At the start of 2016, the current installed base of wearable activity tracking devices was just over 33 million in the U.S.
The first three months of my interim CIO engagement at University Hospitals has flown by. I’m fortunate to be working with a very talented IT team and we recognize there is always room for improvement. We have already made some very positive changes and improvements. We are tightening up how we manage and monitor the production environment to reduce preventable incidents.
We do a root cause analysis on every major incident and review them as a team at our bi-weekly leadership meeting, tracking all subsequent action items. We are making progress on numerous major priority projects and there have been several system upgrades and go lives during this period. We are doing detailed planning for our new hospital integration efforts. We are launching our visual management board and leadership huddle next week as part of our lean efforts. And we have re-established an executive level IT steering committee addressing the critical need for IT governance.
Our third IT steering committee will be Monday evening. Our CEO and other senior executives are engaged – exactly what we needed. They are developing a deeper understanding of our current work and the many new requests we have received since this year’s budget was approved. We have reviewed with them how our work aligns with UH strategic goals and ranked the projects in relative priority order.
At the upcoming meeting we will discuss our strategy for new hospital integration. In particular, we will look at the impact of system-wide requests before all hospitals are on the core systems. And we will look closely at the new requests – why are they needed this year and how do they align with UH strategy.
There is an insatiable demand for IT at UH — just like at every other organization I’ve worked for. But the “yes machine” can’t continue unless there are tradeoffs. IT leadership teams appreciate it when executives say “it’s OK to say no” and that “there can’t be back doors and end runs when something is not approved”. And that approving new projects at this stage in the year means making tradeoffs – something has to come off the list or get pushed down to make time for a new project.
The scope of responsibilities for our executive IT steering committee is not unique or earth shaking – it is the basics you would expect to see:
– Primary governing body for IT strategy and operations
– Communication ambassador for IT
– Planning for future initiatives and direction
– Balance conflicting priorities
– Guidance on specific projects as needed
– Approve unplanned projects
– Provide input and oversight on IT policies
Basic but needed. One of the 4 questions I asked in every executive meet and greet session was: how can I have the greatest impact as an interim? IT governance was a common response. Just over three months on the job and we are having our third steering committee. I listened and they were ready. For a CIO, that’s a good place to be.
Blog originally posted on www.sueschade.com.
My mother had to go to work to support four children after my father died from cancer. I was active in the women’s movement in my college years. So, I can’t imagine women not having a career outside the home if they so choose or if they have to support themselves and their families.
Cinderblocks 3: The Partnership with Patients Continues is an art and medical conference that will be held in Grantsville, MD at Penn Alps Resturant and Little Crossings by The Cornucopia Café May 19-21, 2016.
You want irony? Try this: the Kaiser Family Foundation reports that we women are the ones who make the health care choices for the kids in 8 out of 10 families. Yet women are far and away the minority gender in the world of health IT leaders. While this is by no means the definitive list, I’ve done some research on the women who ARE making their mark in HIT.
I recently had the opportunity to attend an event in my hometown of Atlanta that honored the top 25 women in healthcare – a group of powerful and intelligent providers and payers that are leading the industry into a new era.
