It's More Than the Technology: An Interview with CIO Tim Zoph - Northwester Memorial HealthCare executive discusses plans for hospital information technology - Interview

Healthcare Financial Management, August, 2001

The wireless standards are now converging in some key areas, particularly the wireless standards that will be used inside of hospitals. And the devices are getting more fully functional and lighter, with battery life improving. In the next few years, I believe you'll see healthcare organizations begin to adopt wireless widely

I expect a selective and staged use in areas where it really makes a difference. An area that is wireless for us now, for example, is our emergency department. And all new residents receive a hand-held device from Northwestern Memorial. On that device are electronic medical textbooks; drug reference-checking software; medical calculators; information about the hospital; such as paging directories, and what used to be a handbook for physicians. So all the information we used to provide to residents on paper--and then some--now is given to them in a hand-held device. And we have our own learning laboratory of young residents who will come up with new and creative ways these devices can benefit our institution.

HFM: How do you handle information technology training?

Zoph: We use computer-based training in our health learning center, which is a 5,000-square-foot area that has 25 PCs for use by our patients' families and caregivers. Every employee also has an e-mail account and access to the Internet and our own intranet, with its training tools and information about the organization.

And we have a strategy under our Best People initiative for developing the Northwestern Memorial Academy to train management and staff, and much of it by computer.

HFM: Is employee use of your intranet meeting expectations?

Zoph: Use is high, partly because we've made it more valuable over time. Recently, we implemented call schedules for our physicians on the intranet, so if you want to know who's on call, you can find out easily Web-based paging through our intranet also has gotten high use. Our policies and procedures are there. We report all our patient and employee satisfaction information through the intranet.

HFM: Does it have to be as expensive to upgrade technology as it is?

Zoph: Upgrading technology can be made more cost-effective. One of the ways to manage costs is to make sure not to introduce the latest technology without really understanding whether that capability is needed. I think web-based technology is great in that it is low-cost to deploy and doesn't always require a high-end PC workstation to operate. I think many of us are looking for ways to control costs by running software for which you don't have to have a high-end PG.

HFM: What is the largest misconception about technology use in health care?

Zoph: I think the largest misconception about technology and healthcare delivery is that it's about technology. We can derive great value from technology, but technology itself is not the primary issue. It is about what we want our organizations to be, and how we are going to design healthcare organizations that are far more efficient than they are today.