Ep 19: Maggie Lohnes: From Hospital Administration to Entrepreneur

In this episode, we had a great conversation with Maggie Lohnes, Founder of Sound Informatics. After a long and strong career in Healthcare IT, she successfully started her own company.  

Maggie calls herself a lifelong nurse. When she was a kid, she always knew she wanted to be a nurse so she went to nursing school straight out of high school, and specialized in critical care.

“I also knew I was attracted to machines and technology. I had the informatic bug from the beginning,” she said.

After working for 8 years as a critical care nurse, she was chosen to be a subject matter expert for the first electronic healthcare implementation. Maggie reminisces about the era when nurses were using punchcards, and how technology helped to change that. Maggie took time off to have children, and when she went back into it she was drawn to Nursing Informatics. She  was hired and created one of the first roles for Nursing Informations at Huntington Hospital. At the time, no one really knew what nursing informatics was, but Maggie decided she wanted to find out. She soon moved to a management role and spent 15 years at Huntington, where she eventually became an information systems manager.

“This was back in the day when we had cobol programmers, pre Y2K,” she said. Maggie managed the team working on that, which was a challenge. Maggie said she observed, first hand, how important it was for nurses to work with engineers to improve critical care.  Later, she moved to Washington State and was hired as an administrator at a 5 hospital, 200 physician health system.

Throughout her career journey, she participated in HIMMS, the Healthcare and Information Management Systems Society, as a leader for one of the local networks. At one point she was chair of the national policy committee, during the time when meaningful use legislation under the Bush Administration was being enacted to spur electronic records. She worked for two years at the Meider corporation, a think tank that works with the federal government, and then moved to giant health care software provider: McKesson.  Eventually, Maggie took a risk and started Sound Informatics to offer sound advices and services to organizations.

Maggie shared with us how she worked with engineers, and learned to translate engineering models and frameworks to healthcare models and frameworks. For example, she found comparisons between the body and the computer. The pituitary gland can be compared to the CPU while a brain can be similar to a hard drive. With her clinical background, Maggie could see connections from both worlds that helped her during her career. Persistence and confidence also helped Maggie grow as a leader.

Challenges always come during our divas’ careers, and Maggie shared with us how she overcame her biggest challenge of learning how to manage a team of engineers for the first time. Eventually, they became a cohesive unit, and friends. Other advice she offers:

• Don’t sugar coat reality with your team

• Share as much as you can with your team

• Help everyone grow in their careers

• It’s okay to say you don’t know something

If you want to contact Maggie, feel free to email her Maggie.Lohnes@soundinformatics.com.

Follow us on Twitter  - @divatechtalks

Visit us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/divatechtalk

Catch us on Stitcher and we are also searchable on iTunes.

Ep 18: Deb Swink: Selling, Testifying, and Transforming the Industry

The Diva Tech Talk team is excited to share our interview with Deb Swink, Vice President for CSI Leasing, an equipment leasing corporation with 70 offices worldwide, and leasing operations in 36 countries. Deb has had a long and successful career in the male-dominated field of information technology leasing.

Deb’s career started in accounting as part of the accounting and marketing department at another technology leasing company. The  IT leasing field got its start with a 1950’s consent agreement from IBM and the Department of Justice. IBM had a monopoly on the market. But this ruling forced the tech giant to open up its technology to allow for buying, selling and leasing.

The market further opened up in the 1970’s, and companies like CMI and CSI were able to get their start. At that time, CMI was about 40 people and grew to 400 before Deb left for her next opportunity. Cash flow was very tight in their rapidly growing company. One day a manager called her up to thank her for handling the flow of requests well.

“You really handle the cash flow issue very elegantly. We have a situation where we’d like to do business with the federal government,” he said. “We’d like to tag someone to do that. We think you’d do a great job.”  At first, Deb hesitated, but her colleagues believed in her and inspired her to accept the role. She frequently traveled to Washington DC, and little by little she saw successes blossom.

Deb left, for a moment, to have a son in the late 1980’s. When she returned to work she asked if she could work a 4 day work week, but was denied that flexibility. So when an offer came that better fit her needs from National Computer, she took it. That company was later bought by CSI, where she still works today.

What helped this industry boom? Deb said it was pure economics. Leasing was very important. Customers couldn’t afford the cost of a mainframe system in the 80’s that might cost  upwards of $1.5 million dollars. The memory and capabilities of those systems are almost in a flash drive today.

“I feel fortunate to have seen the ebb and flow of technology,” she said.

By the mid 80’s, the market was established and Deb was making bids and closing sales for CSI with the federal government. However, she noticed bids started to get turned down asking for brand new technologies that weren’t necessarily needed. Many businesses, it turned out, were frustrated with this issue. When she filed a complaint, a protest started, and Deb found herself becoming the face of a movement.

At eight months pregnant with their second child, she had to go to Washington DC to testify.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking. But we won. It was a landslide victory that opened it up for more companies to participate in the marketplace,” she said.

Deb was offered a new opportunity in the 1990’s to offer sales and leasing to corporate accounts in Michigan. Technology leasing allows companies to save costs, stay ahead of the game with changing technology, and more. CSI now has 40 offices in the U.S. alone, and subsidiaries all over the world.

The top challenges Deb sees her customers face are developing a technology lifecycle for their business, managing suppliers, and managing assets that are in play. CSI also helps companies get rid of technologies they don’t need anymore.

The leasing industry has always been male dominated. Deb said that, for many years, she was only one of two saleswomen at CSI. “She and I broke the mold. We were successful individuals, so we showed that we could equally succeed in the industry,” she said.

Now, CSI has a number of women executives and sales team members. Deb says that being a woman brings a natural strength in nurturing skills. She truly cares about her customers and she pays attention to all of the details.

Deb Swink was one of the early leaders for the Michigan Council of Women In Technology, an organization now numbering over 700 members. She was one of the few people who have stayed consistently active since its inception and she says it’s really helped her to network and grow as a leader. Networking and giving back are two important practices that MCWT has helped her cultivate.

Deb’s leadership advice for women and being a sales leader include:

• Discipline, stay the course and have a strong work ethic.

• Integrity, and reputations are the single most important traits of a leader. You must have integrity to develop trust.

• Develop and hold to your beliefs;  you need to have passion and belief in yourself and your contributions.

Deb offered some great advice for us on this episode. She closed out by reminding us all to do the right thing, work in a place you believe in, and the money will follow. She can be reached at deb.swink@csileasing.com. She’s happy to meet and talk to any listeners anytime

Follow us on Twitter  - @divatechtalks

Visit us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/divatechtalk

Catch us on Stitcher and we are also searchable on iTunes.

Ep 17: Carla Smith: Healthcare Champion and Technology Translator

In this episode we interviewed Carla Smith, the Executive Vice President of HIMSS, a global cause-based nonprofit organization focused on providing better health through information technology. She has nearly 25 years in policy development, 20 years of healthcare experience and a passion for translating “technospeak” for everyone.

Carla says she “fell” into healthcare technology. She was working in information technology in the manufacturing world for the State of Michigan. When Governor Engler came to office,  he shut down the work on which she was focused. So, Carla applied to an ad and took a position in communications for health IT.

Carla’s new communications focus was to help nurses and physicians understand what IT is all about, and this is now her niche. She studied English and Communications and now helps translate “techno speak” to the layperson, as well as translating policy issues.  

How does this work for policy? When there’s a piece of legislation, for example like one currently for cybersecurity, Carla visits Congress members to help them understand how cybersecurity threatens healthcare. There’s a lot of data available right now on security in information technology, but she’ll help to translate what this actually means for the health sector.

Carla’s role currently at HIMSS is Executive Vice President of North America. HIMSS is a global non-profit organization for better health through through the best use of information technology, providing thought leadership, networking, and education. She is the Executive responsible for HIMSS's focus in North America. 

What sort of impact does this make for the community? For those who consider information technology in the health sector, HIMSS helps them become better educated to make business decisions at their hospital, clinical practice, or agency. Carla says the end goal is safer care, more cost effective care, care that’s of higher quality, and increased access to care, through the best use of Information Technology.   “Technology is the tool, not the end,” she said.

Carla reflected back on her very first job, when ATM machines were first emerging. Her job was to educate consumers on why you’d want to use an ATM machine. She remembers, in the late 1980’s, hanging out with a friend who was the first to pull out her card for the ATM machine. It was mindblowing to see for the very first time!

She enjoyed teaching people how to use ATMs since it was all about helping the consumer understand how technology could be a valuable part of his or her life.

From banking, she went to the manufacturing sector. At the time, the “big three” auto companies were heavily focused quality assurance. There are many small and mid-sized manufacturers in Michigan, and they didn’t understand what information technology could do for them. Carla felt it was absolutely crucial for these small businesses to understand and get access to key technology like CAD CAM, as one example. “You can transform your entire way of thinking if the technology becomes available to you in a way that makes sense to you,” Carla said.

She subsequently moved to the healthcare field, and this is where she’s stayed. At the end of the day, we are all patients and the right care is so important to Carla. One of the ways to ensure people are receiving the right care is through opening up the pathways through policy and education to drive change. But this all boils down to having the right information to the right person at the right time.

Was it a challenge for Carla to study communications and jump into the world of IT? She thinks not. Instead, it helped her bring something unique to the field.  “I have never been sorry for the degrees I have,” she said. “I’ve met too many people who know so much, they are so smart, and they can’t get it out! They can’t express either in writing, or verbally, what they have to offer.”

Carla sees herself as a champion and a technology translator, but there are challenges she had to overcome. Being a wife, executive, and a mother, she found wonderful. But the challenge has been to juggle all her roles. As a mother and an executive, she found she’s more empathetic to others. There are ways to enable women on her team to be true to their professional needs and still fulfill their needs as mother.  She can empathize since it’s big challenge she’s had to face.

What advice does Carla offer for women in technology or women seeking leadership roles? Carla says it’s silly to have gender expectations.  We can simultaneously meet our need for a career balanced with our children, our significant others, and our personal needs! While that’s a lot to balance, her advice is to think of everything in seasons.

“Sometimes in a certain season, your job comes first. Sometimes your personal needs come first, sometimes you family,” she said. “You are going to cycle in and out of those and it’s okay.”

Other advice she offers:

• Stand up for yourself in a non-defensive manner. You’ll be able to receive constructive criticism and communicate clearly.

• Listen. Seek first to understand, before you try to be understood. You will learn so much about the other person. It will make you smarter and more effective.

• Take every opportunity to better yourself like listening to these podcasts!

Through Carla, you can find out more about HIMMS. You can email Carla any time at csmith@himss.org, and connect with her on twitter at @carlamsmith

Follow us on Twitter  - @divatechtalks

Visit us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/divatechtalk

Catch us on Stitcher! 

Ep 16: Susan Heichert: CIO Builds Her Career on Joy

We’re honored to chat with Senior Vice President, and CIO of Allina Health, Susan Heichert, in this episode. Susan first started in the health IT world by entering nursing school. She practiced nursing for several years, and suggests it as a great route towards health leadership positions.

Discovering an interest in her first employer’s nursing union, Susan went back to school for her master’s degree in industrial relations. This taught her finance, accounting, and coupled with learning computer languages in undergrad, she discovered her affinity for technology. She remembers buying an Apple II computer when they first came out and wondered how it could help the healthcare world.

In the 1980’s, her hospital was looking for someone to help install clinical applications. She thought she’d try it as an “experiment” but it was one important step that led her down the path to becoming a Chief Information Officer. She originally wanted a job negotiating for unions; and she expertly employs those negotiation skills now.

“I think that’s one of the lessons of your life journey. You pick up random skills and never know where they might lead you,” she comments.

Susan accepted the technology job, inventing her own role as an Informational Systems Nurse Coordinator. After moving to Iowa, she fell into another role with a startup technology vendor. She was an early employee who helped the startup develop clinical information systems products with early artificial intelligence. She learned sales, product development, and more aspects of the technology world.

“Those were great experiences,” she says. “You don’t know what you don’t know!”

Her husband’s job called for more geographic moves, and Susan took each of those as opportunities to try new positions wherever she went. She missed implementing technology, so she took on a role at St. John’s Hospital in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Then, moving back to Minneapolis, she migrated into a managerial role at a children’s hospital, where she installed CERNER solutions. She remembers many people telling her not to go down the route, but, to her, it looked like fun! Susan often asks herself if a new position looks fun before diving in.

Subsequently, Susan and her husband moved to China, and she did not work for two years but traveled and learned the culture.

Then, her husband's work called them back to Minneapolis where Susan joined Allina as manager of hospital applications. In 2008, she became the CIO of the largest health system in the twin cities with 13 hospitals, and many pharmacies and clinics in the region. Allina’s mission is to serve communities and partner with patients. They want to enable their caregivers and their patients to collaborate in their healthcare together.

“It’s extremely mission-driven and it’s a mission I align with closely,” she says.” If you don’t have good information you can’t be a good partner.”

Susan manages over 550 people in Allina’s information services department, including medical records, and clinical engineering (often known as biomed) services.

The three characteristics of Susan’s character that strengthen her team leadership are: her background growing up in healthcare, adaptability, and optimism. She does say it’s hard to make change health IT, but it can happen.

Does being a women influence her career? Susan says that nursing is a female-dominated career, so she maybe didn’t have challenges breaking a “glass ceiling” in a world of women. She sees it as a positive circumstance, helping her to understand more points of view, practicing empathy and listening — , characteristics women often have.

Getting your first management or leadership role can be difficult, Susan warns.

Her top pieces of advice for women leaders are:

● Put yourself forward and try leadership positions. If it looks fun, just do it.

● It’s all about taking opportunities to learn. Project yourself into that position. Think about how you can start to manage / lead.

Listeners can email susan.heichert@allina.com, if they’d like to talk with her any time.

Follow us on Twitter  - @divatechtalks

Visit us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/divatechtalk

Catch us on Stitcher! 

Ep 15: Judy Murphy: Attitude Over Aptitude and her Journey to IBM Chief Nursing Officer

In this episode, we had the honor to chat with Judy Murphy, Chief Nursing Officer for IBM. Judy’s background is in nursing but she shares with us her journey from that career to information technology, and finally to leading IBM’s initiatives in healthcare innovation.

Judy started off in nursing. Computers first moved into nursing stations for simple things such as billing, communications, etc. But Judy started to learn what was and wasn’t happening on the technology development side, and some of it wasn’t always what was needed for nurses. 

“We were doing homegrown development of these applications,” she said. “We rolled things out and learned along the way. But that’s where I started getting interested in the power of what we could do.”

These were mainframe green screens. There was no simple windows interface at the time. How did she make the leap from the hospital world to IBM, one of the “grandfathers” of the computing world?  There was a lot of hospital consolidation during the 80’s and 90’s, and Aurora Healthcare was born. The hospital’s IT Department started growing, though at that time it wasn’t called IT just yet.  Judy joined as a liaison advocating for what technology could do for the clinical side, growing from Staff Analyst to Vice President over 25 years at Aurora Healthcare. 

“It was a pioneering time,” she says, describing the new role she took. There wasn’t much certification or training support, but there was a new and growing industry. One of the most important things she did was to follow the national conversation. She watched organizations like HIMMS to track what could be done with computers and healthcare, and Judy jumped in to engage in the industry. This was instrumental for her career as she grew in IT.

Judy then was put on a federal advisory committee that spoke up for the meaningful use program, part of the American Recovery Reinvestment Act. She served for three years in the federal government as the Deputy National Coordinator for the program, then migrated to the Chief Nursing Officer for the federal government (part of the Office of the National Coordinator of IT). It was a really rewarding role for her. But Judy noticed the money was shifting to support other areas. 

New emerging technologies started to intrigue Judy, and she felt called to do something bigger.  IBM recruited her and Judy was extremely excited about what the computer giant could do for healthcare. 

The biggest challenge Judy says for the growth of IBM’s healthcare practice is that the company is still known for their hardware. The computerization of the industry is becoming commonplace, but the industry needs expertise to learn how it can be used. 

IBM is delving into the following two areas: 

● Mobile applications for both patients managing health and healthcare, and enabling the workforce (the nurse). She stresses, in particular,  applications that facilitate workflow efficiency in the hospital and homecare

● Analytics and understanding data and the quality of services provided Judy believes that career success can be attributed to attitude even more than basic aptitude. 

When Judy’s hiring, she’s always looking at a person’s excitement for their work, versus what they know. Judy also values surrounding herself with a team for whom she can foster growth, as part of her own growth. Lastly, she says helping to really pay attention and engage in volunteer work, boards, committees, and other types of activities help to drive her forward. 

In discussing challenges she has faced, Judy observes that throughout her career, IT has been dominated by men. She had to work to demonstrate credibility, because of her gender and her nursing background. 

“That’s very different today. Now, industry expertise is valuable in IT,” she said. “I even created two sets of cards, one listing RN and one without.” 

The top three leadership lessons Judy has for others are: 

● Don’t feel constrained. We’re often our own worst enemies by not speaking up.
● Make sure you position other people to lead with you. Mentor and get together with them, and guarantee their success. 
● Readjust your attitudes and always be humble. 

She leaves us with one last piece of advice: to think about your organization and industry, not just your job. It helps to round out any leader in IT to think about a bigger picture. 

This interview took place at HIMSS 2015. Learn more about HIMMS, and IBM here.

Follow us on Twitter  - @divatechtalks

Visit us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/divatechtalk

Catch us on Stitcher!