At Allscripts, we strive to foster an inclusive environment, one in which we are all valued and heard.
And by supporting such a diverse work environment, we’re ensuring that every Allscripts associate has the voice to support our collective mission: creating healthier lives by generating and providing insights that change the delivery of care.
There remains much work to reach global gender equality, especially in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. We need more women representation in these fields—including in healthcare IT. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), women fill close to half of all the jobs in the U.S. economy, but hold less than 25% of STEM jobs. This is largely due to the existing gender gap in STEM industries, a direct result of stereotyping, discrimination, pay gaps and other obstacles.
Allscripts has made it a priority to make positive changes for women, and everyone, by starting the work within our organization.
Recently our company celebrated our Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs, Leigh Burchell, for receiving a HIMSS21 Most Influential Women in Health IT Award, for her diligent work in Policy & Government Affairs, including legislative advocacy and regulatory interpretation and comment. Leigh advocates for the interests of the software development community, our 70,000 physician clients and 2,400 hospitals.
Considering Leigh’s award, I’ve been reflecting on the importance of diversity and the effect it can have on our company. It’s well known that a diverse workforce leads to stronger performances and better outcomes, and Allscripts has been no exception.
I firmly believe that Allscripts’ recent successes correlate directly with our leadership, with many teams being headed by women.
Just recently, Lisa Hammond took on the role of Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources. Along with her team, she is accountable for setting the vision and strategy for supporting all Allscripts associates. We’re lucky to have her leading this charge.
Tejal Vakharia was promoted in 2020 to Senior Vice President and General Counsel, where she leads all cybersecurity, legal, and compliance affairs, as well as the company’s government affairs—a very wide range of important corporate responsibilities.
I’m also enthused for what’s to come from our Hospitals and Health Systems team, especially with the expanded leadership we have in place:
Senior Vice President, Solutions Management, Jennifer MacGregor, leads the management of our Sunrise platform. Her strong leadership will drive focus, clarity and execution. She and her team are elevating Sunrise to the platform of health on Azure.
Chief Experience Officer Jenna Date leads the Allscripts Education, Design + Innovation team, whose goal is to make the tools clinicians need as efficient and intuitive as possible. She specializes in Human-Centered Design, and she is helping us reset and delight our clients with innovative approaches to the caregiver's experience.
Meg Christman serves as our Vice President of Client Success and she’s dedicated to ensuring our clients are well supported in their daily needs. This worldwide team handles client requests on a 24x7 basis. This proactive support deepens our partnerships.
Nicole Faucher, Vice President, Client Development and Delivery, leads all aspects of Allscripts solution deployment, operational advancement, upgrades and, importantly, the methodology teams. She also owns all new strategic client acquisitions for Allscripts, a role she’s successfully embraced since 2019.
Another prime example of how our performance has been elevated by our diverse leadership is through the building of Allscripts’ strategic partnerships. Last year, we announced the expansion of our long-standing alliance with Microsoft. This partnership will continue enabling the expanded development and delivery of cloud-based health IT solutions. Driven by our Client Delivery organization, led by Lisa Khorey, the cloud-based Sunrise™ electronic health record, making Microsoft the cloud provider for the solution and creating co-innovation opportunities to help transform healthcare with smarter, more scalable technology.
Our Provider Practices business, led by Leah Jones, added 35 new clients across the Allscripts TouchWorks® EHR and Allscripts Professional EHR™ systems in 2020 and is continuing that pace this year. Leah has also successfully onboarded a new government client that will be deploying our solutions throughout the globe.
I fully credit our success to our diversity in leadership and workforce. When you consider the challenges everyone in the industry has faced, I’m proud that our workforce is composed of the right people, in the right roles, who remain dedicated to helping our clients deliver the care their patients need during such an uncertain time.
And this is just the beginning. As a company, we will continue doing the necessary work to help recruit, retain and advance women in healthcare IT and STEM-qualifying occupations. We believe change has to start from within and with a variety of voices, educational backgrounds and experiences. Together, we will work to build a better world for everyone, every day.