Michael Archuleta, Director of IT, Mt. San Rafael Hospital, Chapter 2

For many critical access hospitals, the future looks bleak. They have the same list of priorities as health systems, but with a fraction of the resources. But Mt. San Rafael is not your typical rural hospital, and Michael Archuleta is not your typical leader. Since taking on the IT Director role four years ago, Archuleta has led the transformation from a paper-based system to a Most Wired hospital. In this interview, he discusses the enormous challenges faced by CAHs, how he’s changing the perception of IT from one of “cost center” to “business partner,” and what it took to implement the organization’s first IT strategic plan. Archuleta also talks about the value of young leaders, how he “sold” cybersecurity to the board, what he hopes to accomplish next, and why he won’t apologize for being an over-communicator.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2



* Building credibility — “They’ve seen the digital transformation here.”

* MSRH’s first IT strategic plan

* Creating a steering committee — “We vote as a team.”

* “Proactive” security strategy

* Mock phishing campaign — “The number of clicks was alarming.”

* Leveraging YouTube to build patient engagement

* “Your new CEO is the patient.”



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Bold Statements

I tell my team, really look at it when you’re putting in the builds, when you’re designing workflows. I know you do not have any direct contact with patients, but the overall technology we have here in this organization really affects patients. And that is how you are making a difference with this organization.

Visualization and communication is really key in selling something here in rural America, because they really need to see some good examples and bring to life scenarios that can happen with an actual cyber-breach.

I was baffled with individuals clicking on these emails, because it only takes one time to be breached, to be hacked, to receive this ransomware infection — only one time. And with having at the several clicks within the organization, it was very concerning.

I can tell you all the advanced, new tech toys that we have in place to identify specific threats within the organization. But if I’m not focusing on the actual key element, which is awareness and that education toward the employee, I am not going to be successful.

You really need that patient communication, because the first impression is always the best impression. If the patient comes in and goes into a patient portal that’s not user-friendly at all, they’re not going to use it ever again.

Gamble:  Coming in to the situation that you did and being willing to work through all of that, I’m sure that really built some credibility with your team, because that’s a situation a lot of people would have walked away from knowing you’re going to have to fight for everything and be a one-person shop in the beginning. I would think that you’ve built up a good amount of credibility with the people you work with.

Archuleta:  Absolutely. I have great credibility with my team, the overall organization, and the staff members here. They’ve seen the actual transformation from when we were fully paper to now fully digitalized. It’s been an amazing journey moving forward, and it’s been a very humbling experience. And honestly, I’ve been a hundred percent I’ve been dedicated all my life to this organization; I’ve given my all to this organization. I give my all to my team. I have an open-door policy. We try bringing innovation into this organization to excel in technology. And when individuals see that, they really see some great accreditation on that person.