Robert Laramie, VP & CIO, Northeast Hospital Corporation, Beverly, MA

Leadership Style

You carry the dual title of vice president and CIO of Northeast Hospital Corporation. What is your impression of MEDITECH from those two perspectives, and does it differ?

My perspectives on MEDITECH, from my viewpoints as a vice president and as a chief information officer, are similar. I think the title of vice president allows me to discuss, for the health care system, where MEDITECH can be of value to us. And from a CIO's perspective, I can look at things as a strategic partner, as our health information systems are running all of our functionality within our organization. 

MEDITECH is truly our strategic partner, as we move forward anywhere in the organization. My vice president title allows me to be able to look system-wide, as to where we can utilize MEDITECH across our entire system, not just in the acute care setting.

Northeast includes three hospitals and represents a variety of divisions. How do you build consensus on the strategic direction for technology across an organization of this size?

Our organization is very diverse with the divisions that we have and the type of patients that we treat. Not only do we have the acute care setting for inpatients, but we have skilled nursing facilities, and we have a behavioral health hospital in Lynn. So when I'm trying to build consensus, I'm also trying to bring in technology that applies to the organization, and which is strategically motivated to improve the patient care process. 

Most of the time, the way I build consensus is by applying a solution across our system for each one of the constituencies--whether it involves hosting technology within one of our data centers, or bringing in a specific application, such as kiosks, that allow for patients to be able to check themselves in more efficiently. Building strategic direction and applying that with I.T. solutions usually gets people on board.