Lisa Stump, SVP & Interim CIO, Yale New Haven Health System, Chapter 3

A pharmacist by training, Lisa Stump admits that she never would’ve pictured herself in IT leadership. But after playing a key role in implementing an early CPOE system, she discovered her passion for “providing the right information to the people who can make the right decisions for patients,” and she’s never looked back. In this interview, Stump talks about why a largescale implementation is never really finished, the fascinating dichotomy of being an Epic client while also working with startup companies, and why she believes Yale New Haven’s focus on innovation will help recruit top IT talent. She also discusses her team’s groundbreaking work with patient engagement, the new skill sets that will be required as analytics and security bigger larger priorities, and why she ignores the word “interim.”

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3



* Engaging patients with FamilyTouch

* Epic MyChart as a “one-stop shop”

* “Where there’s a real need, we look to collaborate & innovate.”

* Innovation as a recruiting tool

* From pharmacy to IT

* Ignoring the word “interim”

* Pushing back the Beaker deadline — “Making that decision was a tough one but it was the right one.”



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Bold Statements

We don’t want patients to have to interact with many different applications around a given stay or around their care, and so using the patient portal as sort of the one stop shop for all of that is a strategy that we’re really trying to put forth.

We try to avoid just the new bright shiny object. Technology for technology’s sake, we think actually is counterproductive. But where there’s a real need, we look to collaborate and innovate — whether it’s a startup company or a big tried-and-true like Epic that we’ve already invested in as a core system, we want that platform to evolve and meet our needs as well.

A lot of people think healthcare IT is not a fast-moving innovative area if you’re a techie-focused person, and I really think that’s changing. It is a very dynamic area of practice right now. So yes, I do think it’s going to help us attract new talents.

That’s a big part of where my passion was — in leveraging technology to make care better, safer, and more efficient, and to drive quality outcomes. And a lot of my vision still today is around providing the right information to the people who can make the right decision for patients.

My approach has never been to have a deadline flip. And so making that decision was a tough one, but it was the right one. I think had I not probably had the experience of leading a project myself, I don’t know that I would’ve been able to make that decision as cleanly and clearly and confidently.

Stump:  We’re looking at the feedback we get from our patients. Surgical is another area where if you’ve ever brought a friend or loved one to the hospital and they go off for their procedure, we know that patients are then waiting in the waiting room, and you’re a little bit tied to the area. We had traditionally been using pager-type devices like you see again in restaurants that buzz when your family member was out of surgery, but we’ve partnered with a local company around a new product called FamilyTouch that allows us to send secure text messages to family members that patients have designated to receive informational updates, and we found that to be very well received as well.

So when the patient presents for their case, they tell us who we should keep informed of their progress,