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Podcast Q&A: CIO Dan Nigrin on Momentum, User Education & “Eye-Opening” Experiences

September 01, 2021

Winston Churchill famously said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
In healthcare, that crisis, of course, is the Covid-19 pandemic, which has played a critical role in advancing digital tools — and changing the way care is delivered. “It has been eye-opening,” said Dan Nigrin, MD, who has served as CIO at MaineHealth since January.
The challenge going forward will be to ensure that the industry doesn’t lose momentum, which would certainly be a waste, noted Nigrin, who has more than 25 years’ experience as a pediatrician. Instead, he believes healthcare has an enormous opportunity to leverage the lessons learned during Covid-19 and create “a new standard of care.”
Recently, Nigrin spoke with healthsystemCIO about how his team is working to optimize and streamline processes to improve the experience for both patients and providers, and why physician satisfaction should be top of mind for all leaders. He also talked about transitioning from pediatrics – and city life in Boston – to a large system in Maine, and what his team is learning by participating in the Arch Collaborative.
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Key Takeaways

* Despite the enormous impact telehealth services have had during the pandemic, its future still remains uncertain, which makes it critical for healthcare IT leaders to use their voices.
* When it comes to digital health, “the genie is out of the bottle,” with skeptical patients and providers changing their tune and accepting new ways of connecting.
* One of the key priorities for CIOs is to ensure momentum isn’t lost, and that the expeditious way in which decisions were made – and executed upon – during Covid continues.
* As organizations move forward, it’s critical to reflect on “all the ways in which we optimized and streamlined processes,” and ensure that capabilities like digital check-in and mobile payments become the standard.
* The most important steps leaders can take to improve clinician satisfaction? Provide education and ongoing support of the tools that are in place.

Q&A with Daniel Nigrin, MD, Part 2 [Click here to view Part 1]
Gamble:  You touched on a lot of things, one of them being that telehealth isn’t an option for a lot of the population, which is why something like phone visits is so important. It seems like that has been received pretty well.
Nigrin:  Yes. Off course, we will have to see what happens with payment and how that’s all going to play out post-emergency measures.  We also have to see what occurs with the regulatory landscape in terms of what technologies are going to be acceptable to be used. We’re going to be actively looking at all of these things, realizing that we need to be nimble and pivot when and if we need to as these rules change. Like many places, we’re actively participating in the lobbying world, trying to appeal to our administrative folks in the government to ensure these things don’t go away post-pandemic.
The phrase I’ve heard a lot is that ‘the genie is out of the bottle’ with this stuff. I think people have really realized that these technologies can be useful, but it’s not for everything. You’re not going to have brain surgery tomorrow over the computer, but in many areas, having a virtual interaction is really a positive experience. You get done what you need to get done. And that’s from both perspectives. Patients who were a little bit reluctant have now sort o...