Jessica Cornelius, CIO, Hendricks Regional Health, Chapter 1

The difference between being a management consultant and a permanent CIO is big. In fact, Jessica Cornelius compares it being a plane that goes from 50,000 feet to 10,000 feet. “There are things you see,” she says. “It’s been more work than I ever anticipated, but it’s been extremely rewarding.” In this interview, Cornelius talks about the huge lift required to upgrade a 15-year-old infrastructure, the key component in change management, and how she’s working to transition the organization out of “break-fix” mode and into value-add mode. She also discusses Hendricks Regional’s biggest priorities for 2017, the importance of having mentors that give honest feedback, and her key takeaway from CIO Boot Camp.

Chapter 1



* About Hendricks Regional

* Choosing an EHR — “It’s not just an IT decision.”

* From a ‘mom & pop shop’ into Walmart overnight

* Upgrading a 15-year-old infrastructure

* Cloud-hosted model — “That was an easier sell for us.”

* “Education is 70% of the security program.”

* Building & maintaining trust



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Bold Statements

This can’t be just a technology project. It’s about our clinicians. It’s about getting them involved in that process. So we’ve really taken a collaborative approach. We’ve invited everyone in the organization to see demos, to go out and visit sites where different EHRs are hosted, and to really give their opinion.

The organization has grown really quickly, especially in the last five to seven years. I like to use the analogy we were a mom and pop shop and we grew into Wal-Mart overnight, so that presented us with some challenges on how we could deliver quality patient care and give our patients what that they need.

The IT team here was excited to make that move to cloud hosting. It’s letting executive management know that we’re doing this not only to save money, but also to give us 24/7 support.

We often get the question, ‘Why can’t I look on Pinterest? Why can’t I look at Facebook?’ You absolutely can, just not on our network, because those are areas where you see a high rate of malicious emails and malware.

It’s trying to fix things as you go along and build that trust. You definitely don’t want to erode that by doing things without people knowing, turning things off or on without people knowing. It’s important that everybody understands fully what IT is doing in the organization.

Gamble:  Hi Jessica, thanks so much for taking some time to speak with us today.

Cornelius:  Thank you, Kate, my pleasure.

Gamble:  I think the best way to get started is to get a high level overview of Hendricks Regional Health, what you have in terms of hospital beds, some of the ambulatory offerings, and where you’re located.

Cornelius:  Sure, I’d be happy to. Hendricks Regional Health is located in Danville, Indiana, about 20 miles west of Indianapolis. We serve mainly Hendricks County, but also the surrounding counties to the west of us. We have a 160-bed hospital, and three medical centers in each of the major towns in Hendricks County: Plainfield, Brownsburg and Avon. We’re currently building a new medical center in Brownsburg that will offer full women’s services — not just traditional services, but also cardiology, sports medicine, plastic and reconstructive surgery as well. We have about 30 skilled nursing facilities that we partner with across the state of Indiana, and we have wellness clinics. One of the major initiatives we’ve done this year is partner with the local schools in Hendricks County to provide wellness services and clinics onsite.

Gamble:  And the new medical center you talked about — when is that slated to open?

Cornelius:  That’s slated to open in the fall of 2017,