Anncy Thomas, MD, CIO, Episcopal Health Services, Chapter 1

A pattern was becoming clear.

Every time a new piece of technology was implemented at Episcopal Health Services, there was a collective groan among the medical staff. Not because physicians and nurses were averse to change, but because, much of the time, they didn’t understand why it was necessary. It’s the same dilemma facing organizations across the country, and it’s the reason Anncy Thomas decided to pursue a career in informatics.

Four years later, she’s spearheading the transformation from an IT department that often lagged with basic maintenance, to an ‘information technology and services’ team focused on putting customer needs first. In this interview, Dr. Thomas reflects on her first year as CIO, which involved creating (and reassessing) a strategic plan, and finding quick wins to gain buy-in. She also discusses the need to connect with users, what it takes to “own” the business case behind IT initiatives, why it’s critical to “admit what you don’t know,” and how EHS is adapting to the changing healthcare landscape.

Chapter 1



* About EHS

* Investing in the future – “The organization is going to be stronger.”

* From family medicine resident to CMIO to CIO

* Taking over a department that was “lagging with basic maintenance.”

* Transparent communication between IT and clinical

* Change from IT to ‘information technology & services”

* The “uphill battle” of gaining executive buy-in

* Going for “quick wins” with individual departments



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Bold Statements

We made strategic decisions to move folks into positions where their skills would be better leveraged. That was one of the keys to enhancing our services very quickly and developing a scope of services and a catalog.

It was about changing our team’s mindset. They were used to me being the CMIO or physician informaticist; but now being the lead of the entire IT team, they had to put a lot of trust in me.

Most leadership teams get fascinated or fixated on certain tools and technologies that are being implemented today in other hospitals and other organizations. And so we were very aware that executive management may jump to a solution before they’ve even defined the problems they were trying to solve.

We kept saying, ‘start with workflow.’ I think they may have gotten annoyed with it, but that was our mantra. Start with what workflow you’re looking to change and what outcomes you’re looking for, rather than starting with what technology is available.

Gamble:  Hi Anncy, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us. I think the best place to start is with an overview of the organization.

Thomas:  Episcopal Health Services is based in Far Rockaway, N.Y., and St. John’s Episcopal Hospital is the main hub. It’s a full service, 257-bed community hospital. The Episcopal Health Services Branch also has about 10 physician practices. We have residency and fellowship programs here, and we’re the only hospital currently serving the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, with about 2,000-plus medical and administration staff. It has evolved, and we now have a growing ambulatory presence in the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens.

 

Gamble:  In terms of the patient population, I imagine it’s quite diverse.

Thomas:  We have a very diverse patient population. We have a mix of different payers, but we’re heavily Medicaid and Medicare. There’s also a large nursing home and an adult home here, so geriatrics is also a big focus.

One of our biggest initiatives is Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP), which is part of the Medicaid redesign program in New York designed to address some of the healthcare disparities that are associated with our type of community...