Healthcare IT News - December 2007 - (Page 26)

26 Healthcare IT News ■ December 2007 www.HealthcareITNews.com ONC's Strategy the Office National Coordinator asked Last summer, (ONC)expertofthetheInstitute of Medicine to form an panel to review working within its general strategic framework laid out in 2004. I would say that ONC has developed a “the pace and cohesion of the standards activi- remarkable strategy, particularly for the federal ties it coordinates.” The panel government. They set up and delivered its letter report in multiple, parallel activities; STANDARDS funded key strategic targets; laid October. Two key findings were: picked first, ONC should develop a out requirements over three or required strategic plan “providing four contract years and turned a roadmap with specific objecthem over primarily to the private tives, milestones and metrics for sector and volunteers to go at it. by Ed Larsen the national health information This is the essence of American technology agenda” and, second, ONC should military, political, economic and cultural succlarify and improve its “processes for decision cesses: set some general rules and principles but making, workflow, coordination and feedback.” enable many decentralized activities, some of The latter clearly calls on ONC to practice the which will fail and some of which will succeed; same transparency that is one of the corner- these activities will generally advance toward the stones of its healthcare policy, and a point with strategic targets, not through central control which we could not agree more. and authority but through the decisions and The IOM panel noted that ONC was efforts of many autonomous individuals and required by the President's executive order to the organizations they form. ONC's strategy develop a strategic plan. The absence of this was to take what was available to them now, plan, roadmap and milestones prevented the seize the moment and seek breakthroughs panel from actually evaluating the pace of the while investing in the long pole assets, such as ONC initiatives. Wisely, the panel did recognize interoperability standards, business cases, conthat ONC's progress was less important than sumer involvement and nationwide networking. progress toward the goal of Americans having And so the ONC initiatives, the many CMS interoperable electronic health records within a and AHRQ pay-for-performance pilots and the privacy-protected secure nationwide network. diverse state-level initiatives are to be applauded Dr. Robert Kolodner, the national coordinator, and encouraged, not deplored for lacking uniexplained that ONC had spent less time on for- formity, coordination and control, i.e., not being mal strategic planning in order to build energy the product of a single strategic plan. In an and momentum in its multiple initiatives. endeavor as complex as healthcare, both cliniDespite the lack of formal strategy, ONC was cally and economically, there is no central INSIGHT authority to whom one would want to cede control for a single healthcare solution. Dr. Kolodner is quoted in the letter report as saying that near term evaluation of success or failure now might be undesirable and detrimental to progress. Measuring the progress of strategic initiatives, as discussed above, is most accurate in its results, not its process. Turning strategy into project management will quickly disempower the initiatives, portraying them as shortterm check-offs that replace long-term vision. We have these many initiatives, mostly volunteer-supported, that will converge over time into both an improved health and healthcare delivery model and the IT to support it. Each “turn of the crank” weeds out the dead ends and strengthens the winners. ONC's challenge now is to stick to the strategy and not turn the call to measure performance into a call for controlling and micromanaging the initiatives in the closing days of this administration. Well-performing initiatives will survive to become the strategic base for the next administration's plans and policies. Could ONC have better outlined its strategy, phases and benchmarks? Undoubtedly. Could it have developed a better strategy? Unlikely. ■ Ed Larsen is an independent strategy consultant who tracks interoperability standards for HIMSS. For the full article, go to Standards Insight on the HIMSS Member start page. Comments or questions can be sent to erlarsen@erlinc.com. PUBLICATIONS STAFF VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS Fran Perveiler Nancy Vitucci MANAGER, PUBLICATIONS SENIOR MANAGER CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS Joyce Lofstrom SENIOR MANAGER PUBLIC POLICY COMMUNICATIONS Sharolyn Rosier Hyson SENIOR EDITOR Matt Schlossberg COORDINATOR, COMMUNICATIONS Cari McLean CHAIR BOARD OF DIRECTORS John Wade, FCHIME, FHIMSS Vice President/Chief Information Officer Saint Luke’s Health System VICE CHAIR Victoria Bradley, DNP, RN, FHIMSS Chief Nursing Informatics Officer Eclipsys CHAIR ELECT Charles E. Christian, FCHIME, FHIMSS Director, Information Systems/Chief Information Officer Good Samaritan Hospital VICE CHAIR ELECT HIMSS and Saudi Association for Health Informatics Collaborate on Education and Training IMSS and the Saudi Association for Health Informatics (SAHI) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the development of education and training in the country. SAHI is a non-profit organization, with its main office located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that focuses on promoting and advancing the optimal use of information and communication technology in healthcare. Founded in 2005, SAHI is the main organizer of the Saudi eHealth Conference, a bi-annual conference that attracts more than 1,000 specialists. "I am very pleased to sign an MOU of collaboration with the leading organization in the world that is focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of health IT,” said Dr. Majid Altuwaijri, chairman of the SAHI. “I am confident that this collaboration will benefit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its efforts to set up a national e-health program." The purposes of the MOU are to exchange knowledge, information and experience between both parties in their fields; cooperate in building initiatives in the healthcare sector in places of mutual interest; cooperate in conducting scientific and specialized workshops, symposia, training and seminars; cooperate in executing projects of common interest and develop other related services as agreed. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is taking major steps forward in its H Liz Johnson, FHIMSS Vice President, Applied Clinical Informatics Tenet Healthcare Corp. Margret Amatayakul, RHIA, CHPS, FHIMSS President Margaret A. Consulting, LLC Barry Chaiken, MD, FHIMSS Associate Chief Medical Officer BearingPoint Inc. John H. Daniels, FACHE, CPHIMS, CHPS, FHIMSS Chief Information Officer Evolvent Technologies Inc. John Hansmann, FHIMSS Regional Manager, Management Engineering Intermountain Health Care C. Martin Harris, MD, MBA, FHIMSS Chief Information Officer and Chairman Information Technology Division Executive Director eCleveland Clinic The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Joy G. Keeler, MBA Principal Health Information Technology The MITRE Corp. Jay Srini, FHIMSS Vice President, Emerging Technologies University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Jonathan M. Teich, MD, PhD, FHIMSS Chief Medical Informatics Officer Elsevier Health Sciences PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER H. Stephen Lieber, CAE HIMSS ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Confirming their collaboration on e-health education and programming in the Saudi Arabia region, H. Stephen Lieber, HIMSS president and CEO, and Dr. Majid Altuwaijri, chair of the Saudi Health Informatics Association (SAHI), sign the agreement on Oct. 30 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A. John Blair, III, MD President and CEO Taconic IPA Steve Fox Partner Pepper Hamilton LLP Miriam Paramore Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Business Development Integra Professional Services Sunny Sanyal Chief Operating Officer McKesson Provider Technologies adoption of health information technology and recognizes the importance of professional education of its IT professionals and clinician IT users," HIMSS President/CEO H. Stephen Lieber said at the MOU signing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. "We are excited to assist the SAHI in its efforts to bring world class educational programming to the region." For more information about the SAHI, visit www.sahi.org.sa. ■ CONTRIBUTING TO THE The following individuals generously contributed to the HIMSS Foundation in October THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. Regular THANK YOU FOR Now available History of HIMSS/HMSS, prepared by HIMSS Legacy Work Group H IMSS is pleased to introduce the History of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (Formerly Hospital Management Systems Society, which is available at www.himss.org/history. This document was prepared by the HIMSS Legacy Work Group. As the more senior members of the Society, this group of Lifetime Members (part of the Fellows Council), had the experience to describe the legacy of HIMSS since its formation in the late 1950s, its inception as the Hospital Management Systems Society (HMSS) in 1961 and its affiliation with the American Hospital Association as a personal member group in 1966. The Legacy Work Group was given the charter for documenting the Society's colorful history from its very roots of fewer than 50 members representing practicing hospital management engineers, hospital administrators, consultants and academicians to the current diversity of members. The history will be amended each year as new information about the Society's activities and achievements are developed. The Legacy Workgroup wants this documented history to serve as a way to pass along the saga of HMSS/HIMSS, from inception to current time and beyond, to both current and future members. ■ Russell P. Branzell, FHIMSS Don C. Ellis, MBA, CPHIMS Matthew A. Grob, CPHIMS Amanda Mewborn Hardy Caterina E. Lasome, MSN, MBA, MHA, RN For more information or to ma http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.sahi.org.sa http://www.himss.org/history

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Healthcare IT News - December 2007

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