Note: In case you missed the other 12 Days of #HITChristmas, you can start with the first day here along with the story behind #HITChristmas or read all 12 days here as they are published.
On the 4th Day of #HITChristmas we’re excited to feature, Michelle Katz from F1 HealthIT.
Tell us about yourself and F1 HealthIT.
I basically have experienced healthcare from “all sides of the gurney”. As a patient, nurse, coder, revenue cycle, representative on Capitol Hill, in the media etc. As far as F1 HealthIT, F1 HealthIT is a boutique, woman owned company that has been in the Technology industry for over 30 years. With experience in many different sectors, F1 is most excited about expanding in the healthcare space because one of our passions is to be a strategic partner with our clients and work along side them to improve patient care. Our industry experience helps bring Subject Matter Experts and Best Practice advice to our clients in numerous ways. As a vendor neutral company we are able to offer assistance with vendor selection, help with legacy support, optimization, revenue cycle and security needs, system integration and basic technical support. Additionally, one major advantage of partnering with F1 HealthIT is our size. We are able to offer competitive pricing and extremely personal one on one support to our clients.
What’s the biggest trend you see in your healthcare IT consulting work? What should we know about it?
The focus on revenue and data integrity. Maintaining records across systems and organizations is challenging. Most health systems have implemented and updated their EHRs, thanks to the ARRA and Meaningful Uses initiatives. Now, organizations are faced with the task of validating and maintaining the data from a myriad of internal and external sources.
In addition, another area that might be more interesting to highlight is data breaches from the patient portal. Unfortunately, my team has found that there is not that much emphasis on data security, but that is starting to change, especially when we are able to point out areas of the potential breaches.
What are the most in demand positions you’re trying to fill in your IT staffing and Executive search work?
Revenue Cycle SME, Healthcare IT Security experts, Compliance, EMR Optimization folks to Legacy support resources.
What’s something you see happening in healthcare IT that not enough people are talking about?
With the economic changes in healthcare, many hospitals are joining larger healthcare systems, or forging strategic partnerships. Over the years the affiliations and EHRs have changed a number of times. Many times the integrity of the patient record is compromised. Patients may have pieces of their medical record in different systems. The average is 8-10 different systems. Ensuring the integrity of the record is a challenge and few patients realize the efforts required to do this.
Are you seeing healthcare organizations ready to move beyond the EHR or is it still dominating their mindshare?
Most organizations are ready to move beyond EHR implementation and are focusing on analytics and population health. Many organizations have months or years of data. The trend is to organize and make meaning of the data. Organizations are answering the questions – Is there a trend in disease occurance in a particular zip code? Is one course of treatment more effective for a particular diagnosis than another? What preventative measures are impacting health outcomes?
What can the healthcare IT community do for you and F1 HealthIT?
Keep the dialogue going. We are constantly learning from our clients as well as enlightening our clients on the new regulations and rules that are changing in DC, solutions that have been successful and where there may be a potential disaster. As a team with various backgrounds and experience, we work together to inform our clients and better their systems for the healthcare provider, patient and c-suite executive.
Be sure to follow all of the 12 Day of #HITChristmas.
