For decades, Americans have been required to have a Social Security Number (SSN). We use it for taxes, employment, banking, retirement, and countless forms of identification. Yet accurately identifying patients remains one of healthcare’s most persistent and consequential challenges despite seeming, on the surface, like a problem that should have[…]
AI and the Future of Work: Will AI Take Our Jobs or Give Us Better Ones?
The title question is being raised by employees and those seeking employment in every sector. Recent college and university commencement speeches mentioning artificial intelligence have, in some cases, been met with boos. That reaction may surprise some leaders, but perhaps it shouldn’t. Imagine spending four or more years earning a[…]
Why Every Healthcare Strategy Is Now (or Should Be) a Digital Strategy
Healthcare leaders today are operating in one of the most complex environments the industry has ever faced. Margins are thin, workforce shortages persist, cybersecurity threats are constant, and regulatory pressures continue to grow. At the same time, patients and families who now live in a digital world expect healthcare to[…]
Protecting Trusted Guardrails: The Perils of Removing Essential Protections
Guardrails – whether physical, organizational, or behavioral – are vital mechanisms that ensure safety, protect privacy, maintain standards, safeguard free expression, and shield individuals from both their own actions and the influence of those in power. They provide guidance across diverse contexts, from physical infrastructure and organizational governance to clinical[…]
12 Steps to Prepare for 2022 – Big Challenges – Bigger Opportunities
Optimism has served me well throughout life but it’s not sufficient to deal with some of the stark realities we face. The overriding impact of COVID continues. Very sadly, in spite of the fact that we have effective vaccines and supplies are not a problem in most areas of the[…]
12 Steps to Prepare for 2021 – Big Challenges – Bigger Opportunities
2020 has been a year like no other. Though I’m very optimistic about the sun shining brightly in the future there are still some lingering clouds in the sky. IT professionals frequently refer to their work in 3 parts – people, process, and technology. I want to focus on people[…]
Using Sound Processes to Address Top Cyber Risks
Cybersecurity is a broad and complex concept. It involves wide-ranging and growing risks that impact all businesses. Similarly, the list of measures that must be taken to mitigate, or at least reduce, these risks is growing in size and complexity. Like any other unwieldy topic, practitioners have broken the broad[…]
Closing the Gap on Disaster Preparedness – A More Efficient Way to Flatten the Curve
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed a significant gap in disaster management at many facilities, including those who treat in place and those who set up alternate treatment sites. To triage, treat, and manage the overwhelming volume of urgent and emergent patients, many provider organizations are passing on the opportunity to[…]
HIMSS20 – My Annual Exercise in HIT Sensory Overload
It’s the time of year to start preparation for the HIMSS 2020 Conference to be held in HIT’s Magic Kingdom appropriately hosted in Orlando, FL at the cavernous Orange County Convention Center. The options for professional growth are immense and overwhelming – how does anyone or even a well-organized team[…]
Digital Health – Is Healthcare Ready? Are You and Your Organization Ready?
We hear the term “digital” used everywhere. In the healthcare sector, we’re told that we must get to digital in 3 years or less or we’ll become irrelevant. So, what is Digital Health and how do we become a Digital Health System? A Google search for “define digital health” yields[…]