Q&A with HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf, Part 2: “You Can’t Put Technology Out and Expect It to Work.”

“There’s not a single part of our ecosystem that hasn’t been negatively impacted. There’s been disruption all the way to the core.”

It would be difficult to sum up 2020 more accurately. Healthcare, like most industries, was turned on its head, and those in leadership roles were forced to pivot quickly and find ways to continue to provide care through the most difficult of situations. They also figured out how to leverage that disruption to accelerate innovation, particularly in areas that had long lagged behind, including digital health and supply chain management.

With this “new normal,” however, comes a new set of challenges for leaders, according to Hal Wolf, president at CEO of HIMSS. During a recent interview, he talked about how the pandemic has affected not just health systems but vendors, the weakness that were exposed by Covid-19, and how HIMSS is working to turn those into opportunities as we move forward.

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Key Takeaways:



* Supply chain is much more than procurement; “it’s an important source of information and care delivery” that requires a solid foundation.

* One of the most significant upsides to the pandemic? “The light came on for innovation and the integration of data back into the EMR to create an outside-in approach to care.”

* Achieving better outcomes requires three components: people, process, and technology. “You cannot put technology out and expect it to work.”

* Burnout is by no means limited to physicians; “the entire ecosystem has really been facing burnout,” including IT teams.





Q&A with Hal Wolf, Part 2 [Click here to view Part 1]

Gamble:  Can you talk a little more about supply chain and what HIMSS is learning?

Wolf:  What we’ve seen in talking to so many healthcare leaders is, number one, a recognition that it was forced on everyone. Then number two, what do I do about it? We address this in one of our maturity models called the HIMSS Clinically Integrated Supply Outcomes Model (CISOM). It offers a standard and strategic path forward to advance and support personalized care delivery models and health system quality and safety improvements. We started sharing it with folks to provide that foundational piece so they can start planning against it and tie it back to quality. I think that’s the biggest issue.  That’s what lifts supply chain away from procurement, recognizing it as an important source of information and care delivery.

 

Gamble:  Right. Another area I want to get into is the impact Covid-19 has had on the vendor community, and the substantial challenges a lot of vendors have faced. Some of them have been able to adapt, but it seems that their entire models have had to change dramatically.

Wolf:  There’s not a single part of our ecosystem that hasn’t been negatively impacted. Of course, some have gotten a lift because they were focused on patient-at-home and telehealth capabilities. We’ve certainly seen a few of those do very well in meeting consumer needs.

But our strategies have been interrupted. Our anticipation in implementing new products and services that were laid out of the last couple years has been interrupted. Upgrades were put on the back shelf, because no one could take the risk of doing upgrades unles...