This year, you may be in a lucky situation as one of the finalists in a CIO search. Are you prepared? Most IT executives and CIOs are savvy about vendor negotiations, but when it becomes personal, with a possible job transition, it may be a different story. Here are some additional tips for handling negotiations, […]
The Difficulty of Determining Value in an ACO World
When was the last time you looked at a hospital bill, or one sent directly from your physician? The reason I ask is I have been spending some time trying to develop a clear enough picture of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to describe them easily. After all, ACOs are not something you can touch and […]
The Myth of Academic Medical Centers
Big Myth: Academic medical centers — that is, universities that have a medical school, teaching hospital, faculty practice plan, and receive substantial research funding from the US government — provide the best care at the lowest price. Wrong. They provide great unique care — for example, treatment of rare diseases or complications — and they […]
Why Are More Physicians Moving Into IT?
Recently I conducted an online survey with physician IT leaders and wanted to share some of the pertinent facts to help you understand this growing segment of medical IT and informatics leaders. If your health system or hospital does not have a key physician IT leader or CMIO, it might be time to consider adding […]
Building the Right Informatics Committee Goes a Long Way
My last two posts have focused on some of the areas you need to think about when bringing up any of the more advanced clinical applications, like CPOE. Both your medical and nursing staffs will be greatly impacted by the infusion of this type of technology. To be successful, you need to build a solid […]
The Cayman Islands ACO Roadmap
The Cayman Islands are implementing a new care delivery and economic model called “CayHealth” which, at a very high level, seeks to maximize the quality of care delivered while assuring an economically sustainable healthcare system for the Cayman Islands. CayHealth is very similar in nature to the emerging Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) in the United […]
HIT Worker Demand – The Mad Dash
The HIMSS11 Conference in Orlando was a flurry of activity and one of the best I have ever attended. Health IT worker demand was a key topic. Competition remains fierce among providers, vendors and consultants for the same pool of talent. No need to hide the fact that healthcare CIOs want to hire qualified IT […]
Healthcare Transformation = Sustainable Business Models x EMRs
The Cayman Islands (CIs) are unique in many aspects, but among them is the size of the nation compared to the sophistication of the business and government processes. With a population of only 50,000 people, they are roughly the same size as a rural community in the United States — ranked 201st on the size […]
EHR Certification is a Black Box
The EHR vendors have not been sharing HOW their products are being certified. Currently, it is a black box. This is VERY frustrating. Especially since hospitals and doctors are supposed to be using the EHRs as cerified. Often there are many ways for an EHR to accomplish a testing objective. The current certification just produces […]
Don’t Forget CPOE’s Dramatic Impact on Nursing
My last post focused on CPOE and how to at least start planning for an implementation with your physicians. We all know this is the most painful transition our medical staffs have experienced in years; so working with them early and often is the key. But physician are not the only group of clinical staff that have to go through a metamorphosis of everything they’ve ever learned during a CPOE implementation.