Q&A with CIO Craig Richardville, Part 3: “We’ve actually surpassed some industries.”

For CIOs, especially those who are new to an organization, there’s a lot of focus on the to-do list, and understandably so. But what’s just as important, according to Craig Richardville, is the ‘not to-do’ list. What often happens, he has found, is that individuals can become stuck “spinning their wheels on certain functions or features that aren’t a priority” — and in some cases, won’t ever be.

This is where leaders need to set realistic expectations, communicate them effectively, and have a defined ‘no-bucket,’ he said. Recently, healthsystemCIO spoke with Richardville about his first six months at SCL Health, which has included a major restructuring to ensure that the right people are on the bus, and that IT priorities are aligned with the organization’s newly released strategic plan.

He also discusses his approach to change management, what he learned during a year-long CIO sabbatical about the enormous potential of innovative startups, and why it’s time to retire the ATM comparisons, once and for all.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3



* His year-long CIO sabbatical

* The “bridge strategy” offered by small organizations

* 80/20 rule

* “If you can delegate responsibilities, it’ll free up time to focus on other areas.”

* Healthcare’s digital journey

* Changing consumer expectations – “They don’t have the same guard rail.”

* The flawed ATM comparison

* “It’s the most exciting time for many of us who have been industry.”



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Bold Statements

I believe a lot of change is going to come from smaller, innovative, entrepreneurial types of organizations that have very low investments of either time or money, but offer huge returns.

It’s important to make sure you can understand where you want to go with that original platform, versus finding what we’ve defined as a bridge strategy. Your primary vendor may not be able to have that module completed or work its way toward it until two or three years from now, so we’ll partner with somebody who can fill that gap.

If you do it right and partner and create a network both in and outside of healthcare, it will allow you to grasp a lot of those little pieces, those nuggets, and bring that back to your organization to truly make a difference.

The CIO role really isn’t as centric to the vertical industry as it is to moving things toward the new technology era and the digital era, regardless of the industry that you’re serving.

How they’re going to want to create that over the next decade or two and how the next generation will be served by the healthcare industry is going to be so dramatically different, because they have different expectations. They don’t have the same guard rail that we’ve had.

Gamble:  What was it about SCL that appealed to you?

Richardville:  That’s an easy question. When I came and talked to the senior team, it was a very dynamic, purposeful, caring, thoughtful environment, with thought leaders in their own areas as well as a larger visionary of where we want to go. So it was the people that drew me here — the CEO, down to the rest of the C-suite and other members I had spoken to — and their vision of how they see the industry maturing into a digital industry that delivers healthcare. It was also the compassion and the mission of this organization and the values it believes in; it’s all about the people and the vision.