Jake Dorst, CIO, Tahoe Forest District Hospital, Chapter 3

One of the most important characteristics for a strong leader is being able to stay calm when the organization hits rough waters. For Jake Dorst — who has survived tumultuous times during his career, including acquisitions and difficult go-lives — the ultimate test came less than a year into his tenure at Tahoe Forest Hospital District, when he was asked to serve as interim CEO. And although he learned quite a bit from the experience, he’s happy to be back in the CIO shoes that seem to fit him so well.

In this interview, Dorst talks about how his team is preparing for an Epic go-live (and why they chose to partner with Mercy Health’s IT services arm), why they’re focusing on “Population Wellness” rather than population health, the challenges of being located in a resort area, and why it’s essential to have a strong project manager. He also discusses why Tahoe Forest appealed to him, his “servant leadership” philosophy, and what it was like to move across the country with young children.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3



* Challenges of a CAH – “The budget is smaller, but the prices are the same.”

* Attracting top IT talent

* Pros of being a smaller hospital

* Staff satisfaction & pride

* Project management – “The magic going on in the background”

* Interim CEO for 8 months: “It was a lot of learning.”

* Adopting servant leadership



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Bold Statements

I’m not averse to racking a server and helping out when I need to. I basically put together all the desks here for the training rooms on the weekends because it’s close to the house. Those are the types of things you do in smaller hospitals, and so you have to find people that can wear multiple hats.

We had great project managers there, but things ran so smoothly that I never really realized what magic was going on in the background until I didn’t have them. Now I know we’re lucky to have what we have here.

It was go-live, after go-live, after go-live when CHS was in acquisition mode. Crisis was the natural state, so you had to thrive in that environment or get out of it. I happen to be one of the people that was able to maintain semi-clear thinking through those types of situations, and that has helped me.

I started to think that maybe there just isn’t a written-down methodology of how I prescribe to things. But then I found the servant leadership model, and that really rang true with me.

Gamble:  In terms of being a critical access hospital, obviously there are differences on a lot of levels. But what are some of the unique challenges you face as a CIO of a critical access hospital? What have you found so far?

Dorst:  The budget is a little smaller, but the prices are still the same. And actually, when you’re not buying the volumes that I was typically buying in other positions I’ve held, you find that the squeaky wheel doesn’t get the grease as much. So that’s been a bit of a learning curve. Again, having VPS on our side has always helped us negotiate those waters. Having us really work and understand with partners that we are a critical access hospital and we don’t have deep pockets, but what we really need is going to be beneficial and helpful for the people that are our patients — I think that has gone a long way with certain companies. That’s one thing.

And just attracting talent is a challenge. You would think that living up here is ideal for folks that like mountain living,