Jamie Nelson, SVP & CIO, Hospital for Special Surgery, Chapter 3

Timing is everything. When the Hospital for Special Surgery was beginning its EHR selection process, Epic released its orthopedic module and announced plans to offer remote hosting. For a hospital that specializes in musculoskeletal health and is located in New York – a city where real estate is at a premium, the decision was easy. Selecting a vendor, however, is just the beginning. In this interview, CIO Jamie Nelson talks about the strategy she used to build an Epic team, why she believes education is the key to data security, and how HSS has made innovation part of its DNA. Nelson also discusses the “boardroom skills” necessary for CIOs, why work/life balance doesn’t truly exist, and the next big frontier for her organization.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3



* “Things are changing very rapidly and we need to keep apace.”

* The next frontier after go-live

* “CIOs have to keep educating themselves.”

* Having a background in administration & finance

* HSS’ mentoring program

* Eyeing analytics to support innovation

* Work/life balance — “When you’re a CIO, you’re always on call.”



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Bold Statements

When you’ve spent a couple of years worrying about putting an EMR in, these things are all suddenly new. And now they are the next frontier, so CIOs have to really keep educating themselves to be able to contribute in a meaningful way.

With the Epic implementation, I was less a technical lead than an organizational change lead, helping to make sure the right governance was in place, the right parties were involved, and we handled the issues in a manner that helped us expedite getting to resolution.

Having that type of background and understanding the operation and environment of a hospital is also important for a CIO. It really allows you to understand what your constituents are trying to do, and it helps you better guide them to getting there.

The most important projects are the ones around analytics, around supporting innovation and value, and around optimizing the system that we put in, and helping to change practices here through the use of the system we’ve put in, and really transform the way we deliver healthcare.

For me, there’s no separation of work and life. When you’re a CIO, you’re always working, you’re always on call. There’s always something that could come up on the weekends. I can never just say, ‘okay, I’m done working.’

Gamble:  I guess you have to trust your instincts when you’re talking about when to push forward with something, and when to hold off. It’s going with your gut instinct and what experience has told you.

Nelson:  Yes, and you don’t want to be seen as being in the way and slowing things down. These are different times. Things are changing very rapidly, so we need to keep apace. I’m training my own self this year. Obviously I’ve been a fan of cyber security for quite a few years, but now they’re asking us, ‘What’s Blockchain? How’s that going to impact what we do?’ ‘What is analytics? How are we going to take all of this data that we have with Epic and other systems and have that help foster innovation and creativity?

So it’s learning these new areas and really coming up to speed. And they’re not new areas, but when you’ve spent a couple of years worrying about putting an EMR in, these things are all suddenly new. And now they are the next frontier, so CIOs have to really keep educating themselves to be able to contribute in a meaningful way to these new frontiers that ...