CIOs WANTED!
HCI editors are working on these stories right now. Would you like to be interviewed for one of the following features? If so, e-mail Anthony Guerra. (inquiries accepted until 3/14)
Cover Story
Recent studies have come out that investigate whether the CIO role is waxing, waning or just hanging out. In this story, HCI investigates the role of the CIO in light of different governance models that have the position reporting up to either the CEO or CFO. Is one model better than the other? Does each say something about the values of the organization in question? What are the benefits and challenges of each. But we don’t just look up the chain, as governance goes down and across as well. What should the org chart under a CIO look like? Which people should be reporting directly in to the CIO, and how many is too much. Also, we’ll look to the side of the CIO on the org chart to find out how organizations are formally structuring IT/clinician relationships. What’s the formal relationship between the CIO and the CMIO or CMO? Finally, the feature will include a sidebar on CIO recruitment and executive search trends.
Clinical
Main Line Health System is snapping up another hospital, and this time it’s Riddle Memorial. But the health system isn’t planning to do all the clinical (and other) integration work on its own, rather it’s bring in a consultancy to help make sure everything happens on time and on budget. To that end, an “Integration Program Office” has been created. HCI takes a look at this massive undertaking with an eye to the CIO’s role.
Financial
Two non-profit Massachusetts healthcare groups are coming out swinging in favor of CPOE. That’s after a study found nearly twice as many medication errors in hospitals that didn’t have the technology in place. BCBSMA has followed close behind an announcement that it will require hospitals to install and use CPOE systems to receive extra payments. When cash gets involved, people listen. HCI investigates whether this could be a model insurers throughout the country embrace.
Administrative
Single sign-on technology has always sounded like a “nice to have,” rather than a “must have.” But according to a recent KLAS report, the functionality is starting to really make a difference for busy clinicians that need to move between disparate vendor applications. Without single sign-on, it can be one username and password after another, leaving adoption rates somewhere in the basement. In this story, HCI delves into the KLAS report and talks to some CIOs that have embraced the simplifying technology.
Wireless
This story will examine some of the mobility challenges faced by physicians and nurses who travel to deliver care. In it, we’ll identify solutions that can improve productivity by enabling better access to medical records and charts, providing seamless connectivity between multiple wireless networks. It will also look at other key issues that affect CIOs of hospitals with home healthcare arms and discuss what they can to ensure that physicians and nurses are able to focus solely on patient care (and not on technological problems).
Imaging
Shriners Hospitals for Children is engaged in a major IT overhaul across its 22-hospital system, including implementing PACS systems for image management. Using the new system, radiologists, surgeons and other caregivers at Shriners Hospitals and its affiliates will be able to electronically capture, retrieve, view and store medical images, from ultrasound to multi-slice CT, at multiple locations. HCI speaks to the health system’s corporate CIO, among others, to find out how the plan is progressing, and what obstacles have crept up along the way.
Policy
Privacy issues continue to swirl around any HIT legislation that comes down the pike. Now, the Patient Privacy Rights organization, headed by Deborah Peel, M.D., is talking about stamping PHRs and EMRs with a seal of approval. What are the chances that products will need two stamps to be considered “certified” — one from CCHIT and one from Peel’s group? HCI takes a look at some privacy issues dominating the HIT world, and assess the chances of a privacy seal gaining traction.
