Q&A with CIO Tom Barnett, Part 2: “The Key Is Definitely Communication.”

There’s nothing “easy” about being a healthcare IT leader. But what many have begun to realize is that implementing the actual software that’s meant to change the game was the “easier” part. What has proven more difficult, of course, is the operationalization phase.

Now, it’s about taking the next step: “How do you innovate? What slice of your time or your team’s bandwidth can you put toward that?” Like many CIOs, Tom Barnett is dealing with these precise questions. And although there are no simple answers, there are ways to begin to focus more on transformation itself, and less on the building blocks.

Recently, healthsystemCIO spoke with Barnett about how his team at University of Rochester Medical Center is approaching their core objectives, how they’re organizing teams while maintaining collaboration, and the challenge of prioritization. He also talks about what he learned from previous roles, and what it takes to get IT to the table – really.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2



* Previous roles with NorthShore & Henry Ford – “I knew a lot of the processes.”

* Going on a “listening tour”

* Revamping governance: “It was a lot of awareness and communication.”

* 4 advisory councils: clinical, provider, revenue cycle & analytics/data

* URMC’s “metrics-driven” perspective

* 5-year IT strategic plan with “periodic touchpoints”

* Working w/ CMIO & CNIO to triage project requests and manage pipeline

* “There’s no healthcare event without an IT response.”



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Bold Statements

It’s easy to come in from the outside and say, ‘I know exactly what needs to be done. Here is the prescription for success.’ But every organization is different, and getting that perspective is so important.

They’re focused on things like, ‘Are we working on the right priorities? What new functionality is either available from Epic or will soon be available? How do our metrics look? How is our throughput? How do work queues look in terms of throughput?’ We’re getting very metrics-driven from that perspective.

We need to make sure we have a harmonizing layer on top that cross-communicates what’s going on within each of those advisory councils, while also making sure we cross-pollinate membership of those governance boards.

IT doesn’t get introduced into the environment or released into the wild on its own. It’s always tied to an operational workflow or requirement. It’s no different than what the optimization team does; it’s making sure technology supports the workflow, it doesn’t drive it.

Gamble:  Those are three pretty big priorities. What was the mindset you had coming in as far as breaking this down and looking at how to approach them?

Barnett:  I was extremely fortunate to work for NorthShore University Health System in Chicago prior to this, and before that I was with Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. From a size perspective, Henry Ford is very comparable to the University of Rochester Medical Center, and so I knew a lot of the processes and a lot about how an organization of that size optimally operated.

When I arrived here my priority, first and foremost, was to go on a listening tour, and that’s from two perspectives. First, it was listening to my customers. Any meeting that would have me, I was happy to attend, and do an introduction. I sat down and met with absolutely every department chair in order to determine, on behalf of the IT division, what was working well, and what could improve or wasn’t meeting their needs.

During my first year, we divided everybody in the division and randomly chos...