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Mark Hopkins: Melding Administrative and Technical Skills
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December 11, 2006 (Computerworld) -- Mark Hopkins, CIO of academic and community hospitals at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, has taken a two-pronged approach to building his IT career. A combination of IT and administrative management positions has helped him transform UPMC's enterprise infrastructure and point-of-care systems and automate large chunks of the patient care process.
"In health care, systems have been highly fragmented, but the industry has made progress in terms of standards, and we have a big push in terms of interoperability," Hopkins says. "At the same time, it has traditionally been difficult for health care organizations to communicate with each other."
Hopkins received a bachelor's degree in information systems management from the University of Maryland and began his career as a systems analyst in the insurance industry. But he says it was his job as vice president of administration at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, a 700-bed hospital in the Johns Hopkins Health System, that exposed him to the business side of health care during the 1990s.
Image Credit: Mark Bolster
In 2001, Hopkins joined UPMC as CIO for Presbyterian Hospital and Shadyside Hospital, and he took on responsibility for administrative management at Shadyside. In doing so, he combined both technical and business roles in the organization. UPMC is in the process of adopting an enterprise model, which encompasses everything from standardized IT platforms to what Hopkins calls "bedside solutions," such as physician order entry tools and systems for automated administration of medicine.
Hopkins' colleagues say his melding of technical and administrative skills has helped the organization achieve its move to automated care.
"[That transformation] is something he's adroit at, even from the technology side," says Dr. Daniel Martich, vice president of eRecord, UPMC's electronic medical records initiative. "Hospitals are cobbled together, and we have 20 hospitals and we're still adding them. There are multiple platforms with hundreds of vendors, and to standardize on a laboratory system, a radiology system, [a picture archiving and communication system] and the gamut of clinical systems is a nontrivial operational undertaking," says Martich.
"Mark has been truly visionary in how he manages information systems as well as operations," adds Liz Concordia, senior vice president of academic and community hospitals at UPMC. "From that perspective, you see the impact that IS can have, instead of just what they do or solely from an operational perspective."
Concordia attributes Hopkins' success at UPMC in large part to his fervent interest in medical care.
"Mark's hobby is exploring the cool technologies that can be used to make a patient's life better. There aren't many people who will get as down and dirty as he does. He's in the hospital at 3 a.m. to make sure a system works," she says.
For Hopkins, the path to success includes being effective in one's current position rather than continually looking ahead to that next rung on the IT ladder.
Webster is a freelance writer in Providence, R.I. Contact him at john.s.webster@verizon.net.
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