This Week Health
January 24, 2025

"A Better Way": New Challenges Mean New Leadership Strategies

As the healthcare environment becomes increasingly complex, and organizations grapple with seemingly endless challenges, the need for dynamic leaders has never been greater. Whether it’s the CIO or another top role, health systems need leaders who can navigate the storms and position their teams for success.

And while a knowledge of IT systems is certainly beneficial, it’s no longer enough. Now, just as much value is placed on qualities like adaptability and the ability to collaborate. Leaders with diverse backgrounds are emerging – and bringing with them new approaches to solving common problems.

In this feature article, we offer perspective from three individuals who share insights on how the CIO role has evolved, and the unique skillsets that will be needed to guide organizations into the future.

 

Gretchen Britt: Adaptability & Collaboration

Gretchen Britt

One of the most important qualities in leaders today, according to Gretchen Britt (VP, Information and Technology and CIO of The University of Kansas Health System Liberty Market), is the ability to adapt to change. “We’re the face for our team, and so we need to set the right example. You need to have a positive mindset and be willing to collaborate,” she said. “If we’re integrating two organizations and you don’t know how to play with others in the sandbox, it isn’t going to go well.”

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case when Liberty Hospital officially became part of The University of Kansas Health System in July 2024. “It’s been a true collaboration,” she noted. “We’ve taken those opportunities to learn from one another and move forward together. I think that’s why we’ve been successful.”

And while it can be tempting to hit the ground running, the organization has taken a deliberate approach toward the goal of full operational integration across the system – a strategy that Britt fully supports. “Patience is key; you don’t want to do things too quickly. You want to do things right, and that’s something both organizations agree on,” she stated. “We want to do what’s right for our patients and for our people.”

“A better way”

For Britt, a registered nurse with several years of NICU experience, that means ensuring IT initiatives aren’t presenting roadblocks for those on the front line. “That’s the dream – to let nurses focus on taking care of patients,” rather than getting bogged down with clicks and documentation requirements, which is often the case. “I remember being on the night shift after we had rolled out different pieces of the EMR and thinking, ‘there has to be a better way,’” she recalled. “I want to walk into a room and just talk to patients. I want to verbalize my assessment and have that information gathered and then placed into the chart.” 

And while she believes the organization – along with the industry as a whole – has made significant progress in reducing the administrative burden, it’s important to maintain momentum and stay focused on outcomes.

“Soft skills play heavy”

A large part of that entails ensuring the right people are at the table. In Britt’s experience, the “right people” tend to ask a lot of questions – and don’t hesitate to challenge the status quo. “I’m looking for a critical thinker,” she said. “When you have an informatics person who has a critical thought at the bedside, that transitions so well into building systems and making sure the right workflows are in place.”

The “soft skills” like collaboration and attentiveness, “play heavily in these roles,” noted Britt. “Being able to partner with others, listen to concerns, figure out the right solution, and help present those ideas and make informed decisions” has become critical. “These pieces of the puzzle are important to making all of this work.”

 

Jordan Ruch: Start with the End

Jordan Ruch

Jordan Ruch (CIO, AtlantiCare) is no stranger to large-scale IT initiatives; in fact, he genuinely enjoys the experience. That’s not to say it’s ever been an easy road, but there are steps that can be taken to make it smoother.

One of those? “Have the end state in mind,” he said. “Once you have that vision, it’s a lot easier to figure out the endpoint.” On the other hand, “if you haven’t taken the time to invest and think about what that future state looks like, and make sure everyone agrees to it and feels solid in the plan, it’s really difficult to navigate.”

This philosophy, which can be attributed largely to Ruch’s background in project management, has served his team well as AtlantiCare embarks on Vision 2030, a strategy “designed to redefine how we deliver healthcare in our region through innovation, workforce empowerment, and community centered care.”

Seeing tools “make a difference”

One of the core initiatives aims to address the administrative burden, which has become “significant” in recent years. “The work we ask our physicians and nurses to do is coming between them and our patients, which is the last thing we want,” he said, citing a study which found that primary care physicians need more than 26 hours in a day to provide the recommended care for adults and document it.

And it’s not just physicians; nurses devote more than half of their shift time to EHR data entry and retrieval, and another 30 percent on searching for supplies. “That leaves only 20 percent for the bedside,” Ruch said. This is where AI and other technologies can make an impact by “streamlining processes and automating routine tasks to free up time for providers.”

Case in point: Oracle’s Clinical AI Agent, which has helped AtlantiCare decrease documentation time by 42 percent through ambient listening, saving an average of 66 minutes per day. Ruch hopes to see similar results as the tool is rolled out to more than 800 providers. “It’s really rewarding to see some of the tools that we’re deploying actually make a difference and do what we’ve intended to do all along, which is provide better care and a more efficient experience.”

Putting a plan together

Sometimes, however, that requires making major changes; for example, his team is “changing out or optimizing pretty much every application,” including the EHR, ancillaries, and revenue cycle suite. And although it’s a “significant undertaking,” it’s precisely that type of initiative that drew him to the organization.

“My background is in these projects,” said Ruch, who managed all aspects of the Epic implementation while serving as CTO for RWJBarnabas Health before joining AtlantiCare last summer. “The opportunity to put a plan together, see it through, and realize the benefits is something that really motivates me.”

And in fact, it’s become an expectation for CIOs and other leaders to not only provide technology in a reliable and seamless way, but also to help strategically grow the business, which means staying connected with operations. 

Business and AI acumen

“In order to know where to apply the technology or help strategically find an area where IT can support the business, you need to sit with the operators and learn the business,” Ruch added. “You need to understand how it operates. You need to understand the challenges. You need to spend time on the units.”

Finally, as CIOs continue down unchartered paths, he believes AI literacy will become increasingly critical. “We’ve long adopted an automation mindset where we break down a process, standardize a process, and then consolidate or re-implement tools to try and automate as much as possible,” he said. Now, however, it’s just not about automation. As new AI technologies come online, IT is expected to “help evaluate those tools, implement those tools, integrate those tools, train the workforce on those tools, communicate those tools, and ultimately, support them.
By adopting an AI Literacy mindset, they’re able to approach problems differently and help advocate for best use of the technology. “We need to be up to speed with where the industry is going.”

 

Ryan Cameron: Think Outside the Norm

Ryan Cameron

Where direction the industry takes, it’s undoubtedly going to involve innovation and it’s going to be spearheaded, at least in part, by “outsiders,” according to Ryan Cameron. When he joined Children’s Nebraska as VP of Technology and Innovation in 2022, it was his first foray in healthcare, having previously spent time with an AI startup, and before that, in the world of academics.

Where he did have experience was in problem-solving and digital growth, which appealed quite a bit to the team at Children’s Nebraska. “When I asked them why they were interviewing me, they said, ‘we feel like you could address some blind spots for us,’” Cameron noted. “They’re very forward-thinking. They’re focused on consumerism and how that impacts the patient experience.”

As healthcare tackles increasingly complex issues, having representation from other sectors has become more common, and will likely continue in that direction, according to Cameron. “We have all these disruptive forces that are influencing and shaping what healthcare looks like, and that requires innovation,” he noted. “It requires us to do things differently, meet people where they are, and evolve with the changing expectations.”

By incorporating departments (like anesthesiology, for example) that aren’t traditionally seated at the table, Children’s Nebraska can foster collaborative discussions and identify new approaches to problems.

“Heroic Innovation”

One area in which they’ve never struggled, however, is in generating ideas. “Innovation has been a core value for many years now. There’s always been a lot of activity.” Unfortunately, it  has largely happened in pockets, noted Cameron, who referred to it as ‘heroic innovation.’ “You have one superhero who puts on the cape, gets a great idea, and runs with it.” The problem arises when they leave the organization. “There’s no sustainability or cross training – things you would need for a healthy innovation program.”

On the other hand, by building a dedicated program in which digital health and innovation “go hand-in-hand with what we do,” organizations can reap the benefits of tools like virtual reality and 3D printing, both of which are priorities for his team. For instance, VR simulations have decreased the rate of sedation by 96 percent in patients coming in for CT scans, while also dramatically reducing surgical times by enabling providers to share plans and consult with each other.

“We’re tripling down on those areas,” said Cameron, adding that VR headsets are also being leveraged to reduce stress and anxiety in employees. “It’s a stressful job. You have the weight of the world on your shoulders. It’s been amazing to see VR become an employee wellness tool on top of everything else.”

Beyond healthcare

The good news? Practical ideas like this can be found – if leaders are willing to look beyond healthcare conferences. In fact, it was at a CES Conference where Cameron first heard about Ocular View, a holographic videoconference solution from Steelcase and Logitech that “genuinely feels like we’re in the same room having a conversation.” 

Children’s is currently leveraging the tool for behavioral and wellness visits throughout its wide coverage area, and plans to expand in the near future. “It’s been a huge success for us, and so, we’re thinking about more care modalities, adding cameras, and doing more with telehealth,” he said. “And we never would have encountered that just by going to healthcare conferences.”

Attending events like CES, Cameron added, has empowered his staff to “think outside the norm. We’re seeing a lot of really great, compelling innovations that are going to help a lot of people live happier, better lives. That’s the goal.

And by keeping an open mind, whether it’s by leveraging different technologies or considering different skillsets, leaders can take steps toward that goal. 

“Be open to change,” he said.

Special Thanks to our Premier Sponsors for making this content possible

1 2 3
Healthcare Transformation Powered by Community

© Copyright 2024 Health Lyrics All rights reserved