Healthcare IT News kicked off 2013 by asking CIOs, policymakers and vendors about their goals and their hopes for the New Year. Among the many hopes and dreams were wishes for clarity, interoperability, patience and wisdom. We'll check in with them again.
Kaiser Permanente began hiring for a new IT campus in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Kaiser executives said approximately 500 IT staff would be at work by 2015, bringing its presence in Colorado to about 700 employees.
Former President Bill Clinton keynoted at the 2013 HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans. Over the course of his talk, he enumerated many problems with the healthcare system, but he concluded on an optimistic note. "There's nothing wrong we can't fix," he said. "But we have all these horse-and-buggy systems, and you can change all that."
Healthcare IT News Associate Editor Erin McCann investigated the gender gap in health IT and found that although women make up more than 47 percent of the labor force, they hold a mere 25 percent of senior health IT positions. Apparently health IT is still a man's world. But several female industry leaders say they are working to change that.
Healthcare IT News Managing Editor Mike Miliard took a deep dive in to medical device security and found it lacking. Kevin Fu, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan, who specializes in medical device security, told him that pacemakers, infusion pumps, and other critical technology are vulnerable to viruses, malware - and even cybercriminals.
Health Datapalooza IV kicked off June 3 in Washington, with many serious talks delivered on the importance of liquid data and on the promise of big data. Also featured was a little comic relief, with data games like "Family Feud'n."
Healthcare IT News Editor Bernie Monegain reported on the troubled EHR implementation at Maine Medical Center, in a story titled "Go-Live Gone Wrong." It illustrated how difficult and costly it can be to keep large technology rollouts on course in spite of the best laid plans.
With Meaningful Use Stage 1 well in hand, providers were looking ahead to the next stage. Hospitals were showing real progress on IT adoptions, according to the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model. That the momentum aligned with the Meaningful Use program is no coincidence. Incentives spurred adoption that would not have happened otherwise, according to HIMSS Analytics Executive Vice President John Hoyt.
Leon Rodriguez, director of the Office for Civil Rights, and the face of the new, tougher HIPAA Omnibus Rule that became effective on September 23, said the feedback he was getting from industry officials was generally positive. "I think this rule is very much welcome," he said, shortly before the rule took effect.
HIMSS CEO H. Stephen Lieber talks with Jim Bennett, the Cleveland business consultant who took the helm at the Global Center for Health Innovation in April 2012. Sister Judith Ann Karam, of Sisters of Charity Health System, is in the foreground. The HIMSS Innovation Center opened October 8 on the top floor of the Global Center for Health Innovation in Cleveland.
MGMA13, held October 6-9 in San Diego, drew thousands of physician practice administrators to the city to discuss the difficulties of managing small and large medical groups these days. They found help in education sessions and also roamed the show floor to see the latest in technology offerings.
In November, we spotlighted the work that ePatient Dave - Dave deBronkart - and his doctor, Danny Sands, have done to advance the doctor-patient relationship - long before patient engagement became part of popular parlance.
