Tim Stettheimer, SVP & Regional CIO, Ascension Information Services, Chapter 1

Tim Stettheimer, Regional CIO, Ascension Information Services

We’ve all heard talk about the evolving role of the CIO, but just how big of a role does relationship development and management play? If you ask Tim Stettheimer, it’s as much as 80 to 90 percent. Whether it’s being able to talk about the business on a deeper level with fellow executives or knowing your people well enough to identify the high performers, CIOs will not thrive unless they are willing to get personal, says Stettheimer, who is regional CIO for Ascension Information Services. In this interview, he discusses staff engagement and the waterfall effect, the question he asks to get to know people better, and how he works to maintain a strong presence despite being at a large organization. He also offers advice for introverted CIOs, and talks about what it takes to create a sense of trust.

Chapter 1

AIS’ unique governance structure
His role as regional CIO
The value of face time — “We create a sense of trust within our organization.”
IT breakfasts
Staying “plugged in” through formal meetings & chats
Having a presence: “The most important focus for any leader.”
Conversation ice-breakers

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Bold Statements

Travel — in terms of a relational presence at our locations where we actually deliver services, where we work with patients, their families, clinicians, and the others we serve — is really important because we create a sense of trust between within our organization where people are quick to ask for help and quick to volunteer to help.

I was able to have some small breakfast settings, where actually just anyone who wanted to come and visit from IT staff could sit down and I could have some time to chat with them. It was fantastic to get to plug in that way.

One of the most important things for any leader is to make sure they have a presence; that they really do create relationships with all levels throughout their organization, and that they’re focused on the people, because that’s really what we’re about.

Gamble: Hi Tim, thank you so much for taking some time to speak with us today.

Stettheimer: Absolutely, I’m always happy to. It’s a pleasure to speak with you Gamble, anytime we get the chance.

Gamble: Great. Just to get a little bit of background information, you are regional CIO for Ascension Information Services.

Stettheimer: That’s correct. You know what that means?

Gamble: Sure.

Stettheimer: Ascension Information Services is the IT organization which services, primarily Ascension. But for operational purposes, we divide our ministries into two regions — the north and west region, and then the south and central regions. I am the Regional CIO for the south and central region of Ascension Information Services.

Gamble: And so you cover a few states down in that area?

Stettheimer: Yes. I actually get to frequent Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Kansas, and Oklahoma, as well as some other locations where we have clinics that we serve in states like Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and a few other places. In total, it’s about 55 hospitals within those geographic areas and I won’t even attempt to list the number of clinics or other locations. Needless to say, it’s quite a few.

Gamble: Right. And so from a governance point of view, who do you report to?

Stettheimer: I report to the CEO for Ascension Information Services, that’s Mark Barner. He also serves as the Chief Information Officer for Ascension. And so because we have a large and complex organization, we actually have CIOs that serve in the field, if you will, at our health ministries at the local health systems. And then they report up to one of the two of two Regional CIOs and then we report to Mark Barner.

Gamble: There aren’t too many organizations of the size and scope of Ascension, so it makes sense that you have to kind of find your own way of structuring this.

Stettheimer: We have over 3,000 IT associates that are part of Ascension Information Services. And we have about 2,000 different sites where we provide services. It is pretty much the largest or one of the largest IT services firms in the country.

Gamble: And you’ve been with the organization for a quite a few years.

Stettheimer: Thirteen years now. Ascension was formed in 1999, and Ascension Information Services was formed 10 years ago. This is our tenth anniversary, so 2006, and it was at that point in time I took on the Regional CIO duties, in addition, actually, to local CIO duties — that’s changed somewhat since then. But yes, it’s been 10 years of history now with Ascension Information Services and obviously another three with Ascension before that.

Gamble: In your role now, I imagine that there’s a good bit of travel, but can you break down how you divide your time?

Stettheimer: Sure. Travel — in terms of a relational presence at our locations where we actually deliver services, where we work with patients, their families, clinicians, and the others we serve — is really important because we create, that way, a sense of trust between within our organization where people are quick to ask for help and quick to volunteer to help. So I do travel. Usually I try to travel at least quarterly to each of our primary sites and make sure I’m meeting with different constituents, different clients, customers, as well as our own teams. And it’s about being able to not just visit, but provide a source and relationship for concerns, for questions, for comments, suggestions — those types of things. That is the pace I keep, along with of course travel to other locations including our system offices which are in St. Louis, Missouri.

Gamble: When you talk about the constituents, I imagine there’s a big variety of people who you do sit down and talk with.

Stettheimer: There are, and constituents is a broad term which can include, and does include, other subsidiaries of Ascension. Ascension certainly is involved in health system operations. We have other subsidiary organizations and services that are offered too, including purchasing organizations, a health insurance organization, many more. But when I talk about those meetings that I have, I will typically be meeting with my own executives at the organizations that I am visiting, whether that be a CEO, CFO, clinical officers, etc. I will also meet with IT leadership there, certainly, as well as our IT teams.

I actually had a chance to visit Indiana a few weeks ago. I was able to have some small breakfast settings, where actually just anyone who wanted to come and visit from IT staff could sit down and I could have some time to chat with them. It was fantastic to get to plug in that way. And obviously, the more formal meetings I’ll attend. For example, I was in Kansas and Oklahoma last week and was able to attend one of their Electronic Health Record Steering Committee meetings. So I will sit in sometimes on those governance meetings when I attend. I also certainly enjoy walking around the facility, getting to make sure that our delivery to patients and families is meeting our expectations. On those, I may visit with physicians or nurses — again, it’s a chance to build relationships, see how we’re doing and simply plug in.

I think one of the most important things for any leader is to make sure they have a presence; that they really do create relationships with all levels throughout their organization, and that they’re focused on the people, because that’s really what we’re about. The technology comes and goes. It changes. We may talk about ripping and replacing technology — we don’t really have that kind of activity or terminology for people. People are what really make our jobs, and the service we deliver, either superb and one where we’re meeting expectations, or not. That is really the most important focus for any leader.

Gamble: Right. So definitely a huge part of your role is in having a presence. When you talk about the breakfast sessions, I imagine that’s something where you could really see a different variety of topics. Do you really leave these pretty open to people and say things like, ‘What are your questions for me?’

Stettheimer: What I do typically in these sessions, particularly if I haven’t gotten a chance to know the people who are in the room before, sometimes it’s helpful to sort of break the ice a little bit as the leader in the room. I will usually come in to those discussions and dialogues with a few points of just information that I know is maybe hot off the presses or of interest broadly, for example, if we’re doing something with benefits or if there’s something organizationally happening or if there’s a big thing in the news and people are wondering what do we think about it. I’ll just come in ready to talk about anything, but I’ll usually try to get the dialogue going, either by talking about some of those big headliner events or even just asking the people in the room, ‘so what do you all think about this? What have you all heard or what have you all seen, and what’s on your mind?’ Usually the most helpful thing is to ask questions; that really gets people to open up quickly.

But yes, everything is pretty much fair game in those sessions. I always want our teams to know that we don’t really have off-bound or out-of-bounds questions. Sometimes we won’t be able to provide answers if we’re getting into an area that deals with privacy or confidentiality or things like that. But generally, in terms of organizational information or even what’s happening in healthcare, or certainly personal things like benefits and such — those are always good to talk about.

Chapter 2

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