Ken Lee

Observability is becoming one of the most important capabilities in hospital IT today. It becomes important because healthcare tech is getting smarter and harder to secure as AI, IoT, and cloud systems expand. And it helps hospitals get a clear, real-time view of what’s happening across every system, not just the alerts on the surface, but the behaviour underneath. With that level of visibility, hospitals don’t just respond to problems. They stay ahead of them. Once hospitals gain that deeper, real-time visibility, three things improve almost instantly: Cyber security: Early signs of unusual logins or suspicious activity become visible faster, helping teams stop threats before they spread. Compliance: Audit trails, access logs, and performance records stay organised and ready, reducing the pressure during regulatory checks. Resilience: IT teams can find root causes quickly, prevent downtime, and keep critical hospital systems running smoothly. But observability isn’t just a tool. It helps hospitals build trust, make better decisions, and protect patient safety with more confidence. As hospitals continue to evolve, the leaders will be the ones who make observability a core part of their digital strategy, not as an add-on, but as a foundation for secure, reliable, patient-centered care. #observability #healthcareIT #cybersecurity #digitalhealth #smarthospitals #itresilience

143

4 Comments

🚧 What’s Holding Back Operational Clarity in Healthcare IT? In my experience, some of the biggest barriers to achieving operational clarity in healthcare IT come down to three core challenges: 🔹 Misaligned priorities 🔹 Fragmented systems 🔹 Communication gaps Healthcare organizations bring together diverse stakeholders clinicians, administrators, IT teams,vendors and payers each with different goals and ways of working. Without shared understanding and alignment, even the best IT projects can miss the mark on what really supports frontline care. System fragmentation is another major hurdle. When EHRs, CRMs,Central data KPIs repository, scheduling platforms, and even patient-facing technologies like portals, apps, and kiosks don’t talk to each other (or worse, present conflicting data), it becomes nearly impossible to achieve a single source of truth. That lack of cohesion makes it difficult to streamline workflows, measure outcomes, or deliver a seamless patient experience. Add to that the communication gap between clinical and technical teams, and you often end up with missed requirements, delayed implementations, and poor adoption. Solving this isn’t just about deploying better tools it’s about building trust, embedding collaboration, and aligning technology with real care delivery needs. 📌 Key barriers we often face: • Data silos and system fragmentation (including patient-facing tech) • Legacy infrastructure • Lack of standardized workflows • Resistance to change • Insufficient training and change management • Regulatory and data privacy constraints • Poor coordination between vendors affecting integration timelines Achieving clarity in healthcare IT isn’t a technology problem alone — it’s a people, process, and culture challenge. 💬 What barriers have you encountered in your organization, and how are you addressing them? #HealthcareIT #DigitalHealth #OperationalExcellence #HealthTech #Leadership #HospitalIT #PatientExperience #Interoperability #ChangeManagement #DataDrivenCare

15

3 Comments

Oracle Health just dropped a from-scratch, AI-driven, voice-first EHR for ambulatory care — not an upgrade, not a patch — a full rebuild on Oracle Cloud. This move raises two big questions: - Can Oracle keep its current customers from jumping ship? - Will targeting ambulatory care & smaller hospitals (vs. large AMCs) prove a smarter entry point — especially when bundling EMR + ERP?

80

18 Comments

📣New #bipartisan #legislation introduced in #Congress—the Healthcare Cybersecurity Act—aims to strengthen protection of #patientdata by enhancing collaboration between #HHS and #CISA. As #healthcare remains one of the most targeted sectors, this bill signals a growing recognition of #cybersecurity as critical to #patientsafety and national #resilience. https://lnkd.in/gruS7Krq

21

The future of pharmacy benefits isn’t just about managing costs. It’s about creating smarter strategies that deliver better customer experience.   At Optum Rx, we’re using AI to help clients move beyond reactive decisions and toward proactive, data-driven planning. By turning insights into action, we’re enabling organizations to design plans that align with their goals and adapt to changing trends.   Listen to my full interview to learn more about how AI is shaping the next era of pharmacy benefits: https://optum.co/w0wuqy

331

9 Comments

LLMs are moving fast into healthcare but deployment isn’t simple. In our new piece in the Journal of Clinical Medicine (JCM) MDPI, we outline five challenges that stand between promise and practice: Workflow misalignment Bias and equity Regulatory uncertainty Technical vulnerabilities Trust and human connection Mitigation strategies are emerging, but safe adoption will require more than technical fixes. It will take governance, oversight, and leadership that keeps patients at the center. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/euFFHvEn Co-authors: Yaara Artsi, Vera Sorin, MD, CIIP, Ben Glicksberg, Panagiota Korisianos CPC, Girish Nadkarni, Eyal Klang What do you see as the biggest barrier or opportunity in deploying LLMs responsibly in care?

154

9 Comments

As cyber threats continue to evolve faster than traditional controls can respond, static access policies create blind spots that expose the business to unnecessary risk. As an industry, we are generating lots of data, but few operationalize the signals in a continious manner taking meaningful actions to reduce exposure. Adaptive trust policies represent a strategic shift enabling organizations to move from a reactive, one-size-fits-all approach to a proactive, context-aware security model that continuously aligns access decisions with real-time risk signals. By dynamically adjusting user and system access based on behavioral analytics, device posture, location, and threat intelligence, adaptive trust helps executive leaders: ✔️ Reduce the attack surface without compromising agility ✔️ Automate risk-based decision-making at scale ✔️ Enable dynamic least privilege across hybrid environments ✔️ Strengthen operational resilience and business continuity For CISOs, CIOs, and business leaders driving digital transformation, adaptive trust isn’t just a security enhancement, it’s a business enabler that ensures the right access, at the right time, under the right conditions. This is how modern enterprises stay ahead of risk, by making trust adaptive and actionable. #ExecutiveLeadership #CyberStrategy #AdaptiveTrust #DigitalRisk #ZeroTrust #OperationalResilience #CISO #CIO #BusinessContinuity #BoardLevelSecurity

23

1 Comment

This morning, Providence and Humana announced a strategic data partnership. Its purpose is to exchange the information we need to jointly care for patient populations using data standards and modern APIs. We no longer have the luxury to ingest hundreds of proprietary data formats. We can’t afford the vendors and the wasted time it takes to make the data meaningful. Data chaos impacts patients. It limits innovation and the growth of Value Based Care. We are working together to clean up the mess so that we can do payer-provider data exchange at scale. Here are some of the data assets that matter to our organizations and that we are collaborating on: – Member rosters for the populations we jointly care for (ATR) – Claims details for those populations (PDex) – Clinical information to improve quality measures and coordinate care (CDex) – Financial performance on our shared Value-Based Care contracts (VBPR) – Feedback on patient gaps in care (DEQM) And these are just the beginning. We want to share what we learn. The goal is to first ensure data accuracy, then scale exchange capabilities to additional payers affiliated with Providence and providers associated with Humana. And if a national payer like Humana and a large regional health system like Providence can do this, other payers, provider organizations and the vendors that support them can too. We are also exploring scaling these solutions through CMS Aligned Networks. Thanks to Semira Singh, Glenn Raley, Chris Walker, Gurbinder Singh, PMP, Brian Bender, Laura Splawn, Roxana Badiee, Vincent Powell, NITISH GOYAL, the folks with the HL7 Da Vinci Project, NCQA, the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and everyone else at Humana and Providence who is working to make this a success. https://lnkd.in/ghVt4BHx #interoperability #valuebasedcare #healthit

263

14 Comments

𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗘𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵...𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 In #healthcare, “technology enablement” gets thrown around a lot. We talk about new EHRs, cloud migrations, AI-driven analytics, and interoperability, but too often, the underlying challenge isn’t technology at all. It’s 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. In a fast-growing, provider services organization, especially one backed by private equity, the noise is endless. Every region, practice, and business unit has “must-have” projects. Every vendor has a “transformational” solution. And every executive sees tech as the key to efficiency, growth, and compliance. But without a disciplined framework for deciding 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵, the very tools meant to enable the organization end up diluting its focus and wreak havoc on teams. True enablement doesn’t mean giving every department every tech solution they want. It means enabling the 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 to operate more effectively, securely, and intelligently. That requires saying “no” often and decisively. If a solution doesn’t tie directly to better outcomes, reduced friction, or improved decision-making, it’s probably not enablement. Great technology leaders know that every “yes” carries an opportunity cost. The hard part isn’t choosing between good and bad ideas, it’s choosing between 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. That’s where prioritization becomes both an art and a science. Prioritization is how leadership transforms ambition into execution. It forces clarity, builds alignment, and earns credibility with both the C-suite and front-line operators. Without governance, prioritization doesn’t stick. Governance gives structure to decision-making and ensures technology investments remain visible, measurable, and accountable. It defines who decides, how they decide, and what “success” looks like. Good governance is not bureaucracy. It’s the oxygen that allows innovation to breathe safely and sustainably. The best tech leaders don’t define success by the number of systems deployed or projects completed. They define it by 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻’𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, i.e., better care, smarter operations, stronger outcomes. Enablement isn’t about acceleration. It’s about direction. Technology enablement in healthcare isn’t about chasing innovation, it’s about harnessing it with precision and intent. When 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 and 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 work hand-in-hand, technology stops being a cost center and becomes a force multiplier. It aligns teams, strengthens execution, and ensures that every dollar of investment contributes to better care and smarter growth. Because in healthcare, it’s not the organizations with 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 technology that win, it’s the ones that know 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵. #technology #innovation

29

2 Comments

Key Focus Areas for the Modern CIO 1. Business Alignment: Modern CIOs align technology initiatives directly with business goals. They ensure that every tech investment has a measurable business impact, from enhancing customer experience to optimizing supply chains. 2. Innovation Balanced with Outcomes: CIOs foster innovation but always tie it back to business value. Whether it’s AI, ML, Cloud, or emerging technologies, they prioritize solutions that deliver real results, not innovation for the sake of buzzwords. 3. Data-Driven and Outcome-Focused: CIOs leverage data to inform every decision, ensuring that technology investments are backed by insights and aligned with strategic objectives. 4. Cost Optimization: Running IT as if it’s their own money, modern CIOs focus on optimizing cost without compromising innovation, security, or growth. 5. Security and Risk Management: Understanding the importance of security, they ensure robust cybersecurity measures are in place while enabling the business to innovate safely. 6. People Leadership and Team Support: CIOs are people-first leaders, focusing on developing strong, diverse teams. They empower their teams, support career growth, and promote a culture of continuous learning. 7. Always Learning: A modern CIO is always learning, staying ahead of new technologies like AI, ML, and Cloud while bringing a future-forward perspective to the leadership table. They don’t just talk about tech, they understand it, but they talk about it through the lens of business impact. #CIO #Leadership

16

2 Comments

One thing I missed when contributing to Becker's article (written by Naomi Diaz) on generative AI's impact on CIOs is that we need to monitor the organization's spending on generative AI tools. At TidalHealth, when we add up our Copilot licenses for Microsoft business applications, DAX for our providers, and Epic generative AI fees for chart summary, we will cross the $1 million mark this year. Nursing ambient documentation will soon jump on the list. We won't be live on Workday for another 17 months, but that will add some more to the total spend when we factor in their tools.

56

6 Comments