Thomas J. Graham, MD, is the chief innovation and transformation officer of Dayton, Ohio-based Kettering Health Network.
Dr. Graham will serve on panels "What Makes an Innovator? Encouraging Inclusive Excellence in Teams" and "Don't Lose Your Spark! How to Keep Innovation Rolling" at Becker's 7th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Annual Meeting: The Future of Business and Clinical Technologies Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference on Oct. 4-7 in Chicago.
To learn more and register, click here.
Becker's Healthcare aims to foster peer-to-peer conversation between healthcare's brightest leaders and thinkers. In that vein, responses to our Speaker Series are published straight from interviewees. Here is what our speakers had to say.
Question: What are you most excited about right now?
Dr. Thomas J. Graham: The pandemic has few silver linings, but it did show us that the same innovative infrastructures that we operate in the "routine" have become even more valuable in the "extreme." Organizations learned that the inherent creativity and agility within their organizations is an asset they should not take for granted and demote in priority.
Q: What challenges do you anticipate over the next two years?
TG: Finding the right relationship with data. We don't lack information - but it's becoming increasingly difficult to turn it into intelligence and insight. Healthcare IT must be turned into actionable analytics and decision support in new ways that deliver efficiency and economy.
Q: Where are the best opportunities for disruption in healthcare today?
TG: True "disruption" is found in concentrating on the utility for caregivers and delivering tangible solutions that assist us in taking care of significant problems for large populations and more economically. If history tells us anything, it's that technologies have become commoditized. The "shiny object" approach where we try to develop a cooler technology doesn't translate to better experiences and outcomes unless it empowers the clinical delivery system.
Q: How is your role as CIO evolving? How are IT teams changing?
TG: The inflection point upon us is the transition of the CIO, CMIO and CINO from esoteric to essential in developing enterprise strategy. This evolution from a "service" mentality to a leadership mindset is the pivot that needs to be made to fulfill this responsibility and seize the opportunity it presents.