Ramblings: So I just took the CPHIMS exam

So I just took the CPHIMS exam and I must admit, I did not expect to ‘almost run out of time’.

Only 4 people took the CPHIMS this round (first time it’s offered in Singapore), there’s me, an IT Project Manager and a Medical Doctor involved in health informatics plus a gentleman whom I didn’t manage to speak to.

First thing first, we were given a paper based exam and the time allocated remained the same at 2 hours (a computer based exam is also 2 hours), I personally feel that they should allocated more time for a paper based exam as the ‘workflow’ of a paper-based exam is different from a computer based exam (time is taken when we look at another piece of paper located in a different area, locate the correct area to shade and then back to the question booklet, locate the next question etc).

Another few attributes that irk me (slightly) was poor lighting and that the environment was quite noisy. The examination took place in a classroom (with no sound proofing) of an institute of higher learning for 16-19 year old kids. One of the proctor had to leave the room several times to request the kids next door to keep the noise level down. For me, I sat next to the door and ‘enjoyed’ footsteps and conversations of students walking by – constantly.

One interesting part of the exam is that the questions seems to be geared towards the healthcare context of the US (2 other candidates who took the exam agreed with me) so I hope HIMSS will take that into consideration during grading and also fine-tune future exams for this region (HIMSS, if you are reading this, I can help you guys review the questions, I am designing curriculum for institutes of higher learning on health informatics in Asia).

Having said all these, I think the CPHIMS exam does cover a very interesting scope (see my previous post on the CBOK) and it’s well worth the time to take the preparation course even if one is not interested in taking the exam as it serves as a good recap on the various domain of knowledge one would need to navigate the complicated world of health informatics.

The results of the exam will be made known in about 2 6 weeks time so lets see if I ‘make the grade’.

Till then~

Panel: Health IT professional shortfall underestimated

Good news fellow Healthcare Informatics Professionals, HealthImaging.com ran an article that the Connected Health Symposium (USA) projected a shortage of some 50,000 health IT professionals (in the USA alone, imagine the rest of the world).

BOSTON–A projected shortage of some 50,000 health IT professionals in the United States is most likely an underestimate by the federal government, according to a panel discussion at the Connected Health Symposium on Thursday.

Panelists John Glaser, MD, vice president and chief imaging officer for Partners HealthCare; Eileen Sporing, chief nursing officer at Children’s Hospital Boston; and Andrew Vaz, national director of life sciences at Deloitte Consulting, shared a bevy of professional insights on current health IT market trends and its future direction.

Andrews said he believes that a projected shortage of 50,000 health IT professionals underestimates the market need by about 20 to 30 percent.

Vaz said that offshoring and emerging markets in China will contribute to an IT explosion “to win the war in talent.” Sporing said computer scientists are going to have to help providers expand the role of health IT in the future. Glaser acknowledged that the American Recovery and Reimbursement Act (ARRA) will force health IT professionals to hit the ground running when meaningful use is defined.

He said that the new health IT employment opportunities will need to be occupied in a relatively short amount of time, and all will require staff with the proper training.

According to the panel, the cost of health IT training may be a burden that providers have to shoulder.

Glaser noted that the federal government will put “some money” on the table for curriculum and to jumpstart the process. Increasingly, organizations will front money to bring in talent, Glaser said. He predicted that certification programs will proliferate, as the need for health IT professionals continues to grow.

The panel predicted that individuals also will shoulder some training costs in order to provide themselves with a competitive edge in the job market.

Vaz said that one of the biggest challenges facilities face is obtaining experienced project managers and information system designers. Glaser agreed, noting that “an element of effectiveness comes with experience.”

In a question-and-answer session, Jay Sanders, MD, president and CEO of the Global Telemedicine Group, said he had no doubt that an infrastructure will be set in place for EHR meaningful use requirements. His concern was that the “integrity of the information infrastructure” might be compromised.

“That is a persistent and never-ending challenge,” Glaser responded, adding that there will always be inherent limitations on the quality of data. Glaser noted that you’ll always want to piggy-back “knowledge to complement the algorithms.”

ABII exam results in 65 new CIIPs

Sixty-five candidates are now certified imaging informatics professionals (CIIP) after passing the American Board of Imaging Informatics (ABII) exam in September.

The pass rate for first-time candidates was 89.2 percent compared with 87.2 percent for the five previous exams, which ABII began administering in 2007.

Of the candidates who took the exam, three tested in Canada, one (a resident of Saudi Arabia) in Hong Kong, one in Mumbai, India, and the rest in the United States (including two in Puerto Rico).

According to the ABII, there are now 477 CIIPs. The exam tests candidates in several areas, including imaging management, health IT, operations, communications, systems management, clinical engineering, medical informatics, procurement, project management and training and education.

Digirad Debuts Fee-per-Study Web Based Cardiology PACS and CVIS

And Digrad jumps on the bandwagon.

Digrad Corporation, Poway, Calif. has launched c.pax™, a new web based cardiology PACS and cardio vascular information system (CVIS). The combined structured reporting and picture archiving and communication system is an online solution specifically for cardiology applications.

“c.pax will offer our many cardiology clients a tremendous workflow enhancement opportunity as well as greatly improve their quality of life by enabling instant web-access to all of their patients’ imaging studies and reports,” said Digirad CEO Todd Clyde in the press release.

c.pax includes remote archiving, web-based multi-modality viewing, analysis and intelligent structured reporting, as well as a remote archiving system that lets physicians edit and complete reports remotely, while eliminating the administrative task of implementing and maintaining a local archive. It is also DICOM compatible.

The c.pax costs are structured on a fee-for-service basis, rather than purchasing the PACS system and service contract separately, saving large capital upfront costs. In addition, as a secure web-based solution, physicians are able to perform diagnostic work and submit reports from any computer, regardless of location.

Lets see, Web Based and Fee-For-Service, maybe these guys have been attending my talks. (just joking guys).

On a serious note, I didn’t manage to find out what sort of modalities Digrad’s CVPACS covers so I can’t cover on the breath (nor depth) of the solution. One thing I did notice is that it is (so far) only available in the USA so I reckon it’ll be awhile before I get to see it in action.

GE forms alliance with UAE’s Etisalat

According to HealthImaging.com,

“Telecommunications provider Etisalat and GE Healthcare have signed a memorandum of understanding to form a strategic healthcare alliance in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to the companies, the UAE-based Etisalat will leverage GE’s solutions to capture patient information. The firms said the alliance will result in the development and offering of medical data management and remote clinical support services through Etisalat’s telecom infrastructure.

One area of cooperation the two companies plan to explore is that of cardiology systems with the introduction of GE’s Muse Cardiology Information system to provide cardiac assessments to hospitals and clinics.”

Now that in my opinion is a smart move. Network bandwidth remains (to date), the most critical (and arguably the most expensive) component in Telemedicine. Although ECGs are relatively small in filesize, the partnership will open doors for GE to digitize the rest of the cardiology images.

Updates: binaryHealthCare as a Social Enterprise

Alright, I reckon its time to announce the birth of binaryHealthCare as a Social Enterprise.

As you might have noticed, I have been focusing most of my time at ClubPACS.com, trying to build up the online community and there is a good reason why.

After attending the Entrepreneurship course and chatting with an old friend in the health informatics industry, I sat down and rethink on how to best utilize my time and resource on the various (related) side projects (binaryHealthCare, PACSAdminDay, ClubPACS etc) and worked out a ‘business plan’ to reorganize the various initiatives into a Social Enterprise.

The mission of binaryHealthCare as a Social Enterprise is to advocate Health IT as an enabler for “better patient care at lower cost” by raising the standards of health informatics through training, continuing education and providing a vendor neutral community for knowledge exchange and collaboration.

Sounds lofty? Not really, if you think about it, the various initiatives launched have been working towards this mission except that the synergy is lower. Having said that, my efforts will most probably be insufficient (although a recent turn of events has freed up more time for me).

So stay tune for more updates.

Cheers

Adam Chee
Chief Advocate

Baucus Bill Champions Healthcare Technology

I’d like to share this article from InformationWeek By Alexander Wolfe
(Source : here)

Legislation just sent to the floor by the Senate Finance Committee includes recommendations encouraging rapid adoption and use of health IT systems.

Much of the public discussion surrounding the new healthcare bill has focused on its costs and its insurance provisions — notably, the prohibition against insurance companies denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. The legislation was just sent to the Senate floor for a full vote after approval by the Senate Finance Committee

The legislation is being referred to as the Baucus Bill, after Sen. Max Baucus, D-MT, who heads the Senate Finance Committee and championed the bill.

However, the bill also takes a significant stab at setting the technological agenda for the U.S. healthcare system of the future. It includes recommendations encouraging rapid adoption and use of health IT systems.

A summary of the bill (available here [pdf download]) includes more than a dozen references to technology. Much of the verbiage is devoted to advocacy for electronic medical records (EMR). Computerized patient data is seen as a key to making care more efficient.

It’s also envisioned as a feeder into so-called “grouper” technology, where success rates for different treatments can be determined by analyzing large chunks of data.

Notes the summary: “Health IT is needed for quality reporting and improvement and to give providers ready access to better evidence and other clinical decision-support tools. Reinvesting in the training of a twenty-first century health care workforce is necessary for many delivery system reform goals to be realized.”

The most detailed take out on the bill’s healthcare IT intentions are contained in this lengthy passage on pg. 57 of the summary:

“Health Information Technology. Most providers in the health care system collect and transmit information on paper, over the phone, and via fax machines. More advanced health information technology (IT) offers tools to streamline and support the process of collecting and analyzing the data needed to provide the best and most efficient care possible. Clinical IT comprises multiple applications that can support different functions in health care, such as:

• Tracking patient care;
• Allowing physicians to order medications, lab work, and other tests electronically, and then access test results;
• Reporting to chronic disease registries; and
• Providing evidence-based decision support to physicians.

Encouraging more rapid adoption and use of health IT systems will improve health care quality and make our health care system more efficient.64,65 Automating the collection of clinical data will also be a vital component of better quality performance measurement and reporting. Technology can facilitate richer data sets for comparative effectiveness research, and help providers use comparative effectiveness findings in their own clinical practices. The Baucus plan provides Federal-level leadership to spur the modernization necessary to support a truly patient-centered delivery system.

Health IT adoption by providers has been low to date, especially for physicians in small group practices. Providers, particularly physicians, cite as obstacles the cost of purchasing and implementing systems, a fear of investing in systems that may soon be obsolete, as well as a lack of a clear return on investment. Some providers, especially in smaller settings, lack the resources or expertise to navigate the large and complex market of health IT products or to maintain such a system over time. Implementing health IT also requires changes in office organization, processes, and culture that clinicians and office staff may resist. Safeguards must be put in place to ensure that patient privacy is protected. And existing payment incentives discourage health IT adoption. Reductions in office visits, hospital admissions, and other services that could be achieved through the use of health IT would accrue to the benefit of payers and patients but not to providers themselves.

Despite these challenges, there is a growing consensus among patient advocates, providers, and payers that a path forward that drives adoption and protects patient privacy must be found.”

Interesting eh, what would your thoughts be?

Ramblings: Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS)

So what I been busy with?

Well, it was originally work but from today onwards, I’d be concentrating more on a few other things and among them would be an upcoming certification – the Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) examination administered by HIMSS.

I’m scheduled to take the exam on the 27th Oct 2009 and will post more about the actual test at a later date but let me share my thoughts on the Core Body Of Knowledge (CBOK) as I go through the materials for my preparation.

According to HIMSS, CPHIMS is a professional certification program for healthcare information and management systems professionals and this really sums up what the certification is all about and it’s intended audience.

I personally feel that the CBOK has been pretty well design as it comprises of not only the critical skillset and knowledge that a Health IT Professional should process but also the related CBOK like HR Financial.

The usual suspects includes System Analysis and Design, Project Management, Quality Improvement, Database Management System, Inforcomm Security, DR & BCP, Outsourcing, Software Testing, Service Management and of course, basic stuff on Healthcare that includes regulation, health systems and workflow.

Sounds challenging? Definitely.

Sounds impossible? Definitely not.

I can imagine that any experienced Health IT Professional who have his/her fair share of ‘battle scars’ to process the above CBOK because one would need to process a fair understanding of all the domains of knowledge mentioned above (and more) to effectively manage their daily roles in Health IT Management.

HIMSS also publish a Candidate handbook that illustrate the CBOK and where the emphasis is. I think it is a useful read before determining if one would like to embark on the certification. The handbook can be downloaded here

I’ll post more on CPHIMS as I go along or after I take the exam to share more

The 1st African PACS & RIS Edu-conference

Dear fellow medical imaging informatics professionals, I’d like to share with you details on the 1st African PACS & RIS Edu-conference to be held on the 22 – 24th October, at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Tygerberg Campus of the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa.

Personally, I am extremely excited because this conference is a ’sign’, a milestone that signifies the importance and reach of medical imaging informatics. Our profession has come a long way indeed and the exciting part is – we are nowhere near stopping.

The goal of this edu-conference is to share experiences and knowledge gained through the implementation of PACS & RIS solutions at various sites throughout Africa. The hope is that participants will be able to take the knowledge gained during the edu-conference and ensure a successful PACS & RIS implementation at your institution and so doing improve patient care.

For the interested, the website is http://www.pacsrisafrica.com