Five Questions With: Dr. Richard Gillerman

DR. RICHARD GILLERMAN was recently named chief medical information officer and vice president at Lifespan. He will continue to work in a part-time capacity as a pediatric anesthesiologist at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. / COURTESY LIFESPAN
DR. RICHARD GILLERMAN was recently named chief medical information officer and vice president at Lifespan. He will continue to work in a part-time capacity as a pediatric anesthesiologist at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. / COURTESY LIFESPAN

Dr. Richard Gillerman, a pediatric anesthesiologist at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, was named Lifespan’s chief medical information officer and vice president, effective Sept. 4. Active for many years in many information technology initiatives at Hasbro and across Lifespan, Gillerman will oversee medical informatics in planning, implementing and advancing information systems across all of Lifespan’s clinical and research programs.

Gillerman, who will continue his work as a pediatric anesthesiologist on a part-time basis, is also a clinical assistant professor of surgery (anesthesiology) at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. A member of Lifespan’s Physician Informatics Council and Clinical IT Committee, Gillerman talked with Providence Business News about his new role at Lifespan and the IT challenges facing Lifespan.

PBN: You’re a practicing physician; we’re curious to know what about this new position appealed to you; how do you envision your work as a physician informing your new position?

GILLERMAN: Electronic health records, and the information they provide to clinicians and health care administrators, will play an ever-increasing role in helping to support the future paradigms of health care and contributing to the quality of care we provide for our patients. I wanted to be more directly involved in these processes. It is essential that physicians, with their clinical background and primary focus on quality patient care, work side-by-side with information technology professionals to get this right.

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PBN: Describe in more detail the scope of your responsibilities in your new position – “planning, implementing and advancing information systems across all of Lifespan’s clinical and research programs.”

GILLERMAN: : My role will be working on a combination of strategic and tactical initiatives that originate from health care providers, administrators and the department of information services throughout Lifespan. Specifically, I will focus on the clinical portion of these projects, large or small.

PBN: How do you envision balancing your full-time work in information technology and part-time work as a pediatric anesthesiologist?

GILLERMAN: : I plan to continue to practice in the operating room one day a week. This will allow me to maintain my clinical perspective, important for understanding the IT concerns of fellow clinicians.

PBN: What are the scope and responsibilities of the Physician Informatics Council and Clinical IT Committee, and what is your role with each?

GILLERMAN: : The Physician Informatics Council is an independently chartered group that serves to provide advice and recommendations to other leadership bodies within Lifespan on IT issues. I will continue to work closely with the PIC and its leadership to advance a variety of large and small agenda items. The Clinical IT Committee is a governance body of the department of information services. It is responsible for reviewing and ranking large projects that have an IT component and monitoring the progress of these projects.

PBN: What have you identified as Lifespan’s greatest challenges and opportunities in the field of medical information technology and how will you address them?

GILLERMAN: : Like all complex health care organizations, Lifespan must balance various clinical, administrative, regulatory, and financial requirements as they relate to IT. Within the department of information services, we continue to seek inclusive input to build consensus about the best way to move forward with these often thorny topics.

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