Rural Idaho hospital succeeds with IT by reaching out to all departments

A cash-strapped, 18-bed community hospital in an isolated, rural part of Idaho with many employees who had never touched a computer is an unlikely candidate for health IT success. But thanks to a commitment from management and engagement of everyone from the C-suite, to the medical staff, to rank-and-file employees, Steele Memorial Medical Center (SMMC) in Salmon, Idaho, has been able to reduce patient transfers, provide more timely, effective treatment and offer more flexibility in physician scheduling with an IT implementation that covers every functional area of the hospital.

The secret, say SMMC executives, was a strategic plan and buy-in from every department and all levels of management, as well as a decision by CEO Victoria Alexander-Lane to decentralize IT because she had read of failures elsewhere because IT staff were too detached from other departments.

"None of this happens without the support of upper management and the board. And our hospital staff knew they were committed to making this happen," CFO Preston Becker tells Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.

After identifying super-users within the hospital, management appointed an IT liaison in each department--and paid them extra for spending at least two hours a week working directly with IT staff. "We want them to feel at home in IT and in their department, to be a bridge between the two departments," Becker says.

For more details on this success story:
- check out this Hospitals & Health Networks article

Related Articles:
Rural Texas hospitals to create RHIO with shared EHR
SPOTLIGHT: EMR stimulus and rural hospitals

Post a comment