Christina's Considerations

Health IT-World

I just started writing for Health-IT World and a story on Illumisys is my first. For those who don't know, Illumisys is a business division of Lumetra and has drawn their service offerings from their highly successful DOQ-IT Program for... Read more →

Blogs: Are they taking over the world?

Below is a question posed by Doug Barney in a recent issue of his e-newsletter and I'm interested to see what my health blogger friends think about the issue of blogs taking over the established press/media! BLOGS VS. PR: AND... Read more →

Risk Management: Backing up EHRs

One of my former "hats" was that of risk manager. Once you have been one, you can never seem to really take off that "hat", so here is a link to an article in Advance for Health Information Professionals that... Read more →

Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange

Well, it finally happened! As a result of my visit to an emergency room in Santa Barbara County on Friday afternoon, I am a patient/consumer of the Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange (SBCCDE)! I checked into the emergency room... Read more →

Homesourcing

I'm reading The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman and am fascinated by what I have read so far! Mr. Friedman is doing a great job defining the flattening of the world and is now (for me) describing how... Read more →

Michigan Hospitals: Leaders in CPOE Adoption

I came across some interesting findings on Michigan hospitals' adoption of computerized physician order entry (CPOE)-- a major building block of EHR systems. It seems that a report Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and the Partnership for Michigan's Health... Read more →

Disaster Planning: Uninsured/Underinsured

HFMA has come up with a quiz for providers who want to assess how successful their organization is at meeting the needs of the uninsured and underinsured? Any provider concerned about the un/underinsured should take the quiz Are You Prepared... Read more →

The Spirit of Collaboration

Frontiers of Health Services Management received a letter to the editor on their recent EMR/EHR issue. Basically the writer said that in healthcare we have been working on this issue for at least 40 years and he cautions us not... Read more →

Lagniappe -- a little something extra!

The other day I had a conversation with one of my HIT connections in the Sportsman's Paradise and he used a term that I use periodically with family and friends, but don't hear often in professional circles anymore. He used... Read more →

Update: My PHR

In October 2005, I wrote about my Personal Health Record. I've kept it up todate but have one complaint I'd like to share. None of my doctors have signed up, even though it is the PHR of the American Medical... Read more →

Santa Barbara County KIDS Network Strategic Plan

The newly updated Strategic Plan for the Santa Barbara County KIDS Network is now available and health access is one of the priorities for 2005 - 2008. For more information on the status of children and families in Santa Barbara... Read more →

CCR on a cell phone!

I just read about placing patient health data in the form of a Continuity of Care (CCR) record on a cell phone and want to carry the idea a little farther. Claudia Tessier described the Continuity of Care Record (CCR)... Read more →

12 Rules for Project Management Success

The Anticlue site has a wonderful list of twelve rules for project management success (Mar 8) and they are certainly worth sharing! Gain consensus on project outcomes Build the best team that you can Develop a comprehensive, viable plan and... Read more →

Technology Boom, Bust and Beyond

Yes, I read alot! So, here is another article that I really liked. It is in Fast Company March 2006. The reason I liked it so much was because it helps put what has happened with HIT in focus. My... Read more →

It's a jungle out there for hospitals. Tame it!

I came across a white paper from Healthwise, "It’s a Jungle Out There: How Information Therapy Can Tame the Forces of Pay for Performance and Consumer-Directed Care by Healthwise and it focuses on improving patient education. There are a couple... Read more →

Medication Dosing Errors in Pediatrics

The following appeared in the last AHRQ Patient Safety Newsletter. Potential Medication Dosing Errors in Outpatient Pediatrics Researchers supported by AHRQ found that nearly 15 percent of children in ambulatory pediatric settings were dispensed 22 common medications at a potentially... Read more →

HIT SYNC RHIO Issue

The guys over at HIT Transition have a Special RHIO Issue worth reading. Oh, and don't forget to contact them to take their survey: Funding RHIO Startup and Financing for Life: The Survey of Regional Health Information Organization Finance. I've... Read more →

Reputation is everything!

The National Hospital Service Performance StudySM was based on responses from 2,500 patients who stayed in a hospital for at least one night within the previous three to nine months of being surveyed It found that three-fourths of patients used... Read more →

Safe Children and Healthy Families

Safe Children and Healthy Families are a Shared Responsibility: 2006 Community Resource Packet [includes poster]. Written in both English and Spanish, this information packet contains resources designed to help communities, organizations, and individuals raise public awareness about supporting families and... Read more →

CalRHIO Stakeholder Summit

I attended the CalRHIO meeting earlier this week and wanted to share some highlights from my perspective. You can also check out the SF Biz Journal article. Dr. Brailer spoke and confirmed my belief that engaging stakeholders is the new... Read more →

Starting a Community Health Network

Government Health IT had a great article on How to start a community health network. The top takeaway is the importance of identify a convener who can properly guide the stakholders! Dictators need not apply! Read more →

Funding Opportunity to Help Children Grow and Flourish

Starbucks Coffee Company Launches California Giving Program The Starbucks Coffee Company (http://starbucks.com/ ), building upon its tradition of investing in communities where it does business, has announced the launch of the California Giving Program, which will showcase and support local... Read more →

ACHE Congress on Healthcare Leadership

The theme for the 2006 Congress on Healthcare Leadership is ...Gaining Momentum. I've mentioned it in an earlier posts, but want to revisit the fact that Holt Anderson from North Carolina and I are presenting on the topic of establishing... Read more →