Congratulations to Local Leaders Named as “Hospital and Health System CIOs to Know”

Four Colorado Chief Information Officers on Becker’s Hospital Review 2015 list of important health information technology leaders; CORHIO discusses success with Children’s Hospital CIO.

Congratulations to these Colorado CIOs on their recent naming as a “Hospital and Health System CIOs to Know” by Becker’s Hospital Review:

• Dick Escue, CIO of Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs
• Mary Anne Leach, Senior Vice President and CIO of Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora
• Dana Moore, Senior Vice President and CIO of Centura Health in Englewood
• Michael O'Rourke, Senior Vice President and CIO of Catholic Health Initiatives in Englewood

According to Becker’s Hospital Review: “This list includes CIOs and other executive-level information technology leaders from hospitals and health systems across the country. They have demonstrated excellence in leadership by tackling the challenging world of health IT and innovating during a time of change in the industry.”

CORHIO caught up with Mary Anne Leach of Children’s Hospital Colorado to ask what drives her success…

CORHIO: What is an innovative project (or goal) you and your team working on that you are most excited about? How will it benefit either patients or your affiliated providers?

Ms. Leach: We’re always excited about leveraging technology to improve the quality and safety of the care we provide our patients. In partnership with our quality teams, we’ve created innovative solutions, such as Risk Profiles and alerts in our electronic health record, that alert caregivers if patients are at risk for a hospital-acquired condition – so we can prevent possible harm before it occurs.

Another innovative solution is our Image Exchange, which we’re doing in collaboration with Colorado Telehealth Network and the vendors we’ve selected. This will allow us to share medical images more efficiently, help to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure in children, and help reduce the costs of care by avoiding duplicative imaging studies.

CORHIO: As you network with other CIOs nationally, what strikes you as different or unique about the healthcare and/or HIT environment in Colorado?

Ms. Leach: We’re very lucky in Colorado to have such a collaborative and engaged community of healthcare CIOs – we meet regularly in different forums, advancing our strategies toward the triple aim – better health, improved experience, at a lower cost. We’re also very fortunate to have great resources like CORHIO, QHN, the Colorado Telehealth Network, and our All Payer Claims Database. Many states lack these resources that support patient care, as well as to exchange and analyze health information – these capabilities will help keep Colorado at the forefront of healthcare industry transformation.