Ken Deans, VP & CIO, Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, Chapter 1

For the past few years, health systems across the country have been stuck in constant implementation mode, and Chesapeake Regional Medical Center is no exception. So when the organization made the decision to migrate to Epic, leadership decided to leverage the expertise of a seasoned user, which would enable Chesapeake “focus on innovation instead of just putting in systems.” In this interview, Deans talks about his team’s Epic rollout strategy, their big plans with big data, and their “dynamic” multi-year business plan. He also discusses his leadership style, why it’s important to strive for perfect, and why anyone who isn’t nervous about ICD-10 is either “very impressive or naïve.”

Chapter 1



* About Chesapeake Regional

* Migrating to Epic

* Flexibility with go-live — “We’re not trying to meet a date for the sake of meeting a date.”

* Epic Connect model with Good Help Inc.

* Biweekly meetings – “We want to be nimble.”

* Focus on workflow and process improvement

* “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”



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Bold Statements

It’s a date that we’ve put out there as a target. I think our intent and goal is to go live when it’s time, it’s appropriate, and we’re ready to go live. We’re not trying to meet a date for the sake of meeting the date.

Putting in systems is painful. It’s burdensome. It’s cumbersome. It’s exciting as well, but it detracts from some of the business focus.

Our executive suite and the board really value technology as an investment, not necessarily as an expense, and there is a pretty big differentiation there. We understand that it’s one of the keys to business success in our industry.

We wanted to be a little more nimble than that, so that’s where the biweekly model comes into play. We can react pretty quickly.

Even though I’d say, much to our chagrin, we’re seasoned pros with implementation, this really is a different model for us that we’re rather accepting of and pretty excited about.

Gamble:  Hi Ken, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today.

Deans:  Thanks for having me.

Gamble:  Sure. To get things started, can you talk a little bit about Chesapeake Regional — what you have in terms of the hospitals and some of the other services, and where you’re located?

Deans:  Chesapeake is in the lower southeastern corner of the state of Virginia. We are an independent health system. We’re actually what’s known as in the Commonwealth of Virginia as a hospital authority. That means our organization was created through an act by the state legislature nearly 40 years ago now. And so our board of trustees is a little bit unique in that it is appointed by the city council from the City of Chesapeake. So we have a quasi-government touch point from that perspective, but from there down, the organization is its own full 401c3 nonprofit organization. We’re located here in Chesapeake, a coastal community consisting of a medical group and a core hospital with all the typical services you would find surrounding a medical center — home care, hospice, nursing care, etc. We’re a really robust, family-friendly, very community-oriented nonprofit organization here in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Gamble:  How many beds in the hospital?

Deans:  310 beds.

Gamble:  As far as seasonal volume, does that impact you at all?

Deans:  Believe it or not, not so much. We are a co-owner of a hospital down in the outer banks area of North Carolina, which is owned by a close neighbor, Vidant Health. That organization really is in a travel area, so they do see a fair amount of seasonal volume. But for our organization, we have a pretty constant volume. We certainly have some seasonal volumes like most organizations have,