Episode 1: Top 5 Stakeholders for Health Care Tech Implementation

Episode Summary

Successful implementation of healthcare technology can be challenging. Not everyone is initially on board and solutions often require complex coordination between multiple moving parts: teams, departments, and key stakeholders. 

Overcoming obstacles to effective healthcare delivery requires delicate finesse and an ability to bring stakeholders together. Those with a bird’s eye view are best positioned to do this — like Lone Star Communications, Inc.’s Clinical Application Specialists.

Acting as a bridge between disparate medical and technological departments, informatics is the linchpin of successful healthcare tech implementations, says Lone Star Clinical Application Specialist Regina Wysocki. 

Beyond the tried-and-true bastions of IT and facilities also lie the clinical and oft-overlooked biomedical departments.

IT takes a broad view of infrastructure and solution deployment, which is ideally suited for efficient delivery, albeit sometimes at the risk of neglecting the consequences and outcomes of those solutions. While clinicians rarely makes financial decisions about integrations, they’re the end users with boots on the ground, and their perspective on pain points and optimal workflows is crucial for successful implementation.

Biomedical is the go-to when something isn’t working properly, and so it’s sometimes easy to overlook in calmer waters. Meanwhile, facilities used to be the only stakeholders with whom integrators would partner, while it now forms just part of a greater whole. The department is second to none in understanding the flow of healthcare providers. 

Informatics acts as the connector between the technological and the medical, facilitating stronger communication. In particular, informatics must drive home the truth that no one perspective is any more important than another: All must work in harmony to achieve ideal implementation outcomes.

Featured on the Episode

Name: Regina Wysocki

What she does: Regina is an informatics clinical application specialist and thought leader for healthcare integration best practices. She’s worked with critical stakeholders through complex healthcare implementation and digital transformation projects, including those at Houston Methodist and Texas Children’s Hospital.

Organization: Lone Star Communications, Inc.

Words of Wisdom: “If you get the right information from the right clinical people at the beginning, it saves you time at the end. You don't have to go back and reprogram or change your training. It helps to have that voice at the table from the very beginning.”

Connect: LinkedIn

Key Points

Top takeaways from this episode

• The financial decision-makers can’t be the only voices in the room. For successful technological implementation, you must consult with physicians, technicians, unit secretaries, and nursing assistants — those with boots on the ground. These individuals sometimes have the best insight into optimal workflows and persistent pain points. It also means bringing in those who are most resistant from the outset.
• A robust clinical application specialist team is the secret to a successful implementation. It’s a common scenario: Two different departments meet and members of one use jargon unfamiliar to the other (and vice versa). The solution to this frequent conundrum is to build a team that acts as a bridge — connecting disparate departments and diverging interests — to facilitate better communication for optimal outcomes.
• No one stakeholder is better than any other. All five key stakeholders — IT, clinical, biomedical, facilities and informatics — must work in tandem with one another for successful healthcare technology integrations and effective healthcare outcomes. Every stakeholder brings a different perspective that will ultimately impact these overall outcomes for end users and patients. Combining these perspectives into an overarching view results in better solution delivery and patient care: the desired end goal of all healthcare technology integrators.

Episode Insights

[00:00] Near and dear to the heart: Regina’s background as an informatics clinical application specialist and healthcare technology thought leader, has involved working on implementation projects with a number of Texas-based healthcare providers.

[02:46] Top 5 Stakeholders: Those in the healthcare industry need to work with some key organizational areas in mind for a successful technology implementation.

[03:08] Clinical personnel priorities: Anyone interacting with a healthcare system must still be involved from the beginning (even if they don’t make financial decisions). These key professionals help to address pain points and accurately optimize workflows.

[08:56] Setting sights on super users: Those who can grapple with and effectively explain tech to more resistant team members are a successful implementation’s best friend — especially in larger work environments.

[11:41] IT-driven implementation: IT departments oversee and control timelines with a bird’s eye view, which can make it difficult to find the right person. Dedicated project managers within hospitals can help facilitate more effective implementations — especially as one half of an effective partnership.

[15:20] Making the connection: Integrators like Lone Star can act as a bridge for those departments that otherwise wouldn’t interact, like IT and clinical.

[20:54] Tech blindside: Those with their eyes on the prize don’t always think about the consequences or how the solutions they’re building will ultimately be used, which can carry significant investment risk. Mitigation requires informatics oversight.

[23:30] The biomedical angle: When things don’t work properly, who are you going to call? Often overlooked when things are running smoothly, the biomedical team is a crucial component of well-functioning healthcare providers and seamless implementations.

[28:35] The old guard: Facilities was once the only stakeholder with whom integrators like Lone Star would’ve worked. Now, this department understands the flow of a hospital better than many.

[30:12] Get-to-know-yous: No one stakeholder is more important than another — all have their own expertise and area of focus. Early bridge-building between stakeholders is what matters most.

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CarePoints with Kenny Schiff by Lone Star Communications is a series of conversations with his collaborators at Lone Star, customers, partners, and notable folks in the healthcare industry. For over 32 years, Lone Star Communications has been focused on transforming healthcare through innovation and empowering improved caregiver and patient experience.