Partners in Productivity – Southcoast Health

Jacksonville Beach, FL – In addition to all the shifts happening in today’s high-pressure, technologically evolving, shrinking-budget healthcare environment, political and interpersonal dynamics can further complicate internal operations. At Southcoast Health, CMIO Dr. Michael Hyder and CIO Joan McFaul have developed a complementary, collaborative, and highly productive working relationship that effortlessly conquers this obstacle.

The two met nearly three years ago when McFaul joined Southcoast in the midst of an initiative to consolidate more than thirty different information systems into a single EMR platform. “I remember meeting Joan and hitting it off immediately,” Hyder remembers. “It was a good thing, too, because we were about to go through a major, transformational project. The experience really strengthened our relationship.”

The two soon discovered that they shared multiple sets of complementary skills: mutual commitments to collaboration, objective problem-solving, and a sense of humor toward the challenges they face. “Having a good understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses has had a lot to do with our success,” Hyder says.

Hyder and McFaul maintain clear definitions of each of their individual roles (a practicing physician, Hyder is also chief medical officer for Southcoast Physicians Group and medical director for Southcoast Health Plan), as well as how they individually bring value to shared endeavors.

[ … ]

Operational flexibility, collaboration, and agility extend to how Hyder and McFaul work with outside vendors as well. They cite companies including Epic, Optimum Healthcare IT, and MedStreaming as partners that can provide additional expertise to address budget challenges and find ways to do more with fewer resources.

To read the rest of this article, please click here to visit the American Health Leaders website.