David Higginson, ACMA, CGMA, serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Information Officer for Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
On Friday, September 22, Mr. Higginson will give a presentation at Becker's Hospital Review 3rd Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place September 21 through September 23 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Mr. Higginson's session, click here.
Question: Looking at your IT budget, what is one item or expense that has surprised you in terms of ROI? How so?
David Higginson: Staying “on premise” for most hardware needs (vs. moving functions “to the cloud”) continues to be more cost effective given that we have already invested in our data center and have a lean server team that handle many different systems. The ROI of the cloud has just not been there for us yet.
Q: Finding top tech talent is always a challenge. Say a CIO called you up today to ask for an interview question that would distinguish the best candidates from the mid- to low-performers. What question do you suggest he or she ask?
DH: “What are the smallest and largest teams you’ve ever worked in and which team did you prefer?”
I find that the small-team, start-up orientated employee flourishes in a company that is growing rapidly (no matter the size.)
Q: We spend a lot of timing talking about the exciting innovation modernizing healthcare. It's also helpful to acknowledge what we've let go of. What is one form of technology, one process or one idea that once seemed routine to you but is now endangered if not extinct? What existed in your organization 2-5 years ago but not anymore?
DH: Dictation.
Q: Tell us about the last time you were truly, wildly amazed by technology. What did you see?
DH: My first virtual reality experience. I knew that it would just be a matter of time before it became refined enough to be disruptive. The other would be voice assistants like Alexa. It’s just such a natural use of technology you forget you how hard it is to pull off.