Daryl Kallevig, CIO, Riverwood Healthcare Center, Chapter 1

Daryl Kallevig, CIO, Riverwood Healthcare Center We often hear about the disadvantages of being a small, rural organization: smaller budgets, challenges recruiting top IT talent, and sometimes, a poor telecommunications infrastructure. What often gets lost in the shuffle are the benefits, one of which is being able to know every staff member, which can help leaders to better understand what keeps everything ticking, says Daryl Kallevig. In this interview, he talks about partnering with Allina Health to implement Epic, the workflow redesign required when switching EHRs, and strategy he used to communicate with his team during the rollout process. Kallevig also talks about why patient engagement is critical for rural facilities, what his team is doing stay “on top of our game,” and his interesting career path. Chapter 1 * About Riverwood HC * Partnering with Allina to implement Epic * Heavy focus on workflow design * Using Allina’s blueprint — “They have it pretty much down to a science.” * 2 keys to adoption: Communication & recognition * “It was a lot of work.” * The new CEO’s “desire to get to a single EHR.” LISTEN NOW USING THE PLAYER BELOW OR CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR iTUNES PODCAST FEED Bold Statements That started with our new CEO asking questions as to why we had two EHR systems: one for ambulatory side and one for our hospital-based side, because he strongly believed that both should be integrated, and that is true. An integrated EHR for hospital and ambulatory is considerably more effective and more efficient than trying to run two of them with interfaces. It was a lot of work. People were really burning the wick at both ends, and they were tired and a little bit frustrated on occasions because of the workload and the short timeframe, but we endured. And in general, people are pretty happy right now. They made a much stronger effort to pull in departments that were affected by their workflow, and then they would discuss the problems of the current workflow and come up with a new workflow design that would satisfy not only kind of the main department, but also those that are affected by downstream workflow as well. They were frustrated with the existing hospital-based EHR and the lack of integration between the ambulatory side and the hospital side. So there was definitely acceptance and willingness to make the move based on some of the issues that we have had between the hospital and ambulatory from a continuity of care perspective. Gamble:  Hi Daryl, thank you so much for taking some time to speak with healthsystemCIO.com. Kallevig:  No problem. It’s a pleasure. Gamble:  To give our readers and listeners some background, can you talk about Riverwood Healthcare Center — what you have in the way of hospital beds, clinics, and where you’re located? Kallevig:  Riverwood Healthcare Center is a critical access facility. We have 25 med surgical beds, four ICU beds and then we have three OB suites. We are located in north central Minnesota, pretty much straight west of Duluth, about 85 miles. We’re pretty close to the center of the state in the northern third of Minnesota. Gamble:  Are you are considered a standalone, or do you have any affiliations with other organizations? Kallevig:  We are a standalone critical access facility. I did forget to mention that we do have three clinics as well, one is attached right here in Aitkin with the hospital, and then we have two clinics, one located in McGregor, which is about 20 miles to the east of us, and then one in Garrison, which is about 20 miles to the south of us, right on the northwestern edge of Mille Lacs Lake. Gamble:  And at this point, are there any affiliations or partnerships with other hospitals?