If you’re fortunate enough to work in healthcare and IT, every year presents a significant mix of big challenges and even bigger opportunities. 2025 is no exception. One of HIT’s paradigms for approaching challenges is to focus on people, process, and technology – technology being the easiest of the three.[…]
Show the Strength of Wisdom: Choose Kindness
As new parents, we wanted to instill an important life lesson in our children. From a very young age, we often asked them the same question repeatedly: “What is the most important thing to remember?” Their answer was simple: “Be nice.” Over time, however, my children – wise beyond their[…]
What the US Could Learn from the UAE about Healthcare
I have spent much of the last four years working in the Middle East as an interim CIO and executive project director at two different hospitals. I have seen the healthcare systems of two different countries from both a business perspective and a patient perspective. Since I was primarily in[…]
Ring Theory – A Practical Tool for Dealing with Trauma and Crises
September is National Suicide Prevention Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness about suicide prevention and promoting mental health. Suicide is very personal to me. My wife died from suicide. I wrote what started as a blog but became a longer story about my family’s experience with suicide and offered[…]
Is HIT Strategic Planning Still Relevant for Providers?
In the past there was little question about who owned the HIT Strategic Plan – the Chief Information Officer (CIO). That has changed in many organizations. Organizations are creating new C-suite officer roles – chief data and analytics (CDAO), chief digital officer (CDO or CDIO), chief data officer (CDO), chief[…]
An Effective Strategy for Valuing HIT Investments
Assessing the value of IT investments has posed a challenge throughout my 35+ year career as a healthcare CIO. With the growing demand for digital health solutions and the surge of interest in AI in its various forms, establishing a reliable IT investment valuation process has grown increasingly crucial. A[…]
Revitalizing Healthcare: Shaping Perceptions, Restoring Trust
At a recent healthcare conference attended by leaders from healthcare systems representing more than 19% of the total of 6,120 US hospitals, there were several presentations and many side conversations about the state of consumer satisfaction. An Ipsos survey published on February 27, 2024, was consistent with concerns expressed. Ipsos[…]
Future Proof Your IT Environment: Strategies to Address Technology Debt
Addressing technology debt[i] in the health IT environment is crucial for ensuring patient safety, regulatory compliance, efficiency, data security, scalability, innovation, and cost efficiency. Healthcare IT professionals and their organizations must leverage technology effectively to deliver high-quality care while staying competitive in an evolving healthcare landscape. There are many factors[…]
Technology Debt – when your infrastructure has been ignored too long
“What do you mean “there is an executive level downtime committee that meets weekly”? As I stated this, I must admit I was a bit incredulous. Although it was only my first week as CIO at a large academic medical center, I had never encountered in my prior 8 years[…]
Auditors Should be a Leader’s Best Friend
It’s January, a new beginning in many ways. It’s common as a New Year approaches to spend some time thinking about, hopefully celebrating, the past and planning for the future – from both a personal and professional perspective. That review sometimes elicits resolutions – to improve, to make a brighter,[…]