Q&A with Providence CIO BJ Moore: “Don’t Try to Catch Up on 20 Years.”

When BJ Moore came to Providence in January 2019 after more than two decades with Microsoft, he made a common assumption: that healthcare was behind other industries because of resistance to technology adoption. As he quickly learned, “that wasn’t the case at all.” The problem was that “healthcare wasn’t getting the right technological leadership,” he said during an interview with Kate Gamble, Managing Editor at healthsystemCIO. Given the right leadership and the right strategies, “they were actually quick to adopt.”

Of course, it wasn’t easy – and it never will be, particularly as Providence “systematically marches toward the goal” of being carbon-negative by 2030 and moves closer to achieving a single platform.

In the interview, Moore talked about how they’re approaching these and other core objectives, and offers his thoughts on where the true value of ChatGPT lies, the questions he poses to vendors, and his constantly evolving role at Providence.

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Key Takeaways



* Although Providence’s goal to become carbon-negative by 2030 hit a few roadblocks because of Covid, the organization is “systematically marching” toward it by focusing first on non-capital-intensive initiatives such as putting printers and PCs in sleep move and using smart devices to manage thermostats.

* After a four-year journey, Providence completed its Epic migration in March of 2022. However, “getting on a single instance of Epic didn’t make anyone’s life better. You need to optimize,” Moore said.

* ChatGPT is “the hottest topic under the sun,” but the lack of real-world examples is concerning to Moore, particularly when it comes to patient care. The smart move, he believes, is leveraging large-language models to reduce the administrative burden and improve productivity.

* The most important advice Moore offers for CIOs and other leaders coming to healthcare from outside industries? Don’t make assumptions about why healthcare is tech-resistant and “don’t try to catch up on 20 years.”





Q&A with BJ Moore, CIO & EVP of Real Estate Strategy Operations, Providence

Gamble:  Hi BJ, thanks for taking to speak with us. The last time we spoke was in the fall of 2021 — it may not seem like a long time ago, but things change so fast. I wanted to talk about what you guys are doing at Providence, including the goal to become carbon negative. Where are you guys with that?

Moore:  We’re systematically marching toward the goal of being carbon negative by 2030. It’s something that we’ve mapped out. But because it’s a multi-year investment, unfortunately Covid put some pause to some of our efforts, especially the ones that are pretty capital intensive. And so, during Covid, we started doing non-capital-intensive things to reduce our costs. If you objectively look at the glide path toward negative, we’re actually doing well. The next batch will be tougher. We’re working with our executive leadership team and financing to do that.

The other thing we’re doing, which is maybe unique to us, is that bonuses for the top 15 or 20 execs are based on two goals. One is to be carbon negative by 2030. We think of it not just as a big, bold goal as a health system, but something that executive leadership should be compensated based on our achievement toward that goal.

If you look at the glide path, we’re on track. But we’re going to have to do more capital-intensive projects to stay on that path.

 

Starting small with green initiatives

Gamble:  What were some of the smaller projects you worked on?