information technology Archives

Strategic Operational Plans

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | May 20, 2015 | Healthcare IT

Standing up in a canoe is hard enough. Standing up in two canoes with one foot in each while traveling through Class 4 rapids is mind-boggling. Class 4 rapids are defined as “intense, powerful but predictable rapids requiring precise boat handling in turbulent water....

Still Babbling

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Jan 19, 2015 | Healthcare IT

Update: In the more than seven years since I wrote this article, healthcare information technology tools continue to struggle to achieve robust interoperability. Fortunately, through efforts of the Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information...

Think Like a Retailer

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Nov 20, 2014 | Analytics

It is all about the consumer. With more than 68% of the U.S. economy driven by consumer spending, retailers clearly know how to identify and motivate consumers to take action (YCharts). Techniques and information technology tools utilized by these organizations offer...

How to Effectively Choose and Assign Clinical Staff

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Nov 1, 2014 | Archives

On average, hospitals devote close to 60% of their budgets to labor costs with the large majority of those costs associated with nurse staffing. Until robots replace humans in the delivery of patient care, selection of the proper skill mix and number of professionals...

Railroads, Weed and EMRs

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Jul 20, 2014 | Healthcare IT

As independent companies built railroad lines in the 19th century, each company chose a different gauge—the distance between the inner rails—for their track. As the railway industry first grew out of the need to transport mined materials, most early railroad companies...