Today in health, it private equity looks to CEOs as a value multiplier. Today. We're going to take a look at that. My name is bill Russell. I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system. Creator of this weak health set of channels and events dedicated to transform healthcare. One connection. At a time. We were think our show sponsors who are invested in developing the next generation of health leaders, notable service now, enterprise health parlance, certified health. And Panda health.

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It's on a cio.com. I'm going to give you this summary, we're going to hit a couple of the key points. It's interesting. We had a 2 29 project and four of the CEOs in the room worked for private equity backed firms. And their jobs I will say are different. Than a nonprofit healthcare CIO. In some very distinct ways. And one of them is this whole idea of not the person who keeps things running. But more as a business partner that is. Tasked with. The challenges that will move the organization forward.

It's a very different. There's a very subtle, but very different dynamic. With them. So let me give you some, a little bit of the summary. This is a summary of the whole article. So I'm not even going to go to the article. This is what you would find on our website. Private equity firms are increasingly looking towards chief information officers, CEOs. As key drivers of value creation in their portfolio companies. Traditionally afforded a minimal role.

CEO's are now integral to discussions on digital transformation and AI strategy. The shift began during the COVID-19 pandemic and has accelerated in the post Pynamic era. CIO is can drive revenue growth. Cut costs and help firms exploit, technological advancements, making them essential for competitive advantage. They also aid in market entry and operational efficiencies, highlighting their expanding influence. And strategic importance in private equity investments. This is the role we want.

This is the role we've been talking about. Seat at the table. And this is what's required to have a seat at the table. It's required that you're given a very difficult and challenging problem. And you are generative. You are creative. That you will go out and find a solution to it. It may be a technology solution.

It may be something else, but at the end of the day, you are going to drive that. So let me give you some of the things they said it in this article, revenue growth. CIO is can drive revenue growth. I was talking to a CIO recently who said, he thought that every CIO should be given a revenue line. Some line of business where there's revenue coming in.

He said it has completely changed his perspective. It has made him a better CIO. I agree with that. In addition to that, there are CEO's in this past week, there were CEOs in the room who have grown companies up from the solutions that they have built. And they have put them out into the marketplace, into the into the world to find additional clients and to grow. And that's a skill in and of itself to do something that is that advanced in your house system, that it still has value when you're done doing it.

That means you're not following you are leading. If you can create something that forms a company and goes out. And finds a client base for it. And drives revenue for the organization. That's another way of looking at it. Another thing is, there are problems where you're not getting enough revenue capture.

You're not. Did the operations of your health system are not functioning because of lack of data because of a lack of efficiency of those kinds of things. And they're looking for CIS that can identify that revenue. And start. Picking it up, hoovering it up, bring you into the organization. They're also looking for CIS that could figure out ways to cut costs. They're not afraid to say the the phrase.

If we do this, we're going to be able to reduce the amount of labor it takes. Because. That's your job is to say that. And then it's the organizations job. It's HR. It's the culture. It's that job to say, okay, we have this power now. How are we going to utilize it? But still it's the CEO's job to say.

I believe there is high efficiencies to be gained here by doing this. And the efficiencies could be in labor costs. Now it could be in other things, but. They are looking for CEOs, grow the revenue, cut the costs. And then they have this last phrase stuck in here. Help firms exploit, technological advancements. And I guess the question is are you identifying, are we identifying sci hoes?

Are we identifying the technological advancements and how they can be utilized? Or are we buyers. Are we just buyers somebody with a checkbook that says, yeah, pick that one. Like we've gone down the aisle ahead of time. We've looked at all the stuff that's available. We've talked to some other buyers and we say, yeah, choose the, choose a product C because it's better. Or are we the ones getting out there and saying, look. I think when these things come together, we're going to be able to do this. Within our healthcare system.

And by the way, I don't think one CIO. It fits all organizations. I think some are looking for this kind of CIO and clearly private equity is looking for this kind of CIO. Some are looking for the, keep the lights on CIO. Some are looking for digital transformation CEOs. Some are looking for innovation officers of wherever.

I think that fits somewhere between digital officer and in the traditional CIO. Type role. So not every health system, don't hear this and say, I need to be that CIO. You need to have discernment as to what your organization requires, what they're looking for from you and bring that to bear. Now, if you believe you can bring these other things to the organization, revenue growth, cut costs and exploit technological advancements, not just be a buyer of technology, but actually identify the trends and where they're going in the technology to take advantage of those trends. Then step forward, let the organization know, Hey, here's a vision for what. What technology can do for our system.

Here's how it can address our specific issues and our specific problems. And potentially give us an advantage over others in the industry, or maybe give us a leg up in our negotiations with some partners with the payers, potentially. I know, I think that would be a value to those who are sitting at that table, having those conversations.

Again, I, I think the CIO is still a critical role. I still think it can be a value multiplier, even in any nonprofit organization. It absolutely can be a value multiplier. And one of the things I keep pointing out is I believe there's a model. I don't know who's going to do it.

I don't know who's going to have the wherewithal to do it. And I think. But quite frankly, I think a lot of this creativity has left the industry, but I think there's a L there's millions of dollars to be saved for someone who looks at the open source models. Around AI and implements them within their health system. Millions of dollars and tons of privacy benefits to doing that. Now, I don't know who's going to do it.

Whoever wants to do it, let's get on the phone. Let's talk. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'd love to share my thoughts. I think it's possible. It does require some different skill sets within your organization and a commitment to those for the longterm. So that's the challenge of doing it. Anyway. It's Friday thought I'd throw some stuff out there for you to think about over the weekend.

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