Health IT Influencers: Former CIO Craig Richardville, Chapter 3

Few arguments have sparked as much ire (and eye-rolling) than the comparison between the healthcare and banking industries when it comes to consumer engagement, and it’s understandable. Healthcare is extremely complex; the mere suggestion that the same strategies used to manage finances can be used to manage care is ludicrous.

But what if we looked at it in a different way? What if patients were given tools to help diagnose and treat conditions that don’t require an in-person visit? What if, rather than being directed to a message during peak hours, patients can use an automated system to make an appointment? The banking industry has empowered consumers to perform certain tasks, while also establishing parameters and proving human assistance when needed. Craig Richardville, former CIO at Carolinas HealthCare System (now Atrium Health), believes they’re onto something.

In this interview, he spoke with healthsystemCIO.com about the key lessons learned during his 30-plus years in the CIO role, why he believes taking a sabbatical can be extremely beneficial, and his thoughts on where the industry is headed. Richardville also provides advice for CIOs on a number of issues, from the importance of collaborating with leaders outside of healthcare, why IT steering committees should be eliminated, and why optimization “never really ends.”

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3



* Call center issues – “If you know you have a peak time, either staff for it or automate it.”

* Balancing patient needs with profitability

* Eliminating IT steering committees – “There’s no reason why I should have a select use of funds.”

* Leveraging voice technology to ease physician burden

* Predictive analytics to “prompt and be proactive”

* Lack of cost transparency

* Consumerism: “The more you fight it, the less you’ll become a significant player.”



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Bold Statements

I have choices. I can do a virtual call with GetWellNetwork or Teladoc, and I can initiate those calls myself. I can go into a mini clinic. I can go wherever I want because I’m pulling those dollars out of my pocket. So why would I pay $150 to go visit a physical physician when I can do it virtually for $49?

We have to find the right balance and let the patient make those choices. We have to quit trying to coerce them with the way we market or advertise, to go down certain avenues that are more financially astute for the system. Let’s do what’s financially astute for the patient or the consumer.

I’ve always felt it was important not to have a select fund for IT, but to compete for it. And if it’s better for the company and for the community to build an urgent care center, then that’s the route that we should take. If it’s better to invest more in telehealth services, that’s the route we should take.

It’s finding the right balance at the right time; but it’s also about the people making and executing the plan we put together. And in many cases, if you’ve got the right talent and the right team, and you have the right leadership, those people will want to move beyond the actual plan and goal you set for them.

The exciting part is how technology is going to enable that to occur; how people are going to obtain real-time access to information, which will lead to more predictable results, greater relationships with providers, and more effective use of time.

Richardville:  It still baffles me.