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If you haven’t already registered for the McKnight’s Long-Term Care News’ 4th Annual Online Expo – Do it today! It a really unique Expo – completely online (so you don’t have to worry about traveling), and you can earn up to 5 FREE CEUs by attending the webcasts. The event is free, but you have to register to attend. To find out more, and to register, go to: www.mcknights.com/expofree The Expo is happening on March 24th and 25th, so register today.

Shahid - Are you working with anyone on plans for a "meet-up" of bloggers at HIMSS10? As the Communications Committee Chair for GAHIMSS, I have been working to increase our use of Social Media to support our membership, to include blogs, LinkedIn and Twitter. If you have an activity planned for HIMSS in Atlanta, some of us would certainly like to participate. Thank you!

Hi Liz,
I know we connected on Twitter (or some social media tool). It looks like my Blogger/Twitter meetup is coming together. I have a sponsor that's willing to do drinks and appetizers and 2 other sponsors interested in possibly participating as well.

I'm reaching out to Shahid as well to see if he wants to join in on the fun and help promote/organize it like he's done in the past.

I've contacted the Media folks at HIMSS to see if they're doing anything special for bloggers this year (like they did last year). I'll let you know what they say. Thanks!

I know they've got a couple things planned. In fact, I'm part of a Meet the Bloggers panel one day. I just thought an off site one might be nice one evening. Plus, the sponsors would provide some free food and drink for those that attend.

I'll try and catch you online sometime.

Agreed. I like the idea of an informal one too.

Thanks,

Shahid N. Shah
202-713-5409

Good day,
I was wondering where these featured articles are and if at all possible if I may have access to them. I am doing a report on the value of computers in the health field (good or bad) and was hoping I could use your sources. This would be very beneficial to me. Thank you and have a great day!

10.0 A great visual for healthcare IT interoperability

9.9 Guest Article: Why Doctors Hate Electronic Medical Records

9.7 Guest Article: What will make healthcare software usable?

Free Webinar Today - 1pm EST - MAXIMIZING NEW ARRA-FUNDED FEDERAL GRANTS FOR HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGES.

Link for registration:https://medicity.webex.com/medicity/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=355713301

Hi,
I have been recently looking into getting a software as a service PACS system for our office in an effort to go entirely electronic without breaking our budget. Do you know of a general price range that I could be looking at for a 2 doctor practice? How is the pricing structure generally, flat monthly fee, pay per scan or a combination of both? I find that I am totally clueless the more I read about different PACS systems and ultimately the budget will determine if we can get a system or not.
Thanks
PS. I first posted this comment at the end of a 2007 conversation by accident. Sorry

I am the founder of an IT company in the Chicago land area. I am a former medical student and I’m looking for a way to use my background to help propel my business into the Healthcare/Bio IT industry. I’ve been reading your blog and have found it very informative and interesting. Thank you for making this information and discussion available on the net.

I’m seeking to make some inroads into the industry can you provide any direction or insights on how to achieve this?

I thank you very much in advance and I look forward to hearing your ideas.

Shahid,

I really enjoyed your comments on your website. I believe you are ahead of the IT game especially when you write that your company specializes in healthcare IT.

I thought you and your readers would find my new book Reboot! interesting. First the book is free and online at www.rebootrethink.com. Second I point out that firms like yours that specialize in an industry have productivity rates and quality rates orders of magnitude higher than generalist consultancy companies.

David Longstreet
Software Economist
www.SoftwareMetrics.Com

Arron, thanks for sharing your thoughts about my blog; I am glad to see my community and outreach efforts are making a difference.

Given that you have implementation experience already I would say your next Master's degree should be an MBA or MPH. With all your experience you could move into the public health arena.

Mr. Shah,
I find your blog and your feed aggregator extremely helpful. Thank you for the service you do for the Healthcare IT world. I wonder if you might have any advice for someone who is looking to take a "next step" in their career as far as getting a Masters Level degree in Healthcare IT. I'm not sure where the best programs are or even the best degree. I've 10+ years implementation and project management experience of both clinical and billing systems. Recently I've enjoyed gaining knowledge in systems integration and the different standards like DICOM, HL7 and SNOMED CT. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Arron

I like your site. What are your thoughts of an eventual universal implementation of the “integration” of Physical with Logical Access, like the US Government’s CAC Card system but in the health care vertical market – health systems, hospitals, clinics etc
and over the next 5 years? Healthcare and most segments are still growing at a 9-14% annual clip but I am finding many systems at the CIO and Chief Architect level are not looking to implement this functionality within their own health system and to
improve and or enhance user id security login. Thanks.

Thought I would let you know of our new site: www.symptomlog.com. We aim to discourage patients from self diagnosis using the internet and encourage better communication between doctor and patient.

Hello,

Not sure if folks are interested or not, but I wanted to share another NEHIMSS event.

NEHIMSS with PMI's Healthcare SIG is holding a forum on the use of Lean Six Sigma in Healthcare Project Management.

Would look forward to seeing folks take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about lean six sigma while earning 5 pdu's. For early registrants, we are providing a webinar opportunity for an additional pdu.

Registration and agenda links can be found via. http://www.nehimss.org/calendar/calendar.html

Feel free to contact me directly with any questions dwhitmore@dewpartners.com .

Hello,

This blog is a good way for folks to share information and ideas. I wasn't sure if there was a place to share events that might be of interest to folks. For example, there is a NEHIMSS / ME HFMA event in Portland, ME event on Oct 17th for folks interested in healthcare technology as well as healthcare finance.

The agenda is summarized below. For more info, go to the NEHIMSS website at http://www.nehimss.org/calendar/calendar.html

Feel free to contact me directly if there are any questions or comments.

Don Whitmore dwhitmore@dewpartners.com

Healthcare Information Technology – Technology's Impact on Care Delivery
October 17, 2008
The Wyndham Hotel, South Portland, Maine
Healthcare executive, physician, and technology leaders share insights and welcome your questions as
they explore the latest trends and opportunities in applying information technology to health care
operational and financial challenges.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Health Care and related organization CIOs, CFOs, COOs, Physician Executives, IS
and Finance Management and Staff, vendors, and consultants.
Time Topic
8:00 – 8:45 Registration & Continental Breakfast
8:45 – 9:00 Opening Remarks & Thank the Sponsors
9:00 – 9:50 Dr. David Howes – President and CEO
Martin's Point Health Care
Opening the Door on the Medical Home Model…and Technology's
Foundational Role
9:50 – 10:40 John Halamka, M.D., M.S., Chief Information Officer
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School
Perspectives on Google Health and the PHR experience
10:40 – 11:00 Morning Break
11:00 – 11:30 Devore Culver, Executive Director
HealthInfoNet
Maine's Health Information Exchange – Preparing for the Pilot Phase
11:30 – 12:00 Q & A with David Howes, John Halamka, and Devore
Culver
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 Padraic Harrington, Chief Technology Officer
Covisia Solutions, Inc.
Healthcare technology trends to watch for. A focused update on new &
emerging technologies relevant to you.
1:30 – 2:30 Panel Discussion – Various Perspectives on Finance, Technology, &
Patient Care
Dr. Dan Mingle, M.D.
2:30 – 3:30 Networking & Social Hour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Katie Romano, Get Groovy LLC. Public Relations Manager, 239-277-5200

Technology Company Keeps Medical Information Private and Secure

Fort Myers, Florida — (June 6, 2008)-If you have been to the doctor’s lately, you have had to sign a set of forms related to “HIPAA” also know as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Among other things, the act creates national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and other personal health information. Helping to ensure that your medical information is safe from cyber hackers, CRS Technology is taking a stand and working to educate the medical community on how they can secure your information.

To show their commitment to the healthcare industry, the Lee County based company sponsored the Friday, May 9th, 2008, Annual Health Management Association event at the Diamond Head Resort in Fort Myers,FL. CRS co-owner, Jordi Tejero, was on hand at the “Gold Sponsor” booth to help provide answers to many of the healthcare providers’ technical questions. “Lives depend upon the security of healthcare information. Our campaign this year centers around sharing our knowledge of system security, design and management.” CRS offers special services, which include: secure database construction and 24-7 maintenance and management, which allows physicians the ability to access files from multiple locations—securely.

CRS also shared informational brochures and magic-8 balls to remind healthcare providers that you want to be certain that informational systems are state-of-the art and managed by reliable experts. CRS Co-owner Carol Conway shared why she feels CRS is the company to tackle healthcare technology management, “Our company has been in this area for 15-years, education is our top priority and our team of specialists maintains cutting-edge certifications. We are one of the best in our industry and a stable company with a strong history of providing superior personal service our vast array of customers have come to rely on.”

CRS also specializes in: Technical automation, maintenance, protection and
consultation to businesses to improve effectiveness and efficiency. For more information or to find out how CRS can help your company’s systems run smoothly, efficiently, and securely call: 239-542-8450, or on the web at: www.crsonline.net.
# # #

I'm a great fan of your website Healthcareguy. I always read interesting article and views.I would like to know hows the Health care sector in Middle east (Saudi Arabia and guld region). Since my gradauting with MBA- healthcare this year and I want to work back home (saudi arabia). Can you advise me regarding the jobs or connections over there. I really appreciate that.
Thanks

Please help me giving some hint to submit my blog
www.diabetesprotection.blogspot.com to relavent
free search engines to get more visitors and more
clicks to my ads
I am from Sri Lanka
thanks & best regards
W.Ranjith De Silva

Have been reading your blog off and on for a while. I recently came across a site called www.trustrex.com when researching another issue. Apparently allows patients to register online with any doctor that is registered with the site. After that, patients can apparently communicate securely with the doctor after logging in. Thought it might be something worth checking out. The online registration alone is great for anyone whose had to fill out that paperwork while sick or with kids running around.

Take care,
Ed

Hi Mr.Shah,
I have just gone thru your blog. Very useful info for IT/Health care people.
I currently work in a Clinical Lab as a clinical/Medical Technologist in a State run Clinical laboratory, I have taken a few courses in Health informatics. I am really interested in taking up a career in healthcare IT and if possible project management in Healthcare. could you please suggest how to channel my interests? Pl let me know how do I start to go about it?

Your reply will be greatly appreciated
Warm Regards
JR

Hi, Im really interesting in your work. I just wanted to ask you if you can help me to answer this question: Why its important to maintain excellent health is so necessary when working as health care professional? This question is for my report and please help me because the report due on monday. I wanted more information that can help me to answer this question. Please respond back soon by email me (m_pulou03@yahoo.com). I will look forward to hear from you. Thank you.


May

Hi Shahid.
I find your approach to HIT very refreshing. I'd like to get your perspective on the intersection of HIT and emergency preparedness. My company, LiveProcess, is the leader in the field and what has been fascinating to me is that although most people say "if you've seen one hospital, you've seen one hospital," incident command, which is the common language of emergency preparedness, is the same in every single healthcare facility. This scaleability has been the key to our success, and I believe it has significant portent in being able to piggyback EHRs that would be necessary in any national emergency. What are your thoughts on the intersection of emergency preparedness and HIT?

Deepak, I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, the deeper we get into real health (versus just demographics and health business management) systems the more the worlds of Bio IT collide with Health IT. I don't think there really should be a difference in the next 150 to 20 years as "personalized medicine" becomes more prevalent.

Shahid

As translational medicine begins to start making inroads ands and various PGx/Dx approaches make their way into the clinic, one of the challenges I see is the disconnect between bioinformatics/BioIT (my world) and medical informatics/HealthcareIT (your world). I would love to hear your perspective on these issues/challenges.

Deepak -- you are most kind, thanks for the note. If you have some other topic ideas for postings, please let me know.

Hi Shahid

Recently I made the transition from a role focused mostly on informatics for discovery to one where a large portion of my time is spent looking at more downstream applications (medical/clinical informatics). Your blog has really helped me understand some of the challenges that exist in healthcare systems, some of are not quite that obvious to me.

Hi,

Just wondering if you have any information about Clinical Research Software designed for research sites. I have researched three of them...Velos, StudyManager and iMedRIS but they don't seem to meet our needs. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Jamie -- thanks for the kind words. Yes, a PACS application would work fine on VMware ESX but I would keep the storage on a NAS or SAN (as opposed to inside the VM). With that being said, what are you hoping to gain from virtualizing the PACS (server consolidation, DR, etc)?

Shahid, so far your site looks to be very informative with a fresh and direct perspective. I am interested in knowing if you would recommend putting a PACS system on VMware?

Thank you

Jamie Shepard

Dear Shahid,

I've been a fan of your blog for a couple of years now.

As a fellow technologist whose passion runs deep for practical technology solutions to real-world business initiatives, I would like to know if you are interested in writing and investigating a company that should be right up your alley.

Crossflo Systems is a java based software company that was founded on the premise of allowing the healthcare industry to share electronic medical records, by one of the leaders in the field: Dr. Bill Mohlenbrock.

Dr. Mohlenbrock has been working on this issue for over 35 years and started crossflo to solve this incredibly important problem.

If you are interested, and I do hope you are, I'd be delighted to make an introduction. I believe that you two would really hit it off.

Sincerley,
Philip Graham