In an era where job changes are becoming increasingly common, and skilled IT leaders are in high demand, it’s rare for a CIO to remain at an organization for a decade and a half. But that’s the path Beth Fredette has taken — or, perhaps more accurately, stayed on — and she has “no regrets.” In this interview, Fredette talks about the unique challenges Meaningful Use poses for children’s hospitals, the organization’s plans to expand, and how her team is working to facilitate data flow. She also discusses the clinical transformation at Dayton Children’s over the years, the “collegial” network of pediatric CIOs, and the new leadership role that has made her life easier.
Chapter 2
- Moving a data center
- Children’s hospital CIO network — “We’re very collegial”
- The “unlimited pipeline of requests”
- Recruiting to the Dayton area
- 16 years & “no regrets”
- From legacy systems to Epic
- New CMIO who has “brought a lot to the table”
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Bold Statements
Everything that we do seemingly has an IT component to it, so trying to prioritize is probably our biggest challenge.
It took us five years to finally sign our Epic deal, but it has been lightning speed since then. It’s been such a transformation for our organization.
The biggest worry I have is that there’s just so much going on and we demand so much of them to keep the lights on and then keep doing the new stuff. It’s just always a challenge.
I always try to learn as much from other people as I try to impart on them. I look at everything relationship as a win-win or an opportunity to learn new things.
Gamble: As far as moving the data center, I can imagine that’s a pretty big undertaking. How did the process go? Was it a little more difficult than you anticipated, or did it go pretty much as you thought?
Fredette: I think it’s always a little bit more complicated than maybe the layperson thinks. If you’re in IT, maybe you understand all the complicating factors with that; that’s all of our connections to the house. We have a person that’s dedicated to overseeing all of that. We’ve had some great consulting help as well in helping to design a new facility as far as how big it really needed to be and just trying to migrate every one of our 400-some servers and minimize the impact to the end user community. We’ve got to stage a lot of things and move all of our major feed. It’s gone well so far, but definitely something you need to keep your eye on very closely.
Gamble: Sure. You want to keep the things running as much possible while you’re doing this big move.
Fredette: Right.
Gamble: Now, being a children’s hospital CIO, you deal with a lot of needs that are unique. To that point, are you part of any networking groups or any kind subgroups with other children’s hospital CIOs just to bounce ideas off each other and ask how they’re dealing with the same issues?
Fredette: Yes. One of the best groups I belong to is the Child Health Corporation where all of us freestanding children’s CIOs have the opportunity twice a year to network. That’s probably the best group that I belong to, and then I participate in CHIME every year, which isn’t just pediatrics, but there’s usually a subset group. We hang out there as well to exchange ideas and network.
Gamble: I imagine it’s a pretty collegial group just because you have that bond.
Fredette: We are. We’ve got a great list serv. We ping things off each other all the time. We’re very open, very collegial. It’s a good group.
Gamble: What would you say are some of the bigger issues you’re dealing with? You talked about patient information access with teenagers. Is that one of the bigger topics right now?
Fredette: That is a big topic, and just really the demand for IT — there’s an unlimited pipeline of requests and my staff is small and has limited capacity, especially as we sort of move this data center. And thenwith Destination 2020, everything that we do seemingly has an IT component to it, so trying to prioritize is probably our biggest challenge.
Gamble: In the area where you’re located, has it been a challenge to hold on to the good staff members — to keep good people or keep them motivated?
Fredette: I have a phenomenal staff. We have a lot of really long-term employees. If we do have openings or as we’ve expanded a little bit over the years, some of the more higher end technical folks are a little harder to find and recruit. We don’t always get a lot of people if they’re outside of the area that want to move to Dayton, but we’ve worked out some remote working opportunities for a couple of our positions, which seems to have worked out well for us. I don’t have a ton of problems hiring and recruiting. People don’t generally want to move here from a great big city, but we’ve got a lot of great people in the Dayton area that are committed and love what they do and love the area.
Gamble: How long have you been with the organization?
Fredette: I actually started my career here in them mid 80s. I worked here for four years. And then a long time ago, I left healthcare altogether for about a year and a half and worked at an adult facility for eight years. But I actually came back to Children’s in 1998, so I’ve actually been here going on 16 years, this time around.
Gamble: And when you went there in 1998, what role did you have?
Fredette: I was hired as an administrative manager, and then I actually moved into the CIO role in 2000.
Gamble: Okay, so that’s fairly quick. Was it a set of circumstances where the position just opened up?
Fredette: It was absolutely was, yes, and it’s worked out great.
Gamble: Holding that position since 2000, as we had talked about before, that’s really a long time in this industry to be at one place. As far as being there for that period of time, what are your thoughts on that? Have you had any regrets about it or wondered what it would be like to work elsewhere? What has made you stay there?
Fredette: I love it here at Children’s. It’s a great culture. It’s very family-oriented. We have some amazing leadership; most of them have very long tenure, actually. My boss celebrated 30 years last night with Children’s. They’re just all very caring and passionate about what they do. Being here that long, I’ve watched Children’s transform. There’s been just amazing growth not only in what we do, but in the IT realm. Everybody here is so committed. They love what they do. We’re all here for the kids, and so I have no regrets. No regrets. I love it here and hope to be here until I retire.
Gamble: That’s great. When you have a great culture, that’s a really nice motivation to stay at a place.
Fredette: Yes.
Gamble: I can imagine that that has been really interesting to see the transformation from 1998 until now, just as far as electronic records and things like that. I’m sure it’s been an interesting thing to watch firsthand and be a part of.
Fredette: Absolutely. We ran a lot of old Legacy stuff for a long time. We actually started talking about whether it was time to go to EMRs back in 2001 when we had a couple of vendors come in and tell us what it was. Our leadership thought, well, now might be the time, and it took us five years to finally sign our Epic deal, but it has been lightning speed since then. It’s been such a transformation for our organization. The realization that technology is just a wonderful tool to have in our belt just really helps us with all of our business objectives and growth initiatives. It’s a good spot to be in.
Gamble: Sure. And not just talking about IT, but to see advances in pediatric care — I’m sure that that’s been a really interesting thing to watch as well.
Fredette: Absolutely, and it’s why we’re all here.
Gamble: Now, having held the position for a while, is it ever challenging to keep the staff engaged? Do you ever worry that they’ve heard a lot of your speeches before?
Fredette: No. Like I said, I’ve got a really great team. They’re all incredibly committed. We work them really hard. The biggest worry I have is that there’s just so much going on and we demand so much of them to keep the lights on and then keep doing the new stuff. It’s just always a challenge to make sure we got adequate staffing and help to do what we need to do.
Gamble: I can imagine. For you, have you had mentors along the way who have helped you? Is there anyone that sticks out in particular?
Fredette: Gosh, I have always had great mentors or folks to learn from. I’ve had a series of bosses over the years, all who have taught me different skills and things. I don’t know if anyone person sticks out. Bonnie Somerville was a unique individual that I worked for, but I think the biggest lessons learned for me have been just working with people and getting accomplished what you need to get accomplished, through how you work with people and work as a team.
Gamble: Have you done any mentoring? Maybe not in a formal way, but do you find yourself taking people under your wing sometimes and just maybe helping them with some of the lessons that you had to learn along the way?
Fredette: I do. Nothing formal, but sure, I take a lot of employees or colleagues under my wing. The cool thing about having worked for an organization for so long is there are things you can to help people cut through a little quicker that maybe took you a long time to learn the hard way. And so yes, absolutely. And I always try to learn as much from other people as I try to impart on them. I look at everything relationship as a win-win or an opportunity to learn new things.
Gamble: I know that for me, I didn’t have necessarily a formal mentor, but I learned by watching people. Sometimes those are the best lessons, just watching how somebody handles certain situations and how they carry themselves.
Fredette: Absolutely, yes.
Gamble: Are there any other big plans or projects in the works that we haven’t touched on? I know we talked about a lot of the different things on your plate.
Fredette: We’ve got a few of our clinics that haven’t been rolled out yet. We’ve got an aggressive plan to do that through the rest of the year. We’ve got a number of joint ventures and care alliances we’re working on. We’re expanding our off campus footprint, so there are a lot of projects surrounding those sort of things that are big for us this coming year.
Gamble: Right. Like focusing on care outside of the hospital?
Fredette: Right.
Gamble: As far as the clinics that still have to go live, what’s the timeline for that?
Fredette: We probably have 16 specialties and we’ve got about 42 locations that are not running Epic yet. All of those will be completed by mid December.
Gamble: I’m sure that that’s a big thing on your plate.
Fredette: Yeah, just a little undertaking we got going there.
Gamble: With that, are there physician leaders you work with or are there specific committees?
Fredette: We have an oversight committee that is comprised of physicians and folks in our clinical areas that are helping us with that rollout. We actually recently created a CMIO position at the hospital. He’s been on board maybe six months, and that has been a phenomenal addition to our structure. He’s brought a lot to the table, and that’s helped us be much more successful in some of these rollouts and relationships.
Gamble: Having the clinician experience I’m sure has been really beneficial. I would imagine that before you brought on the CMIO, it’s a position that was maybe held by a bunch of different people just piecing that role together.
Fredette: Absolutely. We’ve got physician champions spattered throughout the organization, but Dr. Abiodun Omoloja has brought all of that together and it’s just been nice having that in a role that I can rely on to help us out.
Gamble: Sure. Alright, well we’ve touched on a lot of topics. I’d definitely like to check back with you down the road on some of the plans you have.
Fredette: Great.
Gamble: Thanks so much for your time, I appreciate it. It sounds like you guys have a great organization there.
Fredette: We do. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Gamble: Thank you. I’ll talk to you soon.
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