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When ARRA/HITECH was signed into law early last year, it quickly became apparent that the nexus of clinical practice and information technology would be a great place to focus one’s career. Eighteen months later, as the nuances of the program have taken shape, that observation carries even more weight. While those still in the more […]
Meeting HITECH’s requirements for meaningful use, and reporting it electronically to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is going to be a huge challenge for CIOs. As such, the key healthcare CIO organization, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), has been putting out great information to help support its members, and even […]
“For you it will be $7 and, well, there’s no charge for children under one,” said the gate attendant at the town pool my sister belongs to. “Well, the young tike is almost there, but not quite,” I replied, almost reflexively grasping for the bargain, though my son is almost 13 months. I then spent […]
I hear it over and over again in interviews with the top CIOs in the industry–integrity, honesty, respect. I hear it so often it seems I’m talking to the Boy (or Girl) Scouts of America. But the best of the best don’t fake those tenets, they feel them deeply, they’re a part of them. CIOs’ success depends a great deal on soft power. They must derive that power from operating on the up and up, from truly being “good guys” and trying to do right by their fellow executives, employees and managers.
There has never been as much pressure on healthcare CIOs as today. The release of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ final Meaningful Use regulations has started the countdown — if it hadn’t already started — toward deadlines that will either bring millions into an organization or see it stalled on the roadside as […]
We see it so often in healthcare it starts to seem normal, but it’s not. I’m talking about organizations ripping out the hodgepodge of disparate applications they call a clinical information system and replacing it all with a single vendor. Only in the rarefied and cash-flush world of academic medical centers could such extravagant behavior […]
The more CIOs I interview, the clearer it becomes that those executives are only superficially connected to the technology many think of as their second language. Don’t get me wrong, they knew the technology when coming up through the ranks, and they have people who really know it working for them, but it’s no longer […]
While all organizations have mission statements and basic objectives, the ability to morph those on the fly can be key to success or failure. Of course, it’s better when the organization itself determines the changes, and they’re not imposed from outside. That’s because outside entities can, of course, change their minds. I felt that way […]
Over a year ago, HITECH legislation gave rise to concepts like the “meaningful use” of electronic health records and established Regional Extension Centers to help small healthcare practices in underserved communities select and implement EHR systems. At that time, I found the latter to be an especially painful example of just how destructive government interference […]
The best managers know that relentlessly pushing for more from employees doesn’t work. The best strategy is to create an environment where people can thrive and realize their full potential. The 1950’s image of a factory foreman admonishing cowering workers to increase widget production is long dead and buried. Unfortunately, not every manager is enlightened, […]
