Clinical Engineering and Information Technology Convergence at Spectrum Health

Robert Rinck, IT Director, Tom O’Keefe, IT Manager, and Aaron Predum, Biomedical Electronics Manager, Spectrum Health. Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI, has been voted by Reuters as a Top-10 Healthcare System in 2010 and 2011. In 2007, Spectrum Health integrated Clinical Engineering and Information Technology teams into a single organization. In a five-year retrospective review, leaders from Spectrum Health discuss: What the safety, clinical, and technology drivers were for convergence; how the team was initially organized and how is it organized today; the important roles that were created in the new organization; key processes that were implemented, and which were discontinued; unique cultures and behaviors that were sustained from the original teams and whether a new culture converged; what the most significant leadership challenges were and how were they managed; what the outcomes and benefits of convergence were; and, how we would do it differently.