Q&A With Cletis Earle, CIO, Kaleida Health, and CHIME Board Chair

For Cletis Earle, serving as 2018 CHIME Board Chair isn’t just an honor — it’s an opportunity to challenge the status quo. And although there are many ways in which this can be done, he plans to focus on two specific areas. The first is to drive true collaboration by encouraging organizations to share information more effectively. The second is to promote diversity, which he believes will help “create different thoughts, different processes, and different workflows.”

And of course, there’s the work his team is doing at Kaleida Health, where he serves as VP and CIO. Like many organizations, Kaleida has experienced significant growth over the past few years, which comes with challenges. In this interview, Earle speaks about the “Herculean” effort of creating a common patient record across a system, and how digital health can be leveraged to increase efficiency. He also discusses some of CHIME’s key priorities, and what he feels is the biggest benefit of being part of an industry association.

Bold Statements

We’re really excited that as this transformation occurs, there’s going to be a synergy that happens allowing our partners — particularly our providers — to have a better level of exposure and connection to their patients around the entire region.

In order for us to move from fee-or-service to a value-based care model, we have to start connecting our entities in a more robust manner.

Many of us already participate with RHIOs and HIEs, but are we really making an assertive effort to collaborate more intimately with competing systems in order to provide the best care for our patients? I would challenge that and say no, not always.

I think that’s going to be the missing link as to why there are some stagnant processes in our industry. We need to mix it up, and we need to really incorporate other ways of thinking in order for us to be successful.

You can ask for help. You can ask for feedback. And you’ll find that many CIOs are always willing to share their experiences and some of the lessons learned.

Gamble:  Hi Cletis, thank you so much for taking some time to speak with us.

Earle:  Thank you, Kate. It’s always a pleasure.

 

Gamble:  To start off, I want to talk about what’s happening at Kaleida. When we last spoke, you were preparing to open a new Children’s Hospital. What was that experience like?

Earle:  I have to tell you, opening a children’s hospital was probably one of the most difficult things I’ve done in my career, because you’re dealing with the most critical and sensitive patient population. And it wasn’t only taxing emotionally; it was extremely complicated from multiple standpoints. We had to pull up two hospitals at the same time in order to address the technology piece. But the team pulled it off without a hitch. We were able to move approximately 125 patients in just over a 12-hour period.

We did an absolutely phenomenal job. It couldn’t have gone more perfectly, and I can’t tell you how proud I am to be part of a team that was able to do that.

 

Gamble:  What are some of the other high priorities right now at Kaleida?

Earle:  It’s interesting. Kaleida Health is undergoing a massive amount of growth. We are one of the largest health systems in the Western NY area  and we’re the largest employer in the greater Buffalo region, and we’re continuing to expand. Our CEO, Jody Lomeo, and our board, understand that in order to be successful, we have to grow, and we have to continue to represent various areas. We’ve extended down into the Southern Tier of Western NY and are moving into the Pennsylvania region. And so one of our priorities is to continue to collaborate and connect with our affiliates in those extensions as we become one common platform of Great Lakes Health System of Western NY, which Kaleida is part of. We see that extension as becoming more relevant, and so we’re thinking about to create one pati...