SPONSORED CONTENT Breaking the glass ceiling in healthcare technology is a slow, steady process Women have emerged from various fields to lead new technological efforts Kristin Myers Jeana O’Brien Lisbeth Votruba Laura Wilt Moderator Executive Vice Senior Vice President, Chief Clinical Chief Information Fawn Lopez President of Chief Medical Innovation Officer, Officer, Ochsner Fawn Lopez, Publisher, Technology, Chief Information Officer, AvaSure Health Modern Healthcare, Information Officer, Baylor Scott & White Vice President, Crain Mount Sinai Health Health Communications System or years, women in healthcare technology—in fact, the technology field altogether—were more of an anomaly than the norm. Today, they are still in the Fminority when it comes to executive leadership in the field but opportunities for women in healthcare technology are increasing. A new generation of technology leaders will continue to push healthcare forward in the years ahead, bringing with them a strong technical background and a potentially different take on addressing current and future issues. Fawn Lopez, publisher of Modern Healthcare and vice president of Crain Communications, sat down with four female leaders in healthcare technology to discuss the path they’ve taken to get to their current positions as well as the road ahead. Fawn Lopez: What do you think is the We’ve been able to bring different perspectives current state of diversity and inclusion in and different backgrounds to the table and that makes us attractive. At the same time, I think the healthcare technology sector? that there’s still a significant gap in women in leadership. Women in technology leadership Jeana O’Brien: If we consider healthcare in particular are still not that common, so I technology companies, all over the United States, would hope that will continue to increase as the we’ve made great strides in terms of having more denominator or the pool of applicants from within women employed in those areas of technology. the fields increase. 1 SPONSORED CONTENT Lisbeth Votruba: I think there’s this feeling that FL: Good or bad, are more companies you’re not the model of what a CIO or an IT leader receptive to the gender-equality should be because it’s typically someone who’s not like me. That’s something you have to overcome. I’ve approach? felt like I had a really great mentor, a man of a certain age, who helped me and said ‘You can totally do this. KM: I think it could go faster but I’m definitely seeing You can do it and you don’t need to be like me. You progress. Just to give you an example, in the week can be yourself.’ That’s what we want the next that I was announced as CIO, there were also two generation of leadership to be. That was so other announcements of women in leadership roles— important for me, and I think that we could use more the head of ambulatory care and our new chief of that. nursing officer for the health system. We also have a COO who’s a woman, plus our chief legal counsel Kristin Myers: I think that, below the leadership level, and our CHRO. We’re getting more and more depending on what role people are in—like an analyst women in leadership in our organization, which I or project manager—we’re seeing more and more think is fantastic. And I think it just changes the women. It’s when you start moving into the leadership conversation and the dynamic of the organization in a positions that you see it really taper off quite really positive way. dramatically, especially at the VP, SVP, EVP levels on the provider side. LV: If you go to a healthcare technology conference, I find it’s still overwhelmingly male. It’s definitely sort FL: Why is that the case? of a club or something that you feel excluded from at first. I know that’s certainly something that I felt, that I wasn’t like them and I didn’t fit in. I have seen KM: If you think about the timing of careers and improvements over time and definitely feel one of when you graduate from college, you’re working the things is just recognizing other women so when your way up, you’re really moving into a lot of the you go, you have a friendly face you can say hi to. I leadership positions, probably in your early 30s. think it makes a big difference. That’s about the same time as many people choose to have children. I think that there is this tax that many mothers face, whether it’s a financial penalty FL: Diversity is one thing, but inclusion and as well as a career penalty. And there’s unconscious belonging is another. If women don’t feel bias out there that has to be recognized where that they’re being included or that they some people may think that a new mother is not as belong, it’s still a big problem. How can committed to her career. we deal with this? We all know that’s not correct. We are committed to our careers as we always have been. I think that we need to normalize motherhood in leadership JO: Feeling included is important for the long game and throughout our technology departments. however short term it actually may offer an Mothers should be able to take the time and enjoy advantage to be an “outsider” because there’s that that time with their newborn. I always have said to element of surprise. My philosophy has been pretty my team, take as much time as you need— much “do what needs to be done and ask questions everything will be waiting for you when you get later”. When I first accepted this position, there back. Don’t look at email, just take the time and were not many women CMIOs around the country enjoy it. I think that’s how we can change the and certainly not in the role that I was moving culture as female leaders. into—I’ll call it the “post-EMR CMIO.” I was the first in that role within my organization Laura Wilt: The United States doesn’t have paid so not around others who could guide or even parental leave as a law. That’s a huge problem for answer questions. This also meant there weren’t the country. I feel very fortunate to work for a others in the organization who could say ‘Wait a healthcare provider that supports parental leave minute, you’re not supposed to be doing that as a and having a leader, a boss, who is also supportive. CMIO.’ I just did what I thought was needed, and How do we create, how do we normalize, getting waited for somebody to tell me otherwise, which people support? How do we normalize asking for gave me a lot of latitude. It allowed me, regardless help? of my gender, to keep making strides basically by 2 SPONSORED CONTENT PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN IN HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL JOBS 13% 33% SENIOR CEOs LEADERSHIP 67% 87% 23% 29% COOs CFOs 71% 77% Healthcare industry data and research indicates it takes women on average 3 to 5 years longer to reach CEO Statistics and data from 2019 report by Oliver Wyman management consulting delivering. There are still, however, not that many do with the career path and what your aspirations are, is women CMIOs. I really hope that through opportunities extremely important because you don’t want there to such as this one, women who are in in the trenches can be any confusion. I was clear about my aspirations to be recognize even though possibly a little bit circuitous CIO, and ultimately I think that sponsorship enabled me there is now a path. to become one. But for a long time, I was very reluctant I also had the opportunity and benefi t of receiving to speak up. I went to a women’s leadership course in thank yous and nudges from leadership. Our CEO at June of last year, and to me, it was a transformational the time encouraged me along the way and I found it experience because it really forced me to look at my didn’t take very many positive nudges, particularly from career path and how I wanted to move forward. a leader, to make up for all of the negatives. LV: I agree. I have also instinctively turned it into an LV: I’ve been pretty intentional. I reached out. I felt like I advantage and people underestimate you sometimes, needed a mentor who was outside of my realm, not in and you can use that, and you can move forward. And I the nursing fi eld, through connections in the immediately thought of Kamala Harris. How her mother community, I found a mentor who is from the furniture told her ‘you can be the fi rst but make sure you’re not industry, Steelcase. She and I have lunch once a month the last.’ I think right now, maybe we represent some and she’s just great. She’s completely outside. She’s not individual success, but how do we make that more in our organization, and so she can tell me the mistakes common? I think one of the ways is inclusion and that she has made. I’m not in her organization and that intentionally mentoring. kind of informal, but intentional mentoring is extremely important. I also have an executive coach. I pulled in my KM: I think there’s a big difference between team that supports me but I also pay it forward.