Clinical Information Systems

This summer, a group of healthcare researchers published a research article that evaluated the effects of standardized vascular health checks on health outcomes, for patients in six European countries. The implications for electronic health record-facilitated chronic care management and preventive health care in the U.S. are clear.

At Lakes Region General Healthcare, leaders implemented a mobile health (mHealth) communication system that allows for easier dialogue between clinicians, pharmacists, case managers, and other staff members. As a result, the provider has decreased ED wait times and improved patient satisfaction.

Systems that read and manage outside CDs containing medical image studies (X-Ray, CT, Ultrasound, etc.) are a real benefit to healthcare users who have been challenged with issues associated with the CDs patients bring along with them to hospital and office visits. Many times CDs are difficult to handle because the imaging systems used to burn the CDs are from different manufacturers or use different software to write to the CD; and some require different readers.

There has never been a time in which the job market for physician informaticists has been more dynamic than now. Among the key emerging trends: an accelerating demand for associate CMIOs, and a broadening out of the venues in which medical informaticists are needed. One executive recruiter shares her perspectives.

It’s a unique time in healthcare. Public and private initiatives are aligning and are working synergistically toward the transformation of the healthcare system through improved care access, quality and cost. Part of this movement is a paradigm shift away volume-based, fee-for-service care toward a system where quality is the foundational aspect of all clinical and administrative operations—a healthcare system incentivized by a performance-based regulatory and reimbursement environment to provide proactive, patient-centered care.