Healthcare IT Podcast» alaska

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.

To hear the podcast, you can use the plugin here:

If you want to add this feed through iTunes, please click here:

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, please use this link:

As always, if you have any questions, you are welcome to contact me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org. I respond to all emails and posts to this blog directly.

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?

To hear the podcast, you can use the plugin here:

If you want to add this feed through iTunes, please click here:

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, please use this link:

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

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.

To hear the podcast, you can use the plugin here:

If you want to add this feed through iTunes, please click here:

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, please use this link:

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

ARRA and “Meaningful Use”

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

As I said on the last show, 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.

To view a report by the American Health Information Management Association regarding physician incentive payments, you can follow this link.

For another article on HITECH and Meaningful Use, specifically about the physician incentives for meaningful use, follow this link.

And here, you will find some updated and very comprehensive information about meaningful use and physician incentives.

Meaningful Use Objectives	Corresponding EHR Software Features	Meaningful Use Measures
Use Computer Provider Order Entry (CPOE)	Enable a user to electronically record, store, retrieve, and manage, at a minimum, the following order types: Medications; Laboratory; Radiology/imaging; Provider referrals; Blood bank; Physical therapy; Occupational therapy; Respiratory therapy; Rehabilitation therapy; Dialysis; Provider consults; and Discharge and transfer.	CPOE is used for at least 80% of all orders; 10% for hospitals
Implement drug/allergy checks	(1) Real-time, alerts at the point of care for drug-drug and drug-allergy contraindications; (2) Electronically check if drugs are in a formulary or preferred drug list; (3) Provide certain users rights to deactivate, modify, and add rules for drug-drug and drug-allergy checking; (4) Track number of alerts users respond to	Function is enabled
Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses based on ICD-9-CM or SNOMED CT®	Electronically record, modify, and retrieve a patient’s problem list over multiple visits	At least 80% of all unique patients have at least one entry or an indication of none recorded.
E-prescribing (EP only)	Electronically transmit prescriptions	At least 75% of all permissible prescriptions written by the EP are transmitted electronically
Maintain active medication/allergy list	Electronically record, modify, and retrieve a patient’s active medication/allergy list	At least 80% of all unique patients have at least one entry or an indication of “none”
Record demographics	Electronically record, modify, and retrieve patient demographic data	At least 80% of all unique patients have demographics recorded
Record and chart changes in vital signs	(1) Enable a user to electronically record, modify, and retrieve a patient’s vital signs; (2) Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI); (3) Plot and electronically display, upon request, growth charts for patients 2-20 years old.	For at least 80 percent of all unique patients age 2 and over seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital, record blood pressure and BMI; additionally, plot growth chart for children age 2 to 20
Record smoking status for patients 13 years old or older	Electronically record, modify, and retrieve the smoking status of a patient	At least 80% of all unique patients 13 years old or older have “smoking status” recorded
Incorporate clinical lab-test results into EHR as structured data	(1) Electronically receive clinical laboratory test results and display such results in human readable format; (2) Electronically display in human readable format any clinical laboratory tests that have been received with LOINC® codes; (3) Electronically display all the information for a test report; (4) Electronically update a patient’s record based upon received laboratory test results	At least 50% of all clinical lab tests results are incorporated as structured data
Generate lists of patients by specific conditions	Electronically select, sort, retrieve, and output a list of patients and patients’ clinical information	Generate at least one report listing patients with a specific condition
Report ambulatory quality measures to CMS or the States (EP only)	(1) Calculate and electronically display quality measure results as specified by CMS or states; (2) Electronically submit calculated quality measures	For 2011, an EP/hospital would attest this has been done
Send reminders to patients for preventive/follow-up care	Electronically generate a patient reminder list for preventive or follow-up care	Reminders sent to at least 50% of all unique patients that are 50 and over
Implement five clinical decision support rules relevant to specialty or high clinical priority	(1) Implement automated, electronic clinical decision support rules according to specialty or clinical priorities; (2) Automatically and electronically generate real-time alerts and care suggestions based upon clinical decision support rules and evidence grade; (3) Automatically and electronically track, record, and generate reports on the number of alerts responded to by a user	Implement five clinical decision support rules relevant to the clinical quality metrics the EP/Eligible Hospital is responsible for
Check insurance eligibility electronically	Electronically record and display patients’ insurance eligibility, and submit insurance eligibility queries	Insurance eligibility checked electronically for at least 80% of all unique patients
Submit claims electronically to public and private payers.	Electronically submit claims	At least 80 % of all claims filed electronically
Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information upon request	Enable a user to create an electronic copy of a patient’s clinical information and provide to a patient on electronic media, or through some other electronic means	At least 80% of all patients who request an electronic copy of their health information are provided it within 48 hours
Provide patients with an electronic copy of their discharge instructions and procedures at time of discharge, upon request (Hospital only)	Enable a user to create an electronic copy of the discharge instructions and procedures for a patient, in human readable format, at the time of discharge to provide to a patient on electronic media, or through some other electronic means	At least 80% of all patients who are discharged from an eligible hospital and who request an electronic copy of their discharge instructions and procedures are provided it
Provide patients with electronic access to their health information within 96 hours of the information being available (EP only)	Enable a user to provide patients with online access to their clinical information	At least 10% of all unique patients are provided timely electronic access to their health information
Provide clinical summaries to patients for each office visit. (EP only)	(1) Enable a user to provide clinical summaries to patients (in paper or electronic form) for each office visit; (2) If the clinical summary is provided electronically (i.e., not printed), it must be provided in: 1) human readable format; and 2) and on electronic media, or through some other electronic means.	Clinical summaries provided to patients for at least 80% of all office visits
Exchange key clinical information among providers of care and patient authorized entities electronically and provide summary care record	(1) Electronically receive a patient summary record, from other providers and organizations; (2) Electronically transmit a patient summary record, to other providers and organizations	Provide summary of care record for at least 80 % of transitions of care and referrals; Perform at least one test of certified EHR technology’s capacity to electronically exchange key clinical information
Perform medication reconciliation at relevant encounters and each transition of care and referral	Electronically complete medication reconciliation of two or more medication lists into a single medication list that can be electronically displayed in real-time	Perform medication reconciliation for at least 80 % of relevant encounters and transitions of care
Submit electronic data to immunization registries and actual submission where required and accepted	Electronically record, retrieve, and transmit immunization information to immunization registries	Performed at least one test submission to immunization registries and public health agencies
Provide electronic submission of reportable lab results to public health agencies and actual submission where it can be received (Hospital only)	Electronically record, retrieve, and transmit reportable clinical lab results to public health agencies	Performed at least one test of certified EHR technology capacity to provide electronic submission of reportable lab results to public health agencies
Provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies and actual transmission according to applicable law and practice	Electronically record, retrieve, and transmit syndrome-based (e.g., influenza like illness) public health surveillance information to public health agencies	Performed at least one test of certified EHR technology’s capacity to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies
Protect electronic health information through the implementation of appropriate technical capabilities	(1) Assign unique user names; (2) Permit certain users to access health information in an emergency; (3) Terminate an electronic session after a predetermined time of inactivity; (4) Encrypt and decrypt electronic health information that is stored and exchangd; (5) Record actions (e.g., deletion) related to electronic health information; (6) Track alterations of electronic health information; (7) Set up user verification measures; (8) Record disclosures made for treatment, payment, and health care operations	Conduct or review a security risk analysis and implement security updates as necessary

To summarize, the government now has told physicians and hospitals what tasks they should be using their EHR for (meaningful use); what EHR software features are needed to accomplish those tasks (certified EHR technology); and how the government is going to measure those tasks to determine whether or not they are being performed to their satisfaction.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s show. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

To hear the podcast, you can use the plugin here:

If you want to add this feed through iTunes, please click here:

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, please use this link:

As always, 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”.

Thank you for listening.

Spencer

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.

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.

To hear my take on these topics as well as the main podcast topic, you can use the plugin here:

If you want to add this feed through iTunes, please click here:

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, please use this link:

Thank you for listening.

Spencer

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

If you want to add this feed through iTunes, please click here:

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, please click here:

Thank you for listening.

Spencer

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.

If you want to add this feed through iTunes, please click here:

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, please click here:

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

So You are Too Busy for Data?

Spencer — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:12:31 +0000

In this week’s podcast, in addition to our normal news topics, we discuss what I call DRIP (Data Rich and Information Poor), Data Analysis and we also touch on the topic of disaster recovery and business continuity.

As always, I welcome your comments either here on the blog, or by emailing me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.

If you want to add this feed through iTunes, please click here:

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, please click here:

The articles that I reference in the podcast are linked below:

Consumer off-site data store LinkUp fails

19 Hour Laptop

You never know what may show up in those search engine cached pages

I thank you for listening to this podcast, and as always I welcome your comments either directly to this blog…or you can email me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.The next podcast will be available on September 6, 2008.

Privacy vs. Geography

Spencer — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:26:47 +0000

In this week’s podcast, we get back to our standard format with some interesting news articles that were out over the past week, and I talk specifically about the allegations the China has been forcing hotels to install Internet eavesdropping equipment in preparation for the Olympics.

As always, I welcome your comments either here on the blog, or by emailing me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.

If you want to add this feed through iTunes, please click here:

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, please click here:

The articles that I reference in the podcast are linked below:

FCC finds that Comcast cannot limit peer-to-peer traffic on its network

VMware annouces that ESXi Hypervisor is now free

Alfresco announces open source Microsoft SharePoint Competetor

8 Reasons why a developer would NEVER want to be CIO

China accused of installing Internet eavesdropping devices for Olympics

I thank you for listening to this podcast, and as always I welcome your comments either directly to this blog…or you can email me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.

The next podcast will be available on August 16, 2008.

Time Management for your Team

Spencer — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:25:45 +0000

In today’s show, we are going to talk about how to take one of many time management tools and modify it slightly to use it as a management tool for your team. Attached to this post is a Microsoft Word document of Covey’s Quadrants. This isn’t just a table with four squares, but has some notes about concepts that I discovered useful with my team while I was a CIO at a regional medical center. I hope that you will find this as helpful in managing your team and their expectations as I do still to this day. If you have any questions about how I have been able to effectively use this tool to engage my staff in a different way, and get a higher level of understanding from the entire team, please do not hesitate to contact me at spencer@itpodcast.org.

If you want to add this link to your Google homepage, please click here:

During our “In the News” segment on today’s podcast, here are the links to the articles I referenced.

Merge Healthcare’s Reorganization and Executive Resignations

Walter Reed Army Medical Center data breech

U.S. Commerce Department Laptop possibly hacked by China

Philadelphia Wi-Fi Shutting Down

Comcast Traffic Management Move

Akamai “State of the Internet” Report

I hope that you find this tool helpful. There are other tools that I have created or modified over the years available on the Resources page of the blog. If you have some tool that you have found is useful to create engagement with your staff or other members of the workforce, please email me at spencer@itpodcast and let me know about it. I would love to include the tool on the resources page and give you credit for what you have been able to do.

The opening and closing music on the podcast this week is Crazy by the group Kapena.

Our next show will be on June 21, 2008. Thank you for listening.

Feb 08 – Clinical Documentation / Strategic vs Tactical Planning

Spencer — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:39:13 +0000

MARCH 25, 2011 NOTE: Wow, my old podcasts are pretty bad! In this week’s show, we discuss some discussion surrounding inpatient clinical documentation, and also discuss Strategic vs. Tactical IT planning. The value of the inpatient clinical documentation discussion is likely dated, since this podcast was originally published on February 2, 2008, but some of the concepts about how to consider hardware likely still has some value in the world of EHRs and Meaningful Use now in 2011. Likewise, the Strategic vs. Tactical planning discussion is still relevant for leaders, regardless of the year we are in.

If you want to add this feed to your Google homepage, click here for automatic updating:

In the podcast, I reference numerous articles, below you can find the links.

2008 Scripting Games

SANS Institute Top 10 Security Threats for 2008

EMC offers flash drives in their DMX-4 storage solutions

CCHIT Certifies additional Inpatient EHR products

Contradictory Physician Responses in Survey

802.11b on Mass. Commuter Train Line

Washington D.C. Government works to recover from online porn debacle

Data Farming (otherwise known as Time Motion Studies) at Methodist Le Bonjeur Healthcare in Memphis, TN

Nurses Say IT security puts crimp in their productivity

Thank you for listening. The next show, which will be posted on February 16, 2008 will feature an interview with the research company KLAS. KLAS is a research company that independently monitors vendor performance through active participation with healthcare organizations. I have participated with KLAS for a number of years, and I hope you will find this interview helpful to you.

Spencer Hamons

Work Manners Matter – Getting Young Workers Engaged

Spencer — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 04:50:01 +0000

MARCH 25, 2011 NOTE: It is amazing when I go back and listen to the first podcasts that I ever did. In this show, I talk about how manners do matter at work, and how leaders can get younger workers to engage at the workplace. I also give the younger workers their due…but remember, as much as you may want to be the boss, if you aren’t the boss, then you will probably benefit from learning to deal with your boss.

Below are the referenced web links mentioned in the podcast.

CIO Magazine – Hackers and Suits Tips for Managers to Bridge the gap

Network World – Young Workers hard to retain

Network World – Too few manners at work

USA Today – Education / Business Articles