Traversing Traverse Exchange

Guests: Allison Pallatroni, Product Manager for Interoperability, MEDITECH
Mike Cordeiro, Senior Director of Interoperability Market & Product Strategy, MEDITECH

Firstly, we hear about the success of the recent MEDITECH Live event and then we learn about MEDITECH’s Traverse Exchange network, both an overview and the high-level goals of the project. The group discusses how this new tool uses industry standards to exchange data across different organizations even if they are on different EHR systems. 

Traverse Exchange was first launched in Canada, and what MEDITECH learned there has been applied to the U.S. market. MEDITECH is offering the tool initially to customers that have already integrated with CommonWell, and then moving to new implementations and other eligible customers.

The end goal is to get all MEDITECH customers on this network so that the data benefits all facilities. Traverse Exchange can be coupled with other tools, like Search and Summarization, to greatly expands the capabilities and to help providers lessen their burden.

• MEDITECH introduces Traverse Exchange interoperability network for U.S. Market
• Traverse Exchange Canada
• 6 Takeaways from MEDITECH LIVE 2024

DYI Mammo Scheduling

Guest: Whitney Spiegel, Systems Analyst, Citizens Memorial Hospital (CMH), Bolivar, Missouri.

Whitney has worked at CMH as a Systems Analyst for seven years supporting registration, authorization and referral management, community wide scheduling, and patient portal.

Learn about Citizens Memorial Hospital and the IT team. Whitney shares how an initiative that came out of a task force put her on the path of optimizing the patient portal for self-scheduling. 

We discuss some of the general initiatives, and then specifically about project to implement self-scheduling for mammography patients. Learn the details of the build, working with the mammography team, and ensuring safeguards were employed – plus, hear the positive responses from those involved.

• Increasing Patient Access - MUSE presentation
• Citizens Memorial Hospital
• Citizens Memorial Hospital - Breast Imaging

Share and Share Alike

Guests from the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital (ETCH), Knoxville, Tennessee: 

• Amy Hill, Clinical Applications Manager
• Rick Simpson, Director of Information Technology
• Caron Zawadski, Director of Clinical Applications

Rick provides an overview the facility and EHR environment – and highlights the uniqueness of a children’s hospital. Amy shares her career path from bedside pediatric nursing to IT, and ultimately a clinical manager. Caron outlines the current projects at the hospital including MEDITECH’s Expanse Cam, Expanse Now, and High Availability Snapshot.

Learn about the collaboration between East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, based in Liverpool. Users from the two distinguished facilities meet regularly to share, learn and, sometimes, commiserate. Hear how the relationship has been mutually beneficial, and reinforces the value of organization like MUSE.

• East Tennessee Children's Hospital
• Alder Hey Children's Hospital

Amy Hill has been a pediatric nurse for 27 years and has been working as part of the IT team for 13 years. As manager, she leads a team of 16 analysts and informatics that support clinical staff through implementation, optimizations and daily support.

Rick Simpson, the Director of Information technology, is responsible for overall information management, technology, security, and the coordination of information needs in support of the operational strategic plans for the organization.

Caron Zawadski, who serves as Director of Clinical Applications, works closely with Amy and responsible for the management and oversight of analysts and informatics team.

Need to Search? Need to Summarize? How about a Search and Summarization Tool!

Guests: 
Randy Brandt, Physician Assistant, Mile Bluff Medical Center, Mouston, Wisconsin
Christine Silva, Senior Director of Field Marketing Operations, MEDITECH

Learn about Randy’s career path, and his facility and the IT team. Christina discusses her work with the Mile Bluff site. Together they highlight MEDITECH’s new AI-powered Expanse search and summarization capabilities powered by Google Health.

Randy shares how the search and summarization tool is being used at Mile Bluff to combat provider burn out and improve efficiency. Hear his specific recent example of how it helped a patient regarding a DVT and medication issue. Christine discusses the future of the Google-powered search and summarization tool.

Learn what is Randy doing with the time he has saved!

• Mile Bluff Medical Center - Google Health
• MEDITECH and Google Health collaboration
• MEDITECH LIVE 24
• Mile Bluff Medical Center
• Ride Across Wisconsin

What a Trip!

Guest: Peter White, CNIO, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, UK 

Peter won the International Education Exchange (IEE) contest with his presentation at the 2023 MUN conference in Liverpool, UK which earned him a trip to present at the 2024 MUSE Inspire Conference in Denver, CO.

Peter shares information about his unique organization in Liverpool and how his nursing background led him into the world of IT. We learn about the IEE contest journey and his impressions of the recent MUSE Inspire conference. He notes the great networking opportunities with both Facility and Commercial members. 

We delve into the content of his winning presentation including how the innovation team at Alder Hey worked to build a portal for patients. He explains the innovative panel built in the EHR to record likes and dislikes, so that the care team can provide a unique care experience for their patients. 

Peter shares a great relationship he has established with East Tennessee Children’s Hospital via the MUSE community and notes how helpful they were during his implementation.

What does Peter enjoy playing on the weekends? (Think UK sport!)

• Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust
• 2024 MEDITECH Physician Advisory Committee Meeting
• Alder Hey Innovation - Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust
• MUN Conference 2024 (MEDITECH Users Network)
• East Tennessee Children's Hospital
• Peter’s MUSE conference IEE winning presentation: How to Keep Pace with Patient Expectations

We Are The (MUSE) Champions

Guests:

• Jennifer Earl, Clinical Systems Analyst, Citizens Memorial Hospital
• Rebecca Hardwick, Clinical Applications Analyst - Medication Management, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
• Mallory Palmer, Clinical Informatics, Tri Valley Health System
• Brian Nelligan, Business Analyst, Service New Brunswick

MUSE Champions help the MUSE online community and social media platforms thrive as relevant resources for the MEDITECH community, and work to attract more MUSE users. Learn about each Champion, why they joined, and about their responsibilities and outlooks.

• MUSE Champions Program

AI, AI, Oh!

Guests:
Rachel Wilkes, Director of Corporate Brand and Lead Generation Marketing, MEDITECH
Alex Brinkert, BSN, RN, MPH, Senior Research Analyst Marketing, MEDITECH

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more popular in healthcare, and we hear how MEDITECH highlighted AI initiatives at the recent HIMSS conference. Rachel shares the details of their keynote presentation and customers’ successes. Learn how ancillary departments are using the search and summarization tools, and about some of the favorite use cases for this Google integration. We discuss the infrastructure and prerequisites that are required for this solution.

Alex shares more specific considerations for sites to start an AI journey, especially true use cases for AI such as documentation support for both nursing and providers via ambient listening.

MEDITECH is taking a responsible approach to AI integration with the goal of supporting providers and users.

And know that MEDITECH will offer numerous related presentations at the upcoming 2024 MUSE Inspire Conference.

• MEDITECH at HIMSS24
• 5 steps to take before embarking on your AI journey
• How Mile Bluff Medical Center thrives as an independent rural healthcare system
• 2024 MUSE Inspire Conference

Challenge and Aspire

Guest: Dr. Douglas Janowski, Physician Advisor for Information Technology and Clinical Integration, Willis-Knighton Health Located, Shreveport Louisiana

Dr. Janowski discusses his path into medicine and the IT world. He provides an overview of his large organization, their EHR rollout, and future initiatives. Learn how governance structures and organizational support have fostered success. Although we hear how making mistakes is often how you learn – and continue to improve.

Dr. Janowski outlines some of the big wins (sepsis) they have experienced since uniting under one Expanse system. And hear about training and support strategies – and the importance of peer-to-peer interactions.

Plus, what are the Blue Hens? Go Blue Hens!

• Willis Knighton Health
• MEDITECH’s Physician Advisory Committee
• 2024 MUSE Inspire Conference
• University of Delaware - Women's Ice Hockey Team

Downtime: Woes, Processes, and Exercises

Guest: Mike Ward, CIO, Anderson Healthcare, Maryville, Illinois

Mike Ward discusses his facility and the composition of his IT team – and preparedness for a downtime. There was an incident where his facility was down for 18 hours – and a neighboring hospital was down several days – and what they learned from that experience. Mike notes that we have been reliant on electronics for so long that some staff have never used paper or experienced a downtime.

Learn about some of the tools used, and about the downtime readiness committee that was formed to better manage potential downtime situations.

Also, Mike plans to attend the upcoming MAKIN-IT Community Peer Group in Missouri. And learn what Mike is reading!

Show notes:

• Anderson Healthcare
• MAKIN IT Community Peer Group Event
• The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma

The Journey from Janitor to CEO

Guest: Jonathan Hatfield, CEO, Klickitat Valley Health, Goldendale, Washington

Jonathan shares insight about his facility and how he journeyed from the night janitor to eventually the CEO role at the organization. We discuss the EHR journey KVH has had with its most recent implementation to MEDITECH MaaS. And learn why you should have attended the recent MUSE Executive Institute! Plus, what is Jonathan reading?

Show notes:

• Klickitat Valley Health
• Janitor to CEO: The incredible journey of Jonathan Hatfield
• 2024 MUSE Executive Institute
• Book: Art of the Impossible
• Book: The 4 Disciplines of Execution

Enabling Technologies – Lots of Technologies!

Guests:

• Sherry Montileone, CIO, Citizens Memorial Hospital, Bolivar, Missouri
• Mike Cordeiro, Senior Director of Interoperability Market & Product Strategy, MEDITECH 

Join us for an engaging discussion on a variety of topics related to enabling technologies. We discuss:

• Strategy and plans for Citizens Memorial Hospital
• The power of Expanse
• Greenfield workspace; API specs and use cases
• Data collaborative; data sharing; CommonWell
• Portal uses and usage; patient engagement; virtual visits; self-scheduling
• Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) to promote interoperability
• And MUSE events!

Show notes:

• Citizens Memorial, CMH Medical Clinics & Hospital, Bolivar, MO 
• MEDITECH Greenfield 

Early Adopter – Adopting Early and Often

Guest: Joe Farr, Director of Information Systems, Kings Daughters Medical Center, Brookhaven Mississippi. 

Learn about Joe’s path to healthcare IT leadership and the evolution of the EHR environment at his facility. Joe explains the numerous early adopter opportunities acquired at his site and he highlights:

• How the culture of the organization must be conducive to being an early adopter.
• What it takes to be a good “fit” as an early adopter site.
• The benefits of being an early adopter.
• Resource management considerations.

What’s Joe reading? Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

Show notes:

• King's Daughters Medical Center
• MEDITECH - Nurse Connection
• The Innocents Abroad

MEDITECH LIVE – Education, Networking, Customer Stories – LIVE!

Guests:
Rachel Wilkes, Director of Corporate Brand and Lead Generation Marketing, MEDITECH
Sharon Collins, Manage, Customer Programs and Events, MEDITECH
Episode Length: 14 minutes

The guests share some of their history at MEDITECH and the reasons they like working for the company. We discuss the upcoming MEDITECH LIVE event including a discussion of keynote speakers and notable topics.  Learn about AI and how that topic will be covered at the conference. Plus, we hear about the October Revenue Cycle summit.

Show notes:

• MEDITECH Events
• Scottsdale Institute - Paul Keckley, PhD
• Author Amer Kaissi