Director of Digital Health Technology Delivery

University of Wisconsin Health (UW Health) has retained Kirby Partners to conduct a nationwide executive search for candidates for their Director of Digital Health Technology Delivery.

About UW Health:

UW Health is an integrated health system with nine hospitals and four medical centers in Wisconsin and Illinois and is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  

UW Health partners with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health to advance patient care, research, education, and community service to patients from across the U.S. and around the world. 

UW Health is nationally recognized by Newsweek and Statista as one of the world’s best specialized hospitals and was named the #1 hospital in Wisconsin for the 11th year by U.S. News & World Report. 

Director of Digital Health Technology Delivery Position Overview

The Director of Digital Health Technology Delivery position was created to help UW Health grow its digital strategy.  

The Director will lead and leverage CRM systems, including Salesforce and Epic Cheers, as a transformative technology for the organization. (The implementation of Salesforce is underway, with Cheers beginning soon.) 

Specifically, the Director will leverage CRM technology to:  

• Meet increased consumer demand for personalized and digital experiences 
• Harness the power of innovative technology to modernize operations and achieve efficiencies 
• Help each department to become data-driven so they can develop more valuable patient relationships 
• Personalize the needs of patients, community providers, and donors 

UW Health’s vision for the CRM is to advance its relationship with the patient by creating higher levels of engagement leading to more patient-centered care and right-sized access to healthcare. The CRM is an enterprise-wide technology and will be used across the organization to enable multiple forms of value:

• Attracting and retaining prospective patients
• Improve patient access to primary and specialty care
• Patient engagement
• Strong partnerships with referring providers who send patients to UW Health
• Effective outreach to HR candidates for UW Health’s workforce
• Philanthropy and donor relationships
• Clinical trial recruitment

Technology:

UW Health is deliberately choosing both Salesforce and Cheers to leverage the fullest potential of CRM as a technology. Salesforce will be used most heavily for outreach to prospective patients, referring providers, and other partners, and for multi-channel engagement with patients. Epic will be used to increase engagement of and communication with existing patients and facilitate the coordination of patient care while ensuring high engagement.

The Director is expected to work closely with UW Health’s key vendor partners including Salesforce and Epic on their respective product visions and roadmaps as to maximize UW Health’s technology investment in the short-term and long-term.

Key projects:  

Initially, the Director will lead and partner on initiatives to increase patient engagement for the fall opening of a brand-new facility, East Park Medical Center, and to deliver patient-facing clinical outreach that improves communication between existing patients and their providers.

Longer term initiatives will include:

• Partnering with departments throughout the organization to maximize the value of the CRM including marketing, provider relations, clinical operations, patient experience, revenue cycle, HR, philanthropy, clinical trials
• Triaging patients to the right level of care
• Improving patient access
• Developing and implementing an enterprise strategy for patient engagement across multiple channels, such as social media, email, phone, text

Reporting relationships & team:

The Director will be one of three directors reporting to the Senior Director of Digital Health and Emerging Technologies, Frank Liao. As a leader of the larger team, they will help advance the overall vision and broader team framework for digital health and emerging technologies, by contributing to and communicating the vision, while influencing their colleagues and their teams, and creating a strong culture of accountability and excellence.

Initially, the Director will have three direct reports / FTEs to staff the initial CRM team but is expected to grow the team as needed. The Director will also work with service partners to manage teams of external resources. The Director will be responsible for the overall talent strategy including the life-cycle of developing, cross-skilling, re-allocating internal talent and overseeing the coordination and transitions between external teams and internal staff.

Culture:

While this is a hybrid position, this individual will need to be on-site the first and third weeks of the month.

The office environment is designed as a collaborative workspace with desk hoteling, a variety of team workspaces, treadmill workstations, natural light and colorful aesthetics, and flexible eating areas.

The successful leader:

To thrive in the role, the Director will need to successfully:

• Influence stakeholders across multiple departments
• Lead and grow a team
• Work in a matrixed organization
• Work at multiple levels within the organization

Qualifications

Required:  

• Bachelor’s degree
• Experience leading product teams and in the agile development of technology lifecycle
• Success with change management for the adoption of new technologies
• Experience working with multiple vendors in digital health
• Experience in project management
• Ability to take a vision through implementation

Preferred: 

• Master’s degree
• Salesforce experience
• Healthcare experience
• Epic application (certification or proficiency)
• Epic Cheers experience

About Madison, Wisconsin

Capital City and Vibrant College Town

Located in south central Wisconsin and nestled between Lakes Mendota and Monona, Madison is the capital of Wisconsin and the second largest city in the state. The city offers numerous museums, arts & music venues and festivals, unique local shopping, award-winning restaurants, and sporting events. 

A Highly Desirable Place to Live

Ranked as one of the best places to live in the U.S. for the second year in a row by Livability, Madison offers an eclectic mix of big-city amenities with scenic attractions. The city is named as one of the five best cities for biking in the U.S., providing easy access to beautiful rural spots and nearby communities. Madison has highly rated public schools and is ranked one of the top 20 safest cities in America. 

The Greenest City in America

Madison is renowned for its green environment and eco-conscious residents. This city has become an example of how to maintain a green environment. There are about 11.6 parks per 10,000 residents, one of the highest rates in the U.S. The city has also been ranked #3 Happiest City in America by WalletHub in 2023. 

Procedure for Candidacy

Final candidates should expect two interviews with Kirby Partners recruiters (including a video conference interview). You may be asked to complete our “Executive Profile” and submit references to be considered for presentation to the search committee.