Today medical records are developed for a single encounter (an outpatient visit or hospital stay). The medical records for an encounter are signed off at the end of the encounter and cannot be changed. An addendum medical record can be added later to c…
On March 10, I had the distinct privilege of presenting to the ONC Health IT Advisory Committee at their meeting titled “Health Equity by Design.” The presentation highlighted five areas of focus for health IT in reducing health disparities…
I’m an RN and clinical informaticist. When I was studying health care informatics, I learned about physician resistance. The idea is that physicians are uniquely resistant to EHRs and health care information technology (HIT) apps. If only they we…
What is it about the documentation of patient encounters that is so aggravating? I was ecstatic to be part of the generation that entered the computer age in medicine. The first day I opened a chart on a pull-down menu within a pixelated screen I felt …
In health information technology circles, interoperability has become quite the buzzword. A Google search for “Interoperability in Healthcare” yielded 28 million results. Given its pervasiveness, it’s not surprising that the precise m…
In health information technology circles, interoperability has become quite the buzzword. A Google search for “Interoperability in Healthcare” yielded 28 million results. Given its pervasiveness, it’s not surprising that the precise m…
Tapping into the mindset of one of the most villainous cinematic computers, the HAL 9000 of 2001 A Space Odyssey, may provide introspection to save us from the same paranoid meltdown that led HAL (spoiler alert) to embark on a murderous rampage. Homici…
I recently had an opportunity to assist a hospital organization with its electronic health records implementation in Las Vegas. I’m usually working non-stop during implementations, but I was ecstatic when I could get a break from work to sightsee…
In the 21st century, all but one U.S. industry has used information technology (IT) to cut costs, increase access to products and services, and improve quality. Health care is the lone exception. For decades, medical costs have risen faster than inflat…
We are surrounded by technology. This hasn’t always been the case in the health care industry—we can be a bit more “deliberate,” if you will—but the pandemic notably accelerated the pace at which organizations invested in new technolo…
