Healthcare IS Blog

A Cerner implementation can lead an organization toward greater efficiency, while Cerner optimization ensures that this efficiency is achieved. Although there can be some similarities between the two – like planning, budgeting, and engaging key stakeholders – implementation is focused more on building a system that works, while optimization seeks to engage with users to maximize the efficiency of the Cerner solution while lowering the friction of use.

According to a new report from research firm Kalorama Information, Cerner is the clear market share leader among EHR (electronic health records) software providers, edging out rival McKesson. Of the 4,474 non-federal acute care hospitals surveyed, nearly one-quarter use Cerner. The company’s 2015 acquisition of Siemens Healthcare’s EHR division helped make it No. 1.

Adding a skilled healthcare IT consultant to your team can help you maintain your existing applications or implement new ones, providing technical expertise that your organization needs but doesn’t currently possess. Once you’ve decided that an IT consultant is the best way to augment your existing operations, it’s time to start thinking about how to find the resource who best fits your healthcare organization.

With the mandates from the Affordable Care Act of 2010, healthcare organizations, including hospitals, small medical practices and pharmacies, must build and manage a robust IT infrastructure. Whether it is creating compliant workflows, reporting clinical outcomes, selecting an EHR system, or optimizing existing systems, project managers need to be aware of the best approaches for leading the way on the development and maintenance of healthcare IT.

When it comes to patient and operational data, hospitals and healthcare organizations have two major goals that they need to maintain sight of:

It's been roughly eight years since President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law. Designed to counter the recession's effects, it flooded industry and individual pockets with stimulus funds. From encouraging first-time homebuyers to jump into the housing market, to investing in infrastructure, more than $800 billion eventually made its way into the struggling economy.

Cerner provides a great product as well as good support services, but it's not wise to solely rely on those services when staffing for an implementation. Rather than making assumptions based on implied understandings from Cerner, it’s incumbent upon the customer to come to a clear contractual agreement with well-defined resource expectations.

As far as projects go, a Cerner implementation or conversion is rather substantial. It’s a long process that involves a lot of moving parts and incorporates a wide range of stakeholders and contributors. In order to successfully implement such a complicated project, it is imperative to have top-notch project management. Here are five tips on how to do that from the project management pros:

With the current era of technological disruption impacting all markets and industries, nowhere has this been felt more acutely than healthcare. Going into 2016 and beyond, industry experts have made attempts to look at the crystal ball and predict where healthcare IT will go. While individual predictions may vary, there seems to be a growing consensus around three distinct trends within integrated IT:

Figuring out how to best handle IT concerns can be a daunting challenge, especially for healthcare organizations transitioning to a new Electronic Health Records (EHR) system.

Qualified consultants with extensive experience handling these transitions can provide significant help.

When it comes to healthcare and technology, the only true constant nowadays seems to be change. While every industry, community and individual stands to be increasingly affected by technological innovation, healthcare has emerged as one of the key areas where tech's potential to change the game is most prevalent.