Prolifics is an award winning systems intergration firm and one of IBM's leading business partners. I will be handling services delivery management duties for most of the US. So if you have any IT needs please contact me.
Don
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Contributing to Healthcaregoesmobile.com
I have been asked to do a monthly segment for http://healthcaregoesmobile.com. Healthcaregoesmobile.com is a leading site providing information to healthcare practitioners, administrators, and IT professionals interested in mobile technology and how it applies to healthcare.
My debut post is around the innovations in smartphones over the last few years both from a healthcare provider and a patient perspective. It also provides insight to healthcare consultants on how to leverage innovations in other industies and apply them to healthcare.
Check out the post at http://healthcaregoesmobile.com/content/gauging-value-information
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Meaningful Use draft catagories
The Office of the National Coordinator HIT working group around Meaningful Use has issued a road map detailing how Meaningful Use spanning from 2011 to 2015 should be measured. They have also drafted some objectives for 2011. The objectives are subject to change because they haven't been approved; comments are being solicited now.
The five categories, with a quick description of how they are measured, are:
1. Improve Quality, Safety, and Efficiency - Measured around data capture, % of labs, and CPOE entered in.
2. Engage patients and families - Measured by % accessing electronic copies and educational mats.
3. Improve Care Coordination, measured by re-admission rate and ability to exchange with external entities.
4. Improve population and public health, measured by % of labs submitted electronically to registries or agencies.
5. Ensure privacy and Security protection, measured by full compliance with HIPAA rules and state laws.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Meeting on June 16 to provide clarity around meaningful use
As I mentioned in my earlier blog post. The term "Meaningful Use", as related to EMR and the ARRA is currently ambiguous and there is lots of debate as which EMRs/EHRs/PHRs would be covered under the "Meaningful Use" definition.
The United States department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) is holding a hearing June 16th to discuss and provide guidelines around "Meaningful Use".
If your interested in attending the session here is a link http://tinyurl.com/qrmoxt
If you would like to see the agenda for the meeting click here http://bit.ly/Y5hLP
Once the guidelines are published I will post them.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Impressions of the HIMSS virtual conference
This week I had the honor of being invited to attend The HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Virtual Conference.
HIMSS is the premier society for those of us interested in information presentation and management around healthcare. They focus on providing leadership for efficient use of healthcare IT to help healthcare providers, administrators, and IT professionals.
The conference delivered education sessions and vendor exhibits in a virtual manner by integrating WebEx meetings, chat services, and video demonstrations to provide HIMSS members and guests a chance to interact and learn about issues impacting healthcare IT (or #HIT, as we call it on Twitter).
I was invited to attend the conference because I am active on Twitter. I agreed to cover the conference virtually, using periodic 140-character posts during the sessions. In typical Twitter fashion, I would also re-tweet (send out again) the posts of the people that I follow, who also attended the conference. Some of my Twitter followers commented that reading my tweets was like being at the conference itself, and that they clearly understood the main points of the sessions.
The keynote session was delivered by Congressman Michael C. Burgess from Texas. Congressman Burgess is also a medical doctor and is very closely involved with heathcare reform on Capital Hill. He talked a lot about the current American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and other pending legislation.
The gist of the keynote session was that (as of this blog post) even Congress is confused about what “Meaningful Use," as defined in ARRA, is. Supposedly, Congress will define it on June 16, 2009.
The other keynote was that, in addition to the ARRA, a number of other legislations are also being proposed and debated.
Other sessions at the conference were presented by a number of HIMSS members and healthcare providers. Some very good content around how best to approach Healthcare IT projects, including recommendations that senior leadership should be very committed and that nursing and physician teams should identify change champions, was discussed.
In addition to educational sessions, there was also a virtual trade show floor with vendor and partner booths where you could download information on products and services, chat with representatives of the companies, and enter drawings for prizes. One of the interesting booths I visited was HealthcareGoesMobile (http://healthcaregoesmobile.com). HealthcareGoesMobile is a community for clinicians, IT folks, and administrators who are considering mobile point-of-care technology. Another vendor I met with was i365, a Seagate company that provides backup and data recovery services.
Overall, the conference was well attended. I think they had close to 3,000 people sign-up, and the conference experienced no technology issues that I could see. HIMSS is planning on hosting another virtual conference in November 2009.
If you would like more information on the conference, please visit http://www.himss.org or contact us directly. Also, if you would like to discuss how your practice or business could benefit from some of our experiences around ARRA, EHRs/PHRs, or how to use Twitter in healthcare, please contact us and we would be happy to share with you.
HIMSS is the premier society for those of us interested in information presentation and management around healthcare. They focus on providing leadership for efficient use of healthcare IT to help healthcare providers, administrators, and IT professionals.
The conference delivered education sessions and vendor exhibits in a virtual manner by integrating WebEx meetings, chat services, and video demonstrations to provide HIMSS members and guests a chance to interact and learn about issues impacting healthcare IT (or #HIT, as we call it on Twitter).
I was invited to attend the conference because I am active on Twitter. I agreed to cover the conference virtually, using periodic 140-character posts during the sessions. In typical Twitter fashion, I would also re-tweet (send out again) the posts of the people that I follow, who also attended the conference. Some of my Twitter followers commented that reading my tweets was like being at the conference itself, and that they clearly understood the main points of the sessions.
The keynote session was delivered by Congressman Michael C. Burgess from Texas. Congressman Burgess is also a medical doctor and is very closely involved with heathcare reform on Capital Hill. He talked a lot about the current American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and other pending legislation.
The gist of the keynote session was that (as of this blog post) even Congress is confused about what “Meaningful Use," as defined in ARRA, is. Supposedly, Congress will define it on June 16, 2009.
The other keynote was that, in addition to the ARRA, a number of other legislations are also being proposed and debated.
Other sessions at the conference were presented by a number of HIMSS members and healthcare providers. Some very good content around how best to approach Healthcare IT projects, including recommendations that senior leadership should be very committed and that nursing and physician teams should identify change champions, was discussed.
In addition to educational sessions, there was also a virtual trade show floor with vendor and partner booths where you could download information on products and services, chat with representatives of the companies, and enter drawings for prizes. One of the interesting booths I visited was HealthcareGoesMobile (http://healthcaregoesmobile.com). HealthcareGoesMobile is a community for clinicians, IT folks, and administrators who are considering mobile point-of-care technology. Another vendor I met with was i365, a Seagate company that provides backup and data recovery services.
Overall, the conference was well attended. I think they had close to 3,000 people sign-up, and the conference experienced no technology issues that I could see. HIMSS is planning on hosting another virtual conference in November 2009.
If you would like more information on the conference, please visit http://www.himss.org or contact us directly. Also, if you would like to discuss how your practice or business could benefit from some of our experiences around ARRA, EHRs/PHRs, or how to use Twitter in healthcare, please contact us and we would be happy to share with you.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sheppard Consulting Services
Hello and welcome to the Sheppard Consulting Services Blog. I will be adding to this blog to update you periodically as we launch SCS.
Sheppard Consulting Services, is a new venture by myself, Don Sheppard, after 13 years with IBM. Prior to joining IBM I ran my own consulting firm for 6 years, so Sheppard Consulting Services is my career coming full-circle.
I formed Sheppard Consulting Services because I feel systems integration work is at a crossroad and because the reason why companies buy IT services is changing.
At SCS, I want to focus on what I feel is of true value to clients: information. I know a lot of system integration and consulting firms talk about information, but they seem to align and market around technologies or buzzwords. Technology is important as an enabler, but it doesn't directly solve a problem. In this economy, clients need to focus on solutions that solve problems, not on exploring new technologies.
The two areas I want to focus on are Information presentation and Information management. These topics include everything for the acquisition of information; the processing and manipulation of information; storage; and how users and systems use the information.
Much of the work that I envision will leverage the work that I performed in the past around portals and web 2.0. It will also explore new areas such as integration with social media tools. The goal is to find the best way to capture, use, and present information.
I look forward to helping you solve your information challenges.
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