Tag Archives: customer service

Polar vortex – yet hospitals remain open

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10 states in the Midwest cancelled postal service. Schools were closed for days. Transportation was slowed due to the bitter cold. The frigid cold was blamed for at least 9 deaths. If you live in one of theopen states that had temperatures as cold as -25 or -35 with windchills lower than -50 and you could stay inside or work from home, you probably did. But hospital employees in all those states did what they do every day. They somehow made it into work and cared for others. Because hospitals never close. People need them even more at times of extreme weather conditions.

I grew up in Minnesota and except for a few years in the 1990’s, I have always lived in the north. Growing up, we had many bitter cold days and many feet of snow every winter. I remember back then trying to get my head around the concept of windchill when I first heard a number like -60. Growing up in Minnesota you learned to deal with cold and snow. But this is different. With global warming (yes, I believe it is real and we must address) we now see very extreme temperatures in both summer and winter and more frequent, more dangerous and disastrous storms.

I’ve written about every day heroes in previous posts. Hospital employees are certainly on that list! In appreciation of all they do every day, even on the coldest of winter days, I share again a post I wrote a few years ago while serving as a CIO in Michigan after a major blizzard.

Snow days and everyday heroes

If you live in the north, you know about snow days. Your kids feel cheated if there aren’t a few each winter. Parents juggle to find backup plans when school closings are announced. If your employer is quick to close when there is a major storm or tells you to work from home you may breathe a sigh of relief.  You’re just glad that you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to shovel out your driveway and try to get down your unplowed street.

But hospitals never close, nor can they or should they. The everyday heroes I want to recognize are everywhere at the University of Michigan Health System. The nurses who pulled a double shift because their colleagues couldn’t make it in to relieve them. The support staff throughout the hospital who ensure patients are cared for, in a safe, clean environment. The diligent teams who ensure there are meals for patients and staff.  There are too many to mention but just think about all the hospital staff you see on a normal day – they all keep the hospital operating like nothing happened.
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Hotels, healthcare and the DMV

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What do these experiences have in common? Customer service – good or bad. I’ve experienced all three in the past two weeks – good and bad.canstockphoto20052265 (002) customer service

It started with the Rhode Island DMV. Rhode Island is a small state of 1,200 square miles and a population of just over 1 million. There is one central DMV. Yes, there are several satellite offices but something as simple as renewing your driver’s license can’t happen at a satellite. And in certain circumstances, online renewal is not an option. That was the case for my husband and I who got our first Rhode Island drivers licenses a year ago. We had to renew in person before our respective birthdays. Not sure why, it’s like we were on probation as Rhode Island residents for a year. Who knows. But rules are rules.

So, we headed over to the central DMV location first thing on a Monday morning to do a simple transaction. We needed to be out in a short time for later commitments later that morning. Silly us.

We arrived just 20 minutes after they opened and found about 150 people ahead of us in the generic “check-in” line. What?? Busier than usual because it was Patriots Day in neighboring Massachusetts, so more Rhode Island people took the day off? Was it the beginning of spring break, so kids were out of school? Or just a typical Monday?

It took us 70 minutes just to get through that check-in line. Then we waited about 45 minutes for our number to be called. Once it was our turn, it was just a 5-7 minute transaction for each of us. Our paperwork was reviewed and updated in their system; we gave them a check. A new photo was taken, and a temporary driver’s license was printed to use until a new one would be sent in the mail. I had hoped for an online task, but it took 3 hours, including the drive there and back.

Tuesday, I had a long overdue doctor appointment. Continue reading →

Tech is king and soft skills matter

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These are just two of the key findings of the recently published, “LinkedIn 2017 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report”. Not at all surprising. The report is worth checking out regardless of where you are at in your canstock 121417 tech is king and soft skills mattercareer. As I always tell people, be open to the possibilities.

The report notes the estimate that 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately hold jobs that don’t yet exist. Just think back to what your options were when you started primary school.

I know as a young girl in the 60’s, it seemed like teacher or nurse were the options. My sister did become a nurse and then went on to get a master’s degree in public health. By the time she retired a few years ago, she had run many of the state health departments in Minnesota at one time or another. I wanted to be a math teacher when I was young. Instead I found my path to computer programming in the early 80’s when the field was starting to really explode. Here I am today having served several healthcare organizations as their Chief Information Officer before starting a health IT advisory firm.

Back to the “tech is king” finding. The report says that the top emerging jobs are machine learning engineer, data scientist, and big data engineers in a wide range of industries.  It also notes that there are currently 1,600 open roles for machine learning engineer in the U.S.

The report also found that there is a low supply of talent for top jobs. For example, data scientist roles have grown over 650% in the past 5 years but only 35,000 people in the U.S. currently have data science skills. Any CIO looking to build out the analytics capability for their organization is probably all too aware of this gap. Continue reading →

What to expect from your vendors

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You are past the big go live. You and your team are focused on optimization, enhancements, ongoing support issues, and upgrades. So, what should you expect from your vendor in this ongoing relationship?canstockphoto10856287

I have worked with all the major EHR players and many other IT application and infrastructure vendors over the years. I have worked with three of the major EHR vendors just in the last 18 months given my interim CIO engagements.

My post “Keys to successful vendor management“ covered the importance of the product roadmap, service, total cost of ownership, reputation, contract, implementation, and escalation.

It’s time to look at the ongoing vendor relationship that clients should expect. Vendors, take note. I assume most of your clients would share this view. There’s a reason that the KLAS Research reports carry a lot of weight for CIOs, they are vendor evaluations from their peers.

Whether it is a large, proven vendor or a small start-up, here’s what you should expect: Continue reading →

Putting a face on IT

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As IT leaders, we get used to hearing complaints about IT: we are not being responsive enough; our systems are unstable; too many clicks in the applications; not knowing who to call. The list goes on and canstockphoto20456258on. There are times when you think you can’t possibly please everyone. It’s may be why so many people have sat across my desk and said they’d never want my job. But I have learned that proactive, honest communication with your users is critically important.

One step is to survey your users about their issues and their satisfaction with your solutions and services.  This can be an extensive survey about a particular system or of one group of users. Or it can be a simple, few question survey after calls to the service desk. Regardless of the type of survey, make sure to let your customers know you’ve heard them. Publish the results and action steps to address problems. No matter how negative some of the results may be, you have to be transparent. And re-survey at the right interval to check if you have moved the dial.

Another step is to make the IT leadership team very visible and accessible. Provide easy to find information on who is responsible for what and how to contact them. Get out to the right leadership meetings and forums to provide IT updates; solicit feedback and concerns. Show you care and are listening. Continue reading →

Corporate functions, local service

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Mergers and acquisitions in health care have been common in recent years. Small community hospitals are becoming part of much larger integrated health systems.  One of the common challenges these canstockphoto34427718systems face is providing effective local service from central corporate departments.

Health systems may span a large metropolitan area, a portion of a state, or a multi-state region. And there are systems with a national footprint.

The health systems I’ve worked for are mostly the first; they have covered a large metropolitan area. Local hospitals may be as much as 100 miles apart and the corporate office somewhere in the middle.  While much of the work goes on every day without face to face interaction, people are often expected to drive to key meetings either at the corporate office or at the hospitals. But the distances and the traffic can challenge support models for corporate functions. Continue reading →

Great techspectations: can we find a way?

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I have lived and worked in Ann Arbor for 3 years now and have made many trips to Lansing and Detroit for meetings and events. In Lansing I go to about 5 different locations: my car is almost on auto pilot. I have been to various locations in downtown Detroit and the surrounding suburbs. What would I do without the GPS technology we all take for granted?

I have a built-in navigation system in my car, but you probably have the same ability with a map app on your smart phone. My daughter warns me though, to not depend on GPS when you are down to the last mile; “Use your eyes,” she says. That’s what I do when I’m going to the Ren Center in downtown Detroit. My biggest concern then is that I will be in the wrong lane and end up taking the tunnel to Windsor, Canada. You can’t just do a U-turn on the other side; you need your passport with you. Unless I carry my passport in my car, it would be a major delay.  I have heard about people who missed events by an hour just by making that mistake.

And there is a lot of road construction with detours on my way out of Detroit these days. I must rely on my GPS to adjust my route and use my eyes to keep track of the detour signs.

Do you remember those thick spiral-bound books of maps for a metro area?  You needed a magnifying glass to read it. You also needed a co-pilot in the passenger seat. A real challenge if driving alone at night!

I remember when we stuck add-on Garmin devices to our inside windshield or tried to somehow balance them on the console.

I still sometimes use the online Mapquest or Google Maps service to print out the directions in advance; sometimes I want the big picture visual with me.

But the convenience of a built-in navigation system with voice directions in my 2008 car is far better. I rely on it whenever I’m headed someplace new.

But what about when you are inside a large building complex?  Wayfinding in hospitals is a challenge for both patients and staff, especially in large academic medical centers with old and new buildings connected on a sprawling campus. Continue reading →

Safety hurts, service heals

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Patient safety is at the top of our list as health care providers. My experience on a recent flight from Boston to Detroit reinforced the importance of “safety first.” We left an hour late due to weather. But, twenty minutes into the flight, the pilot told us there were problems with the landing gear; the safest thing to do was to return to the Boston airport. He told us he’d know more after we landed. Problems with the landing gear but we were going to land OK? Of course the next half hour was one of the longest ever. We did land safely, de-boarded and waited for news of when we’d depart.

The first word we got was via text and email notification – we’d depart on a different plane around 11:20PM. We originally were to arrive in Detroit at 9PM. In the next few hours, the departure notifications got worse and worse – 11:45PM, 12:20AM, 12:45AM, 1AM, and back to 12:45AM. Passengers with connecting flights tried to get re-booked on other flights that night or in the morning. Some decided to fly to other cities first adding to the number of connecting flights they’d have. I was on a direct flight heading home so I waited patiently for whenever we would eventually leave.

We finally departed at 1:45AM. I got to my house at 4:30AM – about six and half hours later than planned.

What amazed me during all this was that Continue reading →

Snow days and everyday heroes

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If you live in the north, you know about snow days. Your kids feel cheated if there aren’t a few each winter. Parents juggle to find backup plans when school closings are announced. If your employer is quick to close when there is a major storm or tells you to work from home you may breathe a sigh of relief.  You’re just glad that you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to shovel out your driveway and try to get down your unplowed street.

But hospitals never close, nor can they or should they. The everyday heroes I want to recognize are everywhere at the University of Michigan Health System. The nurses who pulled a double shift because their colleagues couldn’t make it in to relieve them. The support staff throughout the hospital who ensure patients are cared for, in a safe, clean environment. The diligent teams who ensure there are meals for patients and staff.  There are too many to mention but just think about all the hospital staff you see on a normal day – they all keep the hospital operating like nothing happened. Continue reading →

Go beyond the golden rule for great customer service

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We’ve all had those bad customer experiences: rudeness, “not my problem” attitude, bounced from person to person, being left on hold too long, not hearing back from someone as promised. You know what I’m talking about.

And we’ve all had those excellent customer service experiences: think about the difference. Was it the smile, the caring attitude, the problem solving focus, the level of ownership, the offer to help before you could even ask for help? These are just some of the attributes of good customer service.

If you provide a product or service to anyone in the work you do, it’s a good idea to look at your own customer service and how you stack up. And,who doesn’t provide some kind of product or service to others? You may have both internal or external customers.

When I started this position in late 2012, I laid out my core principles and values to my staff. Customer Service was one of them – as I said then, “while we don’t touch patients directly, we are all part of the extended care team; clinicians and caregivers rely on the systems we provide and support to care for patients in a safe manner. Excellent customer service in all our interactions is critical.” Continue reading →