Q&A with CIO Nader Mherabi, Part 1: “To Excel, You Have to Be Highly Digitalized.”

The CIO role hasn’t merely evolved; it’s become “a lot more complicated than it used to be,” says Nader Mherabi, “because it’s multifaceted.” Whereas in the past, the focus was largely on applications and infrastructure — two extremely important concepts — now, CIOs are helping to set the strategy for the organization.

But with that added responsibility comes greater expectations, whether it’s being able to convey the critical role technology plays in patient care, stretch dollars, or command the respect of senior leadership. It is, in some ways, an entirely different set of skills that what was required even a decade ago. To Mherabi, however, it’s a welcome change, particularly when you’re part of an organization that’s moving the needle with digital health and pushing the limits with artificial intelligence.

Recently, healthsystemCIO spoke with Mherabi, who services as CIO and Vice Dean at NYU Langone Health, about the work his team is doing to create “one patient, one record” across the system, what it takes to establish a foundation for digital health, and how leaders can foster innovation. We also talked about the enormous potential (and biggest misconceptions) of AI, his soft spot for applications, and the skills CIOs will need going forward.

Chapter 1



* About NYU Langone Health

* Rapid growth – “Our strategy isn’t to buy a lot of hospitals, but to integrate practices.”

* Epic Everywhere – “One patient, one chart”

* Creating a standard of care

* One formulary & one item master – “These are important things to have an efficient institution.”

* Replacing 142 systems in a day

* Being a “highly digitized” organization

* Virtual Urgent Care – “It needs to be convenient, and it needs to be easy.”



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Bold Statements

There’s been a big shift toward ambulatory care, and so our strategy isn’t to buy a lot of hospitals, but rather, to integrate practices and create highly specialty facilities that offer great care, and bring technology together to provide the best possible experience.

It’s not just implementing an EHR, but all the quality standards built on top of it that makes us one institution. Whether you get care in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Long Island, it’s the same type of care.

We have a highly trained, experienced team to do all of that. We use very few consultants. We do it with a lot of in-house expertise across all these areas. It’s something that makes us unique and we believe it gets us faster to where we want to be.

To have a digital strategy, you have to have a lot of things in place. You have to have a robust infrastructure. You have to have robust wireless. You have high power computing. You have to have data management so you can impact real-time analytics. There are so many foundations; if you weren’t thinking many years ahead, you’re not there.

In our market, patients have choices. It needs to be convenient, and it needs to be an easy experience.

Gamble:  Hi Nader, thank you so much for taking some time to speak with us. Can you provide a brief overview of NYU Langone in terms of what you have, the care offerings, the mission of the organization, things like that?

Mherabi:  Great. We are now called NYU Langone Health. We’re one of the major systems in the metropolitan New York area. Our mission is around teaching. We’re a teaching institution; we also have a big research portfolio, and we offer patient care. We are ranked by U.S. News and Vizient, which recognizes outcomes and care quality. We’re number one in ambulatory care and number two in patient care, which is very important.

NYU Langone Health System has six hospitals and over 300 ambulatory locations across the metropolitan area,