Ask a healthcare system leader where they focus and the answer will generally be the same, “We put the patient at the center of everything we do.” Laudable, but examine how budgets are spent, where efforts are focused, and you’ll find that providers are more often at the center. This[…]
When an interim CIO makes sense
The demand for interim management in IT is high and takes many forms. When there is an unexpected vacancy in a senior IT leadership position and no obvious interim person to step up, the executive team must act quickly. They often start with their trusted network or turn to a firm that specializes in interim management[…]
Orchestrating Effective Meeting Performance
By Kirk Mahlen, Advisor In almost every organization, we hear complaints that there are too many meetings and too much email. To make matters worse, many meetings are perceived to be both unproductive and time consuming. While the subject of meetings is decidedly not glamorous, it is important to remember[…]
IT Is Reaching Commodity Status – Are You Taking Advantage?
Though my business card says Principal, I’d prefer the term Provocateur. As a year-long challenge to traditional thinking, I have proposed the notion to professional friends and colleagues that many skills, processes, and technology in the healthcare sector have reached commodity status. That change presents great potential benefits for the[…]
10 Steps to Prepare for 2019 – Big Challenges – Bigger Opportunities
The advent of a New Year finds the media filled with reviews of the past year and Top 10 predictions about the future from esteemed prognosticators. I’d like to join the other forecasters and warmly welcome 2019 with a call to action in a challenging, yet opportunity rich healthcare environment.[…]
EHR Engagement and Ownership: Keys to Clinician Success
By Amy Maneker, MD, Advisor EHR success is less about reducing clicks or whether the vendor has created the perfect UI; recent data from KLAS reveals that culture plays a much bigger role in physician satisfaction. Some organizations have tried to make a difference by optimizing the software and/or the[…]
Trust for High Performance Teams
By John Norenberg, Advisor Recently, while working with a couple of healthcare organizations, my thoughts again turned to the elusive topic of trust. Why elusive? Well, given the sheer volume of literature on how important trust is to a working environment, and although it is not recognized as such, it[…]
Stepping Into an Interim Leadership Role
By Kirk Mahlen, Advisor When stepping into any Interim leadership role, it is sometimes necessary to deal with difficult employee morale issues. In some cases, the truth of the matter and the reason for your arrival as Interim cannot even be discussed with employees for any number of reasons. Fortunately, whatever[…]
Interim CIO: How to Optimize for a Successful Outcome
By Kirk Mahlen, Advisor To quote from a popular Farmers Insurance ad: “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two”. The reality associated with unplanned / unexpected CIO turnover is that, while there may be themes, the number of possible scenarios is infinite and I[…]
8 Tips for Telehealth Success
Telehealth or connected health as some call it, takes different forms depending on the provider organization and their strategy. The primary driver may be extending geographic reach by providing services to rural areas. Or it may be largely a focus on consumer engagement. Regardless, there are common themes for successful[…]