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Special report: The new face of health IT

by Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | February 24, 2014
From the January/February 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

The old adage “out of sight, out of mind” seems to be causing consternation for some of today’s health care IT professionals. In the past, the role of these individuals has largely played out behind the scenes. They were charged with keeping systems running, making sure servers were up and downtime was kept to a minimum. However, the sea change that has occurred in the health care sector over the past few years has required IT professionals to take on a more visible role within their facilities.

“The image of the IT person sitting behind their computer and programming and plugging away and never coming out of the basement if you will, has changed,” says Todd Holling, assistant director of clinical systems for UnityPoint Health, a hospital system in Iowa and Illinois.

At Holling’s facility, the IT team’s face-to-face interaction with other departments has grown significantly over the past few years. Rather than decreasing productivity for the department, the interaction has improved processes and has served to underline the IT staff’s importance to the facility. “One of the core hallmarks we’ve instituted is rounding with all our affiliates,” says Holling. “We go around quarterly with the radiologists, for example, to hear what issues they’re having and to make sure their issues are heard and continuity is established.” Holling also stresses the importance of having monthly phone calls for any questions and to again reinforce the fact that the IT team is part of the larger hospital team.
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Similar activities are taking place at Joint Township District Memorial Hospital in St. Marys, Ohio.

“We have a committee that consists of all the key information systems departments: lab, ED, several IS representatives and our CFO/VP of finance and patient care,” says Robert Homan, clinical informatics specialist in the hospital’s information systems department. “It’s a 10 person committee that meets monthly to discuss future IT strategies and our roadmap to meet our goals.”

From hardware to software
Along with the change in social roles for health IT professionals has come the shift in the work they’re doing to keep the hospital humming.

“Traditionally, the IT person was more focused on hardware and infrastructure,” says Cristine Kao, global marketing director for Carestream’s Healthcare Information Solutions portfolio. “That focus has shifted to software and application support. An IT person isn’t just about archives. They’re about deploying applications, supporting clinical users and integrating multiple devices.”

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