EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 5/28/15

Even though I’m not ready to jump into another CMIO position at the moment, I still keep up with job postings and am watching a couple of positions to see how long they take to fill. I know the health systems involved more deeply than I’d like to admit. It will be interesting to see who is brave enough (or naïve enough or desperate enough) to sign up for those kinds of adventures. I’ve subscribed to a couple of job sites and today’s email brought some laughs under the banner of “great new jobs found for you this week.”

They included: utility location technician, Uber driver, business analyst at Emdeon, inside sales rep at Thermo Fisher Scientific, data entry clerk, patient experience officer, chief technology officer, and my favorite – Deerpark Barn Supervisor at The Biltmore. When I hit that last one, I noticed that all the jobs were in Asheville, NC. Although it’s a beautiful city and I’ve had some fun times with good friends there, I’m wondering if my profile has been hacked.

Speaking of job hunting, I’ve received several recruiter mailings this year and find it curious that they have all mentioned what EHR system is used at the site. Having used many systems, I’m not sure having one vendor over another would really make or break an opportunity for me. I’d rather have a well-implemented version of a low-key system than a poorly managed version of one of the industry darlings. Even in the cloud or on standardized MU-ready versions, clients still seem to have enough configuration and workflow options to get themselves into trouble.

I started a consulting project this week training ICD-10 for a local group of independent providers. It’s been a lot of fun working with end users who aren’t used to having a clinical informaticist around. With their focus on clinical care, they haven’t been PowerPointed to death and actually seem excited about learning something from my traveling road show. I’m just doing introductory content now then will circle back in a month or so with actual workflow training on their EHR system.

We’ll see how enthusiastic they remain after we get into the gorier parts of the workflow. I knew it really clicked with at least one student, who sent a piece from MSN entitled “The Strangest Ways Americans Die in all 50 States.” She asked whether the “cause of death” information would be more specific once ICD-10 is live. I hope so, because some states have amazingly general categories listed such as “water, air and space, and other and unspecified transport accidents” in Alaska and “legal intervention” in Nevada.

I received a handful of “thanks for stopping by our booth at HIMSS” messages this week, mostly from booths I don’t remember visiting. I’m pretty meticulous about taking notes while I’m crawling the exhibit hall and none of them were on my list, either. I’m attributing it to a HIMSS technology glitch rather than faulty memory. Nonetheless, if I want to buy mounts for my flat screen displays, I know where to go.

The National Healthcare Innovation Summit takes place next month in Chicago. An advertisement for it asks. “How will you innovate healthcare this year?” Most of my CMIO friends aren’t going to be doing any innovation. It looks like 2015 is about catch-up and ICD-10 preparation. Especially with Meaningful Use Stage 3 howling at our door, I don’t foresee vendors doing a lot of innovation, either.

I hadn’t realized that Minnesota passed legislation in 2007 that required all healthcare providers to implement a certified EHR by January 1, 2015 and to connect to a state-approved HIE. I came across a blurb this week that the legislature has approved an omnibus bill containing an exemption for cash practices and solo practitioners. I’d be interested to hear from Minnesota readers who have an opinion on the situation.

One of my favorite shoe enthusiasts brought these to my attention. Controlled by a smart phone app, they change colors and patterns to match the wearer’s needs or possibly just her mood.

In a related link, we’re introduced to motion-capture ballet slippers constructed from Arduino components and conductive thread. I forwarded it to my nephews in the hopes that they might need a project to keep them busy this summer. Maybe we can combine the two technologies to put together a graphical representation of what really happens on the HIStalkapalooza dance floor.

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