One-on-One With Janet Dillione, CEO, Health Services Business Unit, Siemens Healthcare, Part III

It’s important that the folks in Washington keep in mind just how much software will be flying into these health systems, because ICD-10 is not just a clinical system, it’s everything. Every system is going to get affected and get upgraded. So think of the extraordinary impact this is going to have, not just on the IT organization, but also the clinicians and the other end users that have to help support the roll out of those upgraded systems. So that’s pretty much my consistent message. “Take a step back, understand the environment into which we deliver, and don’t lose sight of what else is coming at them.”

GUERRA: You have three products that have ’07 CCHIT certification. There’s currently a total of only three companies and products that have ’08 certification. I would imagine that’s a dead deal at this point. Nobody’s going to be working through that process until they find out what’s going on with HHS Certification. Does that make sense?

DILLIONE: Yes and, again, our products are certified through 2010. So, there is no need for us to do anything.

GUERRA: Do you have any advice for our CIO readers on how they should be navigating these waters?

DILLIONE: One of the councils we’ve been giving to our CIOs is this cannot just be your topic. It’s a topic for the health system. Your boards have to be informed and understand the implications of what’s happening out here in the market. Again, don’t try to do this as a lone soldier. This is a health system initiative, and it has to be approach that way. It’s not just the CIO, it’s the CMO, the CNO, the COO, it’s important to have an executive team that understands they have this to do.

Another issue is that the industry will have to figure out how to solve the potential shortage of informatics analysts out there to support some of this clinical transformation.

GUERRA: Have you been getting a lot of calls from customers about certification who want to make sure you’re going to help them? Is that where the bulk of your energy is going to be spent or is there actually going to be a lot of new business?

DILLIONE: I think the good news is our customers expect it, they’re not asking it because they simply expect it. I mean, SMS and now Siemens always has had a strong heritage of being there for our customers with regulatory support and things that affect the industry, and we invest heavily in standards and regulatory council internally. That’s why we were fortunate enough to get people on the workgroups in Washington. I mean, our folks are expected to be industry participants.

I don’t see the volume of new business, necessarily. I see almost a little bit of waiting. I think the market is waiting for a little bit more clarity on exactly what’s going to happen. So, I think a lot of firms who stocked up are somewhat surprised that they potentially have some bench. I don’t think folks expected that. Whether or not that bubble bursts when Washington comes out and says, “This is it. This is final,” is anybody’s guess. We’ll see.