I was speaking with a colleague of mine the other day, Dr. Marc Chasin (CIO/CMIO St. Luke’s Health System), and we were discussing what it takes to make a transformational program (i.e. EHR install) successful.  Successful, not just in terms of getting the hardware installed and software live, but ensuring it is operationally adopted, woven into the fabric of the organization and utilized to not only support daily operations but leveraged as a tool to support and drive strategic initiatives.

We talked about core intangibles and requirements needing to be in place to make it happen.  But in conversation we really honed in on and kept coming back to “how” we approached and managed these transformational initiatives.  I think we all agree, and have heard it a million times, change is inevitable.  But how we manage and communicate that change is what will impact how it is received and adopted.  This fundamental concept is relayed consistently from industry leading research groups to formal certification programs, but seems to get caught up in formal approaches.

For that I submit the result of our conversation, “the 10 Intangibles of a Successful Transformational Program”.  It sounds structured, but it’s not.  The intent is to really boil these things down to some core approaches, irrespective of tool set or formal teaching, and infuse these simple approaches and thoughts into the process utilized at the organization.  At the end of the day these should be present in any program to be successful, but often times just keeping it simple will bolster the success rate.  I wish everybody good fortune and hope these things are useful and helpful in your transformational programs.

Sincerely,

Brad Beauvais

Partner | T3K Health LLC