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Chief Information Officer, Parkview Health
Major company achievements during tenure: As CIO for Parkview Health, a not-for-profit, community-based health care system that operates 10 hospitals and more than 200 clinic locations in 16 counties in northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio, Ron Double has worked his way up to lead all of the organization’s information systems and technology. Among his notable achievements has been introducing and implementing Epic, Parkview’s electronic medical records system that connects countless systems within Parkview’s hospitals and outpatient facilities. He also led development of Parkview Community Connect, a program to extend Epic and associated applications to support independent, non-Parkview hospitals and providers in the region, creating a “single regional story of care” for patients living in the region. His ongoing efforts earned Parkview Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) and Outpatient-EMRAM Stage 7 certifications—making it one of only 67 hospitals globally to reach that level. He also is credited with building systems during the pandemic to implement greater virtual health care capabilities as well as supporting Parkview’s many co-workers who now work remotely from home instead of on site at Parkview facilities.
Challenge faced: “The balance of access to systems and data while maintaining the security and integrity of those same systems and data.”
First computer: “My first home computer was locally built, with a 386sx processor and 4MB of RAM—mostly used to access America Online and dial-up, after-hours support for Parkview.”
The road: While attending Purdue University, Double landed a job for a manufacturing company running nightly processing and performing maintenance programming. About a year later, he was promoted to data processing coordinator, a role that was the catalyst that started his leadership career. In 1989, he started at Parkview supporting the patient revenue cycle, then moved into supporting clinicians and other co-workers. “That’s where my love and passion for health care technology is rooted,” he said. “Worthwhile work making a difference in the lives of people.” He has held other roles at Parkview, including data center supervisor, manager of telecommunications and information systems support, and director of technology services.
Go-to websites: KLASresearch.com, beckershospitalreview.com, userweb.epic.com, healthit.gov, healthcareitnews.com
Preferred work atmosphere: “in-office, open concept, collaborative space”
I wish people understood: “Every decision has a downstream system effect. What might seem simple to a single area can have a cascading impact on others downstream.”
Free time: “traveling, mountain biking, hiking—anything outdoors”•
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