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Although AI and other technology can help reduce some of the redundancy that affects physicians and nurses – and can lead to burnout, it’s becoming clear that “IT alone can’t fix the problem,” said our panelists during a recent discussion. Instead, CIOs need to be willing to get up close and personal.
“Your AI journey is only as good as your data. It’s only as good as your processes,” said Stuart James, COO and Deputy CIO at CHRISTUS. Recently, he spoke about the critical role that data stewardship and data governance play in enabling organizations to take advantage of digital tools.
“As we understand the things we want to do from a front-end perspective, the backend becomes mission critical,” said Anika Gardenhire of Ardent Health Services. In this interview, she talks about the importance of a solid infrastructure – especially with AI initiatives, her leadership philosophy, and the true goal of innovation.
For CIOs, perhaps the most important objective is to provide a great experience for clinicians “without overloading on technology,” according to Michael Carr. In this interview, he talked about the bold initiatives at Health First that he hopes will move the organization toward that goal, and what it means to be a high-reliability organization.
The best way to alleviate the documentation burden is by developing “tools that can help support nurses and create efficiencies.” The problem is that “we don’t have time right now to provide input,” said Victoria Tiase. In this interview, she talks about how digital transformation has affected nursing; the question vendors need to be asked; and how Utah Health is bringing innovations to the bedside.
The ability to automate processes to improve efficiency and enhance consumer experience is high on the CIO’s priority list. Getting there, however, requires a level of integration that many health systems haven’t yet achieved, said Shafiq Rab and John Henderson during a recent panel discussion.
With the majority of care in the U.S. being delivered at the community level, organizations like Community Health Network provide the ideal “sandbox” to test out solutions that could potentially improve efficiency and enhance the consumer experience, according to Patrick McGill, MD, and Allison Lodhi.
In an environment where “there is no perfect system” and every employee poses a risk, IT and security leaders must have a “robust, layered approach” to identifying and mitigating threats, a mastery of the basics, and strong partnerships throughout the organization, said our panelists during a recent discussion.
The recent wave of catastrophic cybersecurity events has made it increasingly important for healthcare organizations to have a solid business continuity strategy – including a plan for how to deliver and document care with or without access to electronic records, said our panelists during a recent discussion. “It has reaffirmed the need to really intensify how we approach this.”
In today’s complex healthcare environment, providing a platform for users to present ideas is essential. However, “if it’s open-ended and unbounded, we’re going to be building a whole bunch of very pretty bridges to nowhere,” said David Sylvan, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at University Hospitals. Instead, “we have to be prescriptive about what we’re going to solve for,” he said.
