*Writing commentary on industry trends
*”All of a sudden we’ve been upended by HITECH, health reform …”
*Thoughts on HITECH
*The importance of advocacy
*Why change takes time
Bill Spooner, SVP/CIO, Sharp Healthcare, Transcript/Podcast Chapter 1
Mostashari Tapped to Lead ONC
Farzad Mostashari, M.D., has been selected as ONC’s new National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Mostashari joined ONC in July 2009, serving as the Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy. Previously, he served at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as Assistant Commissioner for the Primary Care Information Project. Mostashari replaces […]
healthsystemCIO.com SnapSurvey: CIOs Feel Unheard in MU Formation
More than 82 percent of CIOs say the voices of those who will have to implement MU (providers/vendors) are not being heard and acted on by the people crafting it, according to a recent healthsystemCIO.com SnapSurvey. Despite that widespread sentiment, the same percentage say they would be disappointed if the program were to be cancelled […]
ONC Needs a CIO
The resignation of David Blumenthal, MD, last week as national coordinator for heath IT provides an important opportunity to right a meaningful use (MU) ship out of control. As I wrote in The Most Powerful Person in Healthcare IT, I believe that ship is out of control because the crafting of MU has been taken […]
John Glaser, CEO, Health Services Business Unit, Siemens Healthcare, Podcast Chapter 1
With just under a year at the helm of Siemens Healthcare, it’s fair to say John Glaser has taken full measure of life on the vendor side. As such, he’s been immersed in issues like deciding which products are “go-forward,” which customer segments are best suited to the vendor’s offerings, and which industry regulations will […]
The Next National Coordinator Must Get Real
It appears everyone was surprised by the announcement from ONC HIT Coordinator Dr. David Blumenthal that he will be departing his government post to return to academic life. By all accounts he is a great guy and I wish him all the best. I would suggest that when Dr. Blumenthal is replaced, the administration should appoint someone that has a more intimate knowledge of the reality of health care IT operations and what it really takes to achieve healthcare IT objectives.
Blumenthal Done at ONC
David Blumenthal, M.D., has resigned as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, according to a report from Kaiser Health News. He will leave this spring and return to Harvard University. No word of a successor has been announced.
Gretchen Tegethoff, CIO, The George Washington University Hospital, Podcast Chapter 1
If anyone truly represents today’s quintessential healthcare CIO, it’s GW’s Gretchen Tegethoff. That’s because she’s managed everything from getting physician buy-in on electronic documentation to overseeing the hospitals IT cabling. She’s also far from confined by her hospital’s four walls, sitting on a number of local and national committees. Most notably, Tegethoff has just been […]
Don’t Let ONC’s Numbers Fool You
If ever the expression “the devil’s in the details” was called for, it’s around meaningful use. In fact, the words seem tailor made for the program. That much was made crystal clear during testimony last week by those who’ve made inroads toward meeting requirements which sometimes behave like slippery eels when grasped. Read the rest […]
Blumenthal Letter Aims to Clarify Certification Questions
“Today on our FAQ page, we are posting a revised Question and Answer regarding an issue that has recently caused confusion in our meaningful use regulations: namely, the flexibility that providers have to defer performance on some Stage 1 meaningful use objectives; and how that squares with the requirement that providers must nonetheless possess fully-certified EHR systems.”
