Q&A with Broward Health’s Kathy Ross, Part 1: Driving Change as the New CIO

With every career opportunity, there are both advantages and drawbacks. “Nothing is all good or all bad,” says Kathy Ross. What distinguishes true leaders, she believes, is the ability to leverage those experiences to help create a better environment. It’s a topic Ross knows well, having held leadership roles at a variety of organizations, from acute care hospitals to large health systems. For example, spending nearly a decade at Ascension Information Services taught her how to navigate a “matrixed environment,” while early days as a respiratory therapist helped her understand end users.

Last summer, Ross embarked on a new role as CIO at Broward Health, a five-hospital system that has undergone a great deal of turnover. This time, she hopes to learn what it takes to provide stability while introducing a new way of doing business. In this interview, she talks about why the position appealed to her, how Broward is working to become an agile organization, and the importance of ownership when it comes to projects. Ross also shares her thoughts on the challenges faced by the next generation of clinicians, what being mentored has meant to her, and how professional organizations can help leaders “get to where you need to be.”

Chapter 1



* Broward Health’s 5-hospital system

* Being the new CIO – “It’s not just about change. It’s coming in and being able to decide what change is necessary.”

* “Road show” to meet key players

* Background as a respiratory therapist – “I understand how technology impacts end users.”

* Business & IT as strategic partners

* Optimizing and enhancing ERP and rev cycle

* Focusing on business operations – “It’s a very welcome change.”



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

Bold Statements

That was one of the driving forces for me taking this role — they’re not willing to accept the status quo, because they’re not comfortable with it. We’re reviewing and redoing everything globally, because we know it can be better.

It wasn’t just about change — it was coming in and being able to decide what change is necessary by talking through the benefits and working collaboratively to develop a future roadmap.

This job takes an experienced CIO. It’s not a position where you can learn on the job as a first-time CIO, especially given the challenges and complexities we have.

I’ve seen and experienced numerous organizations that take an installation of a software solution and turn it over to IT to build and develop it for them, and IT never uses it. That hasn’t been successful. And so I think the industry as a whole has matured to understand that business owners have to own it.

Kate Gamble:  Let’s start with an overview of Broward Health — what you have in terms of hospitals, where you’re located, things like that.

Kathy Ross:  Broward Health is located in Broward County, Fla., which is most notably known for Fort Lauderdale. We have four physical hospitals, as well as a children’s hospital built within our largest medical center. So it’s classified as five hospitals. We cover the northern section of the county and we have the majority of the market share. Broward has approximately 1,500 beds and over 90 separate locations, and we have about 100 physicians that are employed, and we’re looking to expand up on that.

 

Gamble:  I’m sure you have a diverse patient population, between being located near Fort Lauderdale and having year-round people and vacationers. I’m sure that keeps things interesting.

Ross:  It does. Honestly, these days we don’t have a season. When I was here many years ago, you could see how the census went up and down based upon whether it was winter. For Fort Lauderdale and Broward County, and Florida in general,