Meaningful Use and Certification Improvements
Today, HHS circulated the following important announcement:"CMS to Propose New Timeline for Meaningful Use Implementation and ONC to Propose New Regulatory Approach to CertificationI wanted to make sure you were aware that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today proposed a new timeline for the implementation of meaningful use for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) proposed a more regular approach to update ONC’s certification regulations. Under the revised timeline, Stage 2 will be extended through 2...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - December 7, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
Building Unity Farm - Preparing for Winter
Snow will begin falling in New England over the next few weeks. Most nights have subfreezing low temperatures and it's challenging to maintain water sources for the animals and plants on the farm.How do we do it? Heated buckets, heated troughs, heated poultry waterers, heating panels, and yard hydrants.Here's how it all works:Ducks - ducks are very resilient to cold and enjoy living outside, only retreating to the duck house in the most severe weather. Within their pen, the ducks have a heated 50 gallon stock tank/water trough and a heated poultry waterer. Both activate at 35F. ...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - December 5, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
Commanding Versus Leading
When I first became a CIO, my role involved writing applications and managing architecture at a detailed level. Over the past 17 years, my role has become much more strategic, ensuring the right investments in the right overall architecture are made with appropriate resources to support them. I've had to master the political, communication, and interpersonal skills of leading rather than the technical skills of being a strong individual IT contributor. Although the way, I've learned the difference between Commanding and Leading.In an academic health center, formal authority is rarely exercised. &...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - December 4, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
Building Unity Farm - Thanksgiving on the Farm
Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends to reflect on the past year, be grateful for the good things that happen every day, and consider the journey we're all on, which is hopefully headed in a positive direction.On a farm, this day of thanks is very personal. As with last year, the foods we prepared were either grown at Unity Farm or at a farm within one mile of our dining table. There was one exception - the cranberries were from a bog on Cape Cod.We boiled turnips and roasted root vegetables. We picked mixed lettuce from the hoop house. We baked pumpkin and apple pies with fruit p...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - November 28, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
Rethinking Certification
As stakeholders in payer, provider, and government communities debate the optimal timing of ICD10, Meaningful Use Stage 2, ACA, and HIPAA Omnibus rule deadlines, it's becoming increasingly clear that many hospitals which attested in 2011 and 2012 will not have their 2014 edition certified software installed, training completed, and workflow re-engineered in time for the Stage 2 attestation deadlines. Now that we have experience with two stages of Meaningful Use, it's also clear that a three year cycle is needed to ensure safe, high value, well adopted, introduction of new IT functionality. Part of the problem, as I've disc...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - November 27, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
