Technology, not politicians, will rescue healthcare

Watching the political theater in the US Capitol one has to wonder if there may not be a legislative solution for the American healthcare system. It seems as a country or government that we’re unable to agree on the approach or even on the scale of the problem. But there has to be something more […]

Big data, crowdsourcing and machine learning tackle Parkinson’s

Parkinson’s is a very tough disease to fight. People suffering from the disease often have significant tremors that keep them from being able to create accurate records of their daily challenges. Without this information, doctors are unable to fine tune drug dosages and other treatment regimens that can significantly improve the lives of sufferers. It […]

Standard operating procedures can make you more flexible

Most people think standard operating procedures are a strait jacket that limits their flexibility. Yet in our increasingly complex world of work, with so many possible decisions and steps, clever use of standards can liberate. They can actually make it easier to tailor customer experiences at low cost. Consider how standards are helping the Cleveland Clinic, rated one […]

Birth is the new BPM

Last night we were able to enjoy one of the greatest processes ever: childbirth. We were as ready to participate as anyone could be with crib assembled, forms completed and bags packed. We had more information about what to expect than anyone could hope for even a few years ago (before graphic YouTube videos put […]

Apple can do what $27 billion in Federal funding hasn’t

The “Consumerization of IT” was an employee-led revolution.  Personal and business technology were leveraged by the employees to improve their own productivity, forcing IT to respond to ensure corporate standards were followed and intellectual property was protected. IT played catch up because they had no choice. Let’s take that example and consider the challenge to […]

Healthcare in critical condition without integration

Healthcare is in a moment of transformation that is coming at a bewildering pace for some and not soon enough for others. The most progressive healthcare organizations are implementing a new vision – using information and events occurring in the course of care to recognize trends and patterns, and to act upon them immediately.  They […]

When is electronic tracking OK?

If you’ve consistently read my posts (that means you, Mom), you know I’ve recently been intrigued by electronic monitoring and tracking of human behavior. As humans, we have very peculiar beliefs when it comes to being tracked by technology. We seem to be OK with it if, 1) we don’t know it’s happening, 2) we get something for it […]

Why you should care about healthcare?

45.7 million people in America do not have health insurance. 16 million people are under-insured and do not have adequate protection. $768 is the amount an average family of four falls short in having to pay for health care premiums each year with an annual minimum wage salary. $8,233 is how much the American government spends on health care for each person every […]

When healthcare gets very personal

The following is a guest post by Doug Evans. Doug has years of experience leading marketing teams across diverse industries and especially in technology companies, including startups. He lives in Dublin, Ohio, where he also enjoys a hobby working in marketing and PR for the music industry. Just before the holidays, I went in for […]

The cure for Big Data headaches

Pharmaceutical drug discovery can become highly problematic when a company has over a decade worth of test data that needs to be analyzed. How can you expect to visualize 10 years of pharmaceutical test data all at once? Allergan does it everyday. And it matters. All around the world, whenever people meet up for holidays, festivities, […]

In Praise of Face Time

Almost all work these days is distributed — people interact with one other to make sales and process orders from different locations, for instance. To keep everyone up-to-date, particularly across departments and functions, employees use electronic tools (e-mail, voice mail, conference calls, instant messaging, and social media). In our virtual world, working face-to-face is increasingly […]

The real customer of healthcare

Gartner’s Jim Sinur wrote up his recent personal experience in healthcare, Bad Processes are a Stumbling Block to a Good Reputation, and brought up an excellent point about customer service: Who is the ‘customer’ of healthcare delivery? This questions could be the key to bringing healthcare into the 21st Century. Poor service Few industries are as […]

The nexus of healthcare forces

We’re undergoing a revolution in healthcare that started with the American Recovery Act in 2009. Good things can come from bad things, and near economic collapse gave us a reason to invest. The Act funded the switchover from paper to digital record keeping and amazingly, there was quite a bit of resistance at first. Someday […]

Big Data is watching a million fireflies

I watched Mercy Health’s John Conroy talk today about how they manage one of the most deadly issues facing hospitals right now: Sepsis. It is a systemic infection that isn’t the reason the patient entered the hospital. He described what they do as standing in a field in the summertime at dusk and seeing flashes of […]

Big technology change without big risk

Companies can reduce risk and allow organizational learning by breaking major process improvements into a series of small, reversible experiments. But when the change involves a new information technology, it’s harder to make incremental updates. This approach reduces risks and allows people to learn from each, and make adjustments as they go. But when the […]

The vendor questions you must ask

The following is a guest post by John Gomez and was first published on HIS Talk as HIT Integration Analysis Guide. Over the past several months, one of the biggest questions I have gotten regarding the state of HIT is related to platform and technical integration. Specifically, the debate related to single platform vs. an […]