Q&A with CIO Jim Daly, Part 1: “We Can Only Go as Fast as Folks Can Execute.”

A little trepidation isn’t such a bad thing.

In fact, Jim Daly believes it can be quite beneficial, when channeled properly. “Being scared can be good. It lights a fire under you to absorb and ask a lot of questions,” he said during a recent conversation with healthsystemCIO.

Daly speaks from experience, having stepped into the role of CIO at Washington Regional Medical System in July of 2020, smack in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. On top of that, he had only been with the organization — and the provider world, for that matter — for three years, having spent the previous decade on the payer side.

Those three years, however, helped prepare him for the position, largely due to the mentoring he received from Becky Magee, who retired this past summer after 20 years with the organization. “She really invested in me and helped me learn and grow,” noted Daly, who hopes to provide the same career growth opportunities for others.

During the interview, Daly talked about the biggest challenges he has faced since taking on the CIO post, his thoughts on what it takes to manage change successfully, and how his prior career experience has helped shape him as a leader. He also discusses the organization’s core objectives, including migrating to a single platform to create a “true longitudinal record,” and their plans to “refresh” the IT strategy.

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Key Takeaways



* After more than a decade of growth, which resulted in multiple EHR systems, Washington Regional is consolidating onto a single platform, with the goal of providing “a more seamless experience.”

* One of the keys in selling the board on a major initiative during Covid was to highlight the interoperability challenges that were exacerbated during the pandemic.

* Rather than relying on outside expertise to lead the implementation, Washington Regional made it a priority to utilize internal staff. “It’s important that our employees are the ones that are leading us towards the future.”

* The importance of governance during a rollout can’t be understated, said Daly, who made sure physicians were represented in the decision-making process.

* When it comes to change management, Daly’s approach is to “create an environment where people had flexibility and felt they were supported and making sure that we had clear direction.”





Q&A with Jim Daly

Gamble:  Can you start by providing an overview of the organization?

Daly:  Sure. Washington Regional Medical System is the only not-for-profit, community-owned and locally governed health care system in Northwest Arkansas. We’re located in Fayetteville, and we have a 425-bed medical center and more than 55 clinic locations across the northwest corner of Arkansas.

We have over 3,200 employees and a little more than 400 providers on our medical staff. We have the region’s only heart institute and Level 2 trauma center, and we also have a neurosciences institute with a comprehensive stroke center certification. We offer a broad line of services to make sure our communities are well served with health care.

 

Migrating to a single EHR platform

Gamble:  In terms of the EHR, what do you have in the hospital and the clinics?

Daly:  We have Cerner Millennium In the hospital, and in the ambulatory space, we have a number of different EHRs. Over the past 10 to 15 years, we’ve grown our clinics through acquisitions; as part of that, we’ve allowed providers coming into our system to stay on their own EHR.