This "national db" or digitized record (electronic medical record or EMR) has been a goal for quite some time. The HIPAA laws were actually written in 1996 with an EMR in mind. (That's why HIPAA privacy and security provisions would not apply to an office that is completely "paper.") I wonder just how many jobs would be created. I would think that all hospitals have some sort of IT or IT support contract. Private practice probably contracts with someone for their support. From what I've seen, the most valuable employee in healthcare IT is the clinical analyst; the person who knows not only computers but is a nurse. This isn't to say that other IT specialists aren't needed, not at all, but the person who has a background in healthcare providing but can see the relationship between the clinical side and the computer side. If you are curious about IT in a healthcare situation, you may want to check out the archives at the Mr. HISTalk blog (http://histalk2.com). It's written by an IT director who works in a hospital; my guess would be one of the larger hospitals as he never reveals his name.
Paul Chinnery Network Administrator Memorial Medical Center 231-845-2319 _____ From: David Lum [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 10:32 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Would this be good for IT, or what? (UNCLASSIFIED) +1 times ten! We'll spend thousands sending out kids to college but never teach them the basics of money and not using credit for anything but a house. My parents didn't teach me that, it took me over 40 years (until Feb of last year) to really "get it" (thank you Dave Ramsey). Funny the things we think we *need* to have. Pretty sure 99% of these items our ancestors got along just fine without. Veering nearer to back on topic, adding the need for several thousand IT jobs can't be a bad thing, but I am interested in hearing from IT guys in the healthcare industry what obstacles need to be overcome. It's one thing to say "digitize healthcare records", another entire to pull it off - there must be dozens of little "gotcha's". David Lum // SYSTEMS ENGINEER NORTHWEST EVALUATION ASSOCIATION (Desk) 971.222.1025 // (Cell) 503.267.9764 -----Original Message----- From: Ben Scott [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 7:22 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Would this be good for IT, or what? (UNCLASSIFIED) On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 10:07 AM, Kent, Larry CTR USA IMCOM <[email protected]> wrote: > This is more the reality... > http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/pf/0901/gallery.layoffs_and_salary_c uts/index.html "I've had to budget everything from food to when I go to the dry cleaners..." A budget? Heaven forbid. </SARCASM> And people wonder why the economy crashed. It's because this entire country -- from this former "Media Relations" marketroid to high-level execs (auto industry, banking industry, I'm looking at you) -- are not in the habit of keeping track of where the money is going. In the interests of honesty: I'm not excepting myself from the above criticism. -- Ben ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
