Healthcare It News - February 2008 - (Page 20)

20 Healthcare IT News MY TWO CENTS ■ February 2008 www.HealthcareITNews.com New understanding of contests, awards BY BerNIe MONeGaIN, Editor I ’M NOt a BIG FaN of contests – or awards. I admit to watching the oscars and the Grammy awards. It’s the razzle-dazzle I like. The walk down the red carpet. The gaffes. The tears. The gowns. other contests and award events seem tedious to me – designed so everyone is a winner and to generate as little excitement as possible. at one recent award event I attended, which shall remain nameless, I happened to be seated next to a fellow diner, who felt compelled to comment on every part of the program – while the designated speakers themselves were talking. If they had a valuable nugget to impart, I missed it. Plus, I was embarrassed that, well, our table was a little noisy. I know we can’t all be at the Kodak Theater, but really we – as an award nation (think Super Bowl and World Series) – need to step up. you can tell I’m a little skeptical – perhaps jaded – about contests and awards. It’s not because Healthcare IT News has not won its share. It has. recently I talked with Susan Heichert, director of excellian implementation at minnesota’s allina Hospitals and clinics. It took her just a few minutes to change my point of view – and she wasn’t even trying. Heichert and a team of clinicians and IT personnel are really close to completing a three-and-a-half year eHr rollout at allina. They’ve named it excellian. The technology was developed by epic Systems. allina is this year’s organizational Davies award winner – presented by the Healthcare Information and management Systems Society. I want to make it clear that I’ve always recognized the rigorous requirements associated with the Davies process – and also with the malcolm Baldrige national Quality award. my railing about contest and awards is more general than specific, and also at a lower level of achievement. So, back to my conversation with Heichert. I asked her why allina decided to apply for a Davies award. “It was a long hard row,” she said. “It seems fitting to recognize and celebrate our accomplishments.” Indeed. Bernie Monegain, Editor Then she said the allina team wanted to let others know that it could be done. So there you have it. Heichert is not the first Davies winner to express similar sentiments. They ring like a clear bell. These people at healthcare organizations across the country are in pursuit of excellence They gather all the stats for an award like the Davies or the Baldrige because they would anyway to check themselves against their own high standards, and to correct course if they need to. Kudos to allina and to the other Davies winners, public organizations and physician practices. Praise, too, to Sharp Healthcare in San Diego and mercy Health System in Janesville, Wis., both of www.HealthcareITNews.com Published in partnership with They gather all the stats for an award like the Davies or the Baldrige because they would anyway to check themselves against their own high standards. which snagged a Baldrige last December. no easy feat. It redefines the concept of a contest or award. But. This is a small “but” – more of a reminder. There are people like Susan Heichert and her team working in healthcare faciliities across the country - spinning similar magic (better patient care at lower cost). They create their magic by setting benchmarks and never taking their eye off the ball. When something does not turn out quite as they wished, they regroup, brainstorm, set new benchmarks and go back to work day after day. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: MoNeGaiN 0208 71 Pineland Drive, Suite 203 New Gloucester, ME 04260 T (207) 688-6270 F (207) 688-6273 Neil Rouda neil.rouda@medtechpublishing.com MedTech Publishing Company PUBLISHER EDITORIAL Jack Beaudoin, Editorial Director jack.beaudoin@medtechpublishing.com Patty Enrado, Contributing Editor patty.enrado@medtechpublishing.com Diana Manos, Senior Editor diana.manos@medtechpublishing.com Molly Merrill, Editorial Assistant molly.merrill@medtechpublishing.com Bernie Monegain, Editor bernie.monegain@medtechpublishing.com Richard Pizzi, Associate Editor richard.pizzi@medtechpublishing.com Eric Wicklund, Managing Editor eric.wicklund@medtechpublishing.com Nancy Vitucci, nvitucci@himss.org For advertising contacts, see page 85 or visit http://www.healthcareitnews.com/ page.cms?pageId=3 Karen Diekmann, Production Manager karen.diekmann@medtechpublishing.com Danielle Hartley, Director, Marketing danielle.hartley@medtechpublishing.com EDITOR, HIMSS INSIDER EDITORIAL STAFF ● ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MARKETING READER SERVICES T (978) 671-0449 or cs-hitn@e-circ.net F (978)671-0460 Online: www.myHITN.com Postal mail: PO Box 9369 Lowell, MA 01853 Nicole Carter nicole.carter@medtechpublishing.com SUBSCRIPTION FULFILLMENT MANAGER CIRCULATION MANAGER CUSTOMER SERVICE Peggy Tashjian cs-hitn@e-circ.net REPRINTS The YGS Group T (717) 399-1900, ext. 139 HITN@theygsgroup.com John Glaser, vice president, CIO, Partners HealthCare, Boston Denni McColm, CIO, Citizens Memorial Healthcare, Bolivar, Mo. Jane Olds, COO, Louisiana Health Network, New Orleans Wes Rishel, vice president, Gartner, Inc. William Spooner, senior vice president, CIO, Sharp Healthcare, San Diego Paul Tang, vice president, CMIO, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, California Steven Waldren, director, Center for Health IT, American Academy of Family Physicians EDITORIAL BOARD Putting cart before horse on PHrs CORRECTIONS Healthcare IT News is published by MedTech Publishing Company, LLC, which is solely responsible for its editorial content. Editors are expected to meet the highest professional standards for accuracy, objectivity, fairness and independence. Errors of fact are corrected as soon as the error is established and corrections are published in the medium in which the error appeared. Inquiries or disputes about the factual accuracy of the record should be directed to the editor. I for Health Level Seven, to use (or is it ‘buy’?) them are more exerInc., america’s Heath Insurance Plans, cises in creative writing and shameless and Blue cross and Blue Shield assoc. to promotion than serious attempts at reducagree on standards for personal health records ing medical costs and improving quality. (PHrs) than it is to agree They produce statistiThe whole PHR charade cally valid surveys that on what a PHr is. is kept on the rails by a ‘reveal’ a majority of If you think this is putting the cart before americans want PHrs level of emotional the horse you are not even though most peobootstrapping and alone nor are you alone ple have no clue what inventiveness perhaps if you think it makes a PHr or eHr is or unparalleled in medical sense. Unfortunately, how they might benit reflects the familiar efit from one. history. transposition of means The motivation for and ends that characterizes so much of such behavior is located in the good oldwhat passes for thinking in america. fashioned american desire to make a buck The whole PHr charade is kept on the regardless of the cost or consequences to rails by a level of emotional bootstrapping others. and inventiveness perhaps unparalleled in The story reveals this through it use medical history. of the increasingly popular term “stakeThe stories promoters tell each other holder”. ‘Stakeholders’ does not include and us about the value of PHrs and how anything so rude as patients or their true patients (or is it ‘consumers’?) are eager leTTer see page 21 t’s Far easIer EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE Healthcare IT News is published in partnership with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). HIMSS members are eligible to receive Healthcare IT News and related publications – both in print and online – as a beneﬁt of membership. With the exception of the HIMSS Insider, which is produced by the staff of HIMSS and appears within the pages of Healthcare IT News every month, HIMSS and its leadership exercise no control over the editorial content of the newspaper and related publications. Neil Rouda VICE PRESIDENTS PRESIDENT Jack Beaudoin John D. Payne Neil Rouda PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENTS Jack Beaudoin John D. Payne 2005 JESSE NEAL AWARD WINNER http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8601 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/page.cms?pageId=3 http://www.myHITN.com

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Healthcare It News - February 2008 Contents Hot Potato Wal-Mart Focus CIO Role Wasteland Linking Docs Katrina Work P4P Team Fire Sale? Emergency Systems Beyond Business

Healthcare It News - February 2008

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