Steve Shares

Q: What does being a Member of CHIME mean to you?

A: After having served on both the foundation side for many years and now sitting on the provider side, I can tell you the thing that means the most to me is the collaboration. It is truly an experience where we bring the executives, the best of the best, the brightest of the bright, from the foundation side and the provider side together. To work together toward solutions, to hear innovative approaches, to learn new ideas, but most importantly, to learn and grow together and be better together.

Q: What excites you about the current and/or future state of digital health?

I think it’s important for us to reflect on what we’ve done in the past, to get to where we are today. There has been a lot of change over the last 10 years, especially in electronic health records and what we are providing in this industry. When I thought about digital health, I wanted to make sure it isn’t just a buzzword. But, really what does it mean to me? What is it about digital health that I think is exciting for us in the future? It is all different groups coming together. It is not just what is happening in the provider space, it’s not just what is happening with employers, or people managing their own health, but it’s really everything coming together.

Let me give you an example, with people and wearable technologies, making sure they track the steps they take each day, or scales to check their weight and manage their own diets. Bringing together electronic health records from the providers’ side makes business easier to do for our patients and families. Then employers making sure we have wellness programs and things in place to make sure our employees are well taken care of, and they are thinking of their own health. Of course, the insurance providers making sure they have programs as well that are helping their population. With Physicians, it’s making sure they have evidence-based care at their fingertips, so they can see the latest and greatest technologies and techniques for treating patients. To really make health better. We use the word healthcare a lot but in digital healthcare, it is the health word that is really important to me.

Q: Share a story that represents your CHIME experience.

A: Earlier in my career, when I was on the foundation side, I was able to attend a CHIME conference. I remember walking up to a group of CIOs, they welcomed me into the circle, and we had a conversation that was very collaborative. No one questioned what my firm or I could bring to the table. They just asked my opinion, and we had a discussion. I learned quite a bit in that discussion about problems they were facing, and how they were seeking out ideas and thoughts. I felt that was a really unique and special experience.

Q: How do you hope to impact health and care in your organization, community, or at large?

A: I came from the foundation side, specifically the consulting side. Now, here I am sitting as the Chief Technology Officer on the provider side. For the first time in my career, I am in the CTO seat. It has been impactful to me, I am humbled by how much I have learned, even after 25 years. I think I have a lot to offer on this side, how to be really focused on the customer. For 25 years my focus was the customer, and here I am sitting in the chair as CTO, and my focus is still with the customer. How do we make healthcare better for all our customers? Whether physicians or nurses, families or patients, our obligation is to provide that experience that they get elsewhere, like high-end department stores, or at Disney World. These types of things are important, and the perception we should take every time we work with a customer that we serve.

Q: As a current digital health leader, what professional advice would you give to yourself 20 years ago?

A: The best advice I could give myself would be to listen more. There is so much to observe, listen to, and learn when you have your eyes and ears open. Talk a little less and listen to people’s ideas and perspectives, grow from them. I learned that lesson, but it took some time. If I were to do that earlier and really learn that perspective, then I would be even better than where I could imagine.

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