Inside IT Optimizers Archive

All of our past Inside IT Optimizers features are listed on this page.

August 2006	Steve Saunders Taking On a New Challenge Long time IT Optimizers Client Service Executive Steve Saunders has accepted a position with the County of Los Angeles, Department of Health Services as Director of Application Systems. Steve’s role includes all application areas. In particular, Steve will oversee the electronic health record efforts for the system including LAC-USC and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. We wish Steve and wife Jacki well!
December 2007	Best Practices We recently completed a review of select best practices for several of our clients; the resulting practice guidelines for Information Technology Risk Management and Academic Care Organizations-Information Technology Strategies are available for your review and download.
July 2007	Stanford Hospital & Clinics selects FULCRUM Series Methodologies to manage information technology life cycles. SHC is up and running, with over 100 IT-related projects loaded onto FULCRUM's electronic portfolio management platform. Read more about our partnership with Stanford Hospital & Clinics.
July 2007	Dennis Sato Named IT Executive of the Year The Society of Information Management has named Dennis Sato, CIO for Salem Hospital Regional Health Services, IT Executive of the Year for the state of Oregon and Southwest Washington. The honor came for Sato's work in implementing a hospital-wide clinical information system for Salem Hospital, along with his extensive community involvement. Sato's former CIO positions include El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA and for the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.
July 2007	Stanford Hospital Honored for Nursing Quality The American Nurses Credentialing Center (part of the American Nursing Association) has designated Stanford Hospital and Clinics as a "magnet facility". The "Magnet" designation recognizes health care organizations for nursing excellence, innovations in professional nursing practice and quality patient care. Currently, 256 organizations hold the honor; only ten "magnet facilities" are located in California.
July 2007	US News & World Report Releases Hospital "Honor Roll" The magazine's 2007 hospital rankings have been published, with an honor roll of just 18 hospitals ranking a "marked breadth" of expertise. West coast facilities making the list include UCLA Medical Center (#3), UCSF Medical Center (#7 tie), University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle (#11), Stanford Hospital & Clinics (#15 tie) and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (#17 tie). Click here to see the full "Honor Roll".
July 2007	IT Optimizers is working with Hill Physicians Medical Group, California's largest Independent Practice Association, to find and place IT professionals for its EMR and other information technology initiatives. Read more about our partnership with Hill Physicians Medical Group.
July 2007	Free Webinar Covers IT Vendor Selection Topics Joseph DeLuca of IT Optimizers & Gerry Hinkley of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP are the faculty at the Hospital Association of Southern California's Educational Program September 19, 2007. Health Information Technology System Procurement Issues and Pitfalls will cover best practices to systems procurement, including business models, RFPs, licensing, negotiating and board strategies. Attendance is limited to 150 connections. More Webinar information.
February 2007	Community Medical Centers Expands IS Leadership Jamie Franklin has moved into the role of Chief Project Management Officer for Community Medical Centers, Fresno, CA. Jamie’s first specific task: complete the economic and implementation planning for a new generation of clinical, financial, ERP and decision support systems. Jamie started in health care as a strategy and marketing executive at Children’s Hospital Central California, Fresno, CA, and previously served as that organization's CIO.
February 2007	Chinese Community Health Plan Wins NCQA Recognition Chinese Community Health Plan received the prestigious “Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care Award” from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. The programs website, www.cchrchealth.org, launched in 2004, receives 56,000 visits per year. CCHP, a California licensed HMO, is specially designed to deliver culturally sensitive, bilingual health care to the San Francisco community. Read More
February 2007	Stanford Hospital & Clinics Recruits Midwest Talent Tim Tarnowski was appointed Executive Director, Information Technology for Stanford Hospital & Clinics, returning to the West Coast where he started his IS career. Tim believes in the power of IT driven process transformation, and is governing, through his six sigma skills, the implementation of a new comprehensive, integrated clinical system. Tim previously was the CIO of Columbus Regional Hospital, Columbus, IN.
August 2006	American Academy of Ophthalmology Appoints CIO Joseph Carr was appointed as the Vice President of Information Technology for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, CA. Mr. Carr was an internal candidate for the position, and has now assumed responsibility for all aspects of information systems planning, business alignment, security, operations and e-commerce. IT Optimizers® served as the exclusive search and placement agent.
August 2006	Community Medical Centers Affirms CEO Craig Castro was appointed as the CEO of Community Medical Centers – Clovis, paving the path for CIO to CEO career progressions. Craig’s original appointment was reported in our January 2006 update. Read more.
August 2006	John Muir Health Executive Acknowledged in “30 For The Future” Eric Saff was acknowledged by Modern Healthcare as one of 30 people who could have a powerful impact on healthcare. Eric, the CIO of John Muir Health is passionate about his commitment to use information technology to improve patient safety, having experienced a tragic loss and several near misses in our health care system. Eric takes this perspective as a daily challenge to all around him. Through his leadership, John Muir Health has become a recognized leader in patient safety technologies.
August 2006	Chinese Community Health Plan Expands Management Team Deena Louie was appointed as the Director of Planning, Development and Contracting for Chinese Community Health Plan. Deena has extensive operations, business development, marketing and managed care contracting experience in the health care industry. Approximately 20,000 patients have insurance though CCHP, known for delivering culturally sensitive, bilingual care to the San Francisco community.
August 2006	HIT System Procurement Issues and Pitfalls Joseph DeLuca, Managing Practice Director will be sharing perspectives on this topic at The Third Health Information Technology Summit, September 25-27, 2006, in Washington DC. Co-presenter Gerry Hinkley, JD, Partner, David Wright Tremaine LLP, and Joe will cover many critical topics, including performance based contracting, the role of an RFP, and contemporary legal issues.
May 2006	Gayle Yeakle leaves Children’s for Amphibians After 25 years at Children’s Hospital San Diego, Gayle Yeakle, CIO, is retiring to join Living Exhibits, which provides exhibits for zoos, aquariums, and resorts all over the globe. She has influenced the health care industry and the lives of children in many positive ways through her passion and dedication. (Read more) In addition, Gayle will join IT Optimizers® as a Practice Director focused on our recruiting services.
May 2006	FULCRUM - Methodologies Breakthrough Columbus Regional Hospital (CRH) in Columbus, IN turned to FULCRUM Systems Implementation Methodology (SIM) for successful deployment of their Information System Strategic Plan. Since 1996, CRH under the leadership of Tim Tarnowski, VP and CIO has enjoyed a successful IS transformation, achieving implementation excellence in an accelerated time frame. Using FULCRUM SIM, CRH has met 62 of 63 project deadlines saving thousands of dollars and achieving organizational goals. “It is the foundation of CRH’s culture of effective systems implementation. Additionally, with SIM our IS and User team members have learned and use the SIM terminology and methods which has created a powerful and unifying approach for us.” Read more on FULCRUM
January 2006	From CIO to CEO-Craig Castro Leads The Way Craig Castro assumed the duties of Interim Chief Executive Officer, at Community Medical Centers-Clovis Campus this month, while continuing in his role as Senior Vice President and CIO. Craig is also the Chair, Board of Directors of Advanced Medical Imaging, a CMC joint venture organization. Craig also serves as the chair of the FULCRUM Steering Committee. On a personal note, Craig collects fine watches, and would like to meet Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com.
January 2006	Vice President-Information Technology Services Position Opening The American Academy of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, CA, is seeking an experienced and dynamic leader to join its executive team. ITOptimizers® is serving as the exclusive search and placement agent. Download the position description. Please send referrals or a statement of personal interest in confidence to info@itoptimizers.com.
October 2005	Ned Boatright, Practice Director, Client Services Executive Ned is leading our services for health plans as well as delegated risk payers. On the personal side, Ned and his wife Ann grew up in Indiana but now reside in Sebastopol, California. Together for over 37 years, they have one daughter, Beth, and a glorious and wonderful new granddaughter, Samantha. Ned is an avid woodworker, enjoys his yard and koi pond and finds time for an occasional jog around Spring Lake. Ned would like to meet Thomas Edison, an inventor with over 1,000 patents. “Edison’s curiosity, tenacity and creativity are inspirational to me. I would like to have him tell me what he thinks of today’s innovations and the inventions that he would build around the computer today.”
August 2005	Medication Management Award of Excellence John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek, CA, the largest hospital in the John Muir Health, received the 2005 VIP Award for Medication Management from McKesson Corp.(NYSE:MCK), as judged by an independent panel of health care experts. By using a combination of innovative information technologies as well as aggressive process redesign, JMMC has measurably and dramatically improved medication management delivery and ultimately patient care and safety. Health Management Technology, August 2005
August 2005	Stroke Management-Gold Seal of Approval Columbus Regional Hospital, Columbus, IN, Indiana’s first Magnet Hospital, became one of only 87 facilities nationwide recognized by JCAHO as a Primary Stroke Center with the Gold Seal of Approval for stroke care. Healthfactor, Columbus Regional Hospital, Summer 2005
April 2005	Strategic Change Management Salem Hospital, a rapidly growing, progressive facility in Salem, Oregon has retained IT Optimizers® to develop a comprehensive Organization Change Master Plan. Working with the CEO and executive leadership, our project team is systematically applying the FULCRUM Organization Change Management Methodology and online tools to establish a pathway for continued market success. The process is evolving out from an initial focus on executive leadership to include directors and managers of the organization.
April 2005	One-e-App Governance Project IT Optimizers® has completed an engagement on a subcontract basis to Davis Wright Tremaine to develop a governance structure and strategic business plan to guide the broad market adoption of One-e-App, a Web-based system designed to screen and enroll applicants (individuals and families) in multiple publicly-funded health programs through a single online application. The business plan, with continued grant funding from the California Health Care Foundation and The California Endowment, calls for an initial migration from project to program level visibility, and extended investments in marketing outreach to county application services, functionality expansion and usability. The two foundations have jointly financed the development of the One-e-App application.

 

 

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