Red Light, Green Light

Do you remember the game of Red Light, Green Light growing up as a kid? The person in charge, usually the biggest, strongest or bossiest kid, would stand up in the front of the yard and either yell red light or green light indicating whether you could sprint forward toward the goal or not. It always seemed rather random, and to be honest, I never really got the point.

Many health systems seem to be in the middle of the same game today. It was only 18 months ago that many capital requests were on hold with strategic plans in place for IT but little money to go forward with some of the projects. Enter ARRA. One CIO thought he would actually get a well deserved breather, since there was no money to spend. Now they are sprinting forward with a clinical install, working more than ever before. What impact will that have?

Many organizations will have to rob Peter to pay Paul, moving nurses, pharmacists, physicians and others onto their implementation teams. In addition, people will need to be brought in from the outside. Do you think enough Meditech experts exist to get 1,000 hospitals live with deep clinical use in the next few years? How many McKesson superstars exist to get new versions implemented and CPOE live? Consultants are licking their chops and lining people up for their HIT universities.

What type of skill sets are you looking to bring on board in the next six months? The green light is on in HIT, and the sprint is in process with no red light in sight.