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Imagine a hospital corridor lined with open doors and a chorus of hotel bells, each ring a patient hoping to be found. That’s the picture Julie Dearinger Smith paints from real stories of downtime, the moments when networks collapse, call systems fail, and teams fight to deliver safe care without the tools they rely on. Julie brings two decades in clinical informatics atop years at the bedside, and she turns that experience into a simple but radical premise: resilience is a clinical operations discipline, not just a cybersecurity task.

We dig into Leadership by Design, Julie’s practical framework that maps growth from novice to expert using observable skills. No more vague advice like “show initiative.” Instead, leaders get a clear coaching plan, and team members get a transparent path to advancement. This clarity becomes critical during outages, when pattern recognition, prioritization, and calm execution can prevent harm. Julie shares the mindset shift that separates “testing to pass” from “testing to break,” and why that difference defines proficient practitioners in health tech.

From there, we get tactical. Julie explains how Contingency Health Solutions approaches downtime with tools designed to run when the internet doesn’t. Bell Assist gives patients a cellular-based call capability with location awareness and prioritization, while a lightweight bed management module restores throughput and room turnover visibility when EHRs and intercoms are offline. We cover everyday value too, including meeting CMS requirements for communication in ED overflow spaces without expensive infrastructure. Along the way, we surface hidden dependencies in radiology, pharmacy, and supply chain, and outline how to run serious tabletop exercises that prepare clinical leaders for the worst-case scenario.

If you care about patient safety, informatics, nursing leadership, or hospital operations, this conversation offers a blueprint you can act on today. Subscribe for more practical health tech stories, share this episode with a colleague who owns downtime planning, and leave a review with your biggest resiliency question—we’ll tackle it next.

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Guest: Dr. Robb Kruklitis, Chief Clinical Officer at Guthrie Clinic

Host: Vik Patel

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik welcomes Dr. Robb Kruklitis, Chief Clinical Officer at Guthrie Clinic.

In this episode, Vik sits down with Dr. Robb Kruklitis to explore Guthrie Clinic’s innovative remote patient monitoring (RPM) initiative for chronic disease management. The project focuses on centralizing vital signs and biometric data from patients at home—particularly those with conditions like congestive heart failure—to enable timely interventions and reduce readmissions.

Dr. Kruklitis shares how this data flows directly into Epic, where nurses monitor dashboards and respond proactively. Guthrie is also developing a remote clinical workforce to support this model. The discussion highlights the need for smarter alerts, predictive analytics, and ultimately, a shift from reactive to proactive care.

Vik draws parallels with Tido’s MIDR-AI monitoring solution, and the conversation shifts toward the broader future of AI in healthcare. Both agree that the industry’s next leap is to fully harness EHR and external data to drive predictive insights, improve scheduling, and support providers with intelligent tools.

Dr. Kruklitis ends on an inspiring note, comparing the future of healthcare data use to Moneyball—leveraging diverse data to deliver the right care at the right time and place.

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Guest: Shane Rodabaugh, System VP of IT & Infrastructure, Baptist Health KY & IN
Host: Vik Patel

In this episode, Vik welcomes Shane Rodabaugh to discuss infrastructure modernization, cloud strategy, AI readiness, and leadership in a rapidly evolving healthcare environment.

They begin with a look at Baptist Health’s current infrastructure—a hybrid model with Epic EHR hosted on-premise and new efforts like Cogito Cloud moving to Microsoft Fabric. This transition lays the foundation for advanced analytics and future AI capabilities.

Vik and Shane explore the challenges of defining a “cloud strategy” in a world that evolves faster than any 3-year plan. Shane emphasizes the importance of flexibility and prioritization, especially when resources are limited but the demand for innovation is high. Vik introduces Tido CortexAI, an AI-ready data cloud, noting that CMIOs are often at the forefront of these initiatives. Shane mentions Baptist’s CMIO, Dr. Brett Oliver, and how he's helping drive AI strategy from a clinical lens.

As the conversation deepens, Vik asks about collaboration with clinical leadership. Shane explains that the dialogue is open and energetic—but sometimes he has to “hold the horses back.” Even with compelling ROI and excitement from clinicians, resource capacity often becomes the limiting factor. Still, the team focuses on staying agile, learning from fast failures, and pivoting quickly when needed.

They shift to discussing AI governance and risk. Shane underscores the importance of understanding the algorithms and data behind models before deploying AI solutions in clinical settings.

On the topic of build vs. buy, Shane shares insights from recent leadership discussions. While he's not opposed to building, he notes that Baptist isn't a development shop and scaling internal dev teams is a major investment. They view partners—like Epic—as their development engine for core platforms. Vik adds that a hybrid model often works best: internal teams guiding strategy while partners focus on execution. This balance helps mitigate key personnel risk and increases long-term sustainability.

The conversation rounds out with leadership and collaboration. Shane shares how closely he works with the CIO and PMO, including weekly meetings focused on project prioritization and transparent communication—something he says is a strength at Baptist.

They close the episode by talking about work-life balance. Shane shares a recent family vacation experience and how it’s important to model healthy balance from the top. Lastly, he offers a grounding reminder: no matter how complex the tech or fast the pace—it’s all for the patient.

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Guest: Lance Alston, Director of IT, Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home
Host: Vik Patel

On this episode, Vik welcomes Lance Alston, Director of IT at Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home, for a candid conversation on leading with resilience, trust, and innovation in a resource-constrained healthcare environment.

Lance shares how he’s successfully navigating the “do more with less” challenge, emphasizing the importance of trust — both within his team and with external partners. While vendor partnerships can be highly beneficial, Lance acknowledges they often require a culture shift. At Nathan Littauer, he’s worked to foster the right mindset and build trust with carefully chosen partners to reduce organizational risk, especially around key personnel dependencies.

The conversation also touches on leadership and well-being. Lance and Vik explore the importance of work-life balance in healthcare IT, a field often plagued by burnout. Lance emphasizes leading by example and ensuring team members feel supported in taking time off. This culture shift is backed by the full C-suite, including the CEO, who recognize that employee morale and well-being are essential for long-term success.

From there, the discussion transitions into more technical territory, including the organization’s current and future AI strategy. Lance highlights how having an enthusiastic and forward-thinking CMIO has been instrumental in exploring AI solutions that support clinical decision-making. Together, they’re laying the foundation for a future where AI becomes a practical, integrated tool — not just a buzzword.

Vik also introduces Tido CortexAI, an AI-ready data lake that transforms EHR, clinical, and operational data into clean, normalized, and interoperable insights. Whether it’s for predictive modeling, automation, or real-time trends, CortexAI provides the data foundation healthcare organizations need to make meaningful use of AI.

Finally, Lance offers insights into the importance of open communication across departments — even when the answer isn’t immediately clear. “It’s okay to say, ‘I’m not sure yet, but I’m working on a solution,’” he says. Fostering transparency, accessibility, and continuous communication is key. Because no matter how advanced the technology, without the right strategy and human connection, it won’t deliver its full value.

Closing thoughts from Lance: At the end of the day, IT is still IT — even in the age of AI. What truly makes a difference is effective communication, strong relationships, and trust. Especially when you're tasked with doing more with less, those human elements are essential.

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Vik sits down with the one and only Dr. Michelle Flemmings — ER doc, health tech leader, and all-around powerhouse. 💥

In this episode, she gets real about:

⚡ What it’s really like working with AI in the ER

🤯 How CIOs and CMIOs can calm the chaos around AI adoption

🚫 AI Hype vs. reality

💪 Her mission to elevate women in healthcare leadership

It’s smart, it’s real, and it’s surprisingly fun.

Give it a listen — you’ll learn and laugh a little.

#HealthTech #AIinHealthcare #WomenInLeadership #CIO #CMIO #DigitalHealth #PodcastVibes

Full transcript

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James Wellman, VP and CIO of Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home, and Vik Patel, COO of Tido, as they explore advancing data integration, operational efficiency, and patient care. Learn what happens when a healthcare IT partnership transcends traditional vendor relationships to become a true team extension, and discover how trust-based partnerships drive success in healthcare IT. Don't miss this engaging solution showcase.

This transcription is provided by artificial intelligence. We believe in technology but understand that even the smartest robots can sometimes get speech recognition wrong.

[: 00:00:00

Are you and your team attending VIVE or HIMSS and looking for next level efficiency? Book a meeting today and qualify for six months of our MIDR solution. Check the show notes in the description to access this limited offer

with our managed integration solution, not just waiting there for someone to assign it.

We actually know what's upcoming based on what we have already seen all the way from assessment and what new systems are being implemented.

Welcome to This Week Health. My name is Bill Russell. I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system and creator of This Week Health, where we are dedicated to transforming healthcare, one connection at a time.

Now, onto our interview

Vik Patel and James Wellman. [: 00:01:00

Vik Patel COO of Teedo Inc. Teedo is a comprehensive healthcare IT solution provider specializing in modernizing healthcare environments. Securing interface infrastructures and enabling real time data connectivity. We're here today to tell some amazing stories about the work you two have done. Welcome to the show.

Thanks Sarah. Great to be here.

Absolutely. I'm going to start with the obvious. And can you both share how your initial meeting at HIMSS sparked the idea for collaboration and what made you decide to explore the Teedo product suite together?

Well, you know, I can kind of start us out there. Vik reached out to me prior to HIMSS.

We connected through LinkedIn. And we started talking found we had some common things from our past

because he was explaining to [: 00:02:00

I was telling him what we needed. But we met in person at HIMSS with his team and kind of started forging a relationship there. So, it's about relationships. So that was a really important component for

Yeah, and that was exciting meeting in person and I say that because you know, I have been following James on LinkedIn for a while and

We've been talking through the messaging and and I was like, hey, let's meet finally last year.

And so that was nice like I said, we both went to University of Kentucky We both lived in Lexington, Kentucky for a long time and which by the way I mean this year in Vegas March Madness should be a lot more fun You know, Kentucky's doing really well for all the basketball fans out there.

Well, last time I checked, y'all were ranked 8th nationally, so I guess it's okay to say go Wildcats.

We have hope and hope, too. Love it.

nership began is rare today. [: 00:03:00

I

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Vik Patel, COO at Tido Inc. joins Sarah for the news. Vik shares his journey from hospital IT to founding Tido Inc., discussing the nuanced challenges of integrating AI and the role of strong governance frameworks in avoiding unintended biases. Together, we tackle questions of strategic prioritization, from the intricacies of data migration and legacy archiving to the pressing need for reliable, responsive tech solutions in high-stakes clinical environments. Through the lens of real-world applications, the episode raises important considerations about balancing innovation with practicality in healthcare IT.

Key Points:

• 04:09 The Importance of AI Governance in Healthcare
• 07:27 Challenges and Solutions in Healthcare IT
• 20:00 Practical AI Applications and Integration
• 30:49 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

News articles:

• Dr. Patrick McGill Urges Health Systems to Establish AI Governance Early
• 'AI is like tuition': CommonSpirit CIO's approach to AI hype
• ChatGPT overprescribed emergency treatment: UCSF study

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In this episode of This Week In Health Tech, Vik Patel welcomes Mark Farrow, a CIO veteran with experience of leading IT teams at large academic health systems and also community health system. This episode is very in-depth real world discussions about data challenges, AI governance and interoperability in healthcare.
Mark starts out sharing his background and how he got started working in a hospital. Vik and Mark talk about data challenge in health systems, starting with challenge of making sense of the big data. Mark makes a comment that health systems are "data rich and knowledge poor", which really describes the big data current situation in most health systems.
Vik and Mark then share that not everyone maybe aware that faxing is still very much active in health system communication. That shows that we still have much to do for interoperability. There are still many point to point interfaces and in this case using Faxing.
Vik asks the question to Mark if EHRs have a role to play in how the data is being collected but the usage of data and sharing is still a challenge.
Mark and Vik then discuss strategy of AI, and how quality of life should drive the decision making. Mark thinks AI should really help unlock the power of data that is in the EHRs and all the clinical applications. Mark also provides real-world examples of how AI can help unlock data for clinical and operational decision making and help improve patient outcomes.
Both then dive into the risks related to adopting AI solutions and how to overcome some of these challenges using governance and appropriate resources like data scientists on the team.

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