Jake Dorst serves as Chief Information and Innovation Officer for Tahoe Forest Hospital District.
On Thursday September 21, Mr. Dorst will speak on two panels 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. Dorst'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?
Jake Dorst: I am impressed with the savings and our ability to actually recover overspend that surrounds our IT contracts. We began using a professional negotiation service that is compensated based on how much money they are able to save or recover. We were already using outside experts to help us with complex network architecture, virtual platforms and information security solutions, so it made sense to investigate the possibilities of finding some resource that could fulfill our imperative to control and reduce our technology procurement spend. We have routinely been able to get an additional 15 to 20 percent reduction on our in-house negotiated contracts.
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?
JD: Work is basically a group of people cooperating with each other to reach common goals. Understanding the big picture is important when you are trying to put a team of people together to give up the individual and produce unselfishly for the team. A question I like to ask revolves around asking the candidate what they think the mission of the health system is, how that translates to the IT department and how they would contribute to the success of that mission. This shows how a candidate is thinking about the big picture and teamwork.
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 two to five years ago but not anymore?
JD: I started in healthcare working on the AS/400 mid-range server, now called the iSeries. It was — and still is — a workhorse, but it has steadily moved into the corners of my world. I am sad to see it there to be honest. It is a great system.
Q: Tell us about the last time you were truly, wildly amazed by technology. What did you see?
JD: I'm still amazed at Amazon's Alexa. I have been steadily installing smart home tools in our house and still get a little amazed when I ask Alexa to turn on the lights, and they just light up. I'd like to think about developing apps that work with Alexa for our patient rooms and how that can better our patient experience.