John Halamka

See the following -

Dr. Halamka’s Dramatic MU Prediction In Boston

Mark Hagland | Healthcare Informatics | May 13, 2014

John Halamka, M.D. predicted on May 13 that 80 percent of U.S. hospitals would fail to attest to MU Stage 2 on time

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EHR Optimization: Necessary Because EHRS Are Never “Done”

D’Arcy Guerin Gue | Phoenix Health Systems Blog | March 22, 2017

Why, if over 95 percent of hospitals have implemented EHRs, are so many planning to invest in improvements or replacements this year? A new Healthcare IT News survey of hospital executives showed that 24 percent are conducting a major EHR system upgrade, and 21 percent are replacing their EHR at one or more sites. KPMG’s survey of CHIME members last month found that at least 38 percent of CIOs are investing in EHR optimization projects this year; in fact, they plan to spend more on EHR optimization than any other area of HIT. These numbers are huge when you consider that most hospital EHRs are newer versions implemented to meet MU attestation requirements...

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Epic Holdout Questions Install Craze

Bernie Monegain | Healthcare IT News | July 31, 2013

In a recent blog post, John Halamka, MD, chief information officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, offers his views on why the Epic EHR has gained unprecedented momentum in the market among providers nationwide -- not least among an elite group of hospitals in Boston. Read More »

ER Doctors Use Google Glass And QR Codes To Identify Patients

Jon Brodkin | Ars Technica | March 12, 2014

A tech-savvy hospital in Boston developed a custom information-retrieval system for Google Glass, which lets ER doctors scan a QR code on the wall of each room to call up information about patients...

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GAO Hits EHR Incentive Program Hard

Bernie Monegain | Healthcare IT News | March 7, 2014

The GAO recently took a swipe at the government's Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Program, saying it lacked strategy and called for action to establish a strategy in order to achieve its goals, especially those aimed at improving care.

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Hacking Health Care Records Reaches Epidemic Proportions

Nsikan Akpan | Scientific American | March 29, 2016

In February 2015, Anthem made history when 78.8 million of its customers were hacked. It was the largest health care breach ever, and it opened the floodgates on a landmark year. More than 113 million medical records were compromised last year, according to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) under Health and Human Services. Consider it this way: if each case represented a single individual, one in three Americans would have been a victim...

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Halamka Discusses His Guiding Principles

As I’ve aged and matured my approach to life, career, and family, I’ve evolved my rubric for organizing each day. Here’s what I’ve used for 2016: Avoid commuting delays as much as possible - leave no later than 6:00am in the morning and return either before 3pm or after 7pm. I generally go in early, return early, care for animals, then work in the evening. I work in Boston Tuesday/Thursday, in our suburban Metrowest office Monday/Wednesday and wherever the most urgent projects are happening on Friday...

Halamka Says "We Must Think and Act as One Planet"

Over the past few days, several journalists have asked me to comment about travel bans, immigration policy changes, and trends in isolationism. My opinions are my own and do not reflect any official position from my employer or my academic affiliation. Information Technology is global. We hire the best talent regardless of nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, or race/ethnicity. Having worked in 75+ countries in my adult life, I can say that innovation crosses all boundaries and cultures. It’s just as likely that next big breakthrough will come from EMEA as it is from APAC. I cannot imagine restricting the flow of collaboration among academics and technology professionals from any country...

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Halamka: Google Glass - the Details

I’m now able to publicly write about the work that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has been doing with stealthy start up, Wearable Intelligence. We’ve been working over the past 4 months on pilots that I believe will improve the  safety, quality  and efficiency of patient care through the integration of wearable technology such as Google Glass in the hospital environment. Read More »

Halamka: Next ONC Chief Faces Small Budgets, Big Challenges

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | October 9, 2013

The next National Coordinator for Health IT has some big shoes to fill, says Beth Israel Deaconess CIO John Halamka, and will face an era of shrinking IT budgets, converging deadlines, and hard choices. [...] Read More »

Halamka: What Keeps Me Up At Night - Fall 2013

John Halamka | Life As A Healthcare CIO | September 3, 2013

All of these challenges can be conquered. For nearly 20 years, I've led an IT organization that has continuously delivered miracles with 1.9% of the operating budget.  I am ready for the challenges ahead but wonder if mergers/acquisitions, regulatory uncertainty, MU2 certification challenges, resource constraints, and real time demands will create a set of constraints that are impossible to optimize.
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Health 2.0 and Mad*Pow Announce Final Agenda For HxRefactored

Press Release | Health 2.0, Mad*Pow | February 27, 2015

Health 2.0 and Mad*Pow announce the final agenda for the upcoming HxRefactored Conference, April 1-2 in Boston, Massachusetts. HxRefactored is a revolutionary design and technology conference gathering over 600 designers, developers, and entrepreneurs in health care for two days of thought provoking panels, workshops and discussions on how to improve the quality of the health experience.

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HIE 'Rules Of Road': What's Next?

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee | GovInfoSecurity.com | September 17, 2012

Supporters of a recent decision by federal regulators to back away from issuing voluntary "rules of the road" for secure health information exchange say the move makes sense [...]. But some others argue that establishing HIE benchmarks, especially for privacy and security, is advisable now to help build public trust. Read More »

HL7 Standards Soon to be Free of Charge

Press Release | HL7 | September 4, 2012

Health Level Seven® International (HL7®), the global leader in developing interoperability standards for healthcare IT, announced today its decision to make much of its intellectual property (IP), including standards, freely available under licensing terms. The landmark decision represents HL7’s commitment to the betterment of healthcare worldwide by ensuring that all stakeholders have equal access to its HIT standards. The new policy is expected to take effect in the first quarter of 2013. Read More »

Is EHR data blocking really as bad as ONC claims?

Diana Manos | Healthcare IT News | June 13, 2016

Consensus that EHR vendors and profit-hungry hospitals are intentionally making it hard for patients and others to access date is based on evidence – much of it put forth by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT – that is largely anecdotal. Center for Medical Interoperability vice president Kerry McDermott says data blocking is a systemic issue because information sharing is a new practice in healthcare...

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