IT seems to be the one non-partisan area around healthcare that everyone can agree on. Though most politicians are “for it,” what does that really mean? One thing is clear: healthcare in general, and healthcare IT in particular, will be the focus of intense interest on the part of policymakers this election. In our three-part Cover Story, “November and Beyond,” which begins on page 40, we'll examine the current state of healthcare IT policy. Part I (page 42) begins with how CIOs can help shape healthcare IT legislation. Part II (page 50) looks at efforts on the federal level to promote HIT adoption. And since much of policy development actually starts at the state level, Part III (page 54) reviews state legislatures and their healthcare IT initiatives.
You just put the last screw in your enterprise EMR. And the day you're finally finished — after millions of dollars and years of 12-hour workdays — you start the process of throwing it out and getting a new one. Though just a few years ago this scenario might have made industry headlines, today it's not that unusual, as more and more CIOs are tasked with migrating a legacy EMR to a new one. And most agree that going from EMR to EMR is more complicated than going from paper to an EMR. Looking at the cost and difficulty, why are hospitals taking on this gargantuan task? And for those that do, where do they even start? Read “Out With the Old,” page 12, to see how moving from one core EMR vendor to another is the ultimate exercise in project management.
Self-service kiosks are becoming a more common site in the hospital waiting room, and as more companies enter the market, the trend will likely continue to gain momentum. In “Quick Check-in,” page 22, HCI looks at why kiosks are emerging as a potentially ‘easy win’ that can increase patient satisfaction and improve staff efficiency without breaking the bank. We'll also look at what types of health systems are utilizing self-service kiosks, how they integrate with the hospitals' information systems, who is driving the implementation, and the CIO's role in the entire process.
Healthcare Informatics 2008 October;25(10):8
