Mark Lauteren, CIO, University of South Alabama Health System, Chapter 1

When Mark Lauteren started as CIO at University of South Alabama in the spring of 2013, he had two major goals: facilitate seamless integration of data throughout the system, and improve customer service within IT. Sounds simple, right? Luckily he had one major factor on his side — the organization’s willingness to change. In this interview, Lauteren talks about what it took to clean up a fragmented IS department, the gargantuan effort taking place to create ‘one patient, one record,’ why his team doesn’t ‘just say no,’ and the never-ending chess match CIOs must play to keep data secure. He also discusses what it was like to replace a long-time CIO, the mentors who taught him well, and why he takes time to give back.

Chapter 1



* About USA Health System

* Converting to Cerner Millennium to create “one patient, one record.”

* From IT to IS: “We’re not about technology; we’re about providing services.”

* Upgrading the “aging” infrastructure

* Focus on customer service — “We never say no.”

* Hiring the first CMIO



LISTEN NOW USING THE PLAYER BELOW OR CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR iTUNES PODCAST FEED

Bold Statements

Even though they are interfaced, we all know that different data can be displayed differently in different systems. It might actually have them on a different payer or might have different allergies. This will get rid of all of that.

We were very fragmented. We had different teams serving different parts of the organization. They weren’t consistently doing things. The organization used to be very command-and-control, top-down driven, so decisions sometimes took a little longer than maybe they had to.

We never say no. We say, ‘Well, we can do that, but this is what it’s going to take.’ Sometimes people like the fact that you’re at least willing to talk to them and understand the tradeoffs.

By having that dedicated physician champion, there will always be a physician in the room, and that person can go back out and communicate to the physicians what are the tradeoffs. We’d always like it if everything was cut and dry or black and white, but in reality, we all know there are shades of gray in almost every decision.

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

Lauteren:  No problem. Thank you.

Gamble:  So to give our readers and listeners a little bit of an idea, can you tell us about University of South Alabama Health System?

Lauteren:  We have two hospitals, including a medical center that’s a tier 1 trauma center, the only burn center in the area here in the Central Gulf Coast area. We also have a Children’s Hospital, which is the largest neonatal care center in the area, and the only Children’s Hospital in this part of the Gulf Coast area as well. We also have a medical school through the university. We have about 170 employed physicians, and at anyone time, we’ve got about 270 physicians going through our medical school. We also have a cancer center — the Mitchell Cancer Institute is the premiere cancer institute in the Central Gulf Coast area.

Gamble:  Do you have other offerings in terms of ambulatory care?

Lauteren:  That’s the 170 employed physicians. They have multiple specialties from primary care to cardiac, you name it. We’ve got lots of different specialties with those 170 employed physicians.

Gamble:  As far as where you’re located, you said you’re near the gulf?

Lauteren:  Yeah, we’re in Mobile, Alabama, which is in the Central Gulf area. One way to look at it is we’re between New Orleans and Pensacola. Pensacola is about an hour and a half one way and New Orleans is about two or three hours the other way. So, we’re right in the Central Gulf Area, which is what they call it down here, or as the Alabama folks call it, Lower Alabama.