Leadership Perspectives

Team building and efficiency are umbrella priorities over the coming year as leaders focus on strengthening patient flow through existing, and newly opening, inpatient and outpatient facilities and bolstering the spirit of culture, top executives said at the August Leadership Assembly.

Patient experience and facilities expansion are the touchstones of the upcoming fiscal year strategy to align Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s growth with financial strength.

Setting the tone for the morning’s presentations, Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s fall Leadership Assembly began with a stirring rendition of the Aretha Franklin classic, “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.,” performed by the Medical Center’s United Voices of Vanderbilt choir.

With the liftoff of eStar accomplished, it’s time to set the course for optimizing the new information technology ecosystem for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), but not without first thanking all those who delivered seamless patient care during the transition, said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and CEO of VUMC and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Over the year, Congress has repeatedly attempted to “fix” healthcare by altering the funding streams between states and the federal government, as well as to commercial insurers. All of this might lead one to think that Congress is focused on the most important problems facing healthcare.

Much more than a just software replacement, eStar, the Epic-based clinical software platform replacing StarPanel, will be the backbone of a new information technology ecosystem for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) that will usher in future successes and create the potential to better serve patients, said Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of VUMC and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

With EpicLeap Go Live only nine months away, the team responsible for ensuring that Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is prepared from an operational readiness standpoint was facing a couple of big challenges. How could they effectively communicate with the various site leaders to ensure that Go Live-critical tasks were being completed in a timely manner? How could they accurately report gaps to VUMC leaders and get support in closing those gaps? Was it necessary to rely on email and Excel spreadsheets to accomplish this part of EpicLeap?