Successful Workplace

Most people think standard operating procedures are a strait jacket that limits their flexibility. Yet in our increasingly complex world of work, with so many possible decisions and steps, clever use of standards can liberate. They can actually make it easier to tailor customer experiences at low cost. Consider how standards are helping the Cleveland Clinic, rated one […]

Last night we were able to enjoy one of the greatest processes ever: childbirth. We were as ready to participate as anyone could be with crib assembled, forms completed and bags packed. We had more information about what to expect than anyone could hope for even a few years ago (before graphic YouTube videos put […]

The “Consumerization of IT” was an employee-led revolution.  Personal and business technology were leveraged by the employees to improve their own productivity, forcing IT to respond to ensure corporate standards were followed and intellectual property was protected. IT played catch up because they had no choice. Let’s take that example and consider the challenge to […]

Healthcare is in a moment of transformation that is coming at a bewildering pace for some and not soon enough for others. The most progressive healthcare organizations are implementing a new vision – using information and events occurring in the course of care to recognize trends and patterns, and to act upon them immediately.  They […]

If you’ve consistently read my posts (that means you, Mom), you know I’ve recently been intrigued by electronic monitoring and tracking of human behavior. As humans, we have very peculiar beliefs when it comes to being tracked by technology. We seem to be OK with it if, 1) we don’t know it’s happening, 2) we get something for it […]

45.7 million people in America do not have health insurance. 16 million people are under-insured and do not have adequate protection. $768 is the amount an average family of four falls short in having to pay for health care premiums each year with an annual minimum wage salary. $8,233 is how much the American government spends on health care for each person every […]

The following is a guest post by Doug Evans. Doug has years of experience leading marketing teams across diverse industries and especially in technology companies, including startups. He lives in Dublin, Ohio, where he also enjoys a hobby working in marketing and PR for the music industry. Just before the holidays, I went in for […]

Pharmaceutical drug discovery can become highly problematic when a company has over a decade worth of test data that needs to be analyzed. How can you expect to visualize 10 years of pharmaceutical test data all at once? Allergan does it everyday. And it matters. All around the world, whenever people meet up for holidays, festivities, […]

Almost all work these days is distributed — people interact with one other to make sales and process orders from different locations, for instance. To keep everyone up-to-date, particularly across departments and functions, employees use electronic tools (e-mail, voice mail, conference calls, instant messaging, and social media). In our virtual world, working face-to-face is increasingly […]

Gartner’s Jim Sinur wrote up his recent personal experience in healthcare, Bad Processes are a Stumbling Block to a Good Reputation, and brought up an excellent point about customer service: Who is the ‘customer’ of healthcare delivery? This questions could be the key to bringing healthcare into the 21st Century. Poor service Few industries are as […]

We’re undergoing a revolution in healthcare that started with the American Recovery Act in 2009. Good things can come from bad things, and near economic collapse gave us a reason to invest. The Act funded the switchover from paper to digital record keeping and amazingly, there was quite a bit of resistance at first. Someday […]

I watched Mercy Health’s John Conroy talk today about how they manage one of the most deadly issues facing hospitals right now: Sepsis. It is a systemic infection that isn’t the reason the patient entered the hospital. He described what they do as standing in a field in the summertime at dusk and seeing flashes of […]

Companies can reduce risk and allow organizational learning by breaking major process improvements into a series of small, reversible experiments. But when the change involves a new information technology, it’s harder to make incremental updates. This approach reduces risks and allows people to learn from each, and make adjustments as they go. But when the […]

The following is a guest post by John Gomez and was first published on HIS Talk as HIT Integration Analysis Guide. Over the past several months, one of the biggest questions I have gotten regarding the state of HIT is related to platform and technical integration. Specifically, the debate related to single platform vs. an […]

Imagine if leaders from several organizations in an industry put aside their competitive stripes to join forces and advance their industry through technology.  Well, it’s happening in healthcare. Dubbed the Healthcare Industry Transformation Project (HITP), the group is a cohort of nearly two-dozen C-Level executives, innovators, and influential leaders from across the healthcare ecosystem that […]

The following is a preview of a soon to be released article on Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and business process.  To receive a copy, contact me at: tom@successfulworkplace.com. The move to electronic medical records (EMRs) is underway in the US.  This critical component of health information systems is already yielding benefits for an inefficient system. […]