Rockin' HIT Sales Podcast
Why Great Health IT Fails Without Great Change Management
Olga Maciejewski MBA, PMP, PROSCI CMP, CPHIMS-CA is the Change Management Lead, Connect Care (Epic), Digital Health at Health Shared Services
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Episode Summary
In this episode of Rockin’ HIT Sales, David Hacker sits down with Olga Maciejewski, MBA, PMP, PROSCI CMP, CPHIMS-CA, for a practical conversation on why great Health IT can still fail when change management starts too late.
Olga explains why successful digital transformation is not really about the technology first. It depends on the people and process underneath it — including sponsorship, governance, frontline engagement, workflow readiness, communication, and reinforcement.
The discussion also breaks down Olga’s “three-legged stool” for transformation: project management, executive sponsorship, and change management. If one leg is missing, even a strong solution can struggle to gain traction, create confusion, or quietly stall after go-live.
For Health IT companies selling into hospitals and health systems, this episode is a valuable reminder: you are not just selling technology. You are selling change. And if your sales process does not address adoption, workflow impact, stakeholder engagement, and implementation readiness early, the deal may be at risk long before go-live.
Why This Matters for Health IT Companies
Health IT implementations do not succeed because the technology works as designed. Adoption depends on whether the people affected by the change understand why it is happening, whether workflows and processes are ready, whether leadership actively supports the initiative, and whether users remain engaged before and after go-live.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
- Why digital health transformation depends on people and process, not just technology
- What change management really means beyond training and communication
- When clinicians, operational leaders, and end users should be brought into the process
- How to spot when an implementation is live but adoption is not really taking hold
- Why vendors need to address sponsorship, governance, workflow readiness, and reinforcement before go-live
- Why Health IT companies should think of themselves as selling change, not just selling technology
Questions This Episode Answers
Why do promising Health IT implementations struggle when they reach real clinical workflows?
Because technology is only one part of digital transformation. Successful change also requires attention to people and process, including stakeholder engagement, workflow readiness, leadership, governance, communication, and reinforcement.
What does change management mean beyond training and communication?
It includes executive sponsorship, governance, clear decision-making, stakeholder engagement, process and workflow readiness, communication, and ongoing support. Olga describes successful transformation as a three-legged stool consisting of project management, sponsorship, and change management.
When should clinicians, operational leaders, and end users become involved?
Early enough to participate throughout the stages of change—not just immediately before go-live. The exact timeline depends on the size and complexity of the implementation, but stakeholder involvement should not be compressed into training at the end of the project.
How can a health system tell that a solution is live but adoption is not actually taking hold?
Silence is not necessarily success. Lack of questions or feedback can be a warning sign, and users may create workarounds or return to old processes if reinforcement and mitigation strategies are not in place.
What do Health IT vendors often misunderstand about implementation?
They understand their technology but may know too little about the customer’s organization, workflows, people, operating environment, and implementation complexity. Those differences can create avoidable friction during rollout.
What makes a Health IT vendor appear implementation-ready?
The vendor should demonstrate that it understands more than the technology. It should be prepared to address sponsorship, governance, decision-making, stakeholder engagement, process readiness, and change management with the customer well before go-live.
When is a digital health company truly ready to scale inside a health system?
When both vendor and provider are addressing the complete implementation picture—project execution, sponsorship and governance, and the people-side of change—rather than treating implementation as primarily a technical deployment.
David’s GTM Takeaways for Health IT Vendors
Olga’s reminder that Health IT companies are selling change — not just technology connects directly to this white paper on how vendors can better align with adoption, workflow, and implementation realities.
Download: Selling Change, Not Technology
About the Guest
Olga Maciejewski, MBA, PMP, PROSCI CMP, CPHIMS-CA, is an internationally recognized healthcare digital transformation leader and change management specialist with Health Shared Services.
Her work focuses on helping healthcare organizations manage complex digital transformation by aligning technology, people, process, sponsorship, governance, workflow readiness, and stakeholder engagement. In this episode, Olga brings a practical change management lens to what Health IT companies need to understand before their solutions can be successfully implemented, adopted, and sustained inside a health system.Transcript
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