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The CereCore Podcast
The CereCore Podcast brings you conversations focused on the intersection of healthcare and IT. As a Gold Stevie Award–recognized show, it offers practical insights and strategic thought leadership from healthcare IT leaders who are navigating the decisions, challenges and journey of delivering technology that improves care in their communities today and in the future.
All Episodes
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How Humboldt Park Health's VP of IT Leads a Mission-Driven Safety-Net Hospital
Hector Rodriguez brings a different kind of resume to healthcare IT leadership. Before joining Humboldt Park Health as Vice President of IT in 2022, he worked across managed services, city government, and nonprofit organizations, exposure that shaped how he approaches technology decisions today. In this episode of The CereCore Podcast, we talk with Hector about that path, why he treats every technology decision as if a family member were the patient on the other end of it, and what drew him specifically to a safety net hospital on Chicago's west side. Hector talks about the role IT played in helping Humboldt Park Health earn a Joint Commission health equity certification, why he's steering his team toward practical, problem-first AI, and why he believes EHR optimization is never truly finished. He also shares what he looks for in a technology partner and how he leads with relentless prioritization when there's never enough time, budget, or people to do everything. Key topics include: - A career across managed services, city government, and nonprofit work, and how that background shapes his approach to healthcare IT today - Treating IT as an enabler of the hospital's mission, not just a system that has to stay online - What it took from his team to help Humboldt Park Health earn a Joint Commission Health Equity Certification - A practical, problem-first approach to AI, from an ED pilot to revenue cycle automation - Why he believes EHR optimization never truly finishes - Leading with relentless prioritization when there's never enough time, budget, or people to do everythingDon't Forget the Human: A CMO's Leadership Philosophy at Schneck Medical Center
What does healthcare leadership look like when you never forget there's a human on the other side of every interaction? In this episode of The CereCore Podcast, Dr. Ryan Stone, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, Indiana, joins us for a conversation about what more than a decade of dedicated service to a single community has taught him about leadership, quality, and technology. Dr. Stone traces a remarkable path, from a med-peds hospitalist who fell in love with rural medicine to a physician executive trusted to lead Schneck's clinical strategy. He shares how Schneck has built and protected a Malcolm Baldrige and Magnet level culture of quality, what it took to bring physicians and nurses fully on board with the MEDITECH Expanse transformation, and what has made CereCore's partnership with his team genuinely valuable from the inside. This episode is for anyone who believes the best healthcare leadership starts with presence, not a title. Key topics: - Building and protecting a Malcolm Baldrige and Magnet level culture of quality - What the MEDITECH Expanse transformation meant for physicians, nurses and patients - What a true technology partnership looks like, and the CereCore team members who make it work - Leadership advice for building stronger relationships with physicians, today and for the next generation - Where AI can genuinely help clinicians, always with a physician leading the decisionLeading IT in Rural Health: Lessons from Nathan Littauer CIO James Wellman
In this episode of The CereCore Podcast, we are joined by James Wellman, VP and CIO at Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home in Gloversville, New York. A certified healthcare CIO with more than three decades of experience, James has led technology transformations at organizations ranging from large academic medical centers to rural critical access hospitals. He’s also a senior partner at Fortium Partners and an active mentor in the TechLX leadership development program. James shares a candid, grounded perspective on what it actually takes to modernize IT in a resource-constrained rural setting, from cloud migration strategy and a pragmatic four-pillar approach to AI, to why the best thing that ever happened to his career was not getting a job he wanted. This episode is for any healthcare IT leader who wants to think more clearly, lead more effectively, and build teams that outlast them. Key topics include: - A four-pillar approach to AI adoption: ambient documentation, agentic AI, search and summarization, and RCM automation - Why James deliberately waited until 2026 to launch AI initiatives, and what he learned from an earlier failed attempt - Cloud migration strategy and the case for predictable, OpEx-based IT spending - What it means to be an “operational CIO” and why understanding the business of healthcare is non-negotiable - Leadership lessons from the military, the 360 review that changed his career, and the GROSS philosophy (Get Rid of Stupid Stuff) - How to walk into a new CIO role without alienating the people you need most - Building teams that grow beyond you and celebrating when they do - The role CereCore played in Nathan Littauer’s assessment work and how that partnership continuesLessons from McLaren Health Care on Delivering Healthcare IT That Works
What does it take to manage IT across 13-plus hospitals; rapidly, responsibly, and always with the patient in mind? n this episode of The CereCore Podcast, Tiffany Laurenz, Vice President of IT Delivery Operations at McLaren Health Care, joins us for a candid conversation about the realities of leading a large, complex health system's technology operations. From her early days as a billing clerk at a small Michigan software firm to overseeing enterprise IT across one of Michigan's largest integrated health systems, Tiffany brings nearly 24 years of experience, and a deeply practical, people-first perspective, to every challenge McLaren faces. She talks openly about the decision to move toward a hybrid outsourcing model and how a service desk transition she expected to be turbulent became the smoothest change she'd ever seen. This conversation is for healthcare leaders who want insight on IT governance, the business case for strategic partnerships, and what it means to connect every line of infrastructure work back to the patient. Key topics include: - Leading IT delivery across a large, distributed health system - McLaren's evolution from full outsourcing to a hybrid IT model - How the CereCore service desk partnership came together, and why it stuck - Aligning IT strategy with patient care and organizational goals - What transparency and accountability look like in a vendor partnership - Leadership lessons from a Stevie Award finalist