Giving a patient medications in the ER, having them pop positive on a test, and then withholding further medications because…
News 7/23/08
From: Susie Q. "Re: CCHIT. I recently sat in on a CCHIT workgroup and was amused by how much time was spent emphasizing that the correct pronunciation is ‘C-C-H-I-T’ and not ‘C-CHIT.’ I can’t figure out what the big deal is. As if this branding distinction is a) going to work and b) be meaningful if it does. It’s notable, if simply funny, that this is what they are worried about.” Too bad Mr. H is gone because this would have been the perfect opportunity for him to remind readers this blog’s name is “H-I-S-talk” and not “HIStalk” (as I always and still call it.) The rebel that I am I’m sticking with C-CHIT.
From: Eclipsys Observer. “Re: Bob Elson. Inga, I just heard Bob Elson is no longer with Eclipsys for about 2 weeks now. Any thoughts on why or where he went?” I was able to track down Dr. Elson and he confirmed that he is the “former” CMO for Eclipsys. Says Elson: “I left Eclipsys on July 1st to pursue other interests.” The only other thing he mentioned in his note is that he is a “big” HIStalk fan.
From: What Happens at Eclipsys Stays at Eclipsys. “Re: Changes. There are lots of changes going on. There is a huge push to increase our KLAS scores, everything is now tied to those (perf evals, bonuses, etc…) Services impact that the most, hence the changes in Stearns and Wagner.” Eclipsys is announcing second quarter earnings on the 30th so we will see soon enough if financial considerations play any part in the changes.
From: Wondering. “Re: Kevin Smith. I heard an unconfirmed rumor that Kevin Smith, head of the GE/IHC partnership at IHC is gone.” Anyone?
From: Dyan Cannon. "Re: Hospital Layoffs. Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern – 80 employees, union & nonunion. This follows a layoff of 57 in February. North Hawaii Community Hospital – 59 employees (~13% staff reduction.) Kona Community Hospital – 55 employees (looks like Hawaii has seen better days!) Ingham Regional Medical Center – 100 employees. St. Peter Regional Treatment Center – 32 employees, possibly up to 100 total by September." That’s almost 400 people. I will defer to you industry experts to explain what it all means.
The Military Health Systems claims no decision has yet been made about what EMR could replace the VA’s Vista. The MHS press release contained a bit of an update on for work on the AHLTA system and the VA’s VISTA electronic health record. No clear indication if the plan is to update/converge/replace. Posters on the MHS site are expressing dismay at the billions already spent, at suggestions of a piecemeal option, and at the current usability limitations with the products today.
Cerner announces Q2 earnings, beating analyst projections by $.01 per share. Profits were $.10 a share higher than last year and Cerner predicts full year revenue growth to be about 10%.
Loftware announces the official debut of its new healthcare specific blog, designed to promote product identification and labeling in the healthcare industry. The Loftware Blog on GS1 and Healthcare is found here. While checking out their site I noticed that the Premier healthcare alliance has become the first group purchasing organization to endorse GS1(R) supply chain standards, requiring all their contracted medical device manufacturers to commit to the standards.
DATATRAK International has retained Healthcare Growth Partners to explore a possible sale or merger. DATATRAK provides eClinical solutions for the clinical trials industry.
Arnot Health is replacing their Mediware perioperative solution in light of Mediware’s announcement to no longer invest in operating room software products. SIS Essentials from Surgical Information Systems is the replacement product.
HHS predicts Medicare will save up to $156 million between 2009 and 2014 as physicians migrate to eRX solutions. The savings are attributed to the avoidance of 1.5 million adverse drug events.
The lovely Gwen Darling of “Healthcare IT Jobs” fame (details to your right) pointed out that in light of Mr. H’s extended leave, I should take the liberty of renaming the blog HERtalk. We separately spent time drinking wine with girlfriends over the weekend and attempted to come up with the perfect name to match the acronym. My working name is Healthcare Estrogen-Reflected Talk but email me with any other creative suggestions.
HIMSS and the Electronic Health Records Vendors Association (EHRVA) announce the election of a new chairman, vice chairman, and six executive committee members. Greenway VP Justin Barnes will lead the group and McKesson Physician Practice Solution chief medical officer Dr. Andy Urdy takes the vice chair spot. The new members include Michele McGlynn (Siemens,) Charles Parisot (GE Healthcare,) Charlie Jarvis (NextGen,) Rick Reeves (CPSI,) Don Shoen (MediNotes,) and Steve Tolle (Allscripts.)
The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute (MI) has contracted with Eclipsys for the deployment of its Sunrise clinical/revenue cycle solutions.
McKesson recognizes six healthcare organizations for vision, innovation, and results-driven performance using McKesson and RelayHealth solutions. Here for the list of 2007 VIP Award winners, each of whom wins a $10,000 grant to their foundation or charity of choice (I like that part.)
A Florida bookkeeper is accused of setting up phony corporations with names like “Cardinal” and “McKesson” to steal several million dollars from her oncologist employer. Over the least eight years, she created checks payable to her non-existent entities, often instead of paying the real pharmaceutical companies.
Siemens has formed a strategic partnership with Imprivata to market their OneSign SSO solution to its customer base.
Opus Healthcare Solutions introduces its OpusLaboratorySuite solution which includes remote reporting, allowing clinicians to view results on a smart phone or PDA via a cell phone network or hospital Wi-Fi connection. The product works with most major HIS products.
I was giddy seeing all the comments in response to John Glaser’s guest posting. I promise we will have an equally entertaining guest writer tomorrow. Send juicy news my way and thanks for reading!
RE: Eclipsys – recently picked up a rumor that NYU Med Ctr is switching from Eclipsys to Epic.
C-CHIT isn’t nearly as bad as the Canadians name for IHTSDO: “IT-see-doo”.
One of our political parties almost renamed themselves the Canadian Conservative-Reform Alliance Party. Yes, C-CRAP.
Thankfully (from their perspective), someone managed to raise the issue and get the name changed…
😉
How about an acronym for S-ecured H-ealthcare I-nformation T-echnology and use George Clooney as the spokesman?
The first time I heard of CCHIT in one of their first intros (at AMIA maybe 3-4 yrs ago now?) they made the point that we had to be careful to pronounce it the right way. I’m not a marketing expert, but if your name makes your org sound really badly, you chose the wrong name. Choose a new one and stop admonishing people to use it differently because they won’t, particularly if it’s funny. Nova anyone?
Layoffs – What does all this mean?
It means that margins are razor thin, that reimbursement is down, expenses are up. Healthcare is not immune to the economic strife that the rest of the country is in. Starbucks closed stores, GM and Ford can’t make it and your small business owner is closing at alarming rates. We have to do more with less.
This my friends is where we are all so important to the solution. The solutions we provide to the end user, will help us deliver better quality care at an over all lower unit cost.
Technology is the only way Helathcare can be delivered in a more efficient way that is safer for the patient. The use of Technology to drive real change will be the salvation of healthcare as we know it today.
These layoffs are treating the symptoms of rising costs. The cure is to be more efficient and the magic pill is technology.
Sutter Health’s (Northern CA) IS people affectionately referred to it as Sutter Health Information Technology.
I have heard, from multiple sources, that NYU is moving off of Eclipsys to Epic because Epic provides a comprehensive (i.e., inpatient, ambulatory, phyisican EMR) solution where Eclipsys XA does not. I find this very interesting since NYU just went live with XA to much hoopla in the trade papers. The system move has caused a lot of chaos in the NYC Eclipsys office.