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GMT20250714-172930_Recording: I am Sarah Richardson, a principal here at this week Health where our mission is healthcare transformation powered by community. Welcome to this solution, showcase highlighting tools that empower healthcare teams. Let's explore what's possible.

Sarah Richardson: Welcome everyone to our Solution Showcase. Today we're exploring how Ballad Health and Health Inc. Advisors built a digital transformation roadmap that truly connects strategy, governance, and people coming off a major consolidation and an epic implementation. During COVID, Pam Austin and her team at Ballad Face the challenge of aligning dozens of systems priorities and people.

Into one cohesive Digital Vision. Partnering with Chris Jenkins and [00:01:00] Healthlink Advisors, they created a five-year roadmap with six month milestones, one that balances structure and flexibility and wraps around key focus areas like security, AI, and automation. Pam and Chris, I'm thrilled to have you both here.

Thank you. I'm thrilled to be here.

Good because I mean, this is a huge story. We gotta tell it in like 20, 25 minutes. I don't know how we're gonna do that. Start with you, because coming off of a major consolidation and an epic go live during the height of COVID. You could have focused on stabilizing your operations, but you chose to think long term.

Why was this the right moment to build a comprehensive five year digital roadmap?

Pam Austin: Well, that is a great question, Sarah. After the consolidation, we are a merged organization. Ballad health became into existence in 2018 and I became the CIO right before COVID happened and. Just before that happened, I was thinking longer term for a vision of what we needed to grow our department and grow us [00:02:00] digitally.

So, after that consolidation of Epic, we were basically just in survival mode. Honestly. We had multiple systems, cultures, priorities to align all of those things, and we needed a shared digital vision to unify our technology. Our operations and the people, our team members. So HealthLink Advisors helped us create that five year roadmap.

And that roadmap is anchored in six pillars. That we lead our department with still today, and that's innovate and lead enterprise platforms, service excellence, strategic partnerships, organizational stewardship, and available and secure. And the reason we did that, even with the pandemic, there's always going to be an unknown in the future, right?

It's the future. You just don't know, but you have to plan technology and adjust your schedule and your plans. And be ready to pivot when you need to, so that in digital enablement. [00:03:00] What we did there is that ties those six pillars together and it integrates the technology, data, digital tools, all of that into one connected ecosystem.

We couldn't have gotten here that five years without that plan from Health Link Advisors, and our goal was to move from just surviving. And to strategically thriving. And that's what that plan did for us. And now it sets us up to be able to refresh it, which we have for the next five years.

Sarah Richardson: And Chris, when Healthlink began working with ballot, you said this was not cookie cutter, this is not a playbook.

You just pull, you know, out of a file. How did you meet Ballad, where they were and design a plan that reflected both their immediate and their long-term transformation needs? S

Chris Jenkins: Yeah. You know, it's a great question. Just a lot of what Pam just said, you know, they were in a state of change. Anyone that's gone through a merger and acquisition and then directly into a transition to a enterprise [00:04:00] platform, EHR, and then coming outta COVID, that's a lot to throw at an organization.

So, so, you know, how we met them, where they were, is to understand where they were, so we spent a lot of time talking to the leaders. We also, knowing that. What it takes to run an organization, whether it be on the operation side or on the IT side. This stuff isn't easy. So we wanted to build a now, near, far plan, but it had to align with the capabilities, not only IT, but the organization to consume, what was on that plan.

So it was a lot of focus on what's most important. The enterprise platform was still critically important to them, which is EHR, right? There are other enterprise platforms such as imaging and such as ERP, but there were still a lot to do with Epic, you know, getting the organization coming, going from a different EHR one that already had the same one they went to, but really trying to consolidate that and getting the organization aligned around that was important.

So, so we just spent time talking to people, understanding you know, the challenge they were faced with, but what was most important to them. And we built the plan [00:05:00] around that. Those pillars that Pam mentioned were very critical because those pillars also aligned with organizational priorities.

You know, so we had to understand what the organization wanted to accomplish, how it would help them, enable them to accomplish that, but more importantly, not set false expectations that they could do things that they possibly couldn't do at that point in time, but knew that they could do it over time.

Sarah Richardson: And Pam, you've shared that it loves to drive change, but isn't always the greatest experiencing it. So how did you establish IT governance within your own team to help align and focus your work, especially at this scale?

Pam Austin: So for us, what we wanted, governance that reduces noise.

So we turn noise into clarity. So we wanna know within the internal governance within it is to clarify the decisions, the ownership, the accountability, create transparency and confidence inside the IT department. because it was a lot of work and a lot of change and it seemed like a lot of [00:06:00] confusion. So we took.

Each of those pillars and aligned every single team member in our department. We trained and educated them on what those pillars are, what they mean, how their work. Moves the mission forward and those pillars in the IT strategic plan are not separate from Ballad's Overall strategic plan, we align to, so that governance connects Ballad's mission, our culture and it's really about consistent communication and education out to reduce project noise, if you will.

And so we shifted from IT projects to balance. Project and shared ownership, but it's all done through consistent quality communication.

Sarah Richardson: Do you find that you also, maybe it's every six months or iteratively, look at the internal IT governance as well as the larger governance structure across the organization.

Is it as iterative as your plans?

Pam Austin: Yeah. So, we look at two key filters, the impact and readiness of every project. [00:07:00] So those six month milestones to review and adjust and stay current, help us to look back and go, okay here's what we've accomplished, because we have this tendency to. Get work accomplished, move on to the next thing without celebrating those wins.

So that six month milestone allows us to look back, where are we headed? Do we need to pivot? Do we need to change? Do we need to make an adjustment? And then that roadmap overall, we keep that's a living, breathing document, if you will. It's about prioritization and flexibility overall.

Sarah Richardson: I love that because governance is a forever conversation and not always done as well as it could or should be done. And Chris, from your perspective, how did that governance approach support your collaboration? And more specifically, how it kept the roadmap dynamic and instead of static and becoming stale?

Chris Jenkins: Yeah, it so it kept people focused on what's most important, and I think that's. That's critical, especially as I'll keep going back to [00:08:00] COVID, but you know, our work, the workforce started becoming very remote, right? It's hard enough to keep people focused when they're on site and meeting with one another, but it can, that injected another challenge, but I think it, you know, having the governance involved, whether it outside of it or internally to it.

It maintains that alignment and it makes people talk about what is the most important thing to do for the organization. You know, Pam mentioned something that's critically important. The people that do the large majority of the work are, you know, the team that are, have their hands on the keyboards and are out there talking to the customers, and if they aren't aligned with.

What they should be doing, then a lot of this stuff falls apart. Right? So the key was keeping the leadership level aligned in terms of knowing what to you know, focus on, and making sure that propagated down to the right levels within the organization and to prioritize. So I think it helped with a lot with prioritization of work because the ever-changing life of it and healthcare, you know, it's at every facility we ever go into and I think.

That's challenging to [00:09:00] maintain that focus on the priorities and the priorities shift. So I think it also helped, you know, to analyze shifting priorities, determine is this more important than the other things we're working on. It tied into , the budget, you know, you know, you have your annual planning events and probably sometimes two times a year.

You know, in terms of this is what the organization wants to accomplish and the it component of that. But then it's all the ad hoc requests that come in outta cycle, which are immense. So, you know, that's the two components I think that it helped keep people focused on.

Sarah Richardson: Pam, you regularly share the strategic roadmap and the pillars with your 400 plus team members.

What has that transparency done for engagement and clarity within the IT organization?

Pam Austin: That transparency drives engagement. And every month in our IT department meeting, since the inception of these pillars, I've shared that same slide every single month. And I reiterate that the work we're doing.[00:10:00]

Helps it move our mission forward. And here's how it aligns back to Ballad's mission. And it's a shared language. It shares we're partners in innovation. We provide quality support. We run it like a business. So I break it down in that fashion. And then I explained how digital. Enables everything we do.

So the digital en enablement showing how the technology impacts our clinicians and patients and that everything we do in it ultimately supports all the way down to the patient in the bed and the hospital that's getting care and those roadmaps and those six pillars with the digital enablement is how it all pulls together.

And then when you can point people to where they've made an impact, the culture changes. And that's how we've been able to do it. We don't just show this slide with the six pillars. We live that each and every day, and we are showing our team, and our team has come along with it because it's [00:11:00] the work that they're doing.

So basically digital enablement is the connective tissue. Across everything we do. And that's what I say over and over each month. And now our team members know when they see that slide, we're gonna talk about work that they're doing and showcase it in our meeting. And that's how we bring along that support and transparency and drive the engagement.

Sarah Richardson: And that lookback that you do to celebrate progress against goals, how have those moments really reinforced the accountability and built that momentum across your team?

Pam Austin: Yeah. What it does is it shows our team the commitment that we have as a leadership team, it shows them where we're going. Where we've come from so that they see this big vision and this here's the plan, but they have to break it down to show each section of the work they're doing, how that impacts the plan going forward and allows them to be part of it.

Engaging the team in that is critical because they're the ones doing the work and they have to [00:12:00] see that the work they're doing is for a larger vision and moving the organization forward. And it shows it as an enabler of care. We're not just systems and we're a strategic partnership with the organization.

Sarah Richardson: Plus you're giving themm that real time feedback. I mean, that's such a win for people to see, have a three year project, like what's happened in the last couple of months. Like being able to see how it all leads to something bigger is such an important aspect of that continued engagement and connection with the team.

Chris, for you, part of Healthlinks partnership included creating the office of the CIO which gave Pam more time. And space to focus on strategy. Why was that such a pivotal move and what impact have you seen?

Chris Jenkins: For A CIO to be successful. and They can be successful in many ways.

They really have to be at the table in a strategic enabler for the organization. They have to be involved in the strategy, help to drive the strategy and understand what the organization needs. So the concept of Office of the CIO is you're [00:13:00] really having a chief operating officer working for the CIO that, and it could be multiple COOs that are running the business of it and you know the business it is to really.

Make sure you keep the lights on first and foremost, and I'll call that table stakes, but we know how hard that really is. It's understanding what is the strategic plan. What are the roadmaps also that support that strategic plan and the tactical plans underneath that, and how do you keep all that together and keep people focused and driving the right direction?

So there's a component of the OCIO that ties strategically up to the organization, but a large component looks internally, so it really just allowed. Pam and others to kind of look outside of it and to maintain focus on where's the healthcare industry going? You know, what's Ballad Health need?

What do they need that they don't even know they need? Right. And how do you kind of just communicate and educate the organization on technology, but align with the organization around that, what it does to be more transparent about what it delivers? While you [00:14:00] know Pam and. CIOs can be comfortable that the business of it, that service delivery is running and running well, that you don't have to worry about it as much.

You still have to worry about it. But that's the whole concept around that. And it's everything from, you know, system selections. It's around the PMO, the demand management component. It's the workforce management of the people, which is critically important here. It finance is a big part of this.

How are you managing your budgets to both CapEx and opex? How are you making smart decisions around your solutions in house, the cyber component, it's all those moving parts, as you know, Sarah, because you run, you've been CIO and anyone that's been in that position, it's hard to look internally and still try and do the right things for the organization that a CIO should be doing.

Sarah Richardson: Also, one of my favorite roles in all of it is that either chief of staff or office of the CIO. Yeah, it's coming up more and more as a role and more and more people wanting to go into that because they have all this expertise in certain spaces and they want their leader to [00:15:00] be as successful as possible also.

So I love that was a or early win for all of you, because I mean, you take a roadmap and you have to measure it. There has to be a way for that to be seen by the organization and yeah. One standout result has been Ballad's app rationalization millions in savings while strengthening the longer term plan.

Chris, what made that possible?

Chris Jenkins: Well, consolidation in a merger systems is usually a great catalyst for that. So, you know, I think that it helps and, you know, it's, a lot of times it's driven by just that you know, an EHR consolidation, ERP consolidation or one of your major systems. I think what made it possible is, the way that we think of this is we like to do a total cost of ownership model when we go into any type of large system. And a big part of that is a sunset schedule, and we know there's a lot of moving parts of that, but what systems can be replaced and what systems absolutely need to be replaced and what does it take to replace them?

The other piece is the data archive. What do you do with the data? So it's kind of looking at that discovery of all those pieces [00:16:00] of what you're going to replace. When you're gonna replace it, what's the cost savings around that? And there are significant cost savings to organizations. It's the technical debt in the organization.

And that, that's really what makes it possible. I think taking it one step further though, is to get it really to the end is what do you do with the technology that those solutions are running on? A lot of it can be repurposed, a lot of it can be completely sunset. because a lot of it's legacy.

And, you know, it's a significant opportunity. That could be driven through consolidation. One more piece to it is it can't stop. It can't be a one and done because of the consolidation. To do it correctly and to sustain it, you have to build it into your future solution evaluation process sometime in the PMO.

But as you're looking at anything that new company, organization, there should be a checklist of saying. Do we already have the this, do we already have this functionality? And if so, why aren't we using it or we need to replace it? And you have to budget for that because it isn't free to go sunset systems always because you have to do something in terms of [00:17:00] people and with the data.

So you have to have a good data archive plan. So all that has to be built in. And then you have to look at termination on contracts. So if you're, there's some type of a term clause that you have to look at. But nonetheless that's kind of the. You know, how we think about the apparat, and I think, you know, as the merger acquisition happened with Ballad, with the epic with the move to the hr, now the move to the ERP and also to the enterprise imaging, that generates a lot of opportunity to reduce your footprint, to make it a simpler environment.

It helps with support and definitely helps with pricing. And isn't amazing

Sarah Richardson: How far we've come though. I mean, you all remember the days mean we would just turn off the server or like just put it in a different rack or put it in a closet with some caution tape. Like, yeah, we're not gonna use this one anymore, just put it over here.

And, you know, you inherit those organizations years later and you're like, what is that rack for? And everyone tells you and you're just like. Yeah. So, Pam, beyond the financial impact, how have these outcomes, the efficiency, the alignment, [00:18:00] and the stronger governance, especially when Chris noted how you're evaluating new technology coming in, how has that positioned valid for sustained success?

Pam Austin: I would call that roadmap to results. And we have tangible outcomes that show cost savings from application rationalization, for example, faster delivery, stronger alignment. It's part of our organizational stewardship. It allows it to operate efficiently and strategically more so than just reactionary on our available and secure pillar.

It improved the resiliency and our security posture, which is great for explaining that to our board. And then strategic partnerships we were able to, and we are continuing on trust and collaboration across all departments at Ballad. It has really strengthened those relationships. And just overall, I think, you know, the partnership with HealthLink Advisors there has allowed our team and our whole department really [00:19:00] to grow as more than just ticket takers and keeping the lights on to truly strategic enablers.

And that's where we are at this point in time.

Sarah Richardson: There's so many wins from what you've created here, and this is about. Leaning into the future as much as anything else. your point, you like to celebrate the wins. When you look back on everything you've accomplished through this, what are you most proud of?

What stands out for you?

Pam Austin: What stands out for me is capitalizing on what I just mentioned it as a strategic enabler. Of care. We're not just systems. We are actually moving the organization forward technically. So that's one thing. But also the people in our department that care about our patients and our region and that we've grown a.

Culture of caring and every person in it cares about the work that they're doing. So it as the strategic enabler with all the people that are included in [00:20:00] our department, moving the mission forward,

Sarah Richardson: that's such a great thing to hear from the leader of the organization, like being able to set that expectation for the team and something they can follow willingly.

But also. Lean into at any given chance that they may need to do so. This is what I wanna ask for both of you, for other organizations that may be embarking on a large scale digital transformation, what is your biggest piece of advice?

Pam Austin: For me, I would say start with alignment. It's people, process and technology With a purpose driven use case, start there and then with your pillars, define those early.

Just like what we did and communicate them relentlessly. Just like I'm doing for five years in a row. Every single month without a break. We communicate what's happening and then build in digital enablement. Make that part of your DNA connect the technology with data and people to create value.

And then the [00:21:00] governance overall would be something I would say, but that shouldn't restrict your ability to innovate and move your department forward. And just to remember, transformation is iterative. You have to revisit, learn, and then for certain celebrate progress. Yeah, for sure. Chris, what about

Sarah Richardson: you?

Chris Jenkins: I think it's, you know, a couple things. You have to stay current. Both, as you know, we're advisors, but the teams have stay current on where the healthcare industry is going, right? And when we think about, strategic planning or digital plans is you take a step back, you take a deep breath and understand what you have, but where you want to go.

So the discovery component is critically important in talking to the people all throughout the organization. It can't just be talking to a couple resources in it or a couple outside of it. It has to be a very collaborative approach to understand the challenges the leaders are facing within the organization and outside of the organization, and then building a plan around that [00:22:00] and, but also thinking around the corner to tomorrow, you know what's coming and how do you prepare for that?

What are the risks and gaps that you have if you don't go. Build something else into the plan and that's going to limit you from continuing to grow your organization. And as Pam mentioned, we're all here to do the right thing for the patients. , This is all about serving your mission, keeping people well.

I've always said, you know, when in it. Think of if you're in a downtime, think of that's it. Your mother, your grandmother, your father in a bed, and they don't know what meds need to get pushed. So maintaining the sense of purpose of why you're here to do, , what you're there to serve. We like to build that into the conversations and the plans that, you know, when we think about our strategic plan.

It can't just be something you turn over. It has to be actionable. And I think that's the other piece of this is the plan itself will identify what you should be doing over the next three to five years, knowing that you have to go revisit it. But then what are the [00:23:00] actions behind what are you really going to go do to achieve that plan?

And what's the tactical side of that? So that's kinda how we think about delivering on these items. And what's important to both IT and the organization.

Sarah Richardson: What would you two say? That leaders need to get right from the get go. And what are some of those lessons learned? Some of those pitfalls that you experienced, that you were like, oops, we need to fix this over here, et cetera.

Like it sounds like, okay, I'm gonna go create this, I'm gonna work with Chris, I'm gonna do these other things. But you realize so much goes into every step, including just the origination of the idea. So what needs to happen first, and then what would you safeguard against as even as you go, you two go forward in this plan.

Pam Austin: Chris, do you want me to go first? Yeah,

Chris Jenkins: if you wanna go, Pam. That's been a good order.

Pam Austin: It's the people for me, every person in your department, every person in your organization, and it's people, process, technology, you have to always remember that the people that are delivering the projects and doing the work.

They have their own independent lives [00:24:00] outside of work, and you never know what anyone's going through. Being kind to those people and bringing them along and sharing transparency with what's happening, why it's happening, share the why. And then on governance, I would not let governance hold up your progress or restrict your innovation.

And I mentioned that earlier, but. A strong governance process will make or break your whole plan around office of the CIO and anything you're trying to deliver going forward. Yeah. Well said Chris.

Chris Jenkins: Yeah. So, don't be afraid to fail, number one, I think, because you're not gonna get it right, right.

But don't hold onto it for so long where it really impacts you and the organization. What Pam said is I think is important. It's the relationship and the transparency of around. Around what you're doing, what the teams are doing, what the organization needs and that, that's hard to maintain that alignment because it changes frequently.

So, but I [00:25:00] think, you know, the transparency around what it does, the value they deliver, and also. What the organization needs and maintaining that alignment is something that you have to stay focused on the team. Incredibly important. You know, I think just keeping the team will get overwhelmed with what's coming, whether it's active or not.

So, you know, trying to keep the team, the morale, everything you know, solid and purposeful is another area that I think is very important to do.

Pam Austin: I'll tag onto that. So for us, technology follows culture, not the other way around. And then we built alignment first and technology second.

Sarah Richardson: That could be like a tagline for all of it, Pam, like Hallelujah.

Chris Jenkins: Yeah. And I, let me add to that too. The culture is you know, the organizations I've grown up in that have been incredibly successful are based on culture first and people.

Pam Austin: That's right.

Chris Jenkins: Not just it just opens the doors to do a lot of things really great. So,

Sarah Richardson: well, as revered technologists, you're leaning in with your people first, and that's always such an endearing [00:26:00] thing to hear and to see it in action.

And so that's why I'm so grateful we were able to share this story with our listeners today. You have built something that is not just a roadmap, it is truly a living framework for how governance and transparency and leadership can move an organization forward and continuously forward. So thank you for sharing the story with us today.

Thank you.

Chris Jenkins: Thank you.

GMT20250714-172930_Recording: Thanks for joining this executive interview on Flourish with Sarah Richardson here at This Week Health. We believe every healthcare leader needs a community to learn from and lean on. Join us at this week, health.com/subscribe. Share this conversation with an emerging leader. That's all for now.