Computerworld -
In my career, there have been a few perfect storms, defined as "a confluence, resulting in an event of unusual magnitude."
In 1980, when I was an undergraduate at Stanford University, two geeky guys named Jobs and Wozniak dropped by the Homebrew Computer Club to demonstrate a kit designed in their garage. In the next couple of years came IBM's Personal Computer and Microsoft's MSDOS. I purchased an early copy of Microsoft Basic and began creating software in my dorm room, including early versions of tax calculation software, an econometric modeling language and electronic data interchange tools. Every day brought a new opportunity. The energies of hundreds of entrepreneurs created an industry in a few intensely creative months that laid the foundation for the architecture and tools still in use today. A guy named Gates offered me a job, but I decided to stay in school instead.
In 2001, when I was first hired at Harvard, a visionary dean for medical education, a supportive dean of the medical school, talented new development staff, and a sleepless MD/Ph.D. student came together to create one of the first learning management systems in the country, Mycourses. Robust Web technologies, voice recognition, search engines, early mobile devices and new multimedia streaming standards coincided with resources, strong governance and a sense of urgency. Magic happened and in a matter of months, an entire platform was created that is still powering the medical school today.
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Computerworld - In my career, there have been a few perfect storms, defined as "a confluence, resulting in an event of unusual magnitude."
In 1980, when I was an undergraduate at Stanford University, two geeky guys named Jobs and Wozniak dropped by the Homebrew Computer Club to demonstrate a kit designed in their garage. In the next couple of years came IBM's Personal Computer and Microsoft's MSDOS. I purchased an early copy of Microsoft Basic and began creating software in my dorm room, including early versions of tax calculation software, an econometric modeling language and electronic data interchange tools. Every day brought a new opportunity. The energies of hundreds of entrepreneurs created an industry in a few intensely creative months that laid the foundation for the architecture and tools still in use today. A guy named Gates offered me a job, but I decided to stay in school instead.
In 2001, when I was first hired at Harvard, a visionary dean for medical education, a supportive dean of the medical school, talented new development staff, and a sleepless MD/Ph.D. student came together to create one of the first learning management systems in the country, Mycourses. Robust Web technologies, voice recognition, search engines, early mobile devices and new multimedia streaming standards coincided with resources, strong governance and a sense of urgency. Magic happened and in a matter of months, an entire platform was created that is still powering the medical school today.
In 2010, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, IS clinical systems staff and key operational leaders realized that it would be possible to fulfill Stage 1 of the federal governments criteria for "meaningful use" of electronic health records if we temporarily put aside other work and focused our energy, creativity and enthusiasm on rapid innovation, process change and education. (As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a.k.a. "the stimulus," the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act provides funding for hospitals and clinicians who demonstrate adoption and use of EHR technology that is certified to meet specific functional requirements. When organizations or individuals achieve the 15 required and five out of 10 optional technology and policy changes, they can attest to using the technology in a meaningful way that improves quality, safety and efficiency. This is the concept of meaningful use that is a prerequesite to any healthcare IT stimulus funding.) Within a few weeks, we became the first hospital in the country to certify our EHR applications -- inpatient and ambulatory. We became the first hospital to achieve Meaningful Use. More than 70% of our eligible professionals have surpassed meaningful use performance thresholds. We had no budget, no dedicated resources, and nothing but strength of will to make it happen. It was one of our finest hours.
In 2011, Massachusetts' secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the CIO of the EOHHS, private-sector healthcare leaders and healthcare IT experts had a bold idea -- to create a public utility that links together all the existing regional health information exchanges, public health, small clinician offices, payers and patients using modular components procured and initially operated by state government. We aligned forces and in a few weeks created budgets, project plans, a new state Medicaid health plan and a guiding coalition of stakeholders. Political, organizational and technical barriers were broken down, and unbridled optimism rekindled our health information exchange momentum. 2012 will be a transformative year in the commonwealth, truly a perfect storm.
My advice is to look for the perfect storms in your own life. Minimize your distractions, cancel unnecessary meetings and put aside those tasks that don't add value. Take a risk, and dive head first into the possibility of creating greatness.
I've seen opportunity come and go in my life. No one remembers the mundane. And no one forgets the events of unusual magnitude.
John D. Halamka is CIO at CareGroup Healthcare System, CIO and associate dean for educational technology at Harvard Medical School, chairman of the New England Health Electronic Data Interchange Network, chairman of the national Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel and a practicing emergency physician. You can contact him at jhalamka@caregroup.harvard.edu.
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