I’m really excited to tell you about a cool little contest that I’m doing together with Practice Fusion at HIMSS next week. In this contest, all you have to do is find me on Tuesday 2/22 at HIMSS in Orlando. Once you find me, we’ll take a picture and then you can either tweet the picture with the tag #FreeEHR or email the picture to community@practicefusion.com. That’s all. Then, you’re entered to win a 42″ HD TV.

The other part of the contest is that I’m competing with fellow blogger, Dr. Joseph Kim, to see who can get the most people to enter the contest. Whoever gets found the most, will win a TV also.

There you have it. Nothing to it right? So, when you see me at HIMSS, be sure to stop and enter to win a 42″ HD TV!

If you’re not sure where to find me, just check out the latest updates on my @techguy twitter account. Assuming I have a decent cell signal, I’ll be tweeting where I’m at all day Tuesday. Otherwise, feel free to send me a tweet so I can come and find you. Especially if you’re at a good party that I should be at!

See you in Orlando!

EMRandHIPAA.com’s HIMSS11 coverage is sponsored by Practice Fusion, provider of the free, web-based Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system used by over 70,000 healthcare providers in the US.

I’ve been meaning to do a survey of my readers for a long time now. Today I finally decided to make it happen. No doubt many of you have provided feedback to me in the comments and by email, but I thought that a simple 12 question anonymous survey would be a great way to solicit more feedback from the readers of EMR and HIPAA.

I’m sincerely interested in seeing your responses on how I can make EMR and HIPAA better. So I appreciate you taking the time to fill out the survey. No questions are required so just answer the ones you feel comfortable with.

The survey is embedded below, but if you’re getting this by email then here’s a link to fill out the EMR and HIPAA Survey.

I found a really cool WordPress plugin which does a summary of the activity on a blog like EMR and HIPAA. 301 posts in 2010 isn’t too bad. The thing I like most about the stats is 1. the consistency and 2. the incredible number of comments people have contributed to the site. In the list of top commenters, I see some familiar names. I also love the list of posts with the most comments. Some really amazing discussions in those posts.

Thank you to each of you that participates in EMR and HIPAA. Have a Happy New Year!

In 2010 I wrote 301 posts.

In 2010 the posts were commented 2009 times, from which 556 comments (27.68 percent) were written by registered users/authors.

TOP 10 commenters in 2010:

• Don B: 82 comments
• Michelle W: 60 comments
• Anthony Subbiah: 46 comments
• Brian: 41 comments
• Bobby Gladd: 38 comments
• David Swink: 28 comments
• Nick Orlowski: 24 comments
• D. Kellus Pruitt DDS: 20 comments
• DonB: 18 comments
• CEOmike: 16 comments

TOP 10 most commented posts in 2010:

• Reasons Why EMR Efforts Are Proceeding So Slowly: 42 comments
• Email is Not HIPAA Secure: 34 comments
• EMR Stimulus Q and A: EMR Stimulus Money and Dentists: 25 comments
• Guest Post: Healthcare’s Challenging with Meaningfully Using an EMR: 24 comments
• Healthcare IT Adoption Versus Banking Industry: 19 comments
• SaaS EMR vs. Client Server EMR and AAFP in Denver: 19 comments
• 692 Pages of Government Meaningful Use Regulation: 18 comments
• EMR Key Differentiators: 18 comments
• List of Webinars on Meaningful Use: 18 comments
• EMR Platform: 17 comments

Merry Christmas!

I just finished our family tradition of a Christmas Eve mini dinner. My wife executed it to perfection. It was absolutely fantastic. We somehow got the kids in bed despite their excitement over the visit from Santa Clause. Shortly, I’ll go and eat the cookies and drink the milk the kids left out for Santa (man I love being Santa). I’ll leave the reindeer’s carrots for my wife.

This Christmas shopping season has been interesting for me. I see and hear so many people talk about the stress of shopping for Christmas. So many people want to “get it over” and get all worked up doing the Christmas shopping. Personally, I decided to forget all of those people who try to give the impression that Christmas shopping is a terrible experience and just enjoy it. Turns out, I love the experience of Christmas shopping.

Many people say that they hate the crowds. I love the bustle of people every where. Some people hate the cheesy Christmas music. I think the music makes for a great atmosphere. Some people hate that they don’t have enough money. I love the opportunity to teach my children that it’s not about the money. Plus, it’s fun to be creative within a budget. Some people hate “having” to take around treats to their friends and neighbors. I love the chance to go and see people that I love and care about.

Needless to say it’s been a magical Christmas season for me!

I can’t help but wonder if there’s not an analogy here for those implementing an EMR. Basically, if you want excuses not to implement or enjoy an EMR, you’ll find it. If you look for ways to implement an EMR and enjoy its benefits, you’ll find those too. I’m not suggesting you rush into anything, but you can choose to enjoy the EMR selection and implementation process and it will make a huge difference.

I realize that many of the readers of this site don’t celebrate Christmas, but I’ve never been offended when someone told me Happy Hanukkah and I don’t celebrate it. So, I hope that people can join me in the spirit of giving and caring that’s associated with Christmas.

It’s really hard for me to believe that today marks the fifth anniversary of EMR and HIPAA. It’s pretty fun to look back at my very first EMR and HIPAA post on December 11, 2005. I definitely haven’t focused all that much on college health, but otherwise I find it pretty amazing that my goal of posting EMR and HIPAA information and driving discussion from other people has held strong for 5 years now.

My second post makes me laugh too. It is some technical details about Wireless technology and security. I’m a little uncomfortable linking to it since it has changed some since 2005. For example, hiding the SSID doesn’t offer much security and can actually cause some connectivity issues if you do implement it. It was the best I knew at the time and it illustrates my original motivation for the blog: to learn!

My third post talks about my wish to have electronic signatures on a tablet. I never got my EMR vendor to implement it for me, but they did implement it with a signature pad like you might find at Walmart. One of the best technologies that I implemented since it helped get rid of so much paper and scanning. Although, many EMR vendors back in 2005 were reticent to implement it since their tests told them that it would cause more trouble for the front desk than actually help. I ignored that and pushed it forward anyway. One time I walked by a 70 year old lady signing the pad and filling out her paperwork on a kiosk and a little part of me smiled.

My fourth post on “What’s an interface?” is still a good read today. I’m glad to see that at least some of my content has withstood the test of time. As far as interfaces, I wish I’d known then what I knew now. After that post and looking into the lab interface, it took us 1+ years to finally implement the lab interface. I am glad we took our time to really thoroughly test it since it was a new interface. Although, if I would have known the incredible benefit of having the bi directional lab interface, I’d have driven that project A LOT faster. The comments on the post also make me laugh since even today I get irked by EMR sales mis communications (lies).

My fifth post I learned about the good and bad parts of having open comments. In the post I talk about which database is best for an EMR software. You’ll see in the comments that R. Terry Ellis (who I interacted with and learned a lot from at the time) kind of took me to task on a comment I’d made about MySQL on Windows. You’ll also note that even in the beginning that I wasn’t one to avoid 2. being wrong and 2. exploring a discussion around a topic. I still LOVE how readers hold me accountable for what I say. Not to mention how much they teach me.

I’m a little embarrassed by my sixth post about problem lists in an EMR. As I read it, I can tell that I was treading lightly since I was trying to write about and discuss something for which I had very little knowledge. I still feel that way about certain topics. However, I’ve learned a bit over these 5 years. It is interesting to see that even in these early posts I was interested in the idea of “Selecting the Right EMR.” I thought I learned that over time, but I guess not.

Thanks for letting me reminisce. It’s fun for me to go back and look at these old posts. It’s amazing that a bored holiday project has come so far. I’ve often recounted that my original two goals with EMR and HIPAA were to:
-Make it to the Top of Google for the search term EMR (Google validates nerds like me)
-Become an Expert of EMR (and have a way to show it)

I made it to the first page of Google for the term EMR within the first 6 months. I’ll let you, the readers, decide if I’m an expert of EMR or not. Either way, I’m glad to now call myself a full time blogger and internet entrepreneur and I’m thankful that EMR and HIPAA is my cornerstone.

Today has been a pretty wonderful day for me. I played some Turkey bowl this morning, had a wonderful meal with my wife and kids and then watched The Grinch in the afternoon. A nice relaxing day with the people that I love the most.

As I think about my life, I have so many things to be thankful for. In fact, I think I take them for granted far too often. Right after I married my wife I took her on a trip back to Guatemala where she had lived for a year and a half. During our visit we visited one of her favorite friends. Turns out this lady lived in one of the poorest parts of Guatemala in what amounted to a river bed with some metal sheet roofs held up by old washing machines and stove tops stacked up.

Even amidst these amazing conditions, the wife gave some money to a child to run and buy some soda (since I’m sure they never usually had this) so that she could offer her guests (us) something wonderful. It was an amazing gesture and a great lesson. Although, what was also amazing was how this wonderful family was incredibly happy even in such difficult conditions.

As I think about wonderful people like this that I’ve met throughout my life, it makes me even more grateful for what I’ve been given.

This year I’ve also been reflecting on my decision to quit my day job and become a full time blogger and entrepreneur. While I can’t say that it’s not been without its challenges, I’m incredibly satisfied with my decision. In fact, it’s hard for me to imagine ever going back to work for someone again. I guess there’s probably some situation where it would be fun, but right now I’m incredibly happy with a wonderful job that most the time barely feels like work.

Of course, none of what I’m doing would be possible if it weren’t for great readers and great advertisers. I think this site has some of the best and smartest healthcare IT people that exist. There’s so many things that I don’t know, but I believe there’s few things that readers of this blog don’t know. My only hope is that I offer as much to my readers as they offer to me. The advertisers that support EMR and HIPAA are fantastic. Thanks to each one of you who support my efforts. Many of you have been advertising on here for years. I very much appreciate it!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We indeed have so much to be grateful for.

New EMR Doctor Blog
I’m really excited to let you all know about a new EMR Doctor blog called Wired EMR Practice. It’s a blog that I’m doing in partnership with a practicing doctor. I do the hosting, marketing and management of the website and he creates the content. It’s still a very new blog, but check out his post on Physicians vs. Health IT: The EMR Culture War and this post on the ROI of EMR to get a flavor of the content he will be creating. If you like it, you can subscribe by email to the Wired EMR Practice.

The Wired EMR Practice has already landed its first founding advertiser and we’re interested in talking with other people interested in advertising on the site. Those interested can just let us know on our Contact Us page.

Premium EMR and Healthcare IT Advertising Package
For those who read this blog and care about advertising their company, I am working on a new Premium Advertising package. I’ll probably launch it a month or so before HIMSS. It’s going to be a comprehensive advertising package across all of the EMR and HIPAA, EMR and EHR, and Wired EMR Practice network of sites. Not to mention on Twitter, Facebook, and other very targeted EMR related locations. Yes, I think they call this a teaser. Watch for more information on this and if you’re interested, let me know and maybe your company can be part of my new advertising package announcement.

EMR and HIPAA Advertisers
Well, I was looking back at my posts and it looks like it’s been a couple months since I recognized my new and renewing advertisers for EMR and HIPAA. What can I say? I’ve been really busy creating all the content, traveling to a number of conferences and actually adding and renewing advertisers.

Needless to say, I’m very grateful for all of those companies that support EMR and HIPAA with their advertising dollars. Looking at the very high rate of renewal, I think it’s pretty clear that the advertisers are finding value as well.

Without further ado…
New Advertiser
eDoctor, Inc. – eDoctor, Inc. offers a comprehensive electronic prescription system, patient data migration services, and premiere health IT support to healthcare professionals. If you’re looking for an ePrescribing solution, take a look at their free e-Rx software. Looks like they also have an EMR in the oven, called urEMR, that’s set to go live on 12/1/10. We’ll have to keep an eye on that.

Renewing Advertisers
The list of renewing advertisers is quite long. It’s always very satisfying to have my current advertisers renew. Many of these advertisers have been doing so for a couple years. So, thank you!
Intersystems
Sfax
ESD
MDCare
MxSecure
The Drug Company
MD-IT
EMR Consultant

Those interested in advertising on EMR and HIPAA can find more details here.

EMR and Healthcare IT Jobs
Finally, I’m sure there are many that read this blog that are still looking for jobs in the EMR and/or healthcare IT field. If you are, there are a bunch of jobs listed on the EMR and EHR job board. For example, one that was just posted yesterday is for a NextMD Implementation Specialist. Hopefully more of you will post the jobs you have as well.

My apologies for not having time to write a post today. It’s been a pretty crazy week with the Mobile Health Conference in Las Vegas and today I had a ton of things to get caught up on. Plus, tomorrow I’m doing a presentation at WordCamp Las Vegas which has kept me busy today. At the conference, I’ll be telling my story of how I went from being a “hobby blogger” to being a full time blogger and the lessons I learned along the way. Obviously, EMR and HIPAA & EMR and EHR play a large role in my successful switch.

WordCamp is a blogger conference for WordPress users, so I focus a fair amount on the various WordPress items I used along the way, but if you’re interested in my story there’s a live stream tomorrow at 10 AM PST. It will be the first time I’ve told my story in a venue like this, so it will be interesting to hear the attendees reaction. Hopefully they get some good takeaways.

We’ll be back this weekend with our regularly scheduled EMR programming. In fact, looks like I’m going to be hitting the airwaves on the physician focused XM radio station ReachMD soon. I believe I’m just going to do a few interviews for them. I mostly look at it as a good opportunity to have a cool experience. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll let you know more details and link the recordings once they go live.

I’m interested to know what topics my readers would like me to blog about on EMR and HIPAA. I don’t ask because I don’t have plenty of topics already. I have 200+ draft posts that I could choose from. Not to mention the 20+ blog posts that I bet I can do based on the topics I heard discussed and thought of during the Las Vegas EMR conference I attended last week.

The reason I’m interested is that I prefer to write about topics that interest my readers. So, if you have a favorite topic I should cover, let me know. I’ll grease the tires by providing some common general topics that I’ve been writing about and you can let me know in the comments which ones you’d like to learn more about or even specific questions or topics I can use for future blog posts.

Ok, here goes (each topic is linked to posts I’ve done related to that topic):

EMR Stimulus (ARRA-HITECH)
Meaningful Use
Certified EHR
EMR Selection
EMR Consulting
EMR Vendors
EMR Consulting
EMR Implementation
EMR Backlog
Regional Extension Centers (RECs)
EMR Technology
Social Media
EMR Interoperability
Open Source EMR
SaaS EMR

Ok, make your voices heard. I love input!!

Happy Labor Day to all those readers in the US, and there’s no reason my international readers can’t enjoy a nice celebration today too. It’s been interesting leading up to this holiday for me now that I’m a full time blogger and internet entrepreneur. My wife asked me if I got today off. I told her I’d have to talk to my boss and get back to her.

The other interesting part of this dilemma is that I love what I do for work. Aren’t you suppose to do the things that you love on a Holiday? Makes for an interesting decision with certainly no right answer.

Either way, it’s been a great weekend for me already. My college football team won on Saturday and so we’re looking forward to a great football season. Regardless of how much I “work” today, I’m sure I’ll be embarking on some great adventure with my wife and 3 kids.

I dug into some old videos last night and ended up watching Dead Poets Society. I thought it fitting to hear the message Carpe Diem, “Seize the Day.” I think that’s an appropriate message for me to think about as we decide what to do today. Add that to my life philosophy that “Life is about making stories and telling stories” and hopefully I can find something that will meet those two objectives.

I’d love to hear what you plan to do. Either way, enjoy your Holiday! Plus, a big thanks to all those healthcare providers who are still working today. Your sacrifice and commitment to your jobs isn’t lost on me.