There was an article on the Histalk website (http://histalk2.com/2009/01/14/readers-write-11509/) that I found interesting and it made me reflect a bit on the first EPM purchase/install I did with a client.  I hope the tough lessons they and I learned will help someone else going forward - I know they did me.  I encourage anyone looking at beginning a large IT project to read this blog and that article before you start investigating systems and dealing with salespeople.

The first thing that I would do differently is take control of the project from my client.  I was just starting out and I was more conscious of what I was charging them to help instead of insisting that they use me more.  I should have insisted I was part of every meeting, every email and every decision.  Looking back, the money the client would have saved on their purchase would have more than made up for my fees.  Not to mention the hours their practice administrator spent,...

Read More »

This is an interesting press release from Open Health Tools, a collaborative effort with various facets of the healthcare industry and led by Misys Open Source Solutions.  Healthcare IT can only move forward towards its ultimate goal and usefulness if disparate systems can communicate with each other and allow information to flow freely.  This is important for portability of information and accessibility of that same information for healthcare professionals in different sectors.  Imagine an emergency room doctor in Miami being able to call up all of the medical history of an unconcious patient on vacation and know what they're allergic to, that they recently had treatment for a cancerous tumor and took medicine to boost their red blood cell count.  All information that may be important for that patient's care.  Now, imagine that information is out there, but that ER doc can't read it because their system doesn't communicate with the system that...

Read More »

There is an interesting article in Healthcare IT News (www.healthcareitnews.com) that talks about a study done in Massachusetts that shows that practices that use an EHR system have a pretty substantial drop in paid malpractice settlements.  While the group from the study is statistically small, the findings are interesting and, may hopefully lead to smaller payouts and, in turn, lower malpractice insurance.  The full article can be found here: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10456

There's a free practice management/EMR solution for providers that is available.  It's called Practice Fusion (http://www.practicefusion.com).  They offer a $0 web-based solution that truly is free.  It is a web-based solution that charges nothing to use or get technical assistance.  It does your backups and updates as well. 

It's an interesting business model in that Practice Fusion makes its money in a way similar to how internet companies like Google make theirs - through advertising banners and selling anonymized information.  They claim 100% HIPAA compliance and data security.  And, if you don't want to see ads in your EMR, you can pay a small monthly fee ($250) to use an ad-free version.

I'm not endorsing the product as I haven't had the chance to test it or see it in action, but I thought it was interesting and might be an inexpensive solution for practices just starting or looking for a new system.

...

Read More »

Here's some stuff about me that you won't find on the About Us page:

I graduated from Gettysburg College in 1990 with a degree in Political Science.  I then parlayed that into a fun and rewarding career waiting tables and bartending.  Mom was so proud that all that money didn't go to waste!  I really enjoyed the restaurant world though and became a manager for a well known chain of restaurants.  I left there to go to another well known chain of restaurants but the fire was dying.  I was getting tired of the late nights and early mornings and almost 10 years of being somewhat sleep deprived caught up with me. 

In 1999 I lost my first wife to cervical cancer.  It became a good time to take stock of my life and where I was going and what I wanted to do going forward.  My friend and former roommater had moved to Raleigh a few years before and was working for a practice management software company.  He helped me get my foot in the door and my experience with customer service and my abilitiy to communicate...

Read More »

Well, this is my first foray into the 'blogging world'.  I hope that future entries will provide information that others will like.  There are millions of people blogging everyday on the World Wide Web and definitely not enough hours in the day to read all of those that are of interest.  I'll try to keep mine short and to the point - I have a habit of running off at the keyboard.  Some will be about the medical IT arena, some may be about other work related things of interest.   Other entries may have absolutely nothing to do with work - but I'll try to keep my personal biases to a minimum.