J.D. Whitlock, CIO, Dayton Children’s Hospital, Chapter 3

When J.D. Whitlock started at Dayton Children’s Hospital back in January, it may have been his first CIO role, but he’s no stranger to healthcare IT — or to leadership roles. And so he expected to face challenges, especially with an organization that’s restructuring to lay the foundation for growth. But he also realized the enormous opportunity it presented to help determine the right strategy going forward.

In this interview, Whitlock discusses the many priorities on his plate, including planning for both an Epic upgrade and infrastructure refresh, and putting the analytics building blocks into place to support population health. He also talks about why he’s happy to engage with clinical leaders when it comes to EHR functionality, how he’s dealing with gaps in cybersecurity knowledge, and the many ways in which he has benefited from his experiences with Mercy Health as well as the U.S. Air Force.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3



* His first CIO role — “It’s an opportunity to enjoy the strategic part.”

* Operations experience with the Air Force

* Getting “up to speed” on cybersecurity

* “We have to make smart decisions”

* Draw of health IT – “It tends to attract great people.”

* Challenges with MIPS & MACRA

* Value-based care: “It’s the only way forward.”



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Bold Statements

I’ve got my phone ringing off the hook with vendors who are going to help improve our security, but of course none of this is cheap, so we have to make smart decisions about what we’re doing.

It was an intentionally broad operational experience, which is really convenient to have. It’s convenient to have worked on the health plan side when you start talking about population health and claims data.

Now we’re taking a step back from the mandatory bundles, which I think is the right thing to do, because when you’re doing these bundles, you have to get people collaborating that don’t all work for the same organization. I’m not sure you can force people into that. It ought to be a voluntary thing. 

That’s part of the reason why value-based care is generally the only bipartisan issue in Congress. There’s really no other good solution. It’s not whether we should do it, but how can we actually get there and what policies can the government set.

Gamble:  What was it that drew you to this role? 

Whitlock:  Well, I now commute three miles instead of 47 miles.

 

Gamble:  That helps.

Whitlock:  Yes, it was a big draw. And it’s my first CIO role, so it was an opportunity to enjoy the strategic part and help clinical business leadership think through where we need to go to determine the overall clinical business strategy, and then translate that into Epic and IT services. The timing just made sense. It worked out well.

 

Gamble:  With this being your first CIO role, were there people you reached out to for advice, or things you did to beef up in areas where you may have lacked experience?

Whitlock:  I’ve been in healthcare IT for 20 years now. I started with IT operations when I was in the Air Force, and then got more into the analytics side. Actually, my job at Mercy had a lot of similarities to my last five years in Air Force in terms of supporting analytics for a large integrated delivery network; coincidentally, they had approximately the same size and revenue, even though the Air Force Medical Service is a global organization with a lot of clin...