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Thirty-one percent of physicians responding to an MGMA survey said their productivity will decrease more than 10 percent as a result of complying with the 25 Meaningful Use criteria laid out in the recent NPRM from HHS. The MGMA research also highlights the specific criteria that many respondents say would be “difficult” or “very difficult” [...]

Every year I go to the annual HIMSS conference. It is a wonderful learning opportunity and a great opportunity to exchange ideas with friend and colleagues. I look forward to going each year, but recently I have come back wondering what is it we are doing as an industry, and where is the innovation.
I have [...]

A journalist’s job is to listen for trends, sift through the noise, and find the kernel of importance in a speech, trial, or presentation. It’s a skill that comes over time, after many mistakes and, for me, after getting many a lead ripped to shreds by my journalism professors. I think I’ve gotten the hang [...]

Now that the HIMSS10 conference is past history, I have to say it was good to see and talk with many healthcare IT professionals who have survived the past year.  Several people, like me, have moved on to new positions.  Others are looking for their next career move.  All of us at some point in [...]

To learn more about the challenges associated with implementing electronic medical records in hospitals, the HIT Standards Committee’s Implementation Workgroup took testimony from a number of CIO, including Chuck Christian of Vincennes, Ind.-based Good Samaritan. Before he jumped on a plane out of D.C., Christian spent a few minutes on the phone with healthsystemCIO.com editor [...]

After proclaiming its long-standing commitment to the implementation and use of health information technology, the American Academy of Family Physicians enumerated a litany of concerns it has with the Meaningful Use NPRM, still out for comment until March 15. “ … we believe that certain aspects in the details of these regulations are unworkable, excessive, [...]

My question has to do with the 2010 requirements for “Meaningful Use.” I have heard conflicting stories about Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) adoption requirements for 2010. I know we have to have 10% of our orders completed via CPOE. The question is whether or not we can use the Emergency Department (ED) orders to comply with the 10% requirement?

The long-awaited NPRM outlining a certification process for electronic health records was finally released on Tuesday, March 2, smack-dab in the middle of HIMSS annual conference. With much of the industry booked in back-to-back meetings through Wednesday, few have had a chance to review HHS/CMS/ONC’s latest tome — this one a rather light 150+ document [...]

Tuesday morning at HIMSS about 100 CIOs had the opportunity to attend a standing room only meeting with Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The invitation arrived late Monday night simply stating that Dr. Blumenthal wanted to invite a small group of CIOs to have a discussion about the “progress being made [...]

The much-anticipated NPRM on Certification was released today, revealing a two-phase plan that looks to satisfy the letter of the law in time to pay out stimulus cash. The first proposed program creates a temporary certification process under which David Blumenthal, M.D., “would authorize organizations to assume many of the responsibilities that will eventually be [...]

We’ve all heard about the five stages of grief experienced when mentally processing the death of a loved one. First, there’s denial, then anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance. To me, the healthcare IT industry is very clearly moving through distinct stages as it processes the evolving HITECH legislation.  ARRA, which contained the HITECH provisions, [...]

Working to convert Invision customers to Soarian one by one, Siemens is focused on proving that its newer package can deliver the goods when it comes to CPOE. To discuss this, along with topics such as certification, the acute EMR competitive landscape, and many others, healthsystemCIO.com editor Anthony Guerra caught up with Janet Dillione during [...]

Comparing achieving Meaningful Use to climbing Mount Everest is probably a bit cliché, but at CHIME’s Spring Forum in Atlanta (held in conjunction with HIMSS), CIOs discovered there are a lot of accurate parallels. Alison Levine, Team Captain of the First American Women’s Everest Expedition was our speaker and her topic was Lessons from Everest: [...]

Other than a major focus on Meaningful Use and clinical systems, security concerns are a top priority, with one third of respondents (34 percent) saying an internal breach was their top worry in that area, and nearly one-quarter (23 percent) said their organization had a security breach in the past year, according to 21st Annual [...]

Following an open recruitment for volunteer workgroup members, CCHIT will begin development of “Comprehensive” EHR certification programs in oncology and women’s health. Those interested in participating should visit http://www.cchit.org/participate to apply between March 16 and April 16. Workgroup members will be announced in June. Previous CCHIT expansions include Comprehensive offerings for cardiovascular medicine, child health [...]

CHIME has launched CIO State Network (StateNet) as a tool to enhance communication among healthcare CIOs on important state matters related to HITECH. The new Website will enable all CIOs, whether CHIME members or not, public access to information, communication and coordination among IT executives at the state level, according to the organization. The project, [...]

Eclipsys has released “Helios by Eclipsys,” an open architecture platform that — in conjunction with company-provided software development kits — will allow certified third parties to natively write applications. Leveraging this model, the company contends, healthcare organizations can utilize best-of-breed applications in an integrated environment with Eclipsys enterprise solutions. The result is removal of the [...]

Certification and vendors guarantees to achieve it are little help when choosing products that will qualify for HITECH payments, according to a recently published research note entitled, “The Limits of Certification and Guarantees in Buying Electronic Health Records in the U.S.” by Gartner VP and Distinguished Analyst Wes Rishel, a member of the HIT Standards [...]

To assist HIMSS attendees with their HIT shopping, KLAS is offering healthcare providers complimentary access to its HIT Buyers Guide. From EMRs to clearinghouse services to PACS, the buyers guide features performance ratings for over 700 software packages and service offerings, all based on the feedback of thousands of healthcare providers. To pick up a [...]

More than 90 percent of CIOs responding to a recent CHIME survey expressed at least some concern about whether they will qualify for HITECH stimulus funding, according to the organization, with upgrading or implementing a certified EHR system one of the largest challenges. Nearly half of all respondents, 48 percent, expressed concern about vendor readiness, [...]

Another sneak preview of CIO survey findings in this Part 2, all from a recent health system CIO survey I’ve conducted for Sanford Rose Associates.  This year the challenges are steeper and pressures are intense as revealed in some of the findings.
 1. Top 2010 trends impacting healthcare and delivery of IT.
As you might guess, “Meaningful Use” [...]