Clinical IT Governance Update

Yesterday I led the Clinical IT Governance meeting at BIDMC and I thought it would be interesting for my readers to get an inside look of the kind of topics we're discussing and how we're implementing our most challenging projects.1.  Joint Commission debriefLast week the Joint Commission visited BIDMC and the experience was very positive.  When there are process variations and potential shortcomings identified by the Joint Commission, IT solutions are often suggested.   In this particular visit, there were a few small software changes made during the visit to better support National Patient Safety goals such  as ensuring all care team members know the preferred oral and written language preferences of each patient.   We made modifications to ensure all our sites of care - ED, inpatient, outpatient, OR, and ICU gather this information consistently and display it routinely.   That was the only issue involving IT in this Joint Commission visit.One of the great challenges of IT governance is maintaining focus on the annual operating plan and avoiding the distraction of the day.   Audits, visiting committees, and even Joint Commission visits have the potential of creating attention deficits which derail IT staff from long term must do's.    I'm grateful that Joint Commission preparation has become such an integrated part of our standard work that no projects were derailed.2.  Enterprise and Community interoperabilityI'm often aske...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs