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 Welcome to this Weekend Health IT influence where we discuss the influence of technology on health with the people who are making it happen. Today we interview a fantastic C-I-O-C-M-I-O team to talk about how they make it work. My name is Bill Russell Healthcare, CIO, coach and creator of this week in Health.

It a set of podcast videos and collaboration events dedicated to developing the next generation of health leaders. We have a few more channel sponsors who have chosen to invest in developing you and the industry through this channel. I'm gonna highlight one for each new episode over the next couple of weeks.

Starbridge Advisors is a firm that I'm excited to have joined us as a new sponsor. You ever think, I wish I could bring someone into our health system who has been there, done that, and is willing to come alongside my team and help them to be more effective? That's Starbridge advisors. I find they're distinctive to be that they want you and your team to take the victory lap and they are willing to invest in people to make that happen.

Starbridge Advisors provides interim leadership to expand your team's capacity in times of need. Visit Starbridge advisors to connect with them today. Today, Tricia Julian and Dr. Brett Oliver join us for a great back and forth that covers collaboration, governance, and the value of a strong partnership to handle the ever-growing demands in clinical excellence in the markets that they serve.

Here's the show, hope you enjoy. Good morning, the two of you and, and welcome to the show. Good morning. Thanks for having, yeah, thanks for having us. You know who be the CI.

For Baptist Health, but I don't think I've ever asked him this question about the system. So can one of you sort of give us some background on, on Baptist Health, where, where you guys are at and then, and what the system looks like? Sure. Uh, we are an eight hospital system across the state of Kentucky and, uh, into Indiana.

But otherwise, uh, kind of full gamut of care across the state of Kentucky and southern Indiana. Yeah, it's, it's pretty, there's a lot going on in those markets. I know that CHI. Was in those markets. Is CHI still in your markets or have they, have they moved out at this point? They are, they divested their Louisville properties and Louisville investments, but still in the eastern, southeastern parts of the state, it's still CHI or Common Spirit.

Got, yeah. Common Spirit now. Yeah. So we'll see how that, how that progresses. Well, you know, it's interesting. So today what I'd like to, to do is cover an effective C-M-I-O-C-I-O, uh, partnership. And I had the two of you on, on for this topic, not because, you know, you've raised your hands and said, Hey, we're a good example of this, but because, uh, other people have said, you're a good example of this.

So, um, so, you know, no pressure on, on you guys to, um, just to sort of live up to that. But, uh, but people have have noted that you guys have worked really well together. Uh, in the EHR implementation in, in terms of new initiatives and things that are going on. So, I I, so I'd like to go down this path a little bit with you and just stay on that topic.

And, uh, to start with, just to give us some background on both of you and how you got into your roles. Tricia, I'd like to start with you. Uh, can you give us some background on how you got into the, into the CIO role at, uh, at Baptist? Sure. So my exposure to it really started in a banking career. Um, shortly after I graduated from Purdue University, I worked with Bank One in Lafayette, and so I was on the operations side, but Bank One was going through a lot of growth and that growth required new technology implementations and also a lot of acquisition work.

With acquisitions, you're thinking about migrating data, et cetera. And so I was actually selected from the operations team to serve on that, a multidisciplinary group, thinking about the technology and how we would make that technology available to our customers. And so, um, after five years in banking, I transitioned to healthcare.

I was again, on the operation side of healthcare. And in my first career, my, with my first organization in healthcare. I rolled out, uh, three different technology solutions for transcription, dictation, and physician portals, um, to get that information. The P physician's hands back when paper charts were the norm of the day, and so.

What I learned through those experiences is I was coming at it from an operational perspective, but as I would interact with the IT team members, what they were surprised at was encountering someone from operations who seemed to understand that they just didn't have a magic wand, uh, to make all this technology work.

And that sometimes operational leaders ask the impossible and yet didn't appreciate that they were asking the impossible. So. In my career. Then what I noticed was it team IT leaders were saying, if we have to do this project, we want Trisha at the table. And operational leaders were saying, if we have to do this technology project, we want Trisha at the table.

And so, um, through that I actually. Led, uh, projects at different organizations towards the EHR transition. NextGen, allscripts, and Epic were all systems that I had some responsibility to serve on in a leadership capacity to help deploy. And for NextGen, Allscripts and Epic. And my early days with Epic, I've actually seen Epic two different times now.

Um, I got certified in those applications myself, so I'm, I'm. I feel comfortable on the application side and the operational side in terms of thinking about from an IT perspective, how those technologies need to work in operations, the technical teams, I've just been blessed by being with really talented technical team members throughout my career who have taught me a lot about what they do.

What does it mean to build an interface? How is it, how complicated is it, and how do we break it down? Um. How do we think about delivering the infrastructure, the networking, the Citrix, all the platforms? Um, again, that's not something that was a natural skillset for me. Um, but I recognize that and so I defer to those team members who, A, have that expertise and b, passion and just give them the opportunity to let that shine and deliver to the business needs.

So, so you've mo moved around a fair bit. I mean, you started in Lafayette. Then you, uh, you went to another health. Where, where was the health system you went to? So I was in Lafayette, Indiana. I was with a group at the time, it was called Arnet Clinic. It's now part of, uh, IU Health. Um, and then from Lafayette I returned to Evansville, Indiana, which just happened to be the hometown for my husband and me.

After Jim finished his doctorate at Purdue and I worked with a group there called Well Run Clinic. Um, and now that group is actually part of Deaconess Health System in Evansville. And then I moved to Corvallis, Oregon and I served as Chief Operating Officer, um, in Oregon. And it was really, and that role at Oregon was my first opportunity with Allscripts.

There was, um, a project underway and as I was hired to serve as the COO, there I was, it was. Made clear to me that I wouldn't have to roll out the technology. They had a project manager and actually the medical director for the group was in charge of the project. But as it turned out, some things, the medical director left within two months of my arrival.

It's a big investment that you make for that sort of technology. So, um, my partnered up with the IT team there, got to know that group pretty quickly formed, um, the team we needed and we deployed all scripts. And then from . Corvallis, Oregon. What, how I came back to the, the Midwest, if you will. So the Kentucky area is, again, my extended family is in the Indiana area.

So Baptist Health was looking to deploy Allscripts to its employed practices. I had just done that again, but from the operations side. So I interviewed with a group, um, of individuals and leaders here at Baptist to talk about that. Dave was actually on the interview panel, um, and he said what stood out to him was that I was coming at technology not from the IT side, but from the operations side, but I was hired at Baptist as the director of it.

All scripts, um, to the practices here. Yeah. You know, and I, and, and I, I spent a little extra time on your background because it's, it's interesting when we talk about, uh, removing the gender barriers for getting to the CIO role. Because if, if you look at my show and I interview a lot of CIOs, people say, Hey, you interview, uh, an awful lot of guys.

And I say, well, you know, if you look at the CIO role, it's still like 10% are female and the remainder are are male. And, uh, one of the things I like about your, your job progression is, and, and one of the things I tell people is if you are open to moving, there will be more opportunities for you. Even if you end up back in your hometown, you, you just, there's just more opportunities as you, uh, as you move around.

'cause there's always a system hiring ACIO somewhere in the country and there's, you know, and someone with your experience was able to continue to, to move and, uh, move up the career path. So, oh, and then she got an MBA during our Epic implementation bill. I did the little night. Oh, so, so the Epic implementation wasn't too much.

You, you had extra time on your hands. Thankfully, I was near the end of the program. Um, when I. Dave approached me to ask if I would serve as the executive director for the implementation. So I doubled up on classwork in the summer to finish it up so that I, but to Brett's point, we had to hire our Epic team, which consisted of about 140 analysts, and we had

You, you continue to ask the impossible from time to time. That's right. That's right. But I'll get in there and do it with them. , so. So Brett, give us some of your background. How did you get into the CMIO role? Sure. So it's certainly not a traditional one, although I've not met too many CMOs that there is some kind of traditional pathway.

Um, I've been a family physician for 22 years, and as I was thinking through that, I've really run the gamut. I started off actually as an employee physician with Novant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, when I got outta residency from the state of Kentucky. And when we moved back, I joined a private group practice ended up.

Uh, starting a solo practice on my own only to then bring others in for a small private group practice. Ultimately to sell my practice to Baptist and become employed again. So I've kind of gone full gamut, scene quite a bit. Uh, it was nine years ago that I sold my practice to Baptist, and at the time, Dr.

Ben Dave Besman was, uh. He led the physician group in our market. He was the physician executive in our market. So I negotiated my practice sale with Dave and he ended up becoming a friend and a mentor and, and we connected in a, in some different leadership roles over the subsequent years. But honestly, bill, I wasn't looking for a change.

I, uh, I like computers, but I don't have a computer science or computer background. And Dave came to me one day to have dinner. I talk to you about something, something was going on. I mean, maybe it was my naivety, but, uh, I really didn't know what he wanted to talk about. And he said, I asked me to be the, uh, medical director for the implementation, which, you know, I was curious like, okay, what's that about?

We talked for about an hour about it, and then really the other shoe that fell was, I need four of your five days a week, uh, of practice and, you know, uh. Fortunately, my practice was set up where I had some new partners and they could absorb some of that change, but I really had to make the decision that if this doesn't work, you know, I returned to my practice and it's gonna be an uphill battle of building that back.

Um, but I trusted Dave. I trusted his assessment of what he thought my skillset was, uh, was, and that how I could contribute to the team team. Um, and so I took on that role as a medical director for Epic, uh, implementation. And then over the subsequent two years, it was clear Dave wasn't long for the job.

Maybe it was because he had both roles for two years, but, uh, he retired in in December three years ago and asked if, if I would be the CMIO and kind of at the same time, you know, he Dave's a planner. And so, uh, this was not in a surprise to Tricia and I that he wanted us to assume those two roles and he had been grooming us in that.

And so it's been about three years since then and. I'm glad. I'm glad that we're talking together because I think the key in me taking the role, and Trish and I even talked about this before. They were formally offered to us. Like, I don't know that I would want to do it with a different person. Uh, and it's, and some of our other senior leaders.

And so sometimes when people talk about what's your structure, what's your this or that, not just at Baptist, but other places sometimes I'm not sure if it matters as much as the people that you're plugging in that structure. Um, but anyway, that, that's a little bit about, I still practice a day a week, um, which is getting tougher and tougher to do.

Uh, but it's incredibly valuable in terms of what I can bring to the table. So, so do you still consider Dave a friend or do you feel like he pulled the wool over your eyes? I mean, he he took you out. It looked like a nice dinner with friends and then, uh, then he put you in that role. And that's a tough role where, where you guys were at at that time.

Yeah, yeah, no, he's definitely still a close friend and mentor of mine. You know it, we're at a good spot now. Even when we're rolling out new hospitals, I don't have to wear the Kevlar anymore. You know, I was coming to any physician meeting, just tensed up, ready for a fight after going through what we did with Epic implementation.

And I do remember Dave saying something along the lines of, you know, one of the risks that he took from a Baptist perspective is that at the end of this process that I would be valuable. I could go somewhere else and do the same thing, take another job somewhere else than that. After going through it, I've told Trisha this, like, can you imagine going somewhere else and doing that again?

Like I get my head checked out . So, uh, there are people who are doing that. They're making a career of going from one system to the other. And if you want, if you want a list of systems that are still at the beginning of that journey, I can give you that list and that'd be great. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, every time I look at 'em, I'm going, man, you guys are at the start of a very.

Uh, I mean, it's, it's a difficult road, but it ends up, um, being a lot better at the end. You just have to go through it. So, anyway, I, I wanna get into the, the heart of this is, is, you know, the C-C-I-O-C-M-I-O relationship, how you guys work together, and it's really a tough act to follow. I mean, uh, David, uh, Dr.

sma, David SMA was. One person in both roles. And the benefit of that is, you know, they, he shares a brain with himself. So, uh, always, he's always on the same page with himself. He's strategically thinking about the organization, uh, the same way 'cause it's one person. Um, but you know, in, in his mind, and, and now in this situation, you, it's the roles are, are split.

Um, why do you think it's important to have. Uh, two distinct roles, A-C-C-I-O and A-C-C-M-I-O. It might be obvious, but I, I'd just like to, to talk about it a little bit as we now have exited the EPIC deployment. What's interesting is there are so many demands for strategic thinking around our IT needs, and there is enough.

For what I need to consider and enough for what Brett needs to consider that it's definitely a full-time job for each of us. And so it's, it's really reassuring to know as it comes to matters relating to clinical needs or, um, physician requirements that the natural person to first think about that will be Brett and Brett can.

Let me think about, well, what are we gonna do with the budget and how are we, um. Staging our capital needs and what are their timelines related to that. So I can be focused on that and he can be focused on physician, uh, needs for an example. But we, I, I really can't imagine, um, Dave did a wonderful job, but I will say to you what I think Dave also did, back to Brett's point about he, he was such a planner.

That he had Brett serving as the medical director for the EPIC project, and I served as the executive director. So I would see him even at times, be able to rely, delegate to us what may be more natural when we would transition to CIO and CMIO, he really started to help delegate some of those responsibilities to us so that we could.

The transition would be very just organic, honestly. So is, is the split of the work pretty natural? Is it just, you know, a a anything to do with clinical and medical starts with Brett and anything that's sort of technology or digital related starts, uh, with Tricia? Is it, is it pretty, pretty clear split. I, you know, I think there is some of that.

Sometimes the clinical piece will determine it. We had a change in our reporting structure after Dave left, maybe at a year after Dave left, where instead of Tricia as CIO as CMIO, and then our ciso, we all reported to one particular person and they, the organization went kind of a different direction and that position no longer exists.

And so now Tricia reports to our CFO. I report to our Chief Health Integration Officer, uh, who's also in charge of our medical group, and then Michael Erickson, our CISO reports to Chief Legal, uh, our chief legal officer. And at first I think we were a little concerned. We, we knew, we communicated well with each other, but okay.

All of a sudden we're not kind of coalescing with the same person in that reporting structure. But it's turned out to be really wonderful because. We we're getting glimpses of the organization from different angles. We have three of the, of the direct reports to our CEO, the seven direct reports to our CEO.

We interact with one-on-one, and we report to, and then we have time with the majority of the other ones. And so I bring that up in your, in your question about, um. How we split up the work. Sometimes that just comes naturally. If the CFO has something that's kind of bubbling up, Tricia knows about it. She may not do all the work herself, but she knows about the work and the projects that are necessary.

And kind of same thing from the medical group or the ACO that that I'll hear, and of course Michael with security and legal, uh, issues. So. It sort of, it, it does come a little more naturally, but I think it's not without some effort on our part in terms of we're very, very intentional about our communication with each other.

I mean, we have our executive team meetings every week, but then we set aside time each month to, to round back with each other. There are plenty of times late in the day that I've taken up Tricia's evening as I'm, I commute about an hour when I come to the Louisville area. My practice isn't here, and I'll get on the phone and we'll debrief for an hour and a half and I'll realize, you know, it's seven o'clock and she, she needs to go be with her family like I do.

But I, but that's a very important intentionality that I have that I don't think you see in a reporting structure, but it really makes this work. Yeah, that's great. Uh, the, and, and I appreciate the, you know, the long commute phone calls as well. I've, I've been a part of those. Um, so was there, was it pretty easy, an easy transition for the staff?

I mean, at one point I assume it was all under Dr. sma, but then it had to split out, so that's the nature of that question. Was it, was the transition easy for them or was it, uh, natural, or, or was there some challenges? You know, I think it's been a transition. There are always challenges when you're dealing with, we have five.

40 something right around 500 actually. FTEs. Yeah. Um, FTEs. And so, but Dave, again, as planning goes, he was extremely intentional during his years as CIO, uh, in that role to develop a teamwork. It was never about Dave, it was never about one person. It was always celebrating the team. He sent out emails every Friday that celebrated, uh, the performance of different applications, infrastructure teams, whatever.

Uh, calling out the team members and, and really. Develop that sense of teamwork. And then I think as Tricia stepped into the CIO role, she's just continued this transparency where maybe it was always not thought about in the organization. Um, she makes it clear that we're at the table that, uh, our current senior leadership, you know, hears us.

And when there are things that. They would like to know about whether they're interdepartmental or part of the system. She's articulating that quickly to them before a newsletter comes out. Or, or, or rumors can get started. I mean, there were times when she would send out something early on and I'm looking at thinking, can she say that?

Is that, does everybody, is everybody clear on that? And yet, of course she could. And it was, but it was just being that clear and cascading that information broadly. So. One. And the other thing I'd like to mention too, that we've established are these birthday meetings. So we've got 500 plus folks, you can't meet individually with all of them.

And so, uh, Tricia established these birthday meetings. I don't, why don't you tell them, uh, kind what that's all about? So. With the department of 500, I wanted to find a way to connect if the individuals wanted to just hear from the senior leadership. So Michael, Brett and I. Michael again is our Chief Information Security Officer.

The three of us set aside time once a month. If your birthday is that month, you're invited. Then invitation goes out and essentially we spend an hour and they know upfront, we've been doing it for over, it's about 18 months now into it that we're, we've been holding this forum and they know there's no set agenda.

It's whatever questions you have, something that's on your mind, a concern that you have, we wanna hear about it so that we can a, give you the knowledge, you need, the information, relieve any concerns or fears or anxieties that may exist. We take detailed minutes from that meeting each month so that those go out.

So if you, it's not your birthday, you still have the benefit of hearing, um, what we were sharing. And the purpose of it is really. We have a strong philosophy of leadership within our IT team and it carries naturally even from, there's been a lot of senior executive transition. So Brett and I were actually in our roles before.

We have a new CEO, now we have a new COO. So those individuals came into their roles with Brett and I already A-C-I-O-C-M-I-O. So maybe to some of your question earlier, bill. Their, the transition wasn't even a transition for them. We were already in play and so they naturally are looking at us as CMIC, MIO, and CIO, but what we're saying to our staff, especially during periods of transition, especially at the senior most level of the organization, I recognize there could be fear and, and we have been with them.

I've been in the department. I'm going on nine years now, so I'm not a new face to our team members. And I just wanted them to have the forum of safety, ask your questions. And so, um, I think that helped again with, to your point about transition and how we're managing it and how we maintain a culture of openness.

I think we all do better. Right? I do better when I can understand. What our senior executives need or what our customers need, that we serve with technology, but I also, my own employees are my customers, and I do better understanding what they need from me, what sort of barriers I need to remove. What sort of, um.

Back to sort of reality, what can we deliver and what is too much to ask in this given set of time based on competing priorities for tasks? Yeah. The, uh, wow, the birthday meeting idea is wonderful. I mean, I hope, I hope as a result of this podcast, we start to hear about, uh, executives implementing that across the board.

That is a, that is a phenomenal practical tip. Uh, for people. Um, hey Bill, add one thing. Um, the other, the other piece that we try to do in, in terms of the culture of the department is reminding them of the why of what we're doing that, you know, in, in terms of patient care. And I think that's something that we really try.

It's something that I get to see whenever I'm in the office taking care of patients. I see an application, a, ABPA, some kind of med warning that that's fired to help. Take care of the patient. But we tried to, at a departmental level recently, like I think just last week, our Floyd Hospital got re-accredited by the Commission on Cancer, and that came to the senior leaders.

And Tricia was quick to send that out to our oncology support teams and, and anybody involved in making that happen to remind them that this is, this is why we do it. And you know, we've talked sometimes about, you know, sort of mandating a, a day with someone in the clinical realm, uh, but.

The why and showing them the stories that happen from real patient care, from the work that they're doing. Sometimes when you're sitting behind a desk or a cubicle, you know, you, you might miss or forget. Yeah. You know, it's, it's the health system I was at. We did a values in action at the end of every year, and four people were nominated in our four core values, and we showed the videos at an IT function, and I, I remember we got done and

I said, do you see who the best supporting actor is in the, in all of these movies? Because in, in all of 'em, you had, you know, technology was everywhere. And, uh, and it, and I think the other thing I saw that was really reinforced that was, uh, when Providence and St. Joseph Health came together, uh, Providence brought with their culture that the IT staff was called caregivers.

And I was like, I didn't know how I felt about that at first. And then I, I really, I, I let that sort of sit with me for a while and I realized. Yeah, no, they are, they're, they're providing care. They're, they're easing the transitions, uh, the transitions of care. They're moving the informa. These are all things that make the, uh, the experience, the care experience.

Better, uh, for those people who are, are at that moment, uh, needing to be cared for. And part of that care is, is the technology working and working effectively. So it's, it's interesting, uh, you talk to me about strategy. So strategy is one of those areas where, uh, you guys could potentially fight, um, you know, you, you, Brett, you might want more dollars, and Trisha, you might want more dollars, or you might think your project's more important than the other.

So how do, how do you, uh. How does that work together? How do you guys work together on strategy? Well, so one of the first things we do, as you well know, and you just, you just described how you played a supportive role in many of your businesses initiatives when you were CIO. That's true for us too. So, first and foremost, we can't, it doesn't form their strategy, our strategy on our own.

We have to understand what the business is going after. As we understand what the business strategy is, then we ask ourselves, okay, where do they, where will they need technology? How ready is our technology to support those initiatives? So some of what we've sought to do is Brett and I with working with our leaders, and Michael's involved in this with his, the three of us are.

Um, intentional about seeking to understand in what priority are those given business strategies? So what's the timeline for a said given or a given business strategy? And then backing into that, how much lead time are we gonna need from a technology perspective to deliver to that? And that honestly is how we start to prioritize.

Our funding, um, within our budget. And while Michael's, uh, security budget is separate from the IT budget, um, we even still look at it holistically because there are a lot of right security initiatives that Michael as the CSO leads. But in order to carry them out, he needs members from my team. To fulfill them.

So we have to have that ongoing transparency. The collective three of us, the three chiefs in it, have to appreciate what each other is being asked to do, um, by their respective leaders so that we position the staffing. Um, because oftentimes I would say if there's shared staff, it's mostly team members from my group coming to support what Brett may need or Michael May need.

Do you think that's fair, Brett? Yeah. No, absolutely. Yeah, I think, I think our, our organization has had a wonderful cultural shift over the last couple of years to want to include it early. Uh, you know, it's been the more traditional way of coming in after a deal assigned, a vendor selected and the network doesn't work or something.

But when it gets notified that this project even exists, and the world that we're living in now is wonderful in that the vast majority of the time. The, uh, business leaders are asking the question, well, have you run this by security yet? Has, is it involved? What can Epic do this, you know, or some existing platform that we already have.

So that really helps our strategy become simplified, where if they'll just come to us with their business case problem, their business problem they're trying to solve, and then let us find the technology that we either have that repurposed and so. As the pops up in our different, uh, verticals really are about keeping our head up for those new technologies that could in the strategy business organization.

So honestly, there's. There's not a lot of infighting over. I mean, Michael gets special treatment with security, but otherwise there's no infighting with, with our budgetary, uh, wishes and desires because they really come from outside of it, if that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I advocate for things and there are a few projects that probably wouldn't have happened if I wasn't advocating for them, but the most, most of it we're supporting what, you know, what the business is asking for.

Yeah. And you guys will have to pass along my, uh, apologies to Michael. It seems like it, it, it almost seems like the three of you work as, as. You know, sort of a triad of, of leaders that, uh, work very closely together. And if I had, if I had had this conversation before, I would've naturally invited him.

'cause I think it would be interesting to, to, you know, add that in, uh, that component, it seems like you guys communicate. Is there, are there areas where you guys end up co-presenting that you sort of represent sort of both sides of, uh, you know, technology and, and clinical and your, your co-presenting is, does that happen often or?

Or special occasions kind of thing. You know, we, I was thinking, I don't think we've ever actually co-presented something. We do a lot of co-work on things for sure. Um, business continuity, disaster recovery, and, you know, there's clinical aspects and certainly operational access. But I don't know that we've ever co-presented anything.

Um. W what's nice is, is that because of the way we communicate with each other, we oftentimes choose to go separate ways on projects or meetings because we can cover more, uh, area, more territory. And I know what Tricia's gonna say, and I know she's, if something surprising comes up, she's gonna let me know, uh, quickly and vice versa.

So. Honestly, I think it, it really helps and that's another reason to have split the roles up back to one of our earlier questions is we literally can be two places at once with the same mindset and under of I've anything. No, I could, uh, like you, I couldn't think of a time where we have done that. Um, you going to the governance examples, I think that's probably the best opportunity where I can think, where Brett and I are serving on the same, on, on the same governance committee for the perspective of they wanna hear from Brett on the clinical technology aspect of it.

And then they wanna hear from me on, um, deployment or budget, those sorts of things. Yeah. Well, well, speaking of governance, where, where do governance functions lie? And which ones, you know, how do you split up the, that, uh, that role within the organization? So we have, uh, we have multiple governance committees that run here at Baptist.

So ones where we, even our triad, the triad exists on the cyber governance. All three of us are on cyber governance. Brett and I serve on business continuity governance. Um, I'm an executive sponsor of that with our COO, but Brett's a voting member of that committee. Um, the triad will serve on a new committee that we're forming, which is informatics governance because we each have unique perspectives around that area of informatics.

Um, and so. Michael will represent his views on that. Brett, his, and I'll have mine, um, capital committee. I serve on that for our department. So when capital requests need to go through, if it's anything from our triad, I present it, um, on our behalf. And I'm also a voting member on the capital committee. Um, Brett, you wanna talk about some of yours, uh, within BHMG and safety.

Yeah, I think I certainly been part of the system safety committee and our Epic governance councils, uh, leading several of those. And, uh, but again, then just reporting back to our executive team, the, the initiatives that are coming, trying to get the medical group in those governance areas to think it. To be thinking security, uh, to be thinking dollars.

You know, the vendor says it's free. I'm like, okay. But there's some pause behind that. And, and even though I wouldn't be the, the, uh, budget expert or the security expert, just being able to be there to get someone to pause for a minute and, and think, and so I think that's all, you know, amounts to how the culture's changing and, and really helping us Along those lines, how, how is, how does innovation bubble up at BHSI?

And then how do you sort of. Uh, take something from an idea that could, uh, you know, have a significant and positive impact on the community, community that you serve and make it a reality. Well, we're not, unfortunately, we're not, uh, blessed with some $50 million innovation arm or sponsorship or partnership with Google or something like that.

Or maybe that wouldn't be such a good thing. But anyway, ours occurs more organically. Um, for instance, two years ago, our physician cabinet with consists of employed and affiliated physicians, uh, had two goals for the year, and one of them was working on physician burnout, but the, the tagline was physician burnout and, and, uh, EHR optimization.

They were one. And so after my head dropped and I had a chance to articulate, it's not just the ER. That's when, uh, you know, we start thinking about innovative things. And so I went to our, uh, director of training and support, and she and I worked through developing an Epic Mastery program, being very intentional with the word mastery, that this is a lifelong or career long, at least learning process with the EHR, with technology, uh, and developed a program to where each provider in our employee medical group at least, will get touched twice a year.

Coming out, checking on them, look, you know, using some reporting to, uh, to help them along or to help identify some potential problems, but shadowing them and really just starting to develop a culture of, this wasn't a one shot deal. We're gonna be here for you. Reach out to us, start keeping your list. But, you know, that at the time was innovative for us, but it grew out of an organic need, and that's kind of where I see things happen.

I'll see. Innovation comes out of our human resources department when they're trying to address a problem. And then again, trying to turn to us for those potential technology, uh, solutions that could help. Uh, not all are certainly gonna be technology. Yeah. You know, I, as is usually the case, I put too many questions on a form for, you know, I, I have like 10 more questions to ask you guys.

Um, but we're, we're really out of time. Uh, it, it is, it is really interesting. I mean, when, when things are. Really thought through and uh, really set up correctly. And you have trust between the leadership teams. A lot of the things that you hear in other organizations, the politics of it, and. Um, and, and, and some the challenges, whatnot, sort of sort of go away.

I mean, you guys trust each other to attend different governance meetings and you're gonna communicate, you're gonna bring things back. Um, it it, it really is. It, you know, it, it's kind of interesting as I'm listening to this, 'cause it's like, it all sounds like common sense and simple, but it's not, uh, it's not common, nor is it simple.

Hmm. I would say it's a blessing to have Brett and Michael as my colleagues, their trusted confidants. You have the chance to bounce something off them who do know technology well and can think through if this is gonna make sense, and, uh, what more could I ask? They are just tremendous partners. That's fantastic.

So, uh, Trisha and Brett, uh, thanks for coming on the show. I, I really enjoyed our time together. How, how can, can people follow you or is, is there a way that they can, uh, you know, through social media or other ways. Uh, I'm on LinkedIn, bill. Um, I'm also involved with the federal, uh, high tech committee as part of the Cures Act and on some of the task force there, like U-S-C-B-I, um, annual report work group, things like that.

So you can check out that work. Uh, and I would encourage these listeners that I'm sure already do, but if you paying attention for the next couple months when the final rules come down, yeah, it should be interesting and similar LinkedIn as well for me. But that's about it from a social media perspective.

I. Yeah, it's, uh, so you have a full-time job, is that what you're, you're telling us

I really wanna thank Tricia and Brett for taking the time to join me on the show. They are such a great team. I'm glad I got a chance to share their story with you. Special thanks to our channel sponsors, VMware, Galen Healthcare, Starbridge advisors, and pro talent advisors for choosing to invest in developing the next generation of health leaders.

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