s a fly in your soup, you call the manager and yell. I say that if something’s going well, why not call the manager over and say, ‘hey, this is a great meal.’ And similarly, when I’m happy with a vendor, with a relationship, with a new product, I’m happy to share those positive experiences
I’m interested in not what the firm puts out, but what are people who have used it saying? What is the doctor who has used the product saying? What is the CIO in Nebraska saying about a consulting firm that I’m considering using? That’s very relevant.
Guerra: You mentioned that you’ve been at Children’s Hospital for six months. I looked at your LinkedIn profile, and it says that you spent approximately five years at Cerner, which is very interesting, being on the vendor side and now being on the provider side dealing with vendors. Has your time with Cerner (on the vendor side) helped you become a better CIO?
Larson: I absolutely believe it has, and even though we’re not a Cerner shop, I think a lot of the lessons that I learned at Cerner really carried through, even to today. While I was at Cerner I did a whole host of different roles, most recently being in health care consulting, where I was physically in hospitals. But just understanding the way vendors work, the way they sell, the support structure, etc. has been so valuable. I spent some time in Cerner’s service and support organization, and just understanding how things work on the other side really has benefited me now being on the provider side. With the work I’ve done with Meditech, I’ve really been able to learn about them as an organization probably a little bit quicker based on my experience having been a vendor. I think the Cerners and Epics and Meditechs of the world certainly each have their own unique culture, but at the end of the day, they’re all vendors, and there are a lot of common themes there. Having been on the vendor side, I think I’m able to be that much more of an effective CIO and an advocate for the hospital as we work with Meditech and other vendors.
Guerra: Tell me about selecting your current role, how that came about. Were you inclined to look for a Cerner shop, or did it not matter?
Larson: It did not matter. Immediately prior to my role here, I was CIO at a different facility which is also a Meditech shop. I actually was not actively looking; however this opportunity came about, and it was just an outstanding opportunity in and of itself. And with the facility, the leadership team and really the people here, it was very attractive to me. And like I said, I was not actively looking and I wasn’t necessarily even looking for to be in a Cerner shop or a Meditech shop, but I would say that where I was previously, there were a lot of commonalities and platforms. I was at Natividad Medical Center as the CIO, and they are a Meditech client server 5.64 shop as well, and a lot of other systems were the same. So in that sense, it was a logical and a little bit easier transition.
Guerra: Are there any major differences between working or running IT at a typical hospital versus a pediatric hospital?
Larson: I don’t know that they’re necessarily is. Where I was previously was a country-run government facility, which is a little bit different in and of itself, with quite a bit tighter resources, and a higher degree of leveraging consulting as opposed to where I am now, where it’s a little bit more on the resource perspective and not as much on the consulting side. But I’m not sure that the IT piece is real different. I mean, there are different considerations in terms of how we support it to some degree, but I think it really comes down to the mission of the organization. And I always encourage folks, myself, my leadership team, and everyone in IT to always be thinking about that the mission; that we’re here to serve the kids that come to see us. And so in that way, it should be different as we think about who our patients are. In my first six months, I wouldn’t say on the IT side that I’m seeing any real profound differences.
Guerra: Personally, does it take more of an emotional toll to work at a pediatric hospital and see sick kids every day? Does it make you more dedicated to the mission?
Larson: I have a couple of thoughts on that. One, it’s amazing, the level of commitment that folks have here to our mission. I’m impressed every single day when I see the passion, the excitement, and just the commitment to those kids that come here. They’re very special people, and we’re very proud to serve them. So I would actually say that for me, it’s kind of the opposite of an emotional toll. I don’t see anything that is harder on me. To me, it’s exciting and just exhilarating to come here and know that perhaps in some small way I’m contributing to that too. And when I walk to the hospital and see the kids, when we move kids from room to room, if possible, we pull them in a red wagon. The efforts that we make to be appealing to the kids and make this a safe and welcoming, and to be honest, a non-scary environment, is really special. And again, just in talking to my colleagues, whether they’re in IT or not, I know that there are people here who have been here for 30 years and they just live and breathe the mission. It’s a place where you just feel really good working here. Even when people who don’t work here ask me where I work and I tell them, they just smile and say, ‘Wow, that’s great. What a wonderful place.’ So, it’s really a privilege to be here.
Guerra: It’s hard to think of more meaningful work than a pediatric hospital.
Larson: It is.
Guerra: Let’s touch on just a little bit on vendor relations. When I was doing some research for this interview, I saw a video you did for VMware on YouTube. I want to get your thoughts around why you do things like that—maybe, I would assume you do it because it strengthens the vendor relationship, and it’s just good all around, and creates good benefits and positive feelings. But tell me your thoughts about that.
Larson: Sure. I agree with your assessment and those are things that I’m happy to do. Like I said, we’re excited to be working with VMware View Client in this project that we’ve taken on for advanced clinical, and I’m happy to share our experiences with other folks. These days, sometimes the way you do that is a YouTube video; sometimes it’s a quote in a publication.
So it’s really, all the way around, kind of good thing for everyone, but also an opportunity for me as a happy client and happy customer, to be able to share our positive experiences. I always say that when you go to a restaurant, you kind of expect a good meal, and when it’s good, you get up and leave. But the second there’s a fly in your soup, you call the manager and yell. I say that if something’s going well, why not call the manager over and say, ‘hey, this is a great meal.’ And similarly, when I’m happy with a vendor, with a relationship, with a new product, I’m happy to share those positive experiences because furthermore, I know that for me, I appreciate when my peers are doing that same thing. It’s helpful to me when I can get online, whether it’s a video or a press release or what have you; when I can see what the thoughts are of my peers and what’s going through their head, who are they happy with, and so on. So I think it’s a win all the way around, but it’s also something that I’m happy to do and hopefully people find it helpful who are looking at that video.
Guerra: I wonder, have you ever had a vendor ask you to do something like that and you were not happy enough with their product or service to comply?
Larson: I don’t believe I’ve ever been in that specific situation, and probably part of the reason is that I pride myself on being a transparent person. I’m pretty straight forward, and I think this is probably again partially due to my experiences being a vendor. I know that I always appreciated when people are straightforward with me, so I’m usually pretty straightforward with vendors. If I’m doing my job, people know where they stand with me. And so I think that they would probably not ask, but I would say that if someone did ask and I was not comfortable, I would be very upfront in showing that and saying, ‘I appreciate the request, but it’s not something that I can accommodate at this time.’ Because I do think it’s very important when we do things like, that that we’re doing it because we really believe it.
Guerra: And your name and reputation are on that.
Larson: Absolutely.
Guerra: There’s just one more thing I’d like to touch on. I noticed in your LinkedIn profile that you had a 500 plus connections, which is the most that they show, although people can have far more. Obviously you’re engaged in social networking and connecting with your peers. You mentioned that you liked to hear from your peers about their thoughts on products and services—any thoughts around that philosophy that maybe underlies the fact that you have so many connections?
Larson: I’m a big fan of LinkedIn and I always tell people that I have it open all day long everyday that I’m at work. That’s the way that I manage my connections and my contacts. And it’s kind of analogous, but I always tell people that when I go to a conference, at least half of the value of going to a Meditech conference or to HIMSS is in talking to my peers. That’s when you find out how things really are. Another thought is that none of us are in this alone. And particularly now with Meaningful Use and a lot of the standards that are becoming industry-wide, there a lot of people that are doing the exact same thing. Let’s not reinvent the wheel; let’s talk to each other and let’s watch what the other person is doing.
I think LinkedIn is also interesting because you can see what people are doing career-wise and what opportunities people are finding for themselves. So that’s a very important part of what I do, and there’s probably not a day that goes by where I think, ‘Darn, I wish I had five more minutes to email up here or call up here.’ I’m very much a LinkedIn power user. I think that kind of reflects my interest in the social media. And when it comes down to people’s opinions on products or vendors or consulting firms, I’m also someone who is interested in not what the firm puts out, but what are people who have used it saying? What is the doctor who has used the product saying? What is the CIO in Nebraska saying about a consulting firm that I’m considering using? That’s very relevant, and I think in today’s day and age, it’s easy to be able to obtain those thoughts and ideas, or even go to a website such as yours, where there’s just a whole wealth of very real, very timely and very authentic information. So I’m definitely someone who’s out there trying to leverage those different resources for all of those reasons.
Guerra: Well, thank you for those kind words. Is there anything else you wanted to touch on?
Larson: No, I think I had a couple of things on my list, but I think we incorporated those in the course of our conversation. I thank you, not only for the opportunity to chat with you today, but also the interest in Children’s Hospital. It was thrilling for me to be able to share my thoughts on what I think is just a wonderful place to work. And I’d be happy to continue to interact with you, or if any of your readers would like to reach out to me, either through e-mail or LinkedIn, I’d be happy to chat with them as well.
Guerra: Thank you so much for your time today, Kirk. I look forward to working with you again in the future.
Larson: Okay, thank you so much, Anthony.
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