Q&A with CIO Michael Saad, Part 1: “Data Is Absolutely Critical as We Make Decisions.”

Communication is an essential part of leadership — particularly during a crisis. There’s no disputing that. But in order to have a real impact, it must go beyond merely speaking with your direct reports. It’s about empowering directors and managers to communicate with their teams. Because the reality is that, as a CIO, “there’s a limited audience” you can reach, said Michael Saad in a recent interview.

Saad, who serves as CIO at University of Tennessee Medical Center, believes that, when given the right opportunity, individuals will “step up and shine.” He’s seen it happen, especially during the past few months. In the interview, Saad talked about his team’s strategy in response to Covid-19, why data is “the new oil,” how vendor relationships have changed, and the “new normal” healthcare leaders can expect going forward.

Part 1



* About UTMC

* “Decisions were made within hours and IT had to quickly respond”

* 3 key areas of focus: remote work, telemedicine & analytics

* Having “the right protocol and gates in place” to secure data

* Success with telecommuting – “We saw some measurable productivity gains.”

* Enlisting the CMIO to work with physicians & IT staff

* Shift toward consumer engagement

* Leveraging “actionable data” to guide decision-making



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Bold Statements

A lot these decisions were made within hours; IT had to quickly respond and adapt to ensure we could provide operational support throughout the hospital and the clinics.

If people feel disconnected from their peers and their management team, that’s a recipe for disaster. We realized up front that communication is critical.

So many other industries have been tailored around consumers; healthcare hasn’t really done that. I think this is a great step toward allowing access to care when the patient wants it and needs it, and not necessarily around when the provider can do it.

A lot of the data is below the surface; you have to mine for it, you have to explore it, and you have to bring it up to the surface and refine it. But once it has been extracted and refined, that data is invaluable.

If every morning when you wake up there’s an email in your inbox that has a Tableau dashboard showing all of our analytics for the last 24 hours and predictive analytics for the next 24 hours, that’s much more valuable than you having to ask for a report.

Gamble:  Hi Michael, thank you for taking some time to speak with us. Let’s start with an overview of the organization.

Saad:  University of Tennessee Medical Center is a 685-bed hospital. We have a number of regional health centers and about 55 clinics. We support a 21-county area in east Tennessee. We are the region’s only level 1 trauma center, and the only academic medical center in the region.

 

Gamble:  What’s the status as far as the pandemic? What are you seeing at this point?

Saad:  We are located in Knoxville, Tenn., which fortunately has not been hit as hard as other parts of the country. I have former colleagues I speak with on a regular basis at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, which is one of the epicenters. They’ve had a really tough time. We have very minimal cases in comparison to other locations.

 

Gamble:  What was your strategy in response to the pandemic?

Saad:  When all of this started, I don’t think any of us really knew how large the pandemic would be, especially on our region. We saw the news out of New York, Detroit, New Orleans and Washington State — I think all of us ...