Six weeks into his new role, UVA Health CIO Sonney Sapra says the Charlottesville, Va.-based academic health system must address foundational technology challenges, including technical debt, before accelerating more advanced digital innovation.
“From a technology perspective, we’re an aspiring organization with some technical debt. We have ambitious goals, including becoming more innovative, advancing smart room capabilities and improving the patient experience,” Mr. Sapra told Becker’s. “At the same time, we still have foundational needs to address, such as ensuring nurses have the right devices in their hands.”
Mr. Sapra, who was appointed CIO Jan. 26, said investing in foundational infrastructure will support the health system’s broader digital ambitions.
Improving clinicians’ day-to-day technology experience is also a priority as the health system evaluates its technology environment.
UVA Health has already implemented several AI-enabled tools, including ambient documentation technology that listens to patient visits and drafts clinical notes. The tools are designed to reduce documentation burden by automatically generating clinical notes from patient conversations.
“There’s a growing sense that technology is beginning to enable clinicians rather than slow them down. That’s encouraging,” Mr. Sapra said. “At the same time, there’s increasing appetite for more AI tools. Right now, many of the strongest use cases are in operational areas, and we still need to define more value in the clinical space.”
He added that health systems must ensure new technologies enhance rather than disrupt clinicians’ workflows.
“Technology should be an enabler, but we shouldn’t do it to clinicians. We should do it with them,” Mr. Sapra said.
Beyond adopting new tools, Mr. Sapra said health systems must also rethink how their IT organizations are structured to better support clinicians and operational leaders.
Many healthcare IT departments still follow hierarchical organizational models that have changed little over the past two decades, even as technology and care delivery models have evolved, he said.
As a result, Mr. Sapra said he is evaluating ways to restructure UVA Health’s IT organization to align technology teams more closely with clinical and operational service lines.
The approach would embed IT and informatics professionals more directly with care teams so clinicians have a dedicated technology partner who can quickly address issues and improve workflows.
“One of the things we’re trying to move toward is having an IT person who is closely aligned with the operational side of each service line,” Mr. Sapra said.
He said the model could help reduce delays that often occur when frontline staff submit technology issues through traditional ticketing systems.
“Right now someone logs a ticket, it moves from team to team, and weeks can go by before anything happens,” Mr. Sapra said. “Silence is the death of IT.”
Because UVA Health is an academic health system, Mr. Sapra said the organization is also exploring dedicated technology teams to support research initiatives.
Without specialized teams, research-related technology needs can be delayed behind routine IT maintenance work, he said.
Ultimately, Mr. Sapra said his goal at UVA Health is to build a technology environment that supports clinicians, accelerates innovation and enables the health system to better serve patients.
“We have a strong executive team and a talented IT organization,” he said. “The restructuring we’re exploring is somewhat unique within healthcare IT, and I’m eager to see how it develops.”
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