Highlights from the College’s 2001 Fall CIO Forum
“Healthcare CIOs: Putting the IT in Prof-IT-ability”

Though faced with difficult circumstances surrounding the September 11th tragedies, College members rallied together to make the 2001 Fall CIO Forum one of the best-attended forums in College history! The locale provided an ideal setting for the more than 300 attendees. Special thanks to planning chair Jim Turnbull, his entire planning committee, and everyone involved for making this one of THE most successful Fall Forums ever! For those of you unable to attend, a summary of highlights follows:

Activities on Tuesday included several pre-forum workshops. A few of the more popular sessions focused on HIPAA compliance, patient safety, and physician order entry. A pool-side reception closed out the day, and included a spectacular view of the full moon as it rose over the Lake Las Vegas Resort. You couldn’t ask for a better start to the Forum!

Gary Loveman, President and COO of Harrah’s Entertainment, gave a thought-provoking keynote address on Wednesday morning. He emphasized the role of IT in driving customer-centric strategies that have separated Harrah’s from their competition in an industry historically known more for its lack of IT spending. Developing these powerful, leading-edge capabilities required more than just IT, though. Vision, focus, and strong leadership were also essential. The fruits of Harrah’s investments in IT are an infrastructure and decision science toolset that fuel the casino industry’s first and only customer loyalty program. When asked if a similar customer-focused strategy could be successfully implemented in healthcare, his response was “Absolutely!”, which left the audience to imagine the possibilities. How might your own organization benefit from an IT-driven program that identifies and rewards its most loyal customers (i.e. physicians and patients)?

Dr. John Kenagy followed with a presentation during which he addressed the question, “Will Disruptive Innovation Transform Healthcare?”. Disruptive innovations are inexpensive, simple technologies, products, and services that rapidly improve to meet mainstream market needs. They have led to both the rise (i.e. Toyota) and fall (i.e. DEC) of many prominent companies. According to Dr. Kenagy, healthcare has been slow to see disruptive innovations, but predicts organizations can identify, develop, and use them to transform the industry. To capitalize on disruptive innovations, organizations need to build new capabilities outside their present strengths and foster a leadership focus that sustains continual innovation. In conclusion, Dr. Kenagy stressed that for transformation in healthcare to be successful, regardless of innovation, we must follow a basic philosophy emphasizing patient care first and foremost.

Wednesday afternoon featured track session presentations conducted exclusively by College members. In these sessions, members shared approaches to tackling complex business issues such as film-less radiology, voice recognition, clinical automation, and process improvement. The evening reception at Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum was the highlight of the evening. Members networked with colleagues while rubbing shoulders with some of the Hollywood elite (or at least wax likenesses of them). It was a fun time for all!

The CHIME Foundation-sponsored Focus Groups on Thursday morning provided opportunities for College members and their vendor/consultant partners to share thoughts with each other on current healthcare and technology issues. Many spent the afternoon hours on Thursday enjoying a variety of planned recreational activities, including golf, river rafting, or a tour of Hoover Dam. Later that evening, the casual atmosphere of the outdoor reception left everyone feeling refreshed and ready for an early start on Friday. The College extends a special thanks to College Fellow Harlan Goodrich. During Thursday morning’s breakfast, Harlan played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes in memory of the victims of September 11th. It was a truly moving experience.

Friday’s 7am start didn’t deter a sizeable audience for morning keynote speaker Mike Abrashoff. When Mike assumed command of the USS Benfold, he was challenged with exceptionally low morale and unacceptably high turnover. “In some ways, an extreme example of the same problems many of you are facing today,” he noted. The solution was a system of beliefs he calls grassroots leadership - a process of creating commitment and cohesion by engaging the hearts, minds, and loyalties of your staff. These principles achieved breakthrough results for Mike on the USS Benfold and can be effectively applied in any organization. “Become a grassroots leader,” he urged, “and you too can empower your employees, increase profits, and turn your own organizations around!”

In the Forum’s final session, David Classen, MD discussed the opportunities and challenges of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems. With patient safety initiatives high on the priority lists of most healthcare organizations these days, CPOE is receiving much attention. Dr. Classen presented compelling research in support of CPOE’s potential to significantly reduce serious prescribing errors, though he acknowledged that development, implementation, and integration of such systems can be immensely complex. While challenges and barriers remain, he urged CIOs to see CPOE as a golden opportunity - one that offers payback not only in hard dollars, but also in terms of patient safety, quality of care, operational efficiency, competitive advantage, and market share gain.

The 2001 Fall CIO Forum concluded with a prize drawing. Congratulations to the lucky winners: Jeff Spartz (a 2-night Vegas Hotel/Show package), Rick Skinner (a multi-disc home DVD player), Lynn Brookshire (a Handspring Visor Deluxe), Ellen Swoger (Sony noise-canceling headphones), Jim Beal (a Sony Playstation 2), and Jack Steinman (a portable DVD player).

Very special thanks again to Jim Turnbull and his planning committee as well as the members of the CHIME Foundation, without whom we could not have produced this first-class event. Thank you all for making this Forum one of the best ever!

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