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There are not enough resources to complete the work in front of us for 2011 and beyond.  Before Meaningful Use became “meaningful” we already had a full plate.  We now have a buffet of plates that are overflowing and we are forced to bring a renewed sense of prioritization to the problem.  We are challenged [...]

Much has been written about the impact of meaningful use on the healthcare CIO, but it is worth digging a bit deeper in the organizational chart and outline how our management teams will need to adapt as well.  A tremendous strain has begun to take hold within our departments as we thoughtfully charge forward to [...]

After writing public comments on meaningful use, submitting grant proposals and trying to keep pace of healthcare reform, the comment period has just begun.  With the formation of the Regional Extension Centers, State HIT coordinators being nominated, Health Information Exchanges gaining more traction and countless vendors trying to obtain your stimulus money, a CIO’s involvement [...]

Throughout our EMR implementations, which started in 2001, we have tested countless end users devices.  We have numerous Computers On Wheels (COW’s), thin client laptops on a low profile cart (we called these calves), laptops, PC’s, tablets and a mixture of thin client devices.  Now that we are pushing through a CPOE implementation we find [...]

I don’t have Portals and PHR’s quite figured out yet for my Health System, and based on the feedback I’m receiving from other CIO’s many of us don’t have it figured out yet.  There are a lot of hospitals and physician groups in the market for Patient Portals and Personal Heath Record solutions to address [...]

Based on the conference calls that I listened to on the Beacon Community Program from ONC,  many communities around the nation submitted great proposals.  While those communities are anxiously awaiting the award announcement in March, I am hopeful that we all are taking advantage of the platform that was created to submit the proposal.
For some, [...]

I recently finished reading “Checklist Manifesto” by Atul Gawande and “How Doctor’s Think” by Jerome Groopman.  I would highly recommend them to anyone in Healthcare IT.   Because each book touches on how doctors contemplate change, it got me thinking about how physicians may be thinking about all of the upcoming changes in Health IT.  While [...]

The last few months I’ve said those two words, “Meaningful Use”, more times than I can count.  I’ve shared our plans with physicians, executive teams, community members and blogs.  Almost every discussion, email, blog post and article that I see or hear relates to the same focus – what products are we going to use [...]

With the announcement of the Apple iPad today it took a matter of minutes before the first recommended use at my hospital was made.  After the announcement there were numerous comments around the Internet about the disappointing nature of the hardware, lack of multi-tasking, no SD-Card support, and on and on and on.  Instead of [...]

Looking at my project load for 2010 and the upcoming requirements to keep our existing applications fresh, as well as trying to address meaningful use (in a meaningful way), has created capacity issues for all of us.  While I hear a lot about how vendors may not have enough staff to implement all of the [...]