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As part of its Coronavirus Prep series, This Week in Health IT speaks to CIOs & CMIOs to discuss what they are doing and can be doing to prepare for COVID-19 in their communities. Special thanks to series sponsor and Galen partner, Sirius Healthcare.

In our own blog series, we will be providing our top takeaways from those conversations with the intent of spreading best practices among Health IT and healthcare delivery organizations to prepare for the anticipated surge in demand for care due to COVID-19.

Next up is Dr. Stephanie Lahr, CIO/CMIO, Monument Health

Top Takeaways:

• Establish a cadence of communication Institute a leadership huddle every day for 30 minutes to discuss new projects, things IT are involved in, etc. Take notes from that and distribute to everyone in division so they get that information. Can’t assume managers are going to have time to have those conversations with staff.
• Stand up a 1-800 number nurse triage line stood up by IT. Manned 18 hours a day by nurses in IT and corporate services so it did not take away from patient care. As patients become worried or have questions, they can call in as a resource.
• If vendors are not already in a health system or hospital, it’s likely that the healthcare delivery organization lacks the bandwidth to on-board a new vendor. Vendors should be focusing in on helping healthcare delivery organizations they already have a relationship with.
• Examine partnership with other organizations and practices in community, specifically what it would look like if our hospital needed to bring their folks on. Work closely with HR team to understand on-boarding processes and streamline that as much as possible.
• With team largely fully working remotely, there is an increased focused on the “soft stuff” including finding ways to engage people so they don’t feel disconnected. This includes find a time to participate in online games, standing up of a Facebook group, among others. People are putting in lots of hours and need hope. We need to put a smile on their face.

Full interview:

This Week in Health IT is also collecting resources and links designed to help health systems respond to and inform their communities around the Coronavirus. Visit their COVID-19 Resources for Health Systems page.