As we begin 2017, what should be the focus of our work over the next year?... Regardless of the policies, repeals, and delays of the Trump administration, we’ll still need to optimize usability and support the four goals of value-based purchasing - quality measurement, total medical expense management, practice process improvement and technology adoption. BIDMC has already created a prototype of groupware documentation and we should complete our next generation inpatient documentation solution by mid 2017. Part of that work incorporates open source secure texting as part of the medical record. We’re also piloting Google’s G-suite so that our stakeholders can store/share, collaborate, and communicate on any device from anywhere using only a browser...
disaster recovery
See the following -
2019 International Conference on Disaster Medicine and Hurricane Resiliency Draws Hundreds
More than 280 healthcare professionals, emergency preparedness experts, and government leaders gathered on campus March 8-11 with the goal of uniting their collective experience and expertise to increase their communities’ ability to manage hurricanes and other disasters. Attendees represented 12 countries, including 9 Caribbean islands, and a multitude of backgrounds in disaster preparedness and response, including disaster medicine and veterinary medicine, nursing, hospital administration, mental health, telehealth, EMS and first responders, disaster recovery and humanitarian assistance, medical education, and more.
- Login to post comments
6 Ways Physicians can Free Patient Records
A certain doctor's practice had been using EHR software for many years; they had been paying a pretty penny too. For their own reasons they wanted to change their software. They were going to brave the uncertain and scary world of transitioning their current EHR to another one. A round of applause for that decision alone, for many practices tolerate their EHR system only because they have paid a lot of money for it and have spent a lot of time training on it. They just don’t want to go through the pain all over again. This works out in favor of most EHR system vendors, doesn't it? Make the process so painful and costly that the physicians would not want to go through it again, thereby locking the caregivers into an eternal commitment.
- Login to post comments
An Interview with Ushahidi’s Juliana Rotich
When there is a major catastrophe, ordinary sources of news and public information are unavailable. However, it is extremely important to get real time updates about the situation not only to control the catastrophe but also to help populations cope with such a crisis. Ushahidi is doing exactly that by using software.
- Login to post comments
Drones and the Future of Disaster Response
Four continental states and one U.S. territory took a beating this fall as one natural disaster after another rocked communities in Northern California and along the Gulf Coast, spreading disaster relief resources and personnel thin as federal, state, and local governments scrabbled to address the crises. Wildfires in California's wine country claimed at least 42 lives, 8,400 structures, and 245,000 acres of land in October. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma pummeled Louisiana, Texas, and Florida only to be followed by Hurricane Maria, which slammed Puerto Rico on September 20 and left much of the U.S. territory without communications systems, electricity, clean water, or functioning hospitals....
- Login to post comments
Halamka Sets Healthcare Innovation Priorities for 2017
- Login to post comments
How Laboratories and their Systems can Weather Natural Disasters and Pandemics
We are currently experiencing a global pandemic - which, while perhaps included in disaster preparedness Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by many labs as a possible disaster, still has caught most the infrastructure and health systems of most nations largely unprepared, and is causing major disruption because it was arguably not seen as one of the most likely events. Disaster preparedness has typically tended to focus on IT and data management risks and/or natural disasters. SOPs center around standard, daily lab safety. The truth is that whatever the odds of a particular disaster, they become 100% once they happen. It's important to have sufficient risk-reduction SOPs in play, and a good Continuity Of Operations Plan (COOP) for each potential scenario to ensure the best chance of coping during the event and recovering afterwards.
- Login to post comments
Lessons from the Use of Open Source and Open Data in Nepal's Earthquake Relief
The power of an open source project like OpenStreetMap during a crisis like Nepal's earthquake is undeniable, and I had the opportunity to see it up close and personal. I worked with the Kathmandu Living Labs team, where I observed thousands of local and international volunteers collaborating to create data and tools. Responding agencies used the team's work to plan and execute their operations. The philosophy of Kathmandu Living Labs is that by collaboratively building upon existing work, we will reach much further and have a far greater impact than working on problems individually and from scratch...
- Login to post comments
LINBIT Enhances Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Full DRBD Support
Open source high availability powerhouse LINBIT announced full DRBD® support on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system platform this morning. This enhances the world's most widely deployed Linux server platform with the industry's premier storage replication facility - all in a 100% open source software stack. LINBIT, co-based in Vienna, Austria and Beaverton, OR, has been a cornerstone of the Linux high availability community for a decade. DRBD, LINBIT's block-level, synchronous replication solution has defined storage replication on Linux for ten years. It is part of the Linux kernel and is widely deployed across all industries in high availability solutions for databases, storage servers, virtualization and much more.
NASCIO Recognizes Outstanding Achievements in State IT: Finalists Announced for 2017 NASCIO State IT Recognition Awards
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has selected 32 finalists across 11 categories for the State IT Recognition Awards. This is the 29th consecutive year NASCIO has honored outstanding information technology achievements in state government through the awards. Projects and initiatives from NASCIO member states, territories, and the District of Columbia were eligible for nomination. NASCIO members served as volunteer judges to review the 100+ submissions, narrowing the nominees down to finalists in each category. From these finalists, a recipient will be announced during an awards dinner at the upcoming NASCIO Annual Conference this October in Austin, Texas...
- Login to post comments
Open Source Resources for major Disaster & Emergency Management Situations
As everyone knows by now, the superstorm known as 'Hurricane Sandy' has caused considerable devastation across the East Coast of the United States and all the way up to the Great Lakes region. The effects of the storm will continue to be felt for days and weeks as major portions of the East Coast are without electricity and flooding is expected to continue for days. Under these circumstances, it seemed appropriate to put together a listing of open source applications that have been successfully used in emergencies and disaster recovery all over the world. In times of man-made crises or natural disasters, there is a range of organizations, websites, open source tools, mobile apps, and more that might be of use to first responders and citizens in general. Check out some of the following resources...
- Login to post comments
OpenEMR Stands Up To Hurricane Maria's Fury in Puerto Rico
Throughout both Hurricane Maria's initial impact and the rebuilding efforts, Puerto Rico has suffered tremendous infrastructure damage leaving the majority of the islands some 3.4 million people without power, water, communications, and internet access. Despite these challenges, OpenEMR would prove to be vital at multiple healthcare facilities as the island begins the process of rebuilding. During and immediately following the hurricane's devastating wind and rain, the following healthcare providers noted OpenEMR as an essential tool in receiving and assisting a large volume of patients...
- Login to post comments
Opinion: See the Most Vulnerable -- See the Human Landscape
The world is currently experiencing the worst humanitarian crises since World War II. Over 20 million people are at risk of starvation and famine across Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia. Now entering its seventh year of conflict, the Syrian civil war rages on without an end in sight, representing the largest portion of refugees and internally displaced people globally. To be effective in helping these IDPs, relief organizations must have easy access to relevant and accurate locational data...
- Login to post comments
Resilience Must Be Blind to Catalyst - Part II
If this is the first time you are reading something from me, let me introduce you to a phrase I coined in the early 2000s: "resilience (and continuity) is blind to the catalyst." My oft-repeated comment was to present an alternative to the emergency management foundations that were creeping into the continuity lexicon, whereby contingency planning is typically done with a "commensurate with the hazard" or "capabilities-based" approach. Resilience is and must be viewed with a much higher level of consideration…and NOT limited to specific hazards or capabilities. As I most certainly just ruffled feathers of some of my dearest and most deeply respected emergency management professionals, let me explain.
- Login to post comments
Rock Around The Resilience Wheel - Continuity of Operations Through Disruptive Change
As 2020 comes to a close we are still faced with myriad issues pertaining to public health, elections, economic duress and recovery, unemployment, and living under persistent, pendular change. Resilience has become a popular buzzword to get through these times but is utilized to mean very different things to people looking through very different lenses. Diverse definitions are great but at some point, at some higher and comprehensive perspective, a bow must be put around a common resilience baseline. In layman’s terms, resilience is getting through disruptions and change with some foresight and planning. Resilience matters regardless of the lens you are viewing it through. Covenant Park has coined several catchphrases over our several decades of resilience, risk, continuity, emergency management, security, and national and international planning and execution. Some of those phrases include:
- Login to post comments
The Joy of Mentoring
Since 2016 is the 20th year I’ve served as CIO, I’ve given a great deal of thought to the various careers I’ve had and the roadmap for the 20 next years of my working life. In my late teens and 20s I was an entreprenuer running a 35 person software company while doing my medical and graduate school training. I was also a winemaker, home builder and engineer. In my early 30’s I was an Emergency physician, software coder, and data analyst. In my mid 30’s as a CIO, I focused on architecture, high reliability computing, and centralization of IT service delivery. In my early 40’s, I focused on disaster recovery, interoperability, and educational technologies..
- Login to post comments