Podcast Interview with CMIO Brett Oliver, Part 2: “We Won’t Go Back to the Status Quo.”

There’s an interesting dynamic that happens when an organization faces a crisis. The compounding factors of stress, fear, and exhaustion can cut right to the core, and individuals are separated into two groups: naysayers and believers. And it’s the believers — the ones who focus on how to get things done, rather than why they aren’t getting done — who lift up everyone around them, according to Brett Oliver, MD, CMIO at Baptist Health.

Recently, Oliver spoke with healthsystemCIO about how his team is dealing with the myriad challenges of Covid-19, from connectivity to infrastructure concerns, and the enormous culture change he has seen when it comes to rolling out solutions. He also talks about why it’s important to have an aggressive digital health strategy, where Baptist Health has succeeded and struggled in fighting the pandemic, and the unique opportunity it presents for clinicians and IT to partner more effectively.

Part 1

Part 2



* “It’s a virus we’ve not seen before.”

* Virtual ED screenings to “limit exposure” to critical care docs

* Leveraging the EHR to identify potential plasma donors

* Continuously monitoring patients at home

* Telemedicine’s rise: “You don’t have to be Kaiser to do it.”

* Leadership during a crisis – “You see what’s at the core of folks.”

* Overdue recognition of healthcare workers

* Advice for CIOs: “Try to envision the future state.”



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Bold Statements

I thought it was a little aggressive, but I would rather be a little bit more aggressive and miss, than to not reach for it.

We won’t go back to the status quo. There are just too many people doing it. It’s not isolated. It’s not, ‘only the Kaisers can do that. They’re so big.’ Everyone’s doing it to some extent.

When you see what’s happening in other parts of the world, you think, ‘these are my colleagues that I’m trying to support and set things up to allow them to see patients without being exposed.’ Going through this is motivating in and of itself.

People look at things one of two ways. It’s either, ‘I’ll tell you how this is not going to work,’ or it’s ‘We’ll figure out a way to get this done.’ It’s amazing how polarizing this is. You found yourself making mental notes.

As a CMIO, that’s where I’ve always said, ‘listen, my role is to be looking on the horizon. Tell me what your problems are so that I can look for those technical solutions and help.’

Gamble:  What are some of the other high priority issues you’re dealing with – or have dealt with – in regard to Covid-19?

Oliver:  The challenges have been direct challenges to this virus, because it’s a highly infectious disease. It’s a unique virus that we’ve not seen before, and so we needed to be prepared for high volumes and high quality care, while also limiting exposure to those key caregivers. Everybody is important; however, if our critical care physicians or our ED docs are all down, we’re in a world of hurt.

We’ve done a few things. We have a bunch of primary care physicians who have volunteered to do hospitalist work or urgent care work. What that means for us on the technical side is making sure they have access to whatever department they need that they don’t currently have access to, and are also able to work in the ED. That module is different than working in the ambulatory or inpatient setting,