Healthcare Staff Shouldn't Be Robots
Real healthcare reform will remain elusive as long as management accepts the notion that the way to fix healthcare is to automate it.
Quality Healthcare Requires the Personal Touch
Healthcare - like education - relies heavily on people and as such, can never become the ideal smoothly running machine that many dream of.
Big Data: The Next Big Thing for EHR?
When an article on EHR or data makes it into a medical journal, it is most often a speculative picture of the future; basically, it's science fiction.
The Unsteady Connection between EHRs and Old Houses
Welcome to "This Old EHR," where we look at why your system is lot like older homes: built using outdated methods and in constant danger of structural issues.
Patients and EHRs: Trust but Verify
An unpredictable amount of information in a typical EHR is wrong or meaningless, so it's important for patients to stay on top of their own treatment.
With EHR, Two Heads Are Not Better Than One
Until narrative and data are united, EHRs will require too much effort, create too much risk, and provide too little benefit to justify imposing them by fiat.
EHR: The Past is History, the Future Lies Ahead
Physicians' reactions to EHR are the same as they were 20 years ago and yet, there may be no going back. But here are some steps to help.
An Alternate Approach to Avoiding Costly EHR Implementation Mistakes
Want to avoid costly EHR mistakes at your medical practice? I proffer the following, which I call the 'Order-of-Magnitude Heuristic.'
Simple Proof that EHR and Meaningful Use are Burdens
EHR is a burden, and as such, there should be evidence of effectiveness before it is imposed upon physicians and medical practices.
Understanding Context and Metadata with EHRs
To understand why EHRs have the trouble they do, you need to understand the concepts of context and metadata. Here's help.
Hospitals, Office Visits of Great Use In the Future, Doctor
As big a proponent of technology and data as I am, the truth is data has never cured anything and tech can't replace in-person interactions with physicians.
EHR Interoperability Again and Again
It's not political or market selfishness that impedes health data interoperability, it's the primitive nature of the technology itself.
The Prevailing Wisdom about EHR May Not Be So Wise
Like teenagers trying to imagine what sex will be like, the prevailing wisdom about EHRs reflects optimism more than experience and knowledge.
Exploring Whether EHRs Have a Scientific Basis
Lacking validated science, EHR builders, like the builders of medieval cathedrals, use proprietary heuristics to guide them, and achieve inconsistent results.
Should Healthcare Put Its Faith in the Cloud for Data?
With healthcare's ever-growing devotion to reliance on the cloud, it's time to rethink our faith and devotion.
Further Thoughts about the EHR Copy and Paste Issue
After the response – pro and con – to the crackdown on EHR copying and pasting, there is a true solution to capture both narrative and data from physicians.
To Criticize EHR Cut, Paste is to Criticize Template-based Charting
Look no further than a recent report on copy-paste functions for proof that HHS does not understand EHRs. Here's where they are missing the mark.
EHRs Have Scientific Value, but are Physicians Gathering Information?
It's time for a new paradigm for physicians that focuses on information gathering, not just data gathering.
To Succeed with an EHR, Understand the Information Economy
In the information economy, those practices with good information are rich and have the advantage while those with only data flounder.
EHRs: Balancing Predictability with Realistic Expectations
Until everything about the EHR changes, demanding that physicians act as data-collection clerks will be unsuccessful.
Separation of Concerns: The Second Step to Modular EHR
Creating separate application modules for your EHR delivers optimum results.
Separation of Data from Apps: the First Step to Modular EHR
The value proposition for an EHR is in the data and its use now, and in the future. Without the data, apps are useless.
The Untapped Potential of Modular EHR Design
Modular EHR designs allow flexibility and other advantages over integrated designs.
EHR Progress Has Been Stymied By Not Seeing the Whole Board
EHR, like international relations and war, presents many facets, each of which provides a "box" of sorts that can confine thought in unique ways.
EHR: Tool or Task?
If physicians are going absorb additional patients and regulations of healthcare reform, they'll need their EHRs to provide better tools and impose fewer tasks.
Even When an EHR is Customizable, Few Make the Effort
The ideal EHR is highly customizable, but rather than dedicate the time and effort to do this, most practices buy a system pre-configured that causes problems.
When an EHR Meltdown Occurs, Beliefs No Longer Matter
There are varying beliefs by those in healthcare when it comes to utilization of EHRs …until something goes wrong with the system.
The NSA, Protected Health Information, and HIPAA
The NSA has examined communication nationwide in a way that makes it logical to conclude that messages improperly accessed PHI and, therefore, violated HIPAA.
The Key to EHR Lies in Identifying Timeless Patterns
Choosing a bad EHR … is demoralizing and breeds a lack of intellectual honesty and to a loss of respect for quality information
Blueprints for an Effective EHR are Still Incomplete
Today's EHRs are not built on a sound foundation and their designs have little grounding in theory, and quakes are coming.