Q&A with CIO Zafar Chaudry, MD, Chapter 2: “With Any Change, There’s a Level of Fear.”

The reality of working in the IT department of a health system — which is often located in a different building or even a different section of town than the hospital — is that it’s easy to become “detached.” When you don’t see patients on a daily basis, it’s nearly impossible to understand how technology impacts their experience, and what can be done to improve it.

It’s precisely why one of Dr. Zafar Chaudry’s first priorities as CIO at Seattle Children’s was to invite caregivers to join the IT advisory committee. But he didn’t stop there; Dr. Chaudry’s team began holding quarterly educational sessions during which parents of patients share their stories to help convey the critical role all staff members play in providing quality care. Each time, it has left the team feeling “energized,” he says.

It’s just one example of how Dr. Chaudry is leveraging the diverse experience he has gained during his career to create a better environment. Recently, he spoke with healthsystemCIO about his team’s top priorities (including an Epic migration), why it’s so important to get the messaging right, and what it was like to go from England to the Pacific Northwest.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2



* Clinician-driven EHR selection

* “This is an operationally-led project. It’s not an IT-led project.”

* Importance of communication – “How do we give them a consistent message?”

* 643 systems

* Cost reduction: “Can we start turning applications off and retiring them?”

* Meeting user expectations

* Benefits of publicly-funded systems – “There’s a lot more sharing and collaboration than there is here.”



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Bold Statements

We can’t continue to do things the same way that we do them now. We’ve had the Cerner system for almost 15 years. And it’s a great opportunity now for the clinical community to take a look at how we do things, and try to change some of those workflows.

As with any change, there’s a level of fear, because people are used to doing one thing, and then we’re trying to redirect their focus. But there’s a lot of energy as well to say, ‘This will be great for our patients.’

We’ll archive the data, of course, because we have to keep it. But at the same time, we don’t need to pay the maintenance. We don’t need to run data centers running those applications, and that will start to reduce our cost.

You don’t have to train anyone to use their Apple iPhone. They’re able to consume an application, and they’re able to download an update, and they’re able to use their device. Why can’t we have the same model in our enterprise?

We’re all duplicating the same function with more people and more cost, when actually, we could come together and have a shared service model, which would bring costs down. That’s what happens in these publicly-funded health systems.

Gamble:  You seem to be an interesting position already having that familiarity with Epic. Does that have an impact on how the schedule will come together?

Chaudry:  I think what’s quite interesting is when we talk to our clinical community — and this decision was driven purely by them — what you see is that 70 to 80 percent of the medical students that we’re training now have already touched Epic in some way, shape or form. And as we bring in residents, and super smart doctors come here from different parts of the country, most of them tell me, ‘I’ve used this system before in a previous life or a previous job.’ That will help with the training component, and also with familiarity to the system.

The challenge for us is we can’t continue to do things the same way th...