Sometimes a high-performing engine gets sluggish. It can be a sign of a serious problem, requiring a complete re-build; or it can simply mean it’s time for a tune-up.

In the world of healthcare IT, the engines that keep hospitals running are hospital information systems (HIS) like McKesson Horizon. When they sputter, frequently it’s related to physician adoption of (and dissatisfaction with) a physician-facing application –…

Being that they're a close partner of McKesson, we wanted to do our best to get the word out about the upcoming FormFast user group meeting.  It's not every day that vendors take the time to interact with their current customer base to maximize the products they're using.  With over 800 hospital clients, you can imagine how large…

Over the past few years organizations have been well informed of the latest HIPAA rules. The HIPAA rules have included specifics around how to control privacy, security and overall patient safety related to electronic use of data. The newest rule, titled the Final Rule…

I am sure everyone is thinking what I am if you have ever been through an upgrade with any electronic system: what will go wrong? Nothing ever goes as planned no matter how well you are prepared. With that being said we are getting ready to upgrade to HPF 16.0 in August. So with all the skepticism I have about upgrades I am kind…

In my opinion a project manager needs to be onsite and 100 percent involved OR you can have a part time project manager and a strong triad of Revenue cycle Managers, including Health Information Management, Patient Access, and Patients Accounts.  Everything dealing with the computer implementation could go…

Electronic records and deficiencies-who would have thought it many years ago! Have you ever heard the term can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Well, I am sure we all have a few doctors that we love, but have been a doctor for so long that they will not come off of their old ways. Trying to get them to sign a…

Some things are out of our control. Of course no one wants to anticipate system or network failure. However, it’s a reality that we need to continuously and cautiously plan for. Last year Hurricane Sandy crippled the northeastern seaboard. Leaving many hospitals to deal with major flooding, electrical outages and failing…

First a little background....I work at a facility that has a different front end documentation system, and has recently purchased and is in the process of implementing Paragon financials.  Most times when you have two different products you start producing a  "Things that did not work how you thought they would” list.  But I've come to the…

Four years ago we went live with McKesson and with us all being new to this whole electronic system we didn’t know what to expect as far as scanners go. McKesson recommended a big Fujitsu scanner and some smaller desk top ones for indexing. We purchased a big Fujitsu scanner and another department gave us…

Many prospects have been recently asking about what their return on investment will be, should they decide to purchase Express Connect, our interface engine.  It’s a great question, and in all honestly one I would…

Despite our eagerness and preparedness for our go live date for CPOE orders we were not ready at all. Once they were turned on we found lots of issues that we were not aware of that would impact us as a department and as a facility.…

So, you’ve been thinking about getting into consulting for a while. You have one or two areas of expertise that you have spent years in, and you’ve proven you have unique skill sets and experiences. You’ve been through enough go-lives, upgrades, migrations, optimizations, and found and corrected enough flaws in the system…

Hospital CIOs face a variety of challenges in an industry that is rapidly changing and has left many wishing for major changes to happen soon. A recent Health Data Management report captured the wishes of one CIO, Michael Krouse of Ohio Health, by asking him what would be on his wish list this year;…

Business Continuity is critical for organizations of all sizes and industries. Without business continuity, an organization will simply not be able to operate effectively, or at all, in the days following a natural or man-made disaster. While a disaster recovery solution is valuable, it does not compare to a strategy…

Just over a year ago, we announced Better Health 2020™, McKesson’s view of the challenges and changes our customers and the industry will face throughout this decade as health reform continues. To address those challenges, we’ve focused on delivering on our current commitments while adding new solutions and capabilities that support population…

I'm begging you, please, don't be that guy.  You're go-live is completed and now, four months later, you're losing money and you're blaming the software.  I've been through implementations before and seen all of the moving parts--there's more to it.  So let's suspend time for a second, throw out all your preconceived notions regarding what happened and ask this one question.

If it wasn't the…

The other day we sent out emails to a number of McKesson hospital users inviting them to check out the network.  It turns out, this generated a response from an organization (not McKesson) that was looking to further clarify who we are as a network to both current and potential members.  While our quick growth…

So you've joined McKesson Social and are wondering, what happens next?  The journey has just begun.  While I want to welcome you to the network, it's more important to say that without you, this tool means nothing.  We originally created it to provide easy avenues for McKesson Users to interact with one another to share experiences and best…

Telehealth concepts are expanding within the healthcare industry as organizations are faced with meeting the needs of their healthcare community and driving industry factors while being tasked with less internal resources.  Furthermore for those hospitals that are dealing with diverse geographical locations, delivering advanced, state…