Q&A with CIO Tom Kurtz, Part 3: “Our Strategic Objectives Are Very Clear and Easy to Understand.”

When Tom Kurtz was interviewing for the position of CIO at Memorial Healthcare, it was made clear if he accepted the role, he’d be spearheading a major EHR transformation. But instead of balking at the idea — which would have been understandable, with this being his first foray into healthcare — Kurtz seized the opportunity to “help guide the organization.”

Five years later, Memorial has an integrated platform in place, something that has certainly come in handy in battling the myriad challenges stemming from Covid-19. Recently, Kurtz spoke with healthsystemCIO about his team’s multipronged strategy to maintain care continuity during the pandemic, the hurdles they faced implementing an EHR during a period of significant growth, and the tremendous pride in being an independent hospital.

LISTEN HERE USING THE PLAYER BELOW OR SUBSCRIBE THROUGH YOUR FAVORITE PODCASTING SERVICE. 



Key Takeaways:



* Knowing that Memorial Health was about to go through an EHR system selection was a “motivator” for Kurtz, as was the organization’s “vision to become a model of excellence.”

* A key factor in making the adjustment from higher education to healthcare was in having “a team you can rely on to ask questions” — and spell out acronyms.

* One of the CIO’s most important objectives should be ensuring that “everyone on the team has the ability to continue their learning.”

* Technological knowledge is important in future leaders, but what’s even more crucial is “understanding the direction of the organization.”





Q&A with Tom Kurtz, Part 3 [Click on the links to access Part 2 and Part 1]

Gamble:  When you took on the CIO role, I imagine you knew the organization was planning an EHR migration at some point. Was that a motivator for you as far as taking on this role?

Kurtz:  It was. It was a motivator for me to be able to help guide the organization through the system selection process. To lead that implementation was a motivator for me, but the biggest motivator for me to join Memorial Healthcare was the vision of our organization. And that vision is to become a model of excellence in personalized healthcare and looking at what can we do to become a world class community hospital — to take care of our patients in the best way possible with the highest level of quality, safety, and patient satisfaction? That goal, that path, and that vision for us organizationally was made very clear during the interview process. Being from the community and having worked in the community for several years and knowing the direction of the organization is what really drove me to want to pursue this position.

 

Gamble:  So you were certainly familiar with the community, but this was your first foray into healthcare?

Kurtz:  Yes. I spent 15 years in higher education before coming into healthcare; that was a pretty significant jump from one industry to another. Obviously, the technology is the technology, but the way it’s implemented — the reason it’s implemented — is very different. The industry itself is obviously quite unique; and learning everything from the terminology all the way through the payment models, the national healthcare landscape, and the initiatives to value-based reimbursement and population health and the next steps in goin...