Healthcare IT Podcast

Are IT Certifications Worth Anything?

Spencer — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:14:14 +0000

On this podcast, I talk about various technology certifications and their value to the IT organization. Everyone wants to know, “what is the best IT certification to get”. Personally, I think that certifications have lost some of their luster over the years, primarily because the role of the IT organization has changed from being a group of geeks sitting in a room staring at screens, trying to improve the speed of the Linux box they were able to get running on that old 386 that they found…to a group of people whose job is to solve business problems. Unfortunately, most certification programs have not taken this change into account, and still favor the geek in a t-shirt to the technology professional who is comfortable in a suit.

I don’t get into a lot of detail in the podcast, but I do give a quick tutorial of the different levels of various certifications from Cisco and Microsoft, as well as talk about the pros and cons of some of the current certifications that are out there. A word of warning though, if you are one of the many MCSE’s (Microsoft Certified System Engineers) out there that hasn’t fully embraced the MCITP and the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) programs, you might not like what I have to say.

As always, I invite you to look at the data and make your own decisions. You can look at the IT professional certifications offered my Microsoft, Cisco and VMWare by clicking the appropriate links.

This podcast is being used for my feature at ADVANCE for Health Information Executives as well.

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Spencer Hamons

Tactics versus Strategy – Continued Discussion

Spencer — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:44:15 +0000

Last month’s podcast regarding transitioning from a tactical to strategic organization received a number of emails. However, one email was a from a CIO of a mid-sized, multi-facility institution that recently lost his job, because of all things…he was too focused to strategy. After spending some time writing back and forth, I decided that I wanted to revisit the concepts we discussed last month, and briefly talk about how…although we strive to learn how to manage strategically, we cannot allow ourselves to lose sight of the tactical responsibilities that we carry with us. This podcast is being used for my feature at ADVANCE for Health Information Executives as well.

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Spencer Hamons

Show 206-Transitioning from a Tactical to Strategic Technology Organization

Spencer — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:43:52 +0000

Todays show talks about a topic that I get a lot of inquiries from young managers about, and just so happens to be a topic of discussion in one of my classes at Colorado State…how to help move your technology organization from a tactically focused organization to a strategically focused organization. For those of you that have listened to this show for a while, you know that I believe that the success of an organization is held within the people that make up the organization. In today’s discussion, I talk about some ways to encourage your staff to perform in a more strategically significant manner.

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As always, I am looking for ideas for new shows. If you have topics that interest you that you would like to see tackled, please let me know. You can email those ideas to me, click on the link at the top of this post, then scroll down and click on “comment”. I will admit that I get a lot of inquiries from vendors about being on the show, so if you are a vendor, be forewarned that I do not accept any advertising on this blog for a reason, and that reason is that I reserve the right to ask any questions of my guests that I want, and publish the answers to those questions. If you are a vendor looking for someone to tout the wonders of your product, there are other websites you can look at. If you want an honest discussion of the pros and cons of a product, please contact me.

Spencer Hamons

How Do You Use Consultants?

Spencer — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:37:29 +0000

I would like that thank all of you that have listened to the podcast with Maj McClung and LTC Curee from Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Ft. Gordon, GA. That podcast’s topic was “who owns the EHR / EMR”, and it has by far been the most popular show here at ITPodcast.org since we started. Currently, there are over 5200 downloads and online listeners, and the list is growing. I anticipate doing a follow-up to this topic in the near future.

Today’s show is a short one, but one that is important. I want to know…how do you use consultants? Are you pulling consultants in for only the most imporant of tasks, or are you using them to hedge your investment bets? How do you guarantee you can support yourself without having to go back to the well for more consultant dollars later?

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As always, if you have any questions, you are welcome to contact me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.

Also, I am looking for ideas for new shows (I feel a little like Mike Rowe asking for new dirty jobs). If you have topics that interest you that you would like to see tackled, please let me know. You can email those ideas to me, or, you can click on the link at the top of this post, then scroll down and click on “comment”.

Spencer Hamons

Healthcare IT Podcast Show 204 – Who owns the EMR / EHR

Spencer — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:11:28 +0000

On this show, I have an interview with U.S. Army Major Eric McClung and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Curee. Maj. McClung is the Chief Information Officer for Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Ft. Gordon, GA. LTC Curee is the Regional CIO for the Southeast Regional Medical Command (SERMC).

Our discussion is about who owns the EMR and EHR process in military medical facilities, as well as discussions around how the military’s medical facility operations parallel many of the operational fundamentals found in civilian healthcare facilities now. We also discuss some of Maj McClung’s and LTC Curee’s thoughts about leadership certifications for CIO’s.

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As always, if you have any questions, you are welcome to contact me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org. If you have questions for Maj. McClung or LTC Curee, please direct them to me and I will be sure to forward them on.

Also, I am looking for ideas for new shows. If you have topics that interest you that you would like to see tackled, please let me know. You can email those ideas to me, click on the link at the top of this post, then scroll down and click on “comment”.

Spencer Hamons

Healthcare IT Podcast Show 203 – ARRA and “Meaningful Use”

Spencer — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:34:10 +0000

As I said on the last show, sure enough the Kuskokwim River break up here in Bethel, Alaska brought around some great fishing and hunting, and it has been a busy project season at work as well. The best part is the sunset at 1:00am, with the perpetual dusk and dawn, there is always enough light outside to play by. It is extremely nice to get off work at 6:00pm and still have hours of daylight to play.

Before I get down to business about today’s podcast, I do have to show off a picture of my son and his King Salmon from the Kuskokwim River.

On todays show, I talk about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and how we can expect to see it impact our industry. Don’t worry, I keep it short…less than 10 minutes even with bumper music.

In the podcast, I talk about a presentation provided by the working group. A link to the Meaningful Use Presentation can be found here.

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Thank you for listening.

Spencer

Show 202 – Geography vs. Generational Differences

Spencer — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:43:10 +0000

Well, the Kuskokwim River is starting to break up here in Bethel, Alaska…the geese and ducks are here for the summer, and we are getting our sunset around 11:30pm. I knew I needed to get a podcast out soon, because I know it will be tough as soon as the salmon runs start.

On this show, I talk about whether some of the differences that we see in our different employees is really “generational”, or are some of the differences “geographical”. It’s a little different take on the typical discussions about the generational differences found in our employees and the U.S. workforce in general.

I also have to throw out a thank you to some of my classmates at CSU Global. It isn’t a paid ad, but I do have to say that I am enjoying my online classes at CSU Global, so if you want to get some quality classes in without paying the huge fees associated with others schools like University of Phoenix, you may want to take a look.

As always, I have links to the technology news that I talk about in the podcast. In this segment, we talk about these items in the news:

Siemens Medical Malvern, PA facility raided by the Pentagon Criminal Investigation Unit.

United States Electrical Grid Penetrated by Spies – China and Russia use Malware to get into the U.S. power grid.

Domestic Terrorism in the U.S. – Fiber Optic Cuts in California cut 911 and other services.

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Thank you for listening.

Spencer

Healthcare IT Podcast – Show 201 – Who’s it gonna be for HHS Secretary?

Spencer — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:43:52 +0000

On this podcast, I talk about who will be selected as the nominee for the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary now that Senator Dascle has withdrawn from the process. If you listen to this show, then you are probably watching this selection as closely as I am. This whole show is dedicated to the “short list” of candidates as I see it, along with the people at ADVANCE for Health Information Executives.

On a different note, Coryee and I made it to Bethel, Alaska and we have finally gotten setup at home with all of our things and all of my recording equipment. Things have been a bit tough getting everything ready to go, so I am cheating on this week’s podcast.

Normally, I do a podcast ever two weeks for this website as well as a monthly podcast for the magazine ADVANCE For Health Information Executives. This week, I am putting my podcast for ADVANCE here on this website. If you have not visited my other podcast, you can find it on the ADVANCE editorial page.

For the podcast, I am talking about those on the short list (not the short bus). Those people are:

Governor Phil Bredesen, (D) Tennessee

Governor Charlie Crist, (R) Florida

Governor Jennifer Granholm,(D) Michigan

Governor Ed Rendell, (D) Pennsylvania

Governor Kathleen Sebelius, (D) Kansas

Senator Ron Wyden, (D) Oregon

Howard Dean (I was unable to find an “official” website for Mr. Dean, but I did find this site).

Newt Gingrich

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Thank you for listening.

Spencer

Show 121 – Express Scripts Gets an Extortion Letter

Spencer — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:38:07 +0000

On today’s show, I go through our typical overview of some of the most pressing stories that have the potential to affect what is happening in the world of healthcare IT, and I talk a bit about what recently happened to Express Scripts and the attempt to extort money from the company as their patient data is potentially held hostage.

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Articles referenced during the podcast:

Healthcare IT News and their take on the Express Scripts extortion attempt

WPA hacked

Massive web hack

FCC approves Verizon’s acquisition of Alltel

Finally, when you listen to the podcast you will find that my wife Coryee and I are about to embark on a new adventure in Bethel, Alaska where we will be working for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation. Also, the ending music for the podcast is provided courtesy of Kate MacLeod, a wonderful artist out of Utah. If you like her music, you can find more of it at her website at www.katemacleod.com.

Since we will be moving to Alaska over the next couple of months, I am not sure when I will have the next podcast online. I promise to make it available as soon as I possibly can. I will be checking emails and managing posts to this blog from my laptop, so please keep in touch! I can’t wait to share some pictures of what we are going to be experiencing in Alaska.

Thank you for listening.

Spencer Hamons

Show 120 – A talk with Nuance’s Keith Belton

Spencer — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:06:26 +0000

On today’s show, I talk about alignment of IT initiatives and your organization’s long-term strategic plan and short-term tactical goals.

I also have a talk with Nuance Communication’s Keith Belton about Nuance’s new Dragon Medical product and where Keith feels that speech recognition will continue to be in the future of healthcare IT.

As always, I welcome your comments either here on the blog, or by emailing me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org. If you would like to email Keith, you can reach him at Keith.Belton@Nuance.com. For more information about Dragon Medical, you can click here and a new window will open and you will be taken to their page.

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This week, I did not have any news because the show was getting a little long.

If you would like to comment on this podcast, you can either email me at spencer@itpodcast.org, or you can click on the title of this post and on the new page, scroll down to “comment”.

The next podcast will be available on November 1, 2008.