Q&A with CIO Beth Lindsay-Wood, Part 2: “Everything Is on the Table Now.”

There are different approaches that can be taken as an interim leader, but for the most part, the objective remains the same: maximize the impact while minimizing the damage. For Beth Lindsay-Wood, however, the tactic she took at Moffitt Cancer Center was the same has adopted with every role, interim or not. To her, it’s an opportunity to provide an outsider’s perspective on how to do things more effectively, while becoming “part of the organization.”

Recently, Lindsay-Wood spoke with healthsystemCIO about her journey so far at Moffitt, and how the team is leveraging analytics to provide personalized cancer care. She also provided her thoughts on what it means to be a true digital organization, how the organization has pivoted during the pandemic, and what excites her most about the direction of the industry.

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Key Takeaways



* Being a “real digital organization” means more than just adding technologies to the mix; it’s about “acting and behaving digitally.”

* Because cancer care is so specialized depending the type of cancer and treatment, even digital health must be customized to ensure the best possible experience for patients and families.

* Lindsay-Wood was originally brought on as interim CIO, but took on the full-time role so she could “see through the important work that had to happen for IT to continue to mature and be prepared for Impact 2028.”

* One of the biggest challenges of cancer care? There isn’t a playbook for a standard EMR implementation, and there’s no “generic order entry clinical documentation product.”

* Although healthcare IT has had its laggards, “it’s an exciting time to be in the industry and see us really start to gain traction.”





Q&A with Beth Lindsay-Wood, Part 2 [Click here to view Part 1]

Gamble:  Let’s talk about the increase in virtual visits. How has it affected things?

Lindsay-Wood:  We’re leveraging this pandemic to look at things very differently. We have such traction now with virtual visits. Obviously not everything can be virtual. But there are times where we can provide chemotherapy at home through a pill rather than an infusion, and so we’re looking at all the different creative ways that we can improve the patient experience. We’re looking at all of it.

Everything is on the table; everyone is open to looking at different ways of providing care. And that means we’re not just adding technology to the mix; we’re looking at a completely different way of providing care. To me, that’s when you become a real digital organization — where you’re not just doing digital things, but you’re acting and behaving digitally. It’s a culture thing. We’re on the journey, but that’s an important difference in what we’re trying to accomplish.

 

Gamble:  In terms of the clinicians, how can you gauge their readiness when it comes to using more advanced tools or using them in more advanced ways from a digital standpoint?

Lindsay-Wood:  Each type of cancer has its own specialists. And so you have to look at the care model differently. It depends on the type of cancer, the treatment, and other factors. I’m not seeing that they’re resistant, which can be the case; what I’m seeing is how can we creatively address the uniqueness of each group with digital solutions. It’s a much easier journey than others in terms of what’s available today and what can be done.

Again,