Mark Kilborn, CIO, Springhill Medical Center, Chapter 1

Springhill Medical Center has history of doing things differently. In fact, its founder, Dr. Gerald Wallace said he wanted an organization that would “rewrite the traditional and make the most advanced a common occurrence.” The organization has done just that, becoming the first hospital in the state to achieve Stage 7, and doing so with an entirely outsourced IT department. In this interview, CIO Mark Kilborn explains how he engages Allscripts as any CIO would despite the arrangement (and in fact, is “a very difficult customer”). He also discusses the benefits of being a vendor showcase, how the organization leverages its high-level IT adoption to recruit clinicians, and the “drive” that has made Springhill so successful.



Chapter 1



* About Springhill MC — “It is a competitive market.”

* Being a showcase for Allscripts

* Working with developers to “maximize efficiency”

* HIMSS Stage 7 — “You have to have all hands on deck.”

* Shared best practices

* Convincing docs to go electronic — “That’s a tough pill to swallow.”



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Bold Statements

Anybody that’s done alpha or beta work knows that what you’re trying to do there is get some influence on the design of the product, and working with the vendor to get some input. And that’s been a tremendous benefit for us here.

We actually have developers sitting side-by-side here at our hospital finding out what works and what doesn’t work — and not trying to custom-fit the solution just to fit our hospital, because we’re working with them to help them develop a product.

You’re talking about a significant change in the workflow, particularly in the clinical area with the barcode. So being able to reach out across the country to so many accounts that we showcased for has been invaluable.

Everything we have done in Springhill is not necessarily based on momentum, but driven by reaching the best outcomes. Everything we do here is quality-driven. We don’t do anything just because somebody says we need to do it. We do it because we know it’s the right thing to do and because that’s what we need to do.

Kilborn:  Springhill Medical Center is located in Mobile, Alabama. It’s a 252-bed community hospital. We are a private, for-profit hospital — the only for-profit hospital owned solely by a woman in the US, Celia Wallace. We’re a full service hospital serving Southwest Alabama and the greater gulf coast. We offer a full array of surgical services including outpatient, inpatient, open heart and robotics. We’re the only hospital in town with board-certified ER physicians. We’ve been in business 40 years.

Gamble:  So that’s obviously a pretty different model, being a for-profit with a single owner. I can imagine that’s interesting from a leadership perspective and what that means for you.

Kilborn:  It is. And also, I think if you were to look at the layout of the competitors here in Mobile market, we’ve got nine hospitals serving two counties managed by five separate healthcare providers, and we’re the only for-profit in the group, and that puts us in a very competitive situation. We don’t have the benefit of grants and foundations and charities. We also have to pay taxes, and our competitors don’t. So we’re in a very, very tough market, and to be as successful as this hospital is, I think, is testament to great leadership, and most certainly a very caring, knowledgeable and dedicated staff.

Gamble:  Right. So even more so than for other organizations, budget and staying within a budget really has to be top of mind, I would imagine.

Kilborn:  Oh yes. People think that in healthcare we’re making money hand over fist, and that’s just not the case, certainly not in a for-profit business.