Welcome to EMR and HIPAA

Right now I’m feeling quite overwhelmed. If it weren’t for this boring class I’m in I probably wouldn’t have time to even post to my blog. I’ve been participating in the HIT Blogposium which I haven’t been able to participate as much as I’d like. I’ve tried to keep up on my own EMR blog and my EMR and biometrics article. It’s been a fun experience participating in the blogposium experience. I’ve learned some very interesting things during the collaboration and hope they do it again when I have more time.

My EMR addiction has also left me in a vulnerable position because a local doctor has asked me for some help in choosing an EMR and more importantly ordering all the equipment that he needs to purchase to start a brand new office. It’s quite overwhelming even though I love EMR and helping him. I just wish he and I had more time to think through all the options. Weighing the I need it now with I want it done right is a real challenge. At least he’s selected an EMR and I think we have all the most important equipment ordered. We’ll see how good my off the cuff suggestions end up.

This EMR (and probably blogging) addiction has also really gotten in the way of a business plan that I submitted to a contest. My idea is pretty good and looks even better on paper and has nothing to do with EMR. I’m one of 6 finalists and I present on Wednesday. I’m pretty overwhelmed since a 20 minute presentation will determine a large difference in cash prizes. I’m stuck. Work on my blog and EMR which I love or polish my business plan. Unfortunately, I can’t work one dimensional. My mother always told me, “You can’t do everything.” I always replied, “You’re right…but I’m sure going to try.”

And of course, outside this EMR addiction my wife and son like to see me too. Imagine that! Besides me being stressed I think I’ve done a good job shielding my family from all that I’m trying to do. Sometimes I fail, but overall I think it’s not affecting my time with my family since I do most of it in boring classes or late at night. Family’s really what’s most important anyway. Maybe I just need to get my wife interested in EMR and blogging.

Someone recently referred to me as a technical writer which really caught me off guard. I’ve always hated english and pretty much any writing assignment that was given me. However, I can write on this blog or on other forums for hours and not even bat an eye. Not sure what that really means.

This new found interest in writing left me very interested in an blog post by Neil Versel about Healthcare Journalist’s lack of interest in Healthcare IT. Here’s an excerpt:

Given the fact that conference registration was close to 350 and that there were only four other sessions going on at the time, I was disappointed. Health correspondents from metropolitan daily papers mostly stayed away. This tells me that the average health correspondent does not understand the significance of IT, even though the session was entitled, “IT: Its promise for changing health care.” Reporters continue to write about how the American health system is broken, but they ignore one of the most obvious cures.

I don’t think this is unique to Healthcare. In fact, I think journalists are becoming so sensationalized that they often worry more about the story than reporting. I think that’s why blogs are so refreshing.

Many people who have come to my EMR and HIPAA blog have probably wondered why the address of the website is www.crashutah.com. Honestly, there is only one reason. I’m cheap!! I’ve had crashutah.com for a while and so it was free to host my blog on the same site. Today is my birthday and so I got myself a birthday present. I bought 2 different domain names that I could use for this site. I need your help to decide which one I should use. Here’s the 2 choices:
www.emrandhipaa.com
www.emrhipaa.com
So, they are pretty much the same, but I want to know which one is better. I think the first one is better since it is really the name of the site and so it matches nicely. I like the second one because it has fewer letters and would be easier to type. There is also the question of which one google would like better. In the end, they probably won’t care too much. If they cared too much about the domain name then I wouldn’t be getting all the google searches that I’m getting with crashutah as the domain name.

Let me know which you like better by just clicking the comment button below and telling me which one I should use as the main one. I also want to thank those of you out there that avoided purchasing these while I waited to purchase them. Today I went to buy a domain name I’d been looking at for a month and it was bought yesterday night. I couldn’t believe it. I was so mad. Mostly mad at myself for not buying it earlier.

Blogging is a pretty interesting phenomenon. I must admit that before I started blogging I didn’t really understand what blogging was really about. Even now I sometimes wonder. However, I found blogging to be a great experience for you to put down on paper some of the different things you learn. It motivates you to study a subject in depth which you might not have studied had you not been thinking about blogging the subject. I find EMR and HIPAA very interesting, but I wouldn’t committ nearly the time nor the intensity to my involvement in it if I wasn’t trying to build something of use. Yes, I did say that this EMR and HIPAA blog could be useful. At least that is still my goal. Call me ambitious.

I found an interesting article on working up the career ladder with a blog. As I’ve been blogging I’ve often considered some points in this article before posting something. Here’s the most poignant part:

It now is common for job interviewers, customers and partners to Google your name before engaging with you personally.

If you have built a useful, thoughtful blog history, you could be well positioned to open the door for a fruitful business relationship. If not, you may not even get in the door. You can be sure if you claim to be an expert, you had better have a blog that covers your expertise or the door will be bolted shut.

I have a really common name so good luck on finding my EMR and HIPAA blog by my name. More importantly I plan on putting this blog down on my resume as something that shows my expertise in EMR. This is why I find the second part so important. I better make the sure the content here is good. I wouldn’t go as far as this writer in saying that the door would be bolted shut, because any intelligent business person can realize that this website isn’t just about advancing my career. Often a website can be multifaceted in its goals. If the interviewing company can’t understand that then I’m not sure I want to work for them anyway. That said, I still want to be careful what I say. It’s a fine line that has to be walked. I’ll save most my personal ramblings for my personal blog.

I know I’ve noted this before, but since this is my blog I’m glad to say that I can post my personal musings all I want. While I guess I have a devotion to any readership there may be I hope my personal tracking of the blog and updates on its success or failures will be of interest to those who read. If it doesn’t people are welcome to ignore this post(Is that a feature in WordPress?).

I’m 2 months into my EMR and HIPAA blogging experience and I’ve learned more than I could ever imagine. In fact, I realize even more today that I may never have a complete handle on this industry, but I hope that some insights will help other people in “The EMR Experience.”(Maybe this should be the real name of my blog)

Today, I finally went over the 10,000 page hit mark. Not too bad for 2 months. Not too bad for doing it in my free time(and my boring e-commerce class). I think this is pretty significant considering I’ve only done 50 posts so far. The search engines have enjoyed those 50 postsand treated me well by referring new readers. Although some of the search phrases make me wonder why they clicked on my site(subject of a different post).

I only have two major dissappointments to date. First the number of people that lurk the website without commenting. Maybe I need to create some more controversial posts, say something bad about someone’s company or pay people to comment. Second, is the time that I have to committ to posting to the website. I would really have liked some of my other pages like EMR and EHR vendors, EMR vs. Paper Charts, EMR Evaluating and Purchasing, EMR Features and EMR Implementation Ideas to become a tool that could change the way people find, purchase and implement an EMR. It will happen, but I’m slighty saddened by their slow progress. Be patient and please lend any ideas you have.

Thanks to all those that are reading. The site seems to be gaining a certain forward momentum that will hopefully continue to progress and become a very valuable EMR resource on the net.

What better way to add a little bit of education during the wait time. I know that in every doctor’s office I’ve ever been to I’ve read every single thing posted or written on the wall and even read most of the outdated magazines that have been throught the ringer. I think the best solution is actually providing wireless internet access to me in the waiting room, but what about all those people who don’t have a laptop(or didn’t think to bring a laptop) to the Dr’s office?

The idea of having some podcasts available is a great idea. They could be educational as is described in a recent post on EMRUpdate where it gave some good ideas for sources:

Search engines
Sites like Medscape
Ipodder and Itunes both have searches for popular health related RSS feeds with audio

feed://feeds.feedburner.com/healthbeat
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=47403

You could easily digitize your own voice for short lectures on smoking etc., and have them available on the hard drive.

However, why not also include some more popular selections also?

I think this kind of model is perfect for the college health market too. Students are really into technology and would enjoy the use of this information. Also, many colleges have health educators who could spear head the project and create content that would be appropriate for the patients that are visiting. Not to mention advertising special benefits of a college health center like free and confidential HIV tests. I’ve wanted to do it on an even broader version with video and streaming the video and audio across the internet and allow questions where the internet provides nearly complete anonymity. I’ll have to take this into consideration for the new building we’re doing at my office.

Technically I have now passed over a month blogging, but with the holidays I didn’t really start posting much until the new year. However you count it, I am now 33 posts into my EMR and HIPAA blog. The amazing part is that I’ve only just begun posting things I’d like to post. Too bad I love watching the addicting statistics so much or I would produce more content for YOU my readers. As they say in Italian, “man mano”(”little by little” I think, but it really seems to translate more like hand over hand).

Thank you for all those who have visited the site and continue to return to see what I might suggest next. I have some good ideas waiting to be posted and new categories of posts so the site should really develop over the next few months. My biggest disappointment is with all of those who read the blog, but don’t post your thoughts and comments. I’m always interested in knowing what I’ve said wrong or other insights on what has become a most fascinating adventure “EMR”.

I must apologize to HIPAA since I haven’t given it much coverage at all. In the end I might have to rename the site to include HIPAA, but make EMR the star. I’m just too addicted to the entire concept.

Now that It’s been about a month I think I better start working on a domain name. Crashutah.com is my baby that I started when I was in college and will remain in my family forever I think. It is a great domain name, but doesn’t have meaning in regards to EMR and HIPAA. Therefore, I am looking for a good domain that is available.

Come on, if you’ve read this far you must be interested and want to give me some suggestions. Click the comments link and type away. Use Dragon Naturally speaking or hold a wooden dowel in your mouth to type(I actually saw this once). I don’t care, just let me know what you think.