Tag Archives: learning

Time to pivot

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I’ve been writing this weekly blog for 8 years. It has been a weekly discipline and truly a labor of love. I started when I was the CIO at University of Michigan Health System Hospitals and Health Centers (now called Michigan Medicine). I was encouraged to launch it by the then social media coordinator for the health system. My purpose was simple – share my experience as a health IT leader and help develop next generation leaders. As my website “About” page says: “With this weekly blog, I share perspectives on the critical issues facing Health Care IT, the organizational transformations that IT organizations face, the challenges of leadership, and the work we need to do together to keep the paths of opportunity open for all. What we do matters.”

When I left Michigan and started down the path of interim management, consulting, and leadership coaching, I took over the blog and continued to write and publish it myself. I have served in both permanent and interim IT leadership roles for many leading organizations in the past 8 years. When I have been “in the seat” as a CIO, I have had plenty to share and at no loss for new topics.

But now that I am not doing interim engagements myself, I am removed from the day-to-day issues and challenges, and the many lessons learned from them. I continue to coach and help grow new leaders plus spend time connecting people to new opportunities. So even as I pivot, sharing leadership lessons will continue to be a focus area as well as commenting on significant events in our world as they relate to the work of healthcare and IT.

While blogs as a medium may have had their day, podcasts seem to have taken over in recent years. I listen to many different podcasts though I still read a lot too – finding ways to continually learn from others. I continue to share through other forums – our StarBridge Advisors blog, as a monthly host on the This Week in Health IT Town Hall/Community channel interviewing guests (my foray into podcasts), as well as speaking on webinars and panels.

So, what’s my pivot? I will continue to write but I am going to find ways to highlight the work of others and get their perspective on key issues. There are so many of you doing incredibly important and impactful work in our industry. I’m not sure how I’ll approach this change or if I will adjust the frequency of posts.  I consider it a work in process.

If you are interested in having your work highlighted or sharing your perspective on a key issue for a future post, please reach out. And if you have topic ideas, I’m all ears.

My work and writing continue…..

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Advice for bloggers: valuable content and discipline

Making time for reflection

Health IT content – plenty of choices

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My recent two-week vacation included family time, Disney with grandkids, and time just chilling with girlfriends (aka pool time, my first ever pickle ball game, walks by the ocean, shopping, eating, talking and lots of laughing).  I often publish a blog each week even when I’m on vacation but not this time. It was a true break!

Now that I’m back it’s a different kind of week. I am taking care of one of my grandchildren so arranging my work schedule around her school drop-off and pickup times. Something many of you navigate seamlessly or not so seamlessly every day. I’m hoping to get it right!

I am also getting into the recording mode this week.

On May 5 at 1PM Eastern, I will be a panelist on the Well Health sponsored webinar – “Digital Transformation Post-COVID: What’s Next on the CIO Priority List?”. Meg Aranow from Well Health will be moderating the panel that also includes Joel Vengco, SVP and Chief Information & Digital Officer at Hartford HealthCare and Raymond Lowe, SVP & CIO at AltaMed Health Services. It should be a great session. You can register here.

And I’ve recorded my first show as one of the moderators on the new This Week in Health Town Hall / Community channel. I interviewed Pamela Arora, new President and CEO at AAMI and a longtime CIO colleague of mine. For all the IT leaders who listen to This Week in Health podcasts, be sure to check it out – the IT and HTM (health technology management) relationship is a critical one. Continue reading →

Health IT conference season via podcast

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I didn’t attend either of the two big March in-person health IT industry events – ViVE (CHIME+HLTH) and HIMSS22. But I’ve heard a lot of positives about both events from colleagues. Just seeing people in person after two years was a highlight for many. I admit, I miss the in-person connections as well! And I do look forward to attending the CHIME Fall Forum this year celebrating CHIME’s 30th anniversary.

Like my blog post in November after the CHIME Fall Forum, I’m going to point you to what I consider one of the best resources to hear what health IT leaders from provider organizations and vendors had to say about the conferences and what’s on their mind these days.

Bill Russell has continued his Today in Health IT podcast series he calls “Interviews in Action” – interviewing 50 health IT leaders at ViVE and HIMSS22.  Each interview is no more than 10-15 minutes long. After having family in town visiting this week, I’m behind on my daily dog walk podcast listening but I’ve heard almost all the ones that had been dropped through last week. That includes these CIOs among others: Michael Pfeffer at Stanford Medicine, Cara Babachicos at South Shore Health, Cletis Earle at Penn State Health, Andrew Rosenberg at Michigan Medicine, Nassar Nizami at Jefferson Health, Andy Crowder at Atrium Health, and Jamie Nelson at Hospital for Special Surgery. While there are common themes such as staffing and talent, clinician burnout, and cybersecurity, you will also learn about the top focus areas for each organization. You can hear from these CIOs and many other IT leaders and vendors on the Newsroom channel.

Whether you attended these events or not, you’ll find the interviews insightful. And if you are looking for more ways to learn and keep current, check out the other new channels that Bill and his team at This Week in Health IT launched as of January – Academy, Community, and Conference which includes both keynotes and solution showcase podcasts.

You may also want to check out the podcast series from CHIME, HealthsystemCIO.com, and CIO Podcast by Healthcare IT Today.

Happy listening!

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#InternationalPodcastDay

More podcast recommendations – going beyond HIT

 

 

 

CHIME21 recap and CIO perspectives

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about FOMO – what I felt about not going to the CHIME Fall Forum this year. After all, I had not been to either HIMSS or CHIME to see colleagues since spring of 2019. Being in-person with colleagues I’ve come to know well, like a lot, and respect even more, was something I had looked forward to. So yes, I missed reconnecting in-person after all this time. But I am grateful to get some of the content and perspectives from the forum second hand through trusted sources.

It’s no surprise that Bill Russell has dropped a series of excellent podcast interviews with some of the leading healthcare CIOs as well as vendor experts in his Today in Health IT podcast special series he calls “Interviews in Action”.  It includes 10 interviews at CHIME, 8 at HLTH, and 5 from the Sirius Healthcare 2 Healthcare Event. Each one is no more than 15-20 minutes long so perfect for a brisk one-mile walk. Learn from CIOs such as Donna Roach of University of Utah Health, Stephanie Lahr of Monument Health, Dr. Zafar Chaudry of Seattle Children’s, and Scott Joslyn of UC Irvine.

Through the HealthsystemCIO.com recap of CHIME21, Kate Gamble covered several topics highlighting presentations from more of my favorite CIOs:

Whether you are a CHIME member who didn’t attend the Fall Forum or someone who just wants to learn from some of the best IT leaders in the industry, I encourage you to check out all these resources.

FOMO

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As I hear recaps of the HLTH 2021 conference in Boston last week and see colleagues posting about the upcoming CHIME Fall Forum, I admit I have a little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out). The HLTH conference was never on my radar given my work and moving schedule though it was nearby. I had looked forward to attending the CHIME Fall Forum in San Diego this coming week and seeing colleagues in person after all this time with only virtual events. But for several reasons, I won’t be attending.

John Lynn with Healthcare IT Today and Bill Russell with Today in Health IT provided highlights of the HLTH conference for those of us not attending. I expect Bill will do the same during the CHIME Fall Forum between daily recaps and live interviews while there.

There will be the usual excellent keynote speakers and track sessions with members presenting at CHIME. One of the highlights I am sorry to be missing will be Wednesday’s pre-forum session – “CHIME’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Retreat”. It will include speakers on “Unpacking Identity and Bias” and a panel session with CHIME members titled “Sharing DE&I Successes, Challenges and Next Steps”.  As a member of the CHIME DE&I committee, I value the connections made and candid conversations we’ve had in the planning of these sessions. We are continually learning from one another on this journey. It was after watching/listening to the DE&I session at the virtual CHIME Fall Forum a year ago that I decided to join this committee and help with this important work finding yet another way to get involved and give back.

Virtual events have been abundant and gotten better over the past 20 months as organizers adapted to the tools and speakers got used to monitoring online chats and Q&A vs interacting with live audiences. Continue reading →

What I learned this week

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When I’m stuck and don’t know what to write about, to trigger ideas my husband asks me “what did you learn this week?”. As I wrote in last week’s blog post, it’s handoff time as my interim CIO engagement at Boston Children’s comes to an end. The past 4 days was a packed schedule for the new CIO, Heather Nelson, and me. A good amount of time was in standing meetings already on the calendar where Heather got to meet individuals or groups in the IT department as well as some senior leadership meetings. In all the non-meeting time, (the white space on the calendar), I inserted sessions for just the two of us to go through the lengthy 10-page transition outline I had prepared.

Heather joked each day about being a sponge and wringing it out at night to start again the next day. She now has multiple lists of to do’s and discussion items for others as she gets started. Her priority in the coming weeks will be listening. What did Heather learn this week? A lot!

What did I learn? Through these standing meetings and handoff discussions I learned how much more there is to do that I didn’t have the time or opportunity to focus on. At one point I told Heather that maybe I’d write about “regret” this week. She was quick to say, no, look at how much you got done in a short time. My CIO colleagues know that our work is endless. We just need to step back occasionally and appreciate what we have gotten done. That’s true for ending an interim engagement as well.

And I learned how much value there is to being in these standing meetings together as part of the handoff so I could debrief with Heather afterwards adding more context and color. Without getting too distracted, using Zoom chat during the meetings to clarify and add context to topics being covered was also a plus.

And during this very busy handoff week, I learned (again) that moving is indeed a stressor! Continue reading →

#InternationalPodcastDay

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Yesterday was #InternationalPodcastDay according to social media. There seems to be a day for everything. And from what I can tell there is a podcast for every possible interest. I am definitely a fan of this medium and I’ve shared my podcast favorites in previous posts.

While I currently subscribe to 20+ podcasts (I add them as I hear about new ones of particular interest), I regularly listen to a small handful, and primarily three:

Given my recent injury, my podcast listening time has been greatly reduced. I used to listen when I walked 3 miles a day with my digital dogs. Last weekend while packing boxes for our upcoming move, I decided to catch up on few of them. Realize I need to get creative about finding times to listen.

To “celebrate” #InternationalPodcastDay, I encourage you to check out my favorite podcasts and recommendations in these previous posts:

More podcast recommendations – going beyond HIT

7 HIT blog and podcast recommendations

Tune in: recommendations for IT podcasts

Staying fit and informed

Value of podcasts for professional development

And of course, let me know if you have any favorites to recommend.

Happy listening!

HIMSS21 – ready or not

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According to HIMSS there are over 18,000 people registered for the big event next week – either in-person in Las Vegas or virtual/digital. It’s not clear what the split looks like. With the current surge in COVID cases, I assume many registrants may decide to convert to virtual and not travel to Vegas in the next few days. I saw last week some people calling for HIMSS21 to be cancelled. I remember well the days leading up to the HIMSS20 cancellation in March last year. Who would have thought we’d be here again 17 months later? HIMSS appears to be taking all the necessary precautions with vaccine proof required of attendees and now adding a mask requirement while there.

I decided months ago to forego in person HIMSS this year. HIMSS20 registrants did not receive refunds but could apply it to HIMSS21. The conversion value from a full registration to a digital one was not a good one given the significant price difference but there wasn’t another choice as far as I knew.

In past years, I’ve written tips on attending HIMSS and how to make the most of it. Those general tips on education, networking, and vendors still hold true whether in-person or virtual. The education opportunities are probably what digital attendees can get the most from though I’m hoping there are also opportunities to learn about new vendors from a distance.

I’m usually a last-minute planner when it comes to HIMSS. I don’t usually look closely at the schedule and make my specific plans until close to the event. As a digital attendee, I tried to keep my calendar flexible next week so I could attend as many digital sessions as possible. But as busy as I am these days, that didn’t work out so well.

So, I’m down to spending some time this weekend figuring out what is available for the digital attendees, deciding what is of most value to me given my current work and focus, and what’s even possible given my calendar. I’m open to any recommendations on digital sessions from those among you who have mapped out your plans. And any general tips on making the most of a digital registration.

Bill Russell has an interesting plan for his HIMSS time next week which will be virtual after he recently assessed his own personal risk level. Continue reading →

COVID-19 – listen to the experts

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Dr. Anthony Fauci may be a household name for your family. But what about Andy Slavitt?  He is a policy expert who served in the Obama administration first to save health.gov and then as acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. During the pandemic he provided reliable, relatable information and education with his daily tweets at @ASlavitt and award-winning “In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt” podcast.  He quickly became a household name with my family and a trusted resource. Many trusted him and looked to him for insight.

He served as President Biden’s Senior Advisor on COVID-19 for the first 120 days of the new administration. He is now back from the White House and in his chair on the renamed podcast – “In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt: Our Shot”.  As the podcast description says, “Just as he took us through the pandemic, this 10-week series called Our Shot is about leading us out. It’s an insider’s guide for getting closure on what happened, how we emerge, and what must come next.”

Busy as my schedule is, I am trying to keep up with this new series. So far, I have heard his interviews with CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, and President Biden’s Press Secretary, Jen Psaki. And I am halfway through Andy’s just released book written primarily prior to his recent stint in the Biden Administration. His book, “Preventable – The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S Coronavirus Response”, is a must read. Not just to understand what happened but how do we prevent it from happening again.

While COVID-19 may seem to be behind us, it is not when you consider the variants and the percent of the population not yet fully vaccinated. Continue reading →

7 years later

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I started this weekly blog 7 years ago right before our major Epic go live when I was serving as CIO at University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers. Given my decades of experience in health IT leadership roles, I decided that I had plenty of lessons and experiences to share. A blog seemed like a great forum to do so.

7 years later, I am still writing. I have shared lessons and experiences that have included my interim CIO and CTO engagements at three other healthcare systems since I left Michigan – University Hospitals in Cleveland, Stony Brook Medicine on Long Island, and University of Vermont Health Network. Since March, I have been serving as interim SVP and CIO at Boston Children’s Hospital.

I often wonder how much longer to keep this going. How much more do I have to share and who cares? The feedback and appreciation I get in notes and comments from readers keeps me going. And the topic ideas keep coming.

I was asked recently how I find time to write each week. Good question. I am pretty busy. I am a full-time interim CIO and am helping my colleagues keep things going at our firm, StarBridge Advisors. My response to the question is that I have a lot of ideas and not enough time to write. With this week’s post I am changing when I publish. I will try to write on the weekends and publish early in the week instead of percolate an idea all week and then finally write it Thursday night when I am exhausted.

And while I have a lot of topic ideas, I am definitely open to suggestions from my readers. I was recently asked by a CIO colleague if he could suggest topics – of course I said yes.

At this 7-year mark you might be interested in knowing which posts have gotten the most attention. In the world of social media, keywords, amplification, and cross linking are key. The top 5 most read posts since I started are:

It is worth mentioning that #6 is “New year, next chapter”. Continue reading →