Preparing for a Meaningful Use Audit

ONC/CMS provides strong oversight of the Meaningful Use program by continuousy reexamining the quality of certified products and auditing hospitals and practices that have attested to meaningful use.Last week, ONC "de-certified" a product for not supporting the functionality required by regulations .Meaningful Use audits are done by Figliozzi and Company on behalf of CMS.   I've assisted one of our hospitals and one of our practices with such...[Readmore]

Building Unity Farm - The Year of Produce

I skipped my Unity Farm post last week due to the events in Boston that required undivided attention.2012 was the year of animals at Unity Farm since we acquired our herds and flocks from May to August of that year.   2013 will be the year of produce as we create the mushroom farm, orchard, and hoop house.Last weekend, after the Marathon related events subsided I finished cutting the 220 oak logs needed for the Spring inoculation of 11...[Readmore]

Optimizing Electronic Medication Administration Records

In June, BIDMC goes live with Electronic Medication Records (EMAR) on one ward to be followed by 3 other wards, ensuring we meet our 10% Meaningful Use Stage 2 target by the reporting period October 1-December 31, 2013.We built a web-based, mobile friendly EMAR system that includes many visual cues and seamless integration (not interfacing) with all our existing clinical information systems.In modeling the workflow, we had to chose appropriate hardware...[Readmore]

Reflections on the Tragedy in Boston

Now that schedules are returning to normal, it's appropriate to review the events of last week and reflect on the lessons learned with the benefit of hindsight.1.  Risk planning is forever alteredTo me, risk is the likelihood of an event multiplied by the impact of that event.Risk management for BIDMC IT now uses the NIST 800 framework, so areas of risk are formally enumerated, however, it still requires judgement about mitigation strategies.At...[Readmore]

The April HIT Standards Committee

The April HIT Standards Committee focused on refining the work plan for 2013, ensuring that standards work is appropriately divided among SDOs, S&I initiatives, and HITSC committee workgroups.Doug Fridsma presented ONC's recommended next steps, based on the feedback from the HITSC Workgroup chairs.  In an hour long briefing call two weeks ago, the HISTC Workgroup chairs evaluated each HIT Policy Committee request for standards and suggested...[Readmore]

An IT Perspective on the Bombings in Boston

Many reporters have contacted me today for an IT perspective on the April 15 bombings in Boston.  Within moments of the event, social media became the preferred mechanism for communication and coordination.   I was on a plane from Los Angeles to Boston at 36,000 feet when the bombs exploded and received real time twitter feeds, streaming video, and email from staff via GoGo WiFi.As my experience illustrates, the most critical IT responsibility...[Readmore]

Supporting the Living

My father died a month ago and I flew to Los Angeles this weekend to help my mother during the grieving process.She's doing very well.The death of a spouse (or father) can be traumatic to everyone involved.  The tasks that follow the funeral are numerous - wills/trusts are acted upon, accounts are closed/changed, credit cards are cancelled, insurance policies are claimed or revised, IRAs are transferred, and death certificates are circulated...[Readmore]

Thursday Building Unity Farm - Creating the Mushroom Farm

I recently wrote about the planning for our Shitake and Oyster mushroom farm. Last weekend we began to build it.Using oak that we cleared during the orchard preparation process,  I cut 150 four foot logs and will cut 70 more next weekend.  A local farm hand and I moved them from the orchard to a shaded area under maple trees near the northern border of the farm property.   We created a log storage area between two old stone walls....[Readmore]

A Massachusetts HIE Update

In the next few weeks, BIDMC will begin sending 50,000 patient encounter records per week through the state HIE (the MassHIWay) to our quality measurement service operated by the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative.    Also in a few weeks, all the daily reportable lab, syndromic surveillance, and immunization data required by Meaningful Use Stage 2 will be sent to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health via the state HIE.On Monday,...[Readmore]

Commencement at Columbia University

I recently spoke at Columbia University to the graduates of their healthcare IT certificate program.    I used these slides.I started with an overview of my top 10 buzzwords for 2013 describing a strategy for each of them:Secure and Compliant - BIDMC has a multi-million dollar security enhancement program with 14 work streamsHosted in the Cloud - BIDMC operates 3 private clouds to deliver web-based clinical applications to thousands of...[Readmore]

Building Unity Farm - Creating the Orchard

In March, I wrote about our planning for the Unity Farm orchard.Just as with any IT project, we needed to create a charter (aims, success factors), a Gantt chart, project management, and a team structure to successfully "go live" with our orchard.Our charter is simple - use 1 acre of our 15 acres for fruit and and nut trees in support of self sufficiency and local fruit production.   Success will be clearing the weeds, vines, and shrubby trees...[Readmore]

The Importance of Giving Your Time

I've written about servant leadership and the special gift of sharing time with others .  (It's hard to believe that my father and I enjoyed that day meandering the mountains of Northern California just 5 years ago)My wife recently emailed me a New York Times Magazine article entitled "Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead?"  and it really resonated with me.Every day I receive numerous requests from students, colleagues, and community...[Readmore]