Here is an article summarizing the way Cleveland Clinic is using REST-based APIs to solve real problems in their institution. Taken from a talk given by Mat Coolidge at the SIIM 2014 Annual Meeting.
Informatics
Article – CDC on EHR errors: Enough’s enough
In this article, the CDC has issued a warning on the issues of user interface design when presenting patient information in EHRs.
As the examples in the article illustrate, having information in digital form is not enough. It needs to be presented in an effective way to ensure comprehension. After the current wave of information digitization and consolidation (moving information from disparate, departmental clinical information systems into a single large enterprise system), the next wave of effort needs to be on privacy/security, accessibility/reliability, and usability, or the incredibly high potential gains will not be realized.
Users need to trust the system, it needs to be there when they need it (wherever that is), and they have to want to use it.
P.S. Here is an infographic on EHR adoption.
The Value of Hackathons in Healthcare
Having participated in the inaugural SIIM 2014 Hackathon, I can appreciate the diverse expectations that participants have. Some think of these events as a way to learn and experiment, others a competition. Some prefer to work as a team, others alone. Some are interested in integrating existing systems and data in new ways, while others want to invent something completely new.
In any case, I found this article insightful. It explores why the concept of “hacking” is so prevalent in healthcare, and also touches on why new “apps” often struggle to make it past the hackathon stage. It even posits that a hackathon can replace the traditional RFP procurement process for identifying and selecting innovative solutions.
Video – Interview on SIIM Hackathon
Here is a short video interview I did about the SIIM Hackathon. Clearly, I am not quite ready to go into broadcasting. 🙂
Healthcare Informatics 100 – Gold Rush for Health IT Vendors
The latest edition of the top 100 healthcare IT vendors, by revenue, has been released. This article provides some insight, and here is the actual list.
For some perspective, here is a blog post from the Editor-In-Chief of Healthcare Informatics, Mark Hagland, that includes and analysis of the list and some trends over the past few years.
An excerpt: “…five years ago, the 2009 Healthcare Informatics list revealed that the vendor with the highest HIT revenues had $2.98 billion in 2008 revenues, while the 100th and last on the list had $5.1million in 2008 revenues. This year, the top company reported $3.4 billion in revenues, while the 100th largest company reported $35 million in revenues. In 2009, reporting $35 million in revenues would have put a vendor company up at number 65th on the list.”
Article – SIIM Hackathon gives DICOMweb a coming-out party
Check out this article in Radiology Business Journal on the recently concluded Hackathon at the SIIM 2014 Annual Meeting in Long Beach, California.
Here are my other observations on SIIM 2014, in case you missed it.
SIIM 2014 Reflections
Another SIIM Annual Meeting is in the books. As usual, it was a great event with tons of great information, discussions and networking.
Some observations…
- There are some very bright folks working in clinical informatics that us imaging informatics folks should be collaborating with. They have cool stuff, we have cool stuff. We need to build bridges and keep each other informed.
- Enterprise Imaging is slowly catching on. We need more details documented, such as exactly what values we should be putting into which attributes/fields for specific image types, but the overall message of the need for clear and consistent metadata along with the images is finally taking hold.
- The vendors I spoke to were happy (happier than usual). It is no secret that SIIM is more about education, learning, networking and relationship building than high volume lead generation. It attracts thought leaders and people tasked with knowing how to get things done. Its members are loyal and have long careers in imaging informatics. Still, vendors that I visited seemed happy with the attendees that came through their booths. One emerging vendor closed a new customer on the exhibit hall floor (a first for them).
- Hackathons are fun and a great way to learn about new technology. The SIIM Hackathon was a ton of work to pull off, but worth every minute. When you give smart creative people effective new tools, they can do amazing things in a short period of time. Seeing the applications and intgrations that the Hackathon participants completed in a few days (hours, in some cases) was great.
- Twitter is not only a fun to interact with friends during the meeting, but also a great way to get key points of learning (in near real-time) for sessions that you could not attend. Twitter and climbing the SIIM Twitter Leaderboard ladder is also at the level of an addiction for some (you know who you are).
- Long Beach is a great little place for a meeting.
- SIIM meetings are very well run. The sessions rarely experience any technical issues. Speakers are well prepared. The agenda is clear and finding the rooms are easy. Sometimes we only notice when things go wrong, but fail to notice when they go right. SIIM staff has this ‘running a meeting’ thing down to a science.
That’s it for now. Already looking forward to SIIM 2015 in Washington D.C.
New JDI Article Published – Informatics Challenges—Lossy Compression in Medical Imaging
An article I co-authored with Kinson Ho on the implications on informatics and information management when applying lossy compression to medical images in DICOM has been published. Check it out here.
It also explores whether wavelet-based compression (e.g. JPEG2000) still provides the value that it once promised. A comparison of different approaches to preserve system and network resources is included.
It is available in Journal of Digital Imaging.
Article – The time is now for deconstructed PACS
Here is another article (on Aunt Minnie; you likely need an account to access, but it’s free) predicting the deconstruction of PACS (and workflow management systems, like RIS). This mirrors many of the same predictions made in the article titled PACS 2018: An Autopsy, published in JDI recently.
The author’s observations on the lack of recent innovation in PACS is likely attributable to the saturation of PACS in mature markets. Would you invest the same amount in R&D on PACS in today’s environment as you would before the PACS “gold rush” of the mid-2000’s? I touched on this in a blog post a year ago after attending the SIIM 2013 Annual Meeting.
The Gamification of Radiology
Check out this article on gamification and clinicians.
In Radiology practices, obvious applications of gamification is using the inherent social pressure of it to improve report turnaround/signing times and peer review quota compliance. Or, even clinician satisfaction of the report.
It could also be used to provide reward/advantage to technologists that provide superior service to patients and acquire good quality imaging exams.
Participating in continuing education opportunities—say, like by attending the SIIM Annual Meeting—could also earn “points” toward rewards.
To work, it needs to be based on meaningful activities, include an aspect of social pressure and provide rewards that matter to the participants.
Don K Dennison 