With all the rapid change occurring within health IT — from Silicon Valley and tech jumping feet first into healthcare with promises of disruption to Meaningful Use and ICD-10 to interoperability — the role of hospital CIOs is increasingly resembling that of an embattled soldier.
So much so that Jim Turnbull, CIO for University of Utah Heatlth Care, has taken to using military terminology to describe his job — VUCA, short for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.
At a track session at CHIME14 in San Antonio, Turnbull said that things are “intense,” and for anyone who’s paid slight attention to healthcare, it’s not hard to figure out why. If the implementation of EHR systems and all the fun that comes with that wasn’t enough, the entire landscape shifted dramatically within a short three years.
As Brian Eastwood writes on CIO.com:
EHR software remains top of mind, yes, but now hospitals must consider (among other things) the impact of wearable technology, the principle of accountable care, the challenge of patient engagement, an evolving business model, the ICD-10 conversion, omnipresent security threat and shifting reimbursement models.
If anything, “intense” may be putting it mildly. “There really is too much going on at once,” says Rick Schooler, vice president and CIO for Orlando Health. “What’s going on in our organizations is really nuts. Our people are getting jerked around almost endlessly.”
So what’s a CIO to do? Collaborate inside and outside of the organization and put the patient first.
Trumbull recommends informal meetings with fellow executives – informal because of the jam-packed nature of the typical executive’s calendar – to chat about the challenges they face. [Texas Health Resources Senior Vice President and CIO Edward] Marx, meanwhile, takes the time to learn the names of executives’ children and grandchildren, along with tidbits such as their favorite wine.
