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CIO Series Part II: Triumphs and Trials
June 1, 2008
When various departments within four-hospital Saint Clare’s Health System embark on an information technology initiative, they bring in the I.T. department early. “We’re not a back office; we’re a very important player,” says Rich Temple, vice president of information technology and CIO at the Denville, N.J.-based delivery system.
Temple believes the willingness of various hospital department heads to view I.T. staffers as essential partners is his greatest achievement as a CIO since he came to Saint Clare’s in 2004. “We’re not an island unto ourselves. But it wasn’t always that way.”
The lesson Temple has learned is that for the I.T. department to gain respect, a CIO must demonstrate a willingness to collaborate, making himself available to meet with anyone, document their I.T. needs and follow up.
CIOs at health care organizations of all sizes are learning valuable lessons from their triumphs as well as their trials.
For example, Rick Schooler’s first experience in health care taught him a valuable lesson: Slow down.
Now vice president and CIO at eight-hospital Orlando Regional Healthcare, serving central Florida, Schooler worked in the telecommunications and aerospace industries before landing his first I.T. director role in health care 17 years ago.
He had a lot of tasks he wanted to immediately get done. But it didn’t take long for his CIO to tell Schooler, “You have to slow down,” he recalls.
“I realized that in health care, decisions don’t get made as quickly and there are many more people who need to be involved. I was pushing things too fast. This is a very collaborative industry.”
Other CIOs also have gained valuable insights from their big wins and painful losses.
For example, Jackie Lucas, vice president and CIO at Baptist Healthcare System in Louisville, Ky., learned to follow all project management processes for all I.T. projects, including small implementations where bypassing some processes may be tempting.
And Frank Clark, CIO at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, learned how good political skills and good governance lead to professional success.
At St. Clare’s Health System, Temple worked to change the culture within I.T. so the department became a fun place to work.
“That rubs off on others and they start to see us differently,” he contends. It helps build relationships, he adds, when others see a high level of passion and engagement in the CIO and his staff.
But despite the progress, Temple still finds it challenging to win financial support for some I.T. projects, such as building a network infrastructure.That’s because it’s difficult to get a return on investment to jump off the page.
“It can be terribly challenging to present these costs to senior leadership,” Temple laments. “The money needed to replace terminals, servers and switches is also needed to buy ambulances, beds and other capital investments.”
So far, that’s been Temple’s biggest trial as CIO. “I have not been chopped off at the knees,” he says, “but I also haven’t figured out how to get the money in an easier way.”
Temple’s biggest project as CIO, implementation of the Millennium clinical information system from Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner Corp. in 2006, turned out to be a major triumph and trial.
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