“My role as CIO isn’t to present the best technology. It is, in collaboration with my peers, to really understand the problem.”

Years ago, that statement from Chris Harper likely would have raised many eyebrows. But in today’s healthcare environment – where it’s becoming increasingly clear that people and processes are more critical than the technology component – it makes perfect sense. 

“At the end of the day, we’re all trying to accomplish the same mission,” he said. And although it can be tempting to play the part of hero, that’s not what organizations need from their CIO. What they need is a “pro” who will partner with the team and work to “solve problems together.”

Chris Harper

During a recent Keynote interview, Harper – who holds the dual roles of CIO and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor of AI at The University of Kansas Health System and University of Kansas Medical Center – discussed the philosophies that have served as the backbone for IT advancement, and the deliberate approach they’re taking to drive transformation across the organization.

The foundation

When it comes to AI – or any tool, for that matter – his team’s approach has been simple, yet effective: identify the problem, then start to look for a solution. One of the problems they identified was physician and nurse burnout, which was first addressed through “conventional methodologies like process improvement,” Harper stated. 

However, “once we hit a critical mass and aren’t able to move the needle anymore,” it’s time to start looking for a different solution. In this case, ambient listening and documentation can help fill that gap.

But what’s even more important than finding the right tools is having a solid foundation in place, which started years ago when the organization implemented Epic, then built an integrated data and analytics platform. As a result, “we’re now able to truly automate and leverage all of those assets to be able to do, in my mind, what healthcare technology is meant to do, which is to alleviate the waste and manual work for patients and providers,” said Harper. Making those “big bets” early on, he added, has positioned the organization well for incorporating AI and automation into the strategy. 

AI, clinical-trial style

Implementing AI tools, however, comes with a unique set of considerations, and therefore requires a different game plan than an EHR rollout. To that end, the University of Kansas Health System has adopted a “clinical trial-type approach,” he said. The key elements? A small sample size, a feedback loop that includes clinical and physician champions as well as engaged vendor partners, and a willingness to be agile.

And the feedback loop needs to be tight, according to Harper. “You can’t wait a month or six months to solve an issue. You have to commit to an iterative but rapid approach,” he noted. “If you break it, you have to fix it right away. There’s no room for error.”

Not just because human lives are at stake – which is clearly the most important point, but also because of the high level of interest in AI capabilities, especially among physicians. And in fact, he recommends tapping into the knowledge of super users and leveraging it to develop better products and strategies.

Showing value

“There’s going to be tremendous value created through this. As CIO, you need to think about how to position your organization, and more importantly, your team and your people, so they can succeed,” he said – and do it quickly. “We don’t have a lot of years to get there. You have to start teeing up your team to take advantage” of the AI gold rush, and use those capabilities to achieve tangible outcomes. 

“Whether it’s the retail space or financial sector, you have to be able to show value,” he added. “You have to think every day about the value your team is adding and the value the technology is adding.”

And if there’s no value, consider pulling the plug – even in the middle of a project,” noted Harper, who recalled a time earlier in his career in which his team “stopped a multimillion dollar project halfway through and decided to recalibrate. “It wasn’t the right thing to deploy that technology, because we knew that it wasn’t going to solve the problem.”

Sit in silence

In the end, the decision proved to be the right one, and offered further validation of the importance of seeking – and acting on – feedback. Doing so, he added, requires something that he believes has become a critical component of leadership: listening. 

“I think a lot of high performing IT individuals are quick to come up with solutions,” Harper said, noting that he’s been guilty of it as well. “Earlier in my career, I remember that someone would be talking and I would already be architecting how it comes together and coming up with answers and questions.”

The more advantageous move, for all parties involved, is to turn all focus to the person speaking. “That’s the biggest piece of advice I would offer: take time to listen and sit in silence.”