Ex-Cleveland Clinic CIO Ed Marx to Lead Divurgent Consulting Firm | Healthcare Innovation

Healthcare IT consulting company Divurgent has named Ed Marx, former CIO of the Cleveland Clinic, as its new chief executive officer.

Colin Konschak, company founder and CEO since 2007, will move to a new role as executive chairman of the board of directors. Through its healthcare payer and provider partners, Virginia Beach, Va.-based Divurgent said its team has worked on projects that impacted 67 million patients, including 1.6 million unique Medicare patients, and over 700,000 health plan members.

Divurgent was rated as a market leader for Speed and Matching of Resources on the KLAS Research’s April HIT Staffing 2021 Performance Report. An excerpt from the report reads “Divurgent clients view the firm as a strategic partner capable of promoting best practices and providing skilled resources with expertise across a broad variety of areas. Clients rarely mention needing to replace a Divurgent resource.”

Divergent is a member of KLAS’ Arch Collaborative, which aims to improve the industry experience with EHRs through partnerships and shared performance data across healthcare provider organizations, vendors, and other industry influencers.

The firm’s specialties are listed as Healthcare IT Consulting, Activation Management, Revenue Cycle and Project Management, Healthcare Financial Advisory, EHR Implementation, Cybersecurity, Supply Chain Management, Community Connect, Healthcare IT Strategic Advisory, and EHR Go-Live Support.

In addition to serving as CIO for Cleveland Clinic from 2017 to 2019, Marx served as CIO for Texas Health Resources between 2007 and 2015, and was also the governor-appointed chairman of the Texas Health Services Authority for eight years. He also served as CIO of University Hospitals in Cleveland from 2003 to 2007.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) named Marx the CIO of the year and listed him as one of the top 10 disruptive forces in healthcare.

Under his leadership, Texas Health hospitals and Cleveland Clinic achieved the highest designation (Stage 7) of the HIMSS Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) and won the coveted “Davies Award” twice for best use of technology to enable business and clinical outcomes.

“Once, maybe twice, in your career, the stars align, and you’re granted the opportunity of a lifetime,” Marx said in a statement. “This is that moment. Divurgent is a well-run, client-centered organization with strong people and strong values. I never set out to be a CEO, but I knew I was called to healthcare. With Divurgent, I could not wish for a better organization to be on this journey with, and I look forward to all that we can accomplish, together.”