Archive for the ‘EMR’ Category

Much has been written about the demise of small and medium-sized EHR vendors. The conventional wisdom is that Stage 2 of Meaningful Use is the dagger to the heart of all but the largest vendors. However, the smart small and medium-sized vendors are pursuing a strategy I’ll outline below that will position them to thrive [...]

Athenahealth was right in the middle of the biggest industry news stories to come out of HIMSS13. While the CommonWell Health Alliance announcement sucked the air out of every other announcement at the conference, athenahealth’s Healthcare Information Technology Code of Conduct proposed a set of five principles they hope can “move the industry foward,” including [...]

“No, cellphones at the dinner table!” My husband said this to my daughter a few weeks ago. She’s not a teenager (she’s 20 months old), and it wasn’t a real cellphone. It was a hand-held Tetris game that she likes to hold up to her ear and say, “Hello? Hello? K, bye.” Nevertheless, no cellphones [...]

I have always been drawn to Lean business concepts and how they seem to cut to the chase, literally going after the waste in process and looking at facts rather than feelings. Coming from a behavioral health background, I understand how change can create feelings that may be confused with facts, and I wanted to [...]

In November 2011, the Institute of Medicine released the report, “Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Better Systems for Better Care.”  The report looked at the effects of health IT on patient safety. Most health IT professionals would say technology has the potential to improve patient safety—think bar coded medications and improved legibility of physician orders [...]

Ask a group of nurses why they chose their particular career path and you’ll get the following answers: “I was always helping my pets/friends/siblings when I was a kid.” “I wanted to help people.” “I read Cherry Ames books.” “I just always wanted to be a nurse.” “I was born to be a nurse.” These [...]

We’ve all heard it. Nurses loathe, despise, resist (your adjective of choice) EMR and HIT. It’s been said so frequently that it’s often taken as fact. Heck I’ve even written, on this very blog, about how to get resistant RNs on board with new technology. So I was simultaneously surprised, embarrassed and proud when I [...]

May 22 marks the one-year anniversary of the tornado that ravaged Joplin, Mo. Last year was the United States’ fourth deadliest year for tornadoes on record, according to Accuweather.com. And 2012 is likely to be an active for twisters as well. Mighty storms have already hit Alabama, Dallas and Harrisburg, Ill. Natural disasters, like tornadoes, [...]

“Chicago has two seasons–winter and construction.” It’s an old joke, but it holds a grain of truth. Here in the Chicago-area we’re subject to frigid temperatures made worse by the “wind chill” and perpetual traffic snarls made worse by orange cones and backhoes. When you’re creeping along at 20 MPH on an expressway where the [...]

Last month when it was announced that all health insurance carriers in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) were to add Blue Button functionality, I was excited. Anything that promotes access to health information for patients and makes it easier for them to update new providers is a good thing. The amount of positive [...]