Christina's Considerations

Healthcare Executives of Southern California

I've returned to the HCE Board as the Santa Barbara/Ventura Area Representative and we had a great retreat and strategic planning session in Palm Springs last weekend. My primary responsibility is to coordinate educational and networking program opportunities for local... Read more →

Social Media in Healthcare: Connect, Communicate, Collaborate

The book is coming soon from Health Administration Press! A self study program for Category 1 credit will follow, soon after! Read more →

Yipeeee, what a beautiful day! It was sunny and nice and the Saints are on their way to the Superbowl ---- finally!!!!! WHO DAT? Pass the King Cake! Read more →

Going to the Hospital...What I Will See? And Who are Those People Wearing Funny Clothes?

Jaynie Wood, the Child Life Specialist at Cottage Hospital (my local hospital) wrote a book for kids and their families who must experience some time in the hospital. I look forward to reading her book and sharing it with the... Read more →

WSJ: May I root against the Saints?

Sometimes when I'm passionate about an issue I can jump a little too soon. So, today when I ready the lead for the Wall Street Journal Sports article I gave my response -- NO, you can't! Well, I then read... Read more →

Medical Staff Bylaws

Not many posts ago, I stated that I was an old risk manager. Well, I'm even an older medical staff coordinator and am supportive of an update to the The Joint Commission standards for medical staff bylaws. The draft standards... Read more →

Critical Access Hospitals: Not so meaningful for some

There is a need to look at the impact of meaningful use on Critical Access Hospitals. Modern Healthcare has weighed in on a lack of clarity. Perhaps this is an indication that we need to explore the impact a little... Read more →

Social Networking in Healthcare and Medicine

The Science and Engineering Council of Santa Barbara invited a couple of locals to speak on the topic of Social Networking in Healthcare and Medicine. There was a nice mix in the audience of healthcare and non-healthcare people and many... Read more →

EHR: Is your time worth it?

Evan at SRSsoft doesn't share my optimism about meaningful use. so I thought I should share a link to his post on the topic. I still think it is the right thing to do and that there needs to be... Read more →

Hospital Charges: Do they make sense?

My local hospital is getting questioned on its charges and on one level I think this is an appropriate question for the community to ask. On the other hand, I've received this question often over my career and feel like... Read more →

Cycle 2 REC Applicants: Proceed at your own risk!

Over the last several months I've been assisting the state of CA with planning for EHRs and HIE and it has culminated in my work with the Rural and Remote REC Consortium. On Wednesday we were invited to submit a... Read more →

More on CalRHIO

As I promise, more is coming to light on CalRHIO's demise. I suspect it is tied to unresolved differences between expectations of the governing body and executive leadership. We may still see a CalRHIO organization, but I think it will... Read more →

Information Risk Management

I'm an old risk manager and came across an article (Sept/Oct 2009) in Chief Medical Information Officer Magazine that included an overview of a patient-centric information risk management strategy for protected health information and personally identifiable information. This is critical... Read more →

HIMSS HIE Guide to Participating in a Health Information Exchange

HIMSS has released a new Guide to Participating in a Health Information Exchange that was designed as a follow-up to the Guide to Establishing a RHIO. It answers the questions providers might asked, such as "should I join this HIE/RHIO... Read more →

What is meaningful use?

This is a follow-up to my last post on the proposed definition of meaningful use. It is what we will be working toward unless it is revised after the 60 day comment period. Terms: EPs are eligible professionals and CAHs... Read more →