Q&A with CIO Sheryl Sypek, Part 2: “It’s a Very Different Mission.”

When you go from a large, integrated health system in the northeast to a Florida-based organization focused on hospice, palliative care, and home health, there are going to be some glaring differences. But for Sheryl Sypek, who took on the CIO role at Chapters Health System three years ago, the biggest contrast she saw was in the EHR market, which is “far less mature” than in the acute care hospital world.

As one can imagine, it made for a much different vendor selection process. But it also resulted in both an education, and a bonding experience, for her team. Recently, we spoke with Sypek about how she learned to navigate the brave new world of palliative and hospice care, why she made the move, and how she and her team plan to continue to forge a new path in this growing sector. Sypek also talks about how her time in consulting made her “a better CIO,” why Chapters is uniquely positioned to thrive in a value-based care world, and why giving back is so important.

Part 1

Part 2



* Collaborating with Wellsky “to enhance the product”

* Keys to successful vendor partnerships

* “Their product roadmap & strategy aligned with our approach”

* A “new level” of med admin integration

* Ultimate goal to “provide caregivers with more quality time with patients.”

* Leveraging predictive analytics to intervene earlier in patient care

* Moving to the non-acute care space – “It’s a very different environment.”



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Bold Statements

We’re not co-developing it, because his team is doing the heavy lifting. But we’re collaborating very closely with them on the direction of some of the products, and I think it’s been a really good vendor partnership.

With things like CPOE and medication reconciliation that have been around in the acute care world for quite some time, we don’t have the capability to do that at the same level. But we have all the same needs — and then some.

I want to make the technology a very natural extension of the caregiver, much like their stethoscope. They wouldn’t dream of walking into a patient’s home without it around their neck and being ready to use it to provide care; I want the technology they’re using to feel much the same.

Some of what we’re doing really has nothing to do with direct patient care, but it enables us to evaluate much earlier in the patient’s experience when it’s appropriate to make changes in the type of care that they’re receiving.

I didn’t know at the time how challenged the organization — or the industry — would be in terms of the solutions that were available. That came after I started. But it has made it a very interesting and rewarding part of my career.

Gamble:  As far as the timeline for rolling out the EHR, what are you looking at?

Sypek:  We’re pretty excited about this relationship with WellSky. We’re doing some co-development with them, asking them to enhance specific areas of the product to work better for an organization like ours. We’re focusing on hospice first, because that’s currently the largest portion of our care provided.

As I mentioned earlier, we have three affiliates. We’re going to be piloting the first affiliate later this year, probably in the Q4 time frame. At the same time, we’ll have implemented a new system for our pharmacy — that will be the first rollout of any of the WellSky system components. It will be followed closely by our other two hospice affiliates, and then likely palliative care after that, since we’re doing a lot of partnering with them to enhance the product. Lastly we’ll do home health.