Tommy Thompson on Obama’s Approach to Healthcare Reform

September 1, 2010 in EHR, EMR, Healthcare, Healthcare IT, Patient Care, healthcare reform | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

At this year’s Picis Exchange meeting in Miami, FL, I had a chance to sit down with Tommy G. Thompson, whose resume will take up half of this blog post – former secretary of Health & Human Services, four-term governor of Wisconsin, member of Picis’ board of directors and a personal friend and resource – to talk about where today’s healthcare system is headed.

The most compelling part of our discussion was his take on President Obama’s approach to healthcare reform and his direct advice on next steps.

Let us know if you agree or disagree with his advice – and what yours might be?  And stay tuned for more from our discussion in the weeks ahead!

- Todd Cozzens

Inova Health System: Paving the Way for HIEs

August 23, 2010 in ARRA, ED, EDIS, Emergency Department, HIE, HIT, HITECH, Health Information Exchange, Healthcare, Healthcare IT, Interoperability, Meaningful Use, Patient Care, Patient satisfaction, healthcare reform | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but I was thrilled to hear about today’s launch of MEDS-ED Link, a project of the Northern Virginia Regional Health Information Organization (NoVaRHIO) in conjunction with Inova Health System and GE Healthcare.

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Radical Reorg of NHS in UK Aims to Do More with Less

August 2, 2010 in ED, EDIS, EHR, EHRs, EMR, Emergency Department, Healthcare, Healthcare IT, Intensive Care Unit, OR, Operating Room, Patient Care, Patient Safety, Patient satisfaction, healthcare reform | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In a move that caught many by surprise, the recently-installed coalition government of Britain has proposed a radical reorganization of the National Health Service (NHS). The goals of the reorganization are to decentralize the control of the NHS budget, dismantle layers of bureaucracy, empower patients, and realize some £20 billion in savings through increased efficiency.  All of this is set against a backdrop that calls for doing more with less – improving outcomes, ensuring high quality care and patient safety and giving providers and hospitals more autonomy while requiring more accountability. The UK, like much of Europe, is looking at ways to restructure budgets and social programs, in an attempt to reduce deficit spending and overall debt. And while the original goals of healthcare reform in the US included cost control, we on this side of the Atlantic did not take the courageous steps necessary to “bend the curve” on health care costs.

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Picis Joins Forces with Ingenix

July 22, 2010 in ARRA, EHR, EMR, HIT, HITECH, Healthcare, Healthcare Audits, Healthcare IT, Interoperability, Meaningful Use, Patient Care, Patient Safety, Patient satisfaction, healthcare reform | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As an insider in healthcare for more than 20 years, today is an exciting day for me. Picis, the company I co-founded with Liz Popovich and helped grow into an international software company with 700 employees, is being acquired by Ingenix, a leading HIT, consulting and services company with nearly 6,000 hospital clients around the world. 

This is a classic “win-win-win” situation that will benefit us, Ingenix, and all our customers and prospects. With all that is going on in healthcare industry today, I can tell you from the heart that the timing was perfect for this transaction, and this is truly the best possible home for Picis in which to grow and prosper. 

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The ED Gets its Due with its “Meaningful” Debut

July 16, 2010 in ARRA, ED, Emergency Department, HIT, HITECH, Healthcare IT, Meaningful Use | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

ARRA symbolHealth care leaders and policy makers should be commended for making several smart moves in this week’s delivery of the final rule for the meaningful use (MU) criteria, but one of the most critical is the committee’s decision to include the emergency department (ED) as a viable place of service.

For the past several months, several of my colleagues and I have been part of the ongoing effort, working directly with legislators and other industry leaders to ensure that the ED “gets its due” in the MU final rule. One of the most cost and care intensive areas of every health system, but neglected in the initial rounds of MU criteria, the ED is where the flow of patient care most often begins and consistently feeds patients throughout the rest of the hospital – and I’m thrilled that policy makers have now shown that they agree.

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Meaningful use in the US – Meaningful mindset in Europe

July 13, 2010 in ARRA, Exchange 2010, HIT, HITECH, Healthcare, Healthcare IT, Meaningful Use | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

euromapMeaningful use was a major focus of many presentations at the recent Picis Exchange User Conference in Miami, but it was the representation from hospitals in Europe (including World Cup finalists Spain and the Netherlands!) and the UK, that sparked some of the most interesting discussions. It made me realize that European hospitals have been working to achieve many of the same “meaningful use” criteria that have become such a huge focus here in the U.S. – but that they have been doing it for much longer than ARRA HITECH has been around. From coordination of care to improving quality measures, Europeans have been in the “meaningful mindset” for a long time.

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The Top 10 Signs You Might Not Qualify for Meaningful Use

July 6, 2010 in Exchange 2010, Meaningful Use | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

As hospitals and care centers across the nation are preparing to meet meaningful use guidelines, we wanted to post something from the lighter side of the meaningful use debate.

top10Straight out of Picis Exchange, we bring you a comical and  Letterman-esque list of the top 10 signs that you might not yet be ready to qualify for meaningful use.

Top 10 Signs You Might Not Qualify for Meaningful Use

10. Your patient tracking system uses a lot of chalk.

9. The only device the software can interface with is the printer.

8. The surgery scheduling system is a woman named Delores.

7. Preference cards recently upgraded from 3×5 to 5×8 index cards.

6. The name of the software is called LunchBreak Manager.

5. Everything is free text.

4. Priceline.com-inspired software lets the patient name their own price.

3. Your EDIS comes with a ticket dispenser and a “please take a number” sign.

2. Your patient medical records are stored on vinyl.

1. You have a problem with commitment, and “meaningful” sounds scary.

Our Most Meaningful Exchange Yet

June 16, 2010 in Exchange 2010, HIT, HITECH, Healthcare IT, Meaningful Use, Patient Care | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 comment

Miami BeachThis blog was created to serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas, and we’ve loved the responses, reactions and dialogue it’s generated over the past several months. Yet for as much as we’ve all come to rely on the blogosphere for the latest and greatest in everything from kayaking to healthcare IT, this week’s Picis Exchange customer user conference in Miami Beach was a great reminder of the power and effectiveness of in-person collaboration and discussion.

Surrounded by health care enthusiasts from nearly 100 hospitals, integrated delivery networks, and government health systems from across six countries and 28 states, I’ve been saturated all week with the most innovative yet real-world ideas from the men and women who serve on the front lines of health care IT every day. Nurses, physicians, IT professionals and administrative staff have spent the past few days sharing stories about how they’re demonstrating meaningful use, moving towards health information exchanges and using evidence-based medicine to improve patient care, by utilizing the data and information they derive from our systems. Not only that, they’re also able to trade war stories and come up with solutions even we might not have thought of.

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Allscripts + Eclipsys = ?? My Take on the Acquisition

June 10, 2010 in EMR, HIT, HITECH, Healthcare, Healthcare IT | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

You may have heard the news yesterday that Allscripts has acquired Eclipsys. I weighed in on this move in an article that ran on HISTalk. You can find the article here, but I also wanted to share my thoughts here on the blog:

allscriptslogogThere is an increasing trend for general practitioners to be employed by hospitals, but an opposing trend that specialist areas like emergency and anesthesia are outsourcing physician services.  So net/net, though on the surface it makes sense to combine the two areas, there is no real market force pushing for an end-to-end hospital-to-physician EHR. To the contrary, the one thing that really is taking off with lightning speed from ARRA is interoperability within and outside the hospital enterprise.

EclipsyslogoI can cite 10-15 real examples of systems already pushing CCDs among disparate EHRs, for example. Hospitals just aren’t in a position for wholesales swapouts of their IT systems across the board — it’s too disruptive and expensive. The new interoperability mandates will allow more modular approaches to building out EHRs.

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Are Meaningful Use Requirements “Too Much, Too Soon?” My Take on the Impending Wave of Regulation

June 7, 2010 in ED, Emergency Department, Meaningful Use | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

wsjstandA recent Wall Street Journal Health Blog post addressed a growing complaint in the industry: that deadlines for digitizing medical records are “too much, too soon.” I’ve worked hand in hand with a range of hospitals – from some of the country’s largest IDNs to smaller, community-based hospitals –  that are knee-deep in preparations for the myriad of “meaningful use” requirements set in 2011, and while I can report that healthcare organizations are at varying degrees of readiness, that is not my utmost concern.

Most likely, the meaningful use deadlines as they stand today will be met in part by some, missed by others. However, while the deadline debate is certainly part of the story, the oversight of the emergency department (ED) within the guidelines is criminal. Take the following information into account:

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