“Being transparent with the health IT process is all about good, accurate data,” said Mr. Scalzi. “Other keys to success include meeting regularly, keeping it simple, and getting the CEO involved in health IT governance,” he said.
Ms. Nelson relayed the Hospital for Special Surgery’s two-year journey of implementing Epic. “Out strategic planning had a simple framework and executive governance. We made sure our IT expenditure aligned with hospital goals and that we had transparent information about our projects, outcomes and benefits for all stakeholders,” she said.
Committee-style governance and periodic redistribution resources depending on re-evaluated priorities also kept the project on track.
Dr. Lee gave an operational perspective on behalf of his health system, the product of a two-system merger. “After the merger, we were looking to push health IT through core initiatives. We decided to evaluate decision support.”
Dr. Lee took on a particularly active role in developing the support software workarounds himself, hoping to reduce the number of alarms clinicians hear when using decision support software.
“You have to get the right individuals to work on each project. For this project, that meant shifting some of the work to clinicians,” he said.
“My own vision of my success is that I don’t have a job in five years,” said Ms. Nelson. “IT shouldn’t drive decisions. Let the teams and clinical owners drive the IT.”
