On Best Practices

7 HIT blog and podcast recommendations

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I started blogging in 2014. It was a way to share experiences from many years as a health IT leader and to teach others. When I see the number of subscribers to my blog and 100,000 views to date, I think it’scanstockphoto58340963 (1) subscribe fair to say my blogs are having an impact. As long as that’s the case, I will keep blogging.

I was honored to see my blog named for the second year in a row to HealthTech’s Must-Read Health IT Blogger List. Here are some of the ones on that list that I plan to start reading more regularly:

Susannah Fox – She is the former CTO of HHS and covers a range of topics to help people and organizations navigate at the intersection of health and technology.

Inside the Mind of a Healthcare CIO by David Chou, Vice President / Chief Information & Digital Officer for Children’s Mercy Kansas City – I knew David was prolific on social media. I regularly read and share his content. But I didn’t realize that he was also writing a regular blog on a range of topics from his CIO experiences.

Health IT Buzz from ONC – This is a great way to keep up with what is coming from The Office of the National Coordinator and their perspective.

Health Populi by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn – I have met Jane at a few conferences in recent years and always find her insight and analysis to be very enlightening. She covers broad trends in healthcare. Something every IT leader should be tracking.

AAMI Blog – I may be biased as an AAMI board member, but I think all IT leaders need to be keeping tabs on what the issues are in the health technology management (HTM) world. Continue reading →

Never underestimate the importance of good communication

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When you go into business for yourself, you have to make a lot of decisions. One of the most important decisions is who to partner with. I have learned a lot from my two colleagues, David Muntz and Russ canstockphoto9328194 (1) communication word cloudRudish, in our StarBridge Advisors venture over the past two years. They have very different styles, skills, knowledge and experience. But together we make a great team!

Communication skills are critical no matter what business you are in or what level you are at in an organization. David recently wrote an excellent piece on communications for our StarBridge Advisors “View from the Bridge” blog – Meaningful Communication – 10 Lessons from Life.

His life lessons provide an important framework for successful communication in all forms. And as he says, without communication, collaboration is difficult.

I highly recommend you check out David’s blog post. And if you like what you see, read more of our View from the Bridge posts and subscribe to receive notifications of new posts.

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The 6 Rs of summer

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In these final weeks of summer, it’s a good time to stop and reflect . Our lives have become busier and busier. We work more hours. We are constantly available. Our phones are never far from reach.canstockphoto2218480 (1) beach chairs

As you take some time for yourself this summer, keep in mind the importance of R&R – Rest and Relaxation to get Refreshed and to Renew your energy.

Take time to Reflect on what is important to you.

Maybe even Reboot. Make adjustments as needed. After all, you only have one life to live.

As the poet Mary Oliver says, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”.

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What can we learn from sports?

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My husband and I recently went to a Red Sox game. We are not the biggest of sports fans, but we like to get to a game or two each year. It was a glorious summer day – sunny sky with a temp in the mid-70’s. A canstockphoto56121 (1) baseballperfect Sunday afternoon for a baseball game. We all know that baseball can be slow at times with brief moments of intense action. I put my crowd dynamics lens on and observed.

First there’s the “wave”. How do they start? And what does it take for them to be successful? The first one started in a section near right field, had to go through the grandstand area, and over to the “green monster”. If you don’t know Fenway Park, the green monster is a special section that probably has no more than 200 people in it. A prime spot for the wave to lose momentum. But it didn’t. It went all the way around the ballpark at least twice.

When another section started a second wave later in the game, it fizzled quickly. But my husband made sure he did it when the wave rather pathetically got to our section. He didn’t want to be the one to kill it. The takeaway – everyone must participate to make it successful.

Then there was the “dance off” between innings. The cameras focus on different fans around the park and when people see themselves on the big screen they do their best dance moves. You never know what you’ll see. Inhibitions are off for many people, especially kids. It was a young middle school age boy who won – he had the moves and the fans loved it. The takeaway – be less inhibited and you may go further.

And then there is the rhythmic clapping that starts and grows in intensity. It’s either to encourage the home team at a critical moment or to make the other team nervous. Continue reading →

What does a high value conference look like?

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Last week I had the opportunity to speak on two panels at a different kind of conference. HealthIMPACT East was held in Washington DC. The first day was solely focused on social determinants of health canstockphoto5296053 (1) conference(SDoH). The rest of the conference was on population health, interoperability, patient centered design, innovation, and blockchain.

The conference organizers and facilitators focus on what they call “purposeful events” with “no BS and no PowerPoints”. Instead of speakers talking “at people”, they facilitate lots of conversation in a room of full of smart people. The format was mostly panels with several excellent individual speakers who did use slides. The organizers want the conferences to be an idea exchange among a community of leaders and encourage dynamic debate.

The overall number of attendees was small. But it facilitated thought provoking discussion during each session and deeper networking connections at meals and breaks. I wasn’t tempted to pull out my iPhone to check my email as presenters talked through slide after slide. Instead, I was asking questions of the experts and engaged in the discussions.  The track facilitators did an excellent job getting attendees engaged.

When I walked in, I only knew two people – Megan Antonelli, CEO HealthIMPACT and CEO/founder of Purpose Events Group, who had invited me to speak, and Nick Bonvino, CEO at Greater Houston Healthconnect and a frequent speaker on interoperability. Continue reading →

What does weeding have to do with work?

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We go through our days in and out of meetings, on and off conference calls, sending and answering email.  All while we’re touching many different issues and projects.canstockphoto1572629 (1) weeding

So, when and how can you ever feel a sense of accomplishment?

  • When you’ve handled all your critical email (for now)?
  • When you’ve finished a presentation (but you may yet tweak it one more time before you deliver it)?
  • When you’ve resolved an issue (or think you have)?
  • When you’ve completed key tasks on a big project (but there is so far yet to go)?

Our work is endless and all we do is move the ball forward a bit each day.  In the IT world, a major go live provides a collective sense of accomplishment for everyone involved. But as IT professionals, we know that there is the post-go live support phase and then, probably, an optimization phase. Are we ever done with that project? The project management professionals on our teams will ensure we close the core project and open new ones for future phases.

We maintain “to do” lists in some form – paper or electronic. There are individual ones. And there are group ones known as project plans. You may work on a team that effectively uses collaboration tools that show all the individual and shared tasks as well as any follow-up needed. Breaking down any size project into more bite size tasks or steps is a good approach. And it can help give a sense of accomplishment along the way. Continue reading →

4 Tips when you must work on vacation

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If summer is the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, summer is a third over already. Have you made your summer vacation plans? Have you figured out how you’re going to get a break and renew your canstockphoto38573795 (1) work on vacationenergy?

I’ve advocated making vacation time truly yours and figuring out how to completely shut off from work. You need to make sure you have someone covering while you are away and trust that they will handle things well without you.

It’s a little different now that I have my own business with two colleagues and our work is more fluid. When I am off for 2 weeks on a long planned European trip later this year, I will shut it off completely. My colleagues will handle whatever comes up.

But when I take other shorter breaks, I will continue to manage my key commitments and the high priorities. Here are some tips for managing when you must work on vacation:

Timebox – If you need to do certain work, schedule a specific block of time to do it then shut it off for the rest of the day.

Accessibility – Make sure your colleagues know when you are and aren’t available. With cell coverage and Wi-Fi being pervasive, it shouldn’t be hard to do whatever you have to do wherever you are. But when you are in a remote area and have limited or spotty cell coverage, make sure others know this.

Email management – We all know email can be a time sink. It’s endless. Scan it quickly and deal with only what’s time sensitive and high priority. The rest can wait. Since you are not checking it as often, ask colleagues to text you if there is something you need to deal with.

Managing family expectations – If you are the only family member who needs to work while away, let them know the time you need for work and manage their expectations.  Trust me, it will avoid stupid fights and bad feelings.

For advice on completely shutting off on vacation and why it’s so important to do so, check out my post, “Take time to reboot”.

Kudos to all of you who plan to spend some of your vacation time doing community service or volunteering for something you are passionate about – there are many opportunities to pay it forward these days.

Happy summer! It will be over before you know it.

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Advice for bloggers: valuable content and discipline

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In the early 2000s, there was an explosion of blogs, but I never pictured myself as a blogger.  But that changed four years ago when I started a weekly blog to share my health IT experiences and insights with canstockphoto13207113others.

It is a weekly discipline I’ve maintained ever since.

I love data. So, I look at the statistics on views per week and per post. I’ve published over 200 blog posts and have had close to 100,000 views.

Over the four years, the posts on lean are by far the most popular – 6 of the top 20 posts – including huddles, visual boards, Gemba walks, and use of an A3. The lean community shares content broadly and openly as they learn from one another. A very good practice! So, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at the popularity of these posts.

I ask myself “what generates views”? Is it the opening tease and blog title that attracts readers? Is it the title or general topic that causes subscribers to read a blog when they get the email notification? Is it the re-publishing by other publications or links from other sites?

Despite all the analytical tools and articles available on how to increase blog subscribers and readers, it comes down to valuable content. Yes, the catchiness of the title and the use of keywords make a difference. I learned that decades ago writing headlines when I was editor of my high school newspaper. But back then the world of content was all paper; now you can search for anything online in seconds. We all know that on social media you must compete for “eyeballs.” Hence, the importance of keywords.

When I first considered starting a blog, I sought out an expert to give me advice. I called Anthony Guerra at HealthSystemCIO.com. Was it a crazy idea or should I go for it? He encouraged me early on and I’m truly grateful for that. It helped me go from considering blogging to actually being a blogger.

I’ve learned how important amplification is in the world of social media: tagging people, likes, comments, and shares. Then there’s “going viral” – nobody knows the secret formula to that. Continue reading →

When innovation means plan B

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It was already Thursday morning and I had no blog topic in mind for this week. By Thursday night I had several. So, what happened in between?canstockphoto6581040 plan b

I attended the New England HIMSS Chapter’s Annual Spring Conference – something I’d planned to do for a while. On my way there, I figured something that day would light a fire and I’d have a topic to talk about. Instead, there was a different kind of fire.

One of the chapter board members called me in the car and said she had heard I was on my way to the conference. I thought to myself, I’m stuck in traffic and may get there after the opening keynote starts, but did I have to admit that to her? No, that was just my guilt about leaving the house 15 minutes later than I should have. She was calling for a “small favor, no actually a big favor” as she said.

Turns out one of the afternoon speakers had gotten stuck in New York with flight cancellations and couldn’t make it. So, a panel with 3 chapter members was being hastily put together – would I be willing to participate? Of course I would. I said yes without knowing what we’d talk about or who else was being asked to be on the panel.

Two other panelists were being enlisted in that same rush of phone calls and conversations. Arthur Harvey, chapter board member and CIO at Boston Medical Center, had already arrived at the venue. He was of course very sympathetic to the dilemma and ready to help. Arthur and I were on the CIO panel together at the 2017 spring conference. He was already starting to percolate on a relevant topic we could address. Dirk Stanley, CMIO at UConn Health, was on his way to the conference from Connecticut and got a call like mine. I only knew Dirk from social media, so I was looking forward to meeting him in person.

When I arrived at the conference and was greeted warmly by board members who were pulling this backup plan together, I asked which speaker had to cancel and what was their topic. Answer: Blockchain. I laughed and said, well we’re not doing a panel on blockchain. Continue reading →

Sabbaticals for CIOs – why not?

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I talk to several CIOs each week. I listen to them and try to figure out how we might help them through our advisory services at StarBridge Advisors. Depending on where the CIO is in his or her career, they canstockphoto51125301 sabbaticalsometimes ask, “How and when can I join you at StarBridge?”. The idea of getting off the permanent CIO track and having more flexibility can be appealing.

The idea of a “substitute CIO” came up from one of the CIOs I talked to recently. He was thinking about how to get his organization prepared for someone else to lead for a period with the knowledge that he would be back after several months. I told him it sounded like a sabbatical to me – not a bad idea.

Sabbatical means a rest from work or a break. When we think about sabbaticals, we typically think of professors and ministers. It’s a time for them to go away, reflect, study, research, write, and get rejuvenated.

Just think what a CIO could do with an opportunity like that!

When I was working as a CIO fulltime and would visit other countries on vacation, I thought how awesome it would be to spend several months studying another country’s healthcare system. The lessons and new ideas I could bring back to my organization. But that’s just one idea. What about taking time to learn about leading edge healthcare organizations in the U.S. Or studying a particular problem that every healthcare organization is trying to solve. Or working with start-ups on a new and innovative product.

Wouldn’t our industry benefit from letting our senior practitioners step back from the day-to-day and go deeper on work we need to do?

You earn vacation time each year, so why not earn sabbatical time? Continue reading →