By Aine Cryts

Suma Gaddam, CIO, Care New England

Suma Gaddam, CIO, Care New England

Today’s healthcare CIOs need to understand how technology can help propel the healthcare organization into the future. The ability to translate the power of technology to the executive team, to clinicians, to your own team, and to your partners is key, says Suma Gaddam, CIO at Providence, RI-based Care New England. AXIS recently discussed the changing role of the healthcare CIO with Gaddam.

AXIS: How has the role of healthcare CIO changed over the last 3 to 5 years?

Gaddam: The role of the healthcare CIO has definitely changed in the last 3 to 5 years. The focus in the healthcare industry used to be on getting everybody to use electronic tools for documenting, ordering, and prescribing. Getting there was a big deal. Everyone was investing many millions of dollars to get to an electronic state.

Within the last year or so, the focus has been on what we’re doing with the data we have. Strategic healthcare CIOs are focused on making sense of— and leveraging—the data they have and presenting it to the right people. We need to understand the business, rather than just the technology.

AXIS: What are the three qualities that any successful healthcare CIO must possess?

Gaddam: First thing, you have to know and understand the business. You have to understand technology, yes, but you also have to translate that into common language that the clinical and business folks will be able to understand. That’s the secret sauce.

The second thing is empathy. By that, I mean that you’re able to listen and understand patients, clinicians, your own team, and the partners you work with. You have to be able to understand their needs and be willing and able to make changes. That’s what makes you a better leader; someone they can depend on and trust.

The third thing is creating partnerships. You have to establish partnerships, whether that’s with vendors or people within or outside the four walls of your healthcare organization. You have to make those connections to be able to identify problems and be able to work on solutions.

AXIS: Tell me more about why the healthcare CIO needs to be a successful communicator.

Gaddam: This is essential. You hear a lot of acronyms in healthcare, but you need to be able to really understand what the need is. You need to be able to translate things into language that people understand. You might have the best technology, but if the business doesn’t see the value or understand what you’re trying to say, you’re not going to drive change in that organization.

For example, a lot of vendors are selling data analytics solutions—and all of it sounds very attractive. They have pretty dashboards that have everything in one place. My question as a CIO has to be “How quickly can you bring that to use for our clinicians and business leaders? Do you have it available in a place where they live every day?”

Physicians live in the EHR, day in and day out. If those dashboards aren’t available within the EHR, it’s not going to be actionable. That’s key when you’re working with clinician executives and you’re looking at products. It’s probably not transparent to them. Healthcare CIOs need to understand physician workflow in order to really outline technology solutions that can have an impact on the organization.

AXIS: The typical healthcare CIO is a 50-something male. You don’t fit the profile. Tell me about your path to becoming a healthcare CIO.

Gaddam: I’m happy about being a woman and a healthcare leader. I’m not your typical 50-year-old male CIO. I’m in my mid-30s, which is definitely a deviation from the norm. I hear it from everyone. Once they get over the initial shock, people really value and understand what I bring to the table. I have a strong background in research, healthcare quality and metrics, and technology and data.

Leadership is something you don’t get by going to school. I’ve had great leaders and mentors, and I read about emotional leadership and how it’s critical to shaping my role as a leader.

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About Suma Gaddam:

Suma Gaddam is CIO at Care New England, which has its headquarters in Providence, RI. Care New England is an integrated healthcare system that offers a continuum of quality care to the southeastern New England community.

Gaddam has a master’s degree in health services administration from the University of Kansas, a master’s of science from Oklahoma State University, and a bachelor of science from Konkan Agricultural University in Dapoli, India.

 

 

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