November 12, 2025: After a major consolidation and Epic implementation during COVID-19, Ballad Health could have focused solely on survival. Instead, Pam Austin, CIO at Ballad Health, partnered with Chris Jenkins, EVP of Digital Strategy and Enterprise Imaging at Healthlink Advisors, to build a comprehensive five-year digital roadmap anchored in six strategic pillars. This conversation explores how they established IT governance that turns noise into clarity, created an Office of the CIO to free leadership for strategic thinking, and achieved millions in savings through application rationalization. Pam and Chris reveal why transparency drives engagement, how they keep 400+ team members aligned with the organizational mission, and their essential advice for healthcare leaders embarking on large-scale digital transformation.

Key Points:

• 00:53 Creating a Five-Year Roadmap
• 07:49 Maintaining Focus and Prioritization
• 12:26 Office of the CIO and Strategic Impact
• 17:52 Sustained Success and Future Advice
• 20:12 Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways

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Sarah Richardson: Welcome everyone to our Solution Showcase. Today we're exploring how Ballad Health and Health Inc. Advisors built a digital transformation roadmap that truly connects strategy, governance, and people coming off a major consolidation and an epic implementation. During COVID, Pam Austin and her team at Ballad Face the challenge of aligning dozens of systems priorities and people.

Thank you. I'm thrilled to be here.

Good because I mean, this is a huge story. We gotta tell it in like 20, 25 minutes. I don't know how we're gonna do that. Start with you, because coming off of a major consolidation and an epic go live during the height of COVID. You could have focused on stabilizing your operations, but you chose to think long term.

Why was this the right moment to build a comprehensive five year digital roadmap?

So, after that consolidation of Epic, we were basically just in survival mode. Honestly. We had multiple systems, cultures, priorities to align all of those things, and we needed a shared digital vision to unify our technology. Our operations and the people, our team members. So HealthLink Advisors helped us create that five year roadmap.

And that roadmap is anchored in six pillars. That we lead our department with still today, and that's innovate and lead enterprise platforms, service excellence, strategic partnerships, organizational stewardship, and available and secure. And the reason we did that, even with the pandemic, there's always going to be an unknown in the future, right?

We couldn't have gotten here that five years without that plan from Health Link Advisors, and our goal was to move from just surviving. And to strategically thriving. And that's what that plan did for us. And now it sets us up to be able to refresh it, which we have for the next five years.

Sarah Richardson: And Chris, when Healthlink began working with ballot, you said this was not cookie cutter, this is not a playbook.

You just pull, you know, out of a file. How did you meet Ballad, where they were and design a plan that reflected both their immediate and their long-term transformation needs? S

So, so, you know, how we met them, where they were, is to understand where they were, so we spent a lot of time talking to the leaders. We also, knowing that. What it takes to run an organization, whether it be on the operation side or on the IT side. This stuff isn't easy. So we wanted to build a now, near, far plan, but it had to align with the capabilities, not only IT, but the organization to consume, what was on that plan.

So it was a lot of focus on what's most important. The enterprise platform was still critically important to them, which is EHR, right? There are other enterprise platforms such as imaging and such as ERP, but there were still a lot to do with Epic, you know, getting the organization coming, going from a different EHR one that already had the same one they went to, but really trying to consolidate that and getting the organization aligned around that was important.

You know, so we had to understand what the organization wanted to accomplish, how it would help them, enable them to accomplish that, but more importantly, not set false expectations that they could do things that they possibly couldn't do at that point in time, but knew that they could do it over time.

Sarah Richardson: And Pam, you've shared that it loves to drive change, but isn't always the greatest experiencing it. So how did you establish IT governance within your own team to help align and focus your work, especially at this scale?

Pam Austin: So for us, what we wanted, governance that reduces noise.

Each of those pillars and aligned every single team member in our department. We trained and educated them on what those pillars are, what they mean, how their work. Moves the mission forward and those pillars in the IT strategic plan are not separate from Ballad's Overall strategic plan, we align to, so that governance connects Ballad's mission, our culture and it's really about consistent communication and education out to reduce project noise, if you will.

And so we shifted from IT projects to balance. Project and shared ownership, but it's all done through consistent quality communication.

Sarah Richardson: Do you find that you also, maybe it's every six months or iteratively, look at the internal IT governance as well as the larger governance structure across the organization.

Is it as iterative as your plans?

So that six month milestone allows us to look back, where are we headed? Do we need to pivot? Do we need to change? Do we need to make an adjustment? And then that roadmap overall, we keep that's a living, breathing document, if you will. It's about prioritization and flexibility overall.

Sarah Richardson: I love that because governance is a forever conversation and not always done as well as it could or should be done. And Chris, from your perspective, how did that governance approach support your collaboration? And more specifically, how it kept the roadmap dynamic and instead of static and becoming stale?

It maintains that alignment and it makes people talk about what is the most important thing to do for the organization. You know, Pam mentioned something that's critically important. The people that do the large majority of the work are, you know, the team that are, have their hands on the keyboards and are out there talking to the customers, and if they aren't aligned with.

What they should be doing, then a lot of this stuff falls apart. Right? So the key was keeping the leadership level aligned in terms of knowing what to you know, focus on, and making sure that propagated down to the right levels within the organization and to prioritize. So I think it helped with a lot with prioritization of work because the ever-changing life of it and healthcare, you know, it's at every facility we ever go into and I think.

You know, in terms of this is what the organization wants to accomplish and the it component of that. But then it's all the ad hoc requests that come in outta cycle, which are immense. So, you know, that's the two components I think that it helped keep people focused on.

Sarah Richardson: Pam, you regularly share the strategic roadmap and the pillars with your 400 plus team members.

What has that transparency done for engagement and clarity within the IT organization?

Helps it move our mission forward. And here's how it aligns back to Ballad's mission. And it's a shared language. It shares we're partners in innovation. We provide quality support. We run it like a business. So I break it down in that fashion. And then I explained how digital. Enables everything we do.

So the digital en enablement showing how the technology impacts our clinicians and patients and that everything we do in it ultimately supports all the way down to the patient in the bed and the hospital that's getting care and those roadmaps and those six pillars with the digital enablement is how it all pulls together.

So basically digital enablement is the connective tissue. Across everything we do. And that's what I say over and over each month. And now our team members know when they see that slide, we're gonna talk about work that they're doing and showcase it in our meeting. And that's how we bring along that support and transparency and drive the engagement.

Sarah Richardson: And that lookback that you do to celebrate progress against goals, how have those moments really reinforced the accountability and built that momentum across your team?

Pam Austin: Yeah. What it does is it shows our team the commitment that we have as a leadership team, it shows them where we're going. Where we've come from so that they see this big vision and this here's the plan, but they have to break it down to show each section of the work they're doing, how that impacts the plan going forward and allows them to be part of it.

Sarah Richardson: Plus you're giving themm that real time feedback. I mean, that's such a win for people to see, have a three year project, like what's happened in the last couple of months. Like being able to see how it all leads to something bigger is such an important aspect of that continued engagement and connection with the team.

Chris, for you, part of Healthlinks partnership included creating the office of the CIO which gave Pam more time. And space to focus on strategy. Why was that such a pivotal move and what impact have you seen?

Chris Jenkins: For A CIO to be successful. and They can be successful in many ways.

Make sure you keep the lights on first and foremost, and I'll call that table stakes, but we know how hard that really is. It's understanding what is the strategic plan. What are the roadmaps also that support that strategic plan and the tactical plans underneath that, and how do you keep all that together and keep people focused and driving the right direction?

So there's a component of the OCIO that ties strategically up to the organization, but a large component looks internally, so it really just allowed. Pam and others to kind of look outside of it and to maintain focus on where's the healthcare industry going? You know, what's Ballad Health need?

You still have to worry about it. But that's the whole concept around that. And it's everything from, you know, system selections. It's around the PMO, the demand management component. It's the workforce management of the people, which is critically important here. It finance is a big part of this.

How are you managing your budgets to both CapEx and opex? How are you making smart decisions around your solutions in house, the cyber component, it's all those moving parts, as you know, Sarah, because you run, you've been CIO and anyone that's been in that position, it's hard to look internally and still try and do the right things for the organization that a CIO should be doing.

So I love that was a or early win for all of you, because I mean, you take a roadmap and you have to measure it. There has to be a way for that to be seen by the organization and yeah. One standout result has been Ballad's app rationalization millions in savings while strengthening the longer term plan.

Chris, what made that possible?

Chris Jenkins: Well, consolidation in a merger systems is usually a great catalyst for that. So, you know, I think that it helps and, you know, it's, a lot of times it's driven by just that you know, an EHR consolidation, ERP consolidation or one of your major systems. I think what made it possible is, the way that we think of this is we like to do a total cost of ownership model when we go into any type of large system. And a big part of that is a sunset schedule, and we know there's a lot of moving parts of that, but what systems can be replaced and what systems absolutely need to be replaced and what does it take to replace them?

And that, that's really what makes it possible. I think taking it one step further though, is to get it really to the end is what do you do with the technology that those solutions are running on? A lot of it can be repurposed, a lot of it can be completely sunset. because a lot of it's legacy.

And, you know, it's a significant opportunity. That could be driven through consolidation. One more piece to it is it can't stop. It can't be a one and done because of the consolidation. To do it correctly and to sustain it, you have to build it into your future solution evaluation process sometime in the PMO.

So you have to have a good data archive plan. So all that has to be built in. And then you have to look at termination on contracts. So if you're, there's some type of a term clause that you have to look at. But nonetheless that's kind of the. You know, how we think about the apparat, and I think, you know, as the merger acquisition happened with Ballad, with the epic with the move to the hr, now the move to the ERP and also to the enterprise imaging, that generates a lot of opportunity to reduce your footprint, to make it a simpler environment.

It helps with support and definitely helps with pricing. And isn't amazing

Sarah Richardson: How far we've come though. I mean, you all remember the days mean we would just turn off the server or like just put it in a different rack or put it in a closet with some caution tape. Like, yeah, we're not gonna use this one anymore, just put it over here.

Pam Austin: I would call that roadmap to results. And we have tangible outcomes that show cost savings from application rationalization, for example, faster delivery, stronger alignment. It's part of our organizational stewardship. It allows it to operate efficiently and strategically more so than just reactionary on our available and secure pillar.

And that's where we are at this point in time.

Sarah Richardson: There's so many wins from what you've created here, and this is about. Leaning into the future as much as anything else. your point, you like to celebrate the wins. When you look back on everything you've accomplished through this, what are you most proud of?

What stands out for you?

Pam Austin: What stands out for me is capitalizing on what I just mentioned it as a strategic enabler. Of care. We're not just systems. We are actually moving the organization forward technically. So that's one thing. But also the people in our department that care about our patients and our region and that we've grown a.

Sarah Richardson: that's such a great thing to hear from the leader of the organization, like being able to set that expectation for the team and something they can follow willingly.

But also. Lean into at any given chance that they may need to do so. This is what I wanna ask for both of you, for other organizations that may be embarking on a large scale digital transformation, what is your biggest piece of advice?

Pam Austin: For me, I would say start with alignment. It's people, process and technology With a purpose driven use case, start there and then with your pillars, define those early.

Just like what we did and communicate them relentlessly. Just like I'm doing for five years in a row. Every single month without a break. We communicate what's happening and then build in digital enablement. Make that part of your DNA connect the technology with data and people to create value.

Sarah Richardson: you?

Chris Jenkins: I think it's, you know, a couple things. You have to stay current. Both, as you know, we're advisors, but the teams have stay current on where the healthcare industry is going, right? And when we think about, strategic planning or digital plans is you take a step back, you take a deep breath and understand what you have, but where you want to go.

What are the risks and gaps that you have if you don't go. Build something else into the plan and that's going to limit you from continuing to grow your organization. And as Pam mentioned, we're all here to do the right thing for the patients. , This is all about serving your mission, keeping people well.

I've always said, you know, when in it. Think of if you're in a downtime, think of that's it. Your mother, your grandmother, your father in a bed, and they don't know what meds need to get pushed. So maintaining the sense of purpose of why you're here to do, , what you're there to serve. We like to build that into the conversations and the plans that, you know, when we think about our strategic plan.

And what's the tactical side of that? So that's kinda how we think about delivering on these items. And what's important to both IT and the organization.

Sarah Richardson: What would you two say? That leaders need to get right from the get go. And what are some of those lessons learned? Some of those pitfalls that you experienced, that you were like, oops, we need to fix this over here, et cetera.

Like it sounds like, okay, I'm gonna go create this, I'm gonna work with Chris, I'm gonna do these other things. But you realize so much goes into every step, including just the origination of the idea. So what needs to happen first, and then what would you safeguard against as even as you go, you two go forward in this plan.

Pam Austin: Chris, do you want me to go first? Yeah,

Chris Jenkins: if you wanna go, Pam. That's been a good order.

Pam Austin: It's the people for me, every person in your department, every person in your organization, and it's people, process, technology, you have to always remember that the people that are delivering the projects and doing the work.

And I mentioned that earlier, but. A strong governance process will make or break your whole plan around office of the CIO and anything you're trying to deliver going forward. Yeah. Well said Chris.

Chris Jenkins: Yeah. So, don't be afraid to fail, number one, I think, because you're not gonna get it right, right.

But don't hold onto it for so long where it really impacts you and the organization. What Pam said is I think is important. It's the relationship and the transparency of around. Around what you're doing, what the teams are doing, what the organization needs and that, that's hard to maintain that alignment because it changes frequently.

So, you know, trying to keep the team, the morale, everything you know, solid and purposeful is another area that I think is very important to do.

Pam Austin: I'll tag onto that. So for us, technology follows culture, not the other way around. And then we built alignment first and technology second.

Sarah Richardson: That could be like a tagline for all of it, Pam, like Hallelujah.

Chris Jenkins: Yeah. And I, let me add to that too. The culture is you know, the organizations I've grown up in that have been incredibly successful are based on culture first and people.

Pam Austin: That's right.

Chris Jenkins: Not just it just opens the doors to do a lot of things really great. So,

And so that's why I'm so grateful we were able to share this story with our listeners today. You have built something that is not just a roadmap, it is truly a living framework for how governance and transparency and leadership can move an organization forward and continuously forward. So thank you for sharing the story with us today.

Thank you.

Chris Jenkins: Thank you.