I read an article today from Information Week today regarding the state of Health IT jobs and how Epic implementation is the hottest job right now.  Definitely a great read.  A couple of my thoughts after I read the article:

• Epic is definitely the most influential player right now as they dominate the large health care organizations.  With the cost increasing a lot of physicians would might have own their own clinic once upon a time is gradually being absorbed (willing or unwillingly because of cost) into these large organizations.  So Epic might not be the biggest in term of revenue, but they are definitely the most influential.
• There is a LOT of premium associated with having an Epic certification.  However, the premium is not a result of the certification itself but rather you are working as a consultant vs a full time employee.  I have worked with a lot of different applications/software and I have never seen such a disparity in compensation between someone who is working as a consultant vs full time employee even though the skill sets of the two might be comparable.  In order to be a consultant certification is (almost) mandatory but not the case for full time employee.
• Health IT compensation is in a bubble that is a result of HITECH act and the potential Medicare penalty.  As a result, a lot of hospitals are forced to implement a new EMR system for a short time and thus creating a strong demand.  My suggestion is always keep your skill sets up to date with the latest technology.
• The skill set of the consultants vary quite a bit.  Due of the strong demand, if you have a certification, chances are you will get a decent/high paying gig.  However, from the healthcare organization perspective, I suggest exercise some due diligence during the interview process.  The key to be a good consultant is to be able to come up with solutions to unexpected problems rather than certification.

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February seems to be a month of changes for Healthcare IT.

Here are some of the major events that happened this month:

• HIMSS conference -The largest Healthcare IT conference that occurs every year.  If you are looking for ways to get into Healthcare IT, be sure to read blogs and news regarding what is happening at the conference and the industry.

• ICD-10 implementation is delayed – this doesn’t impact the Clarity report writers much but it definitely will makes a lot of people very happy

• The release of Meaningful Use Stage 2 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Of all three, the one that impacts reporting the most is obviously Meaningful Use Stage 2. Even though most of the EMR systems will have model reports tailored toward Meaningful Use, report writers are often asked to modify model reports to tailor the report for specific conditions.  For those of you who want to get into Healthcare IT, be sure to follow the development from those three areas.  Words of caution, even though the industry is on fire right now, there is a high chance that the hospital EMR market is peaking soon or has peaked.  At the end of the day, be sure to find something you enjoy doing!

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While 2012 is going to be a continuation year for Meaningful Use reporting for a lot of health care organizations the deadline for ICD-10 is fast approaching.  For readers who don’t know what much about ICD codes it is a coding standard that play an important role to fill the gap between charges that are filed to a hospital account and the set of codes billed to the insurance (check out my post regarding hospital billing and reporting if you like more detail regarding how that works).  Currently everything is coded in ICD9.  However, a regulatory mandates the implementation a much more extensive coding set called ICD-10 by October 1st, 2013.  ICD10 coding is going to be an extremely valuable skill set in the upcoming year and if you have been thinking about how to enter the field of Healthcare IT this is definitely a good approach.

With that said, The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) just recently announced a new set of onlines courses tailored toward individuals who would like this training regarding transition to ICD-10.  While AHIMA already has instructor led ICD-10 Training Academies, I personally find an online courses much more suitable for most people’s busy schedule and cheaper cost.  Definitely check them out!

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In one of my previous post, I went over the different components of Business Objects Enterprise. However, one of the key element of a successful business intelligence software deployment is report distribution. The final success of business intelligence software depends on the end user integrating the reports into their day to day workflow rather than the bells and whistles of the business intelligence software.

Here are the different methods a report can be distributed.  Please note I am using Business Objects Enterprise as an example for almost all business intelligence software should comes with these features. Continue Reading →

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Photo by: Jeff Tidwell

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It looks like Epic’s MyChart App is now available on Android Market. For those of you not familiar with the MyChart application, it allows you the end user to:

Appointments – View future appointments
Test Results – View your MyChart account test results
Messages – View and reply to messages
Reminders – View your health maintenance reminders
Health Summary – View your health summary
Other Accounts – View other accounts if you have the proper access.

based on your healthcare organization and your access rights.  The app has been available on iPhone for awhile now.

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As a report writer, you develop lots of Crystal Reports tailored toward specific business user needs. However, when once a set report is finished you need to start thinking about  a mechanism for scheduling and delivery.  One of the most common way is to have Business Objects Enterprise setup at your organization.
A typical Business Objects Enterprise installation is comprised of:
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As a report writer you are not going to remember all the details regarding Crystal Reports even though you might like to. As someone who worked in the technology field I learned that it is extremely important to have good book/notes reference to the software you working with on a daily basis. For example, I have multiple books on databases such as Oracle and SqlServer.
As for building reports, the book I use is Crystal Reports 2008 The Complete Reference.
The book is very well organized into three sections:
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Photo By: mah_japan

In addition to building Crystal Reports, another crucial responsibility for report writers is to create data extracts for end users interested in a specific data set.  While data set might be clincal, revenue cycle, or patient survey almost all data generation are needed on a recurring basis.

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