George Hickman, EVP & CIO, Albany Medical Center, Chapter 3

Whenever an organization’s core vendor is acquired, there’s going to be some trepidation. But when a CIO has the opportunity to sit down with leaders and talk about the intended roadmap, those fears can be quickly assuaged. In this interview, veteran CIO George Hickman discusses his feelings on the Siemens-Cerner merger, why his organization serves as a reference site, and what has helped NY’s HIE remain successful. He also talks about the prioritization challenges facing CIOs (which he handles using a Ouija board), the “Henry Kissinger skills” he picked up as a consultant, and the road that took him to Albany.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3



* Prioritization challenges — “I use a Ouija board most days.”

* Medicaid reform, MU & expansion

* Early career influencers

* 12 years in consulting — “It made me a better CIO in the long run.”

* “Henry Kissinger skills”

* Pride in Albany’s progress



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Bold Statements

Whether you’re CIO or you’re sitting at any other seat in the C-suite, the list is very long, and it’s changing.

If you talk to a CIO, we’re going to talk about how it is that we integrate all those things, how it is that we make decisions to buy versus expand or to collapse infrastructures for economies versus when there are causes to keep those infrastructures separate.

I got to work with really bright people, I got to work in some really challenging circumstances sometimes and I got to meet a ton of people along the way, all of which made me a better consultant, but it also made me a better CIO in the long run.

Working in-house in a CIO job while I was consultant, I really missed the sense of community where you’re camped out at one place for a long period of time and/or the sense of seeing something really accomplished, where it’s not ‘go in, drop, get it done and get out.’

I could tell by the fact that I wasn’t being told too much that it probably was going to be very challenging. It certainly was. And yet again, I can look back over the 11-plus years, and see just how far we’ve evolved things.

Gamble:  So obviously you have a lot going on. When we talk about that with CIOs, something that comes up a lot is the prioritization challenge. Sometimes you can just hear in people’s voices or see it on their faces if you’re talking to them in person, that it is so challenging having to juggle so much. Can you give just some thoughts on what it takes to kind of decide what needs to be done now and what can wait?

Hickman:  I use an Ouija board most days. If that doesn’t work, I have one of those magic 8 balls.

Gamble:  That’s a good strategy.

Hickman:  This is one of the questions — what’s the answer to life and the universe and everything. The challenge of priority reminds me of a boss I once had who, as we would meet, I’d be going through a list of things with him and he would say, ‘When you leave here, that is your number one priority.’ I’d go to the next thing on the list, we’d talk about it, and he’d say, ‘When you leave, that’s going to be your number one priority.’ And when we’d get to the end of the list, I’d say, ‘Joe, you just gave me five number one priorities for the day.’ And he said, “That’s exactly right.”

And that’s what it is these days, whether you’re CIO or you’re sitting at any other seat in the C-suite, the list is very long, and it’s changing. We have the whole challenge in New York State of reforming the Medicaid system and our government and DOH here leading the charg...