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Reprints
I personally haven’t been closely involved in that whole process, so I don’t know that I had any specific expectations one way or the other. But of course, the whole point of putting out a draft rule is to receive feedback. So folks are paying really close attention. It’s a great thing that we got a lot of input, because the input is being very carefully considered, and it will make the final rule into a better product.
Are significant changes going to be made?
I’m actually not allowed to say, because of the rules around rulemaking.
One element in all this that has become increasingly clear is the degree to which clinical informaticists will need to be key figures in creating change in their organizations, in order to create the kinds of clinical and data transformation that are being called for by the healthcare reform and meaningful use mandates. What are your thoughts on the challenges and opportunities facing clinical informaticists at this point in time?
I think it’s a tremendous time for clinical informaticists, because they’re now key people to make things happen. And I know that virtually all clinical informaticists know this already, but I think that it’s not so much important to know everything, but rather to be the catalyst to get clinicians, IT people, administrators, patients, everyone, talking to each other, to maximize health in a very proactive, information-driven way. So if we view the role of the clinical informaticist as the person who has to personally do all the work, of course, it becomes impossible; but instead, we should view them as leaders and coordinators, performing [strategic] jujitsu to help achieve all the right things; then it becomes a very exciting role.
