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KLAS Articles - 2012

Change Offers New Opportunities and Challenges for Vendors

Change Offers New Opportunities and Challenges for Vendors

4 Dec 12 by Mike Smith
How familiar the sounds of the holidays. The chatter of visiting family members (some of whom I’ve not heard from since last year), the “cha-ching” of cash registers, and the classic Bing singing classic holiday tunes. Like clockwork, this festive season rings in old conventions that repeat themselves time and time again. Equally predictable is that even time-honored traditions may be subject to change under the persuasion of time itself. The same can be said about healthcare. Its steady pace may at times see rapid change. For instance, increasing competition and evolving regulations are leading to fast growth in IT outsourcing. What's more, providers are now shifting a lot of their dollars and efforts to areas such as ICD-10 and Business Intelligence. Many are also beginning to engage in Health Information Exchange (HIE) with Meaningful Use Stage 2 recently announced. And that’s just for starters. With all this change, uncertainty abounds. Vendors and providers must align to achie
Sandy’s Parting Clouds Shed Light on Information Sharing

Sandy’s Parting Clouds Shed Light on Information Sharing

8 Nov 12 by Mark Allphin
While the news headlines rightfully focus on the storm’s tragic devastation and the people’s struggle to recover, the parting storm clouds shed light on our own potential gaps and shortcomings. In the days and hours before Sandy plowed through the Northeast, local, state, and even federal officials warned of impending danger. Then the Super Storm hit land. While hospitals did what they could to brace for the hurricane, flooding and power outages forced NYU Langone Medical Center to evacuate 260 patients. At Bellevue Hospital located in New York, more than half of the 725 patients were transferred when the storm hit. The remaining patients from Bellevue had to move to a different facility on Thursday. In the midst of this chaos where patients are carefully relocated, we’re reminded of the increasing need for careful coordination, particularly in healthcare. We’re reminded of the need for secured sharing of patient information to ensure continuity of care.
Baseball and ACOs

Baseball and ACOs

9 Oct 12 by Adam Gale
You baseball fans know very well what October means for the sport: the MLB playoffs, or head-to-head series composed of best-of-five or -seven game scenarios. Having grown up just outside of Baltimore, I’m ecstatic to see the Orioles make it into the playoffs and host their first playoff game in 15 years. While each game is important itself, it is the combination of games that tells the story of that particular series. At times, that story can be very compelling and exciting, such as Boston’s great comeback against New York in 2004. Such is the case with the future of healthcare moving toward accountable care. It is an exciting shift in the way our nation will deliver healthcare. However, the ACO picture is complex, and in planning for it, providers must understand its individual elements, including related technologies that directly support it.
Be Heard; Be Counted—Your Vendor Is Listening

Be Heard; Be Counted—Your Vendor Is Listening

5 Sep 12 by Adam Gale
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died before I was born. Similarly, my children will never get to meet him in person, but I can tell when my kids are studying him in school because they walk around proclaiming, “I have a dream!” Next month, we mark the forty-eighth anniversary of when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He cried for equality. And to this day, his voice still echoes in the halls of my home, sometimes more loudly than I would like from a certain six-year-old. Can one person, one voice, truly make a difference? Dr. King demanded to be heard. Alone, he was a drop in the pond. What followed was the rippling effect that could be felt around the world. Such is the path of any lasting movement. It starts with one. Then, a second person follows. Soon after, others align and a mobilization begins. In healthcare, change comes with great care and caution. Yet the cause is even greater—saving and improving patient lives. How does that change occur? Who in
Who is selling? Who cares?

Who is selling? Who cares?

6 Aug 12 by Adam Gale
It’s summertime, which means inevitably my kids will want to throw together a lemonade stand and see what kind of cash they can rake in to go buy Legos or Reese’s peanut butter cups. They haven’t really grasped the concept of paying for their raw materials yet (like the 10 frozen containers of lemonade they pulled from the freezer), but they have learned something fascinating about sales. Selling lemonade is energizing. From what I can tell, this sale caused a flurry of new activity: - The marketing person holding the “Lemonade 25¢” sign hops up off the grass and waves it wildly. - The operations folks that make the lemonade run in the house to get some more ice. - The salespeople run out in the street to slow down any cars coming that way.
Your Annual Checkup

Your Annual Checkup

6 Jul 12 by Adam Gale
I’m always fascinated by what the outcome will be when I go to visit my doctor for the annual checkup. I start to review the past few months and wonder if I should have skipped that third doughnut for breakfast. Has my weight crept upward over the last year? How is my A1C going to look? What about my blood pressure? Is everything working together to keep me healthy or do I need to make some changes? Vendors ask similar questions after seeing the results of their latest annual checkup.
Burning Water Skis and CAC

Burning Water Skis and CAC

4 Jun 12 by Adam Gale
Don’t you hate those burns you get when your water skis catch on fire? Starting October 2014, no longer will your doctor have to enter in some ambiguous billing code to your insurance company when you’re treated for them. No, he/she will be able to enter in V91.07XA: “Burn due to water skis on fire.” Or after your pet turtle channels its inner Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and decides to lash out, your doc can enter in W5922XA: “Struck by turtle, initial encounter.”
Can You Hear Me Now?

Can You Hear Me Now?

1 May 12 by Adam Gale
The HIT world is moving at a ferocious pace with constant change, including Allscripts board battles, ICD-10 dates, McKesson’s Better Health 2020 announcement, MU checks, consolidation, investment firms buying up HIT companies, and payers that play both friend and foe. Over the last few months, I have gone on a dizzying tour of many key HIT vendors, where I met a lot of people (most were vendor executives, but they’re people too). I found myself asking how big the differences between vendors are. One constant I seem to find amidst the sea of change is the people. And the biggest differentiator, I would say, is their ability to listen.
 
 

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