Kent Gale, Founder and Chairman, KLAS Enterprises, Chapter 3

If you ask Kent Gale what he thought KLAS would look like in 2016, he envisioned a room with 10 people “high-fiving each other after we got some great information.” What he never imagined was having the CEOs of the top health IT companies flying into town in corporate jets for a summit, or lawyers threatening to shut down his shop. No doubt it’s been quite a ride for the founder of KLAS, has has become an industry presence that is looked upon to rate the best vendors. In this interview, Gale talks about how KLAS was conceptualized, the early tweaks that ended up being game-changers, and how he leveraged his relationships to get providers talking. He also discusses his passion for interoperability, what he loves most about his job, and the role that mission work plays in his life.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3



* The best part of his job

* Adam’s evolution from rebel to leader

* Mission in Portugal to teach “self-worth”

* Doing “hands-on” work in Brazil with his wife

* Commandment #1: “Remember what we’re here for.”

* KLAS University

* Interoperability blog series – “It was therapeutic.”



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Bold Statements

He’s had the reins at KLAS for about seven years now. And it’s been a great blessing. He’s got great integrity, he loves people and there’s not a better person than Adam, so it’s great to be a father and to have a son that’s done this.

I can’t think of anything that’s more rewarding than that — not having to worry about money or trying to figure out how you’re going to make a living. All you do is figure out how to help other people.

I still have a great passion for what KLAS does. I’m still an owner of KLAS, and whatever role I take will be one that would add value and wouldn’t get in the way of the great work that KLAS is doing.

I get nervous when I think we’re too casual, we don’t ask deep enough questions, we don’t understand what’s going on well enough. So we do huge amounts of training.

Gale:  I’ll tell you what’s been the most exciting is to sit inside these hospitals with the executives and watch them describe to us what worked or didn’t work for them. I remember being in Pittsburgh once in a room with a CEO and a bunch of the doctors and the whole executive team on the seventh floor of this hospital, and having them tell us what it was like working with their vendors. And there was no buffering — this was the real world, and the docs were telling us and the CFO was talking to us, and it was just great to sit in the room and listen to them tell us what it was like working for the vendors that they had and knowing that this was so valuable to share anonymously with others as to what was working.

Gamble:  That is amazing. And as far as working with your son, I can imagine that that’s an interesting dynamic. I don’t know if you foresaw him being involved for as long as he has, but has that been something where it was an adjustment to have a professional relationship?

Gale:  Wow, if a father could have this with their children, it would be the world’s greatest blessing. When Adam was younger and he was in his teenage years, he had a curfew of midnight, and I just remember initially, the clock went past midnight, he hadn’t come in, and we were thinking the worst — had he been in an accident, is he out doing something he shouldn’t be. And then finally about quarter to one, he comes wheeling in the driveway, and of course we’re lying in bed wide-awake, frustrated and thinking about what we were going to ...