AIIM Knowledge Center Blog

Is your HealthCare Provider Listed?

 

 Submitted by Bob Larrivee, Director/Industry Advisor

 

Not long ago I wrote about what at the time was the newly released mandate from the current Administration that all patient records must be digital by 2014. Shortly thereafter I wrote about how Health and Human Services came out with another mandate related to the reporting of patient security breaches. (I will be discussing Digital Patient Records in my session next week at AIIM 2010 in Philadelphia.) In preparing for this event, I went back to see how things are in the world of security breaches and visited the HHS site that reports breaches.

 

This site identifies those who have reported a breach affecting 500 or more individuals and began several months ago. As of today, there are more than 55 facilities listed representing over one million people whose private information may have been inappropriately accessed by unauthorized personnel. The locations of where the breaches range from paper to email to laptops and servers. In some cases it is the HealthCare facility itself at fault while in others, it is associated business partners. The form of breach also varies from theft, to incorrect mailings with many citing theft or unauthorized access as the cause.

 

In my view, going digital is not the only solution to patient record security. Organizations must have better control over both digital and physical information which means stronger governance policies and more frequent auditing or monitoring to ensure security is maintained. To a degree, this supports the move to digital for when combined with the tools found in Business Process Management (BPM) and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) environments, records and information are tracked to monitor and report all activity. These systems do not take the place of governance but act as tools in support of governance policy and serve to enforce governance policies. While they will serve well in protecting patient information, there is still the human factor that requires regular training on policy, process and technologies used to secure your information.

I hope your provider is not on this list and that they are taking the steps needed to establish a secure environment that combines their Electronic Health Records (EHR) system with other technologies to control and manage all of the information about you and how it is moved through the organization in a safe a secure way.

 

 What say you? Are you a HealthCare provider who is addressing these requirements today? Are you a patient who has fallen victim to a security breach? Do you have a story to tell? I want to hear from you.

 

Looking to learn more about intelligent information and process management?

 

Join us for the BPM Certificate course in:

San Francisco 05/25/10 - 05/28/10

 

Join us for the ECM Certificate course in:

San Diego 05/04/10 - 05/07/10

Denver 05/18/10 - 05/21/10

Calgary 05/25/10 - 05/28/10

Silver Spring 06/08/10 - 06/11/10

Houston 06/15/10 - 06/18/10

 

We look forward to seeing you there. Do you have several individuals who need training? Contact us to find out how a private class can save you on registration costs.

 

Bob Larrivee – AIIM blarrivee@aiim.org

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.

Share Your Enterprise 2.0 Roadmap and win $2,000!

Enterprise 2.0 is experiencing a lot of interest in, but there is a lack best practice for how to plan and implement it. Organizations are looking to improve collaboration and innovation, but with few roadmaps or guidelines, on implementing Enterprise 2.0. While there are some industry professionals who have a lot of experience with Enterprise 2.0, organizations risk repeating earlier mistakes if we do not find ways of sharing lessons learned and preferred approaches.

 

Many executives had high hopes for Knowledge Management (KM) and Business Process Reengineering (BPR) a few years ago, but it was difficult to implement successfully. We need to ensure the success of Enterprise 2.0 by documenting preferred approaches and possible business benefits.  

 

In response to this growing demand, AIIM, your industry association for intelligent information management, is implementing an Enterprise 2.0 online community platform beginning in April. This new platform is designed to provide you with information from leading bloggers, buyer’s guides, wiki and networking. We are providing this platform for you, but the Enterprise 2.0 community is depending on your help to grow the adoption of Enterprise 2.0.

Have you developed or used templates to get an Enterprise 2.0 implementation up and running? Do you know what works? If you have an existing template/framework (or an idea for one), enter our contest. We are looking for any templates, guidelines or frameworks for Enterprise 2.0 (determining value, project planning/components, user requirements, etc.).

 

Let's learn from and help each others. Visit http://www.aiim.org/infonomics/aiim-wiki-enterprise20-contest.aspx today and enter for a chance to win!

 

Bob Larrivee – AIIM blarrivee@aiim.org

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.

Change Management Assessment

 

 Submitted by Carl Weise - AIIM

 

 

 

Defining and scoping the user community of an ERM system is a significant task. It is the key to understanding how best to address findability, the building of one or more taxonomies, and security models. So, who are these users in the community? How are you targeting them so that you understand what they're trying to get out of the ERM system?

 

Is there a single community, or multiple communities? There may be, for example, certain departments, such as marketing or sales, that lean towards the “cutting edge” and are more likely to adopt new technologies and seek out more efficient processes, while executives or line workers tend to be removed from the direct actions of the ERM system, and may be more reluctant to move to systems that put them directly in control, or with more responsibility for creating, finding and managing their corporate information. In the management of the community, looking at the health and balance of participation within the community, and any changes occurring within the community, such as re-organisations or acquisitions and mergers, are obviously important to be aware of.  As the community changes, so too must your project scope and appreciation for user needs.

 

If initial use of the system is going well, and suddenly use falls off… that's a very bad sign and you need to take a look at why it happened. Is it because of usability? Is it because of cultural problems? Was the initial surge only because of an intense push from management, and the “regular users” lost interest shortly after management moved on to the next quarterly goal? Is it because of technical issue or a procedural issue? These are issues to keep in mind as you go about probing what the current state of acceptance of proposed changes is, and to keep aware of through vigilant and continuous monitoring as the ERM system grows and matures.

 

Regardless of the kind of change, whether technological, cultural, procedural, role-based, or any other, it must first be decided if an organisation is ready to face the change and adjust to it.  Change may be coming whether it’s welcome or not.  Determining readiness is a big factor in the potential success of your ERM project. Organisational change is always going to appear threatening to people as it is often linked to job security. Some enterprises freely disseminate information regarding strategy changes.  Other firms are very secretive and feel that this is for senior management only. Practitioners should be as open and honest with staff about change as they possibly can.  Typically, people will more readily embrace the change process if clear information is available.

 

Of course, downsizing or drastically changing the way people work will obviously bother people. Sometimes you have to work with this. Disgruntled staff may obstruct your project and you’re going to have to manage that process.  Assess your enterprise’s readiness for change.  The readiness of both the management to support the change and affected workers to accept and adapt to the change are the most crucial factors in the success, or failure, of your project.  Management may be far more ready to change than the potentially-effected workers, particularly if the idea for the proposed change is coming from management – as it typically is. However, just because you have meetings with middle or senior management who are very enthusiastic about this new project, doesn’t mean that the organisation as a whole is ready to change.

 

Enterprise readiness does not take a huge amount of time to assess, but it is a very crucial activity.  Early assessments into an ERM environment are useful diagnostics to understand maturity levels within the organisation, and how work is currently accomplished.  It will also give you an appreciation on how success your implementation will be.

 

What are your thoughts on carrying out an early assessment for change management within your organization?

 

Tell us about your success stories in change management.

 

Join us for an ERM Certificate course in:

• Silver Spring    03/23/10 - 03/26/10
• Tampa     04/06/10 - 04/09/10
• Chicago   05/11/10 - 05/14/10
• Toronto   06/22/10 - 06/25/10

Students who are Certified Records Managers (CRM) should apply for ICRM maintenance credits at a rate of 6.5 credits per classroom day! 

 

Join us for an EMM Certificate course in:

• Silver Spring    05/04/10 - 05/07/10

 

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Carl Weise – AIIM    cweise@aiim.org

Also, visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org – AIIM’s free social network created just for you.

 

Live from DC: Healthcare Debates

 

 Submitted by Bob Larrivee - AIIM

 

 

 

As I write this I cannot help but think about how cool this is that I can view/listen to this session with the President and members of the Senate and the Congress, live with options of access though TV or the internet. It certainly does align to the move for a more transparent government in that years ago you would not see or even be able to listen to such a session unless it was presented in bite sized pieces on the news. This also further confirms some of the data presented by University of California, San Diego’s Global Information Industry Center’s report titled “How Much Information?” about the availability and consumption of information of all types from all sources.

 

According to the study, without counting business information, Americans consumed approximately 1.3 trillion hours or roughly 12 hours of information daily. This would be equal to 3.6 zettabytes of information in total. Think about that for a minute, a zettabye is a million-million gigabytes and this is steadily growing. The question of course is one of what information is relevant to you and your interests. I have 1,100 channels with my cable service and more often than not, I find nothing of interest to watch which means I am filtering this information coming at me to determine what is relevant for me now.  This is something we must also do in life and in business.

 

What I am talking about is the value of information. What value does information bring or add to your business? Is it relevant to the decision making process? Does it bring value to your customers whether internal or external? What information do you capture and maintain as a result of its value? These are the challenges we face in our organizations and as such, should establish and publish information value guidelines for the user community. These guidelines would address areas like legal or regulatory requirements to retain the information and reasons for decision making and business continuity. What are the key bits of information?

 

In my view, we need to find ways and provide tools to help organizations sort through the zetta levels of information and capture that which has meaning and value. It is easy to say capture it all or capture none but reality is that we need to find a middle ground that makes sense and supports our business activity. While it is not an easy task, and can seem extremely daunting, with the right tools like metadata, taxonomic structure and technology it can be done effectively. In order to move forward you must assess what you have and what you need, plan on how you will determine value and capture valued information, implement your plan, and institute a continuous improvement effort to update and refine your practice regularly.

 

What say you? How do you assess the value of information? Do you have a story to tell? I want to hear from you.

 

Looking to learn more about intelligent information and process management?

 

Join us for the BPM Certificate course in:

San Francisco 05/25/10 - 05/28/10

 

Join us for the ECM Certificate course in:

Toronto 03/23/10 - 03/26/10

Kirkland 04/13/10 - 04/16/10

Dallas 04/27/10 - 04/30/10

San Diego 05/04/10 - 05/07/10

Denver 05/18/10 - 05/21/10

Calgary 05/25/10 - 05/28/10

Silver Spring 06/08/10 - 06/11/10

Houston 06/15/10 - 06/18/10

 

We look forward to seeing you there. Do you have several individuals who need training? Contact us to find out how a private class can save you on registration costs.

 

Bob Larrivee – AIIM blarrivee@aiim.org

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.

 

 

Who's watching your Health Records?

 

Submitted by Bob Larrivee - AIIM

 

 

 

 

Not unexpectedly, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has officially posted, as required by Section 13402(e)(4) of the HITECH Act, a list of breaches of unsecured health information that affects more than 500 individuals. In all the current listing presents 36 entities where breaches have been reported. These range in size from major hospitals to private practices. The information presented shows the following data on the breaches:

· State

· Approximate number of Individuals Affected

· Date of the Breach

· Type of Breach

· Location of Breached Information

 

While theft and/or Unauthorized Access dominate the list of breach types, there are a few entries indicating loss or misdirected email as the cause. The location of the information varies from paper and films to computers of all types to USB devices. The more dominant appears to be laptop computers. One of the questions that come to mind is accountability of such devices as laptops. What are the policies around their use and security? When in the office, are these tethered to a desk? One of the things we do not see in this list is prevention methods that were used, if any. Were the laptops with someone outside of the office and perhaps stolen from their car at the local Starbucks? 

 

In my opinion, the fact that HHS is now listing breaches is a good thing and I for one will visit regularly to see if any of my care providers show up there. (I would hope notification would be sent to me if I were among those affected.) I also think that as content and record stewards, it is up to the organization to put into place a strong governance policy on the proper use of the various tools provided, like laptops and USB drives, that include internal and external use and access. For example, never leave your laptop unattended in public places. This is something I see often while traveling. Someone working on a project gets up to refill coffee and leaves their laptop open and unattended while doing so. In some cases, leaving sight of the device and available for someone to read or take.

 

As a client/patient it might be in your best interest to ask your practitioner how they manage your information and what precautions they take in securing your private information. As a medical practitioner, or the content/records steward for said practitioner, it is time to assess your current information management practices and processes. What governance do you have in place to secure information and how do you audit the environment to monitor and track activity? If a breach should occur, what steps can you take to identify the source of the breach and what actions will you take to correct the breach and prevent it from happening in the future? The time to act is now, before you are listed.

 

What say you? How do you address information security and breach prevention? Do you have a story to tell? I want to hear from you.

 

Looking to learn more about intelligent information and process management?

 

Join us for the BPM Certificate course in:

San Francisco 05/25/10 - 05/28/10

 

 

Join us for the ECM Certificate course in:

Toronto 03/23/10 - 03/26/10

Kirkland 04/13/10 - 04/16/10

Dallas 04/27/10 - 04/30/10

San Diego 05/04/10 - 05/07/10

Denver 05/18/10 - 05/21/10

Calgary 05/25/10 - 05/28/10

Silver Spring 06/08/10 - 06/11/10

Houston 06/15/10 - 06/18/10

 

We look forward to seeing you there. Do you have several individuals who need training? Contact us to find out how a private class can save you on registration costs.

 

Bob Larrivee – AIIM blarrivee@aiim.org

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.

How do you define "Green"?

Today we hear a lot about being green or going green in relation to being ecologically responsible. The idea of reducing carbon emissions and our carbon footprint are important and worth supporting yet there are times it gets a bit confusing and also challenging when trying to find a balance. As an example, in a recent news story I viewed while in San Diego, cited that while the concept of using the desert to establish a solar field as a solar power generation plant is favorable, there is opposition due to the disruption and impact it will have on wildlife.

 

As you can see, this is the balance challenge we face. In order to go green, the solar fields will use space that is home to various wildlife; some of which are rare and typically found only in this region. In other cases, migratory impact would be one of the side effects for other species presenting additional challenges. While it is a concern, these are also obstacles that have been faced before in water power and the need to create ladders for salmon to run up river around hydroelectric plants.

 

While all of this is good and discussions take place, there are additional green initiatives we can put in place and implement every day to help the regain ecological balance. While doing some research recently, I ran across the following quote: “If the U.S. cut its office paper use by roughly 10 percent, or 540,000 tons, greenhouse gas emissions would fall by 1.6 million tons — equivalent to taking 280,000 cars off the road for a year.” [Source: Susan Kinsella, Gerard Gleason, Victoria Mills, Nicole Rycroft, Jim Ford, Kelly Sheehan and Joshua Martin. “The State of the Paper Industry.” The Green Press Initiative, 2007.] Imagine this for a moment. Reducing paper use by merely 10% will have this much of an impact. How much effort would it take to reduce paper use by 10 percent?

 

In my view, being green means many things to many people. To begin, one must put their definition into the right context and perspective. We can all support green initiatives in our daily lives. All we have to do is pick a starting point. Here are a few Tips and Techniques for your organization to reduce paper use:

 

·     Use document scanners to convert paper documents to electronic format then shred them – if allowed by law and industry – and send the shredded paper for recycling

·     Do not print or copy any documents unless absolutely required. Send all documents via e-mail or electronic fax as the preferred method to your customers

·     If you do have to print, be sure to spell/grammar check before you print to eliminate reprinting

·     Use Web 2.0 technologies like wikis and blogs for internal communication and collaboration

·     Use single source repositories and shared digital workspaces to develop, manage and refine documents like contracts, marketing materials and any other type requiring review and refinement

·     Use web interfaces and forms for online applications and order placement

·     Sign up for e-bill delivery or online billing from your suppliers rather than paper statements, and pay your bills electronically

·     Map, design and manage all business processes electronically. You can begin by mapping the processes and assessing how they can be improved as they are, then address process automation using what you currently own and/or may purchase

 

What say you? How is your organization working to support green initiatives? Do you have a story to tell? I want to hear from you and learn what you and your organization are doing.

 

Join us for the BPM Certificate course in:

London 01/26/10 - 01/29/10

New York 02/02/10 - 02/05/10

San Francisco 05/25/10 - 05/28/10

 

Join us for the ECM Certificate course in:

Silver Spring 01/19/10 - 01/22/10

Chicago 01/26/10 - 01/29/10

Phoenix 02/09/10 - 02/12/10

Utrecht 02/09/10 - 02/12/10

London 02/23/10 - 02/26/10

Tampa 02/23/10 - 02/26/10

Toronto 03/23/10 - 03/26/10

Kirkland 04/13/10 - 04/16/10

Dallas 04/27/10 - 04/30/10

San Diego 05/04/10 - 05/07/10

Denver 05/18/10 - 05/21/10

Calgary 05/25/10 - 05/28/10

London 06/01/10 - 06/04/10

Silver Spring 06/08/10 - 06/11/10

Houston 06/15/10 - 06/18/10

 

We look forward to seeing you there.

Bob Larrivee – AIIM

blarrivee@aiim.org

 

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.

Canon: A Best Green Company

I had the opportunity recently to talk with David Lucioni the Environment & Product Safety Manager of Canon (UK) Ltd. regarding their recent award and recognition for being a Green Company. I have always felt that the ECM industry and its practices support being Green and was happy to learn of the accomplishments made by Canon in this area. The following is an excerpt of our communications.

Bob: First I want to congratulate you and Canon on this wonderful achievement. Tell me, how did you hear about the Green Company Awards?
David: I joined Canon in October 2008, by which time Canon had already received its first Green Company award in 2008. Canon came in 13th overall which is the highest in our industry sector. I was involved with our 2009 application, where we came in 32nd overall, but our environmental score was the same as for 2008. The difference this year was in the number of entrants had increased, and there were many entrants whose whole raison d’être was environmental activities.  We are still happy with the results and we have a plan in place to increase our rating for 2010!

Bob: What were the criteria for this Award?
David: The Sunday Times Best Green Companies award is unique, and the results highly relevant and credible. The award is based on a questionnaire that the Environment Manager has to complete, covering the environmental performance of the company (energy consumption, environmental policy and management etc.), corporate social responsibility (engagement with local community etc.) and also an anonymous employee survey, which must be completed by a minimum number of employees (approximately 30%). This makes for an interesting twist when you consider that the staff of any company will be its most cynical and critical judge of its culture and performance.

Bob: How did Canon qualify for the Award?
David: Canon's corporate philosophy of Kyosei, a Japanese word literally translated as "living and working together for the common good" is deeply entrenched in every activity that Canon undertakes and this philosophy is realised in our environmental management system. The philosophy also ensures that Canon behaves as a good corporate citizen - an example of this is Canon's long-standing relationship as the first conservation partner with WWF (over 10 years!) and its relationship with the Red Cross (Canon provides support to thirteen Red Cross National Societies across Europe, with a particular focus on new and existing Red Cross youth projects that support and educate young people to deal with the issues they face in today's society). The judging is by an independent consultancy.

Bob: What suggestions would you have for companies seeking to be Greener?
David: Start with an environmental management system. It will ensure that you can put in place a system to monitor and measure your impact on the environment, and then put a plan in place to reduce it. In most cases the exercise is cost neutral, as there are nearly always savings that can be made. The ONLY way to succeed is if ALL of the senior management buy in 100%. It is not simply a certificate on the wall - you have to believe in what you are trying to do and sometimes stick your neck out if you want to be a leader. No-one can be a 'green crusader' on their own, it is only with support from the top down that a company can be successful - and that is why it is so good here at Canon.

Thank you for this great insight and for taking time out of your busy schedule to share this with me and our readers. Best of luck for 2010 and I look forward to hearing from you again regarding your planned improvements.

 

What say you? How is your organization becoming a Green Company? Do you have a story to tell? I want to hear from you and learn what you and your organization are doing.

 

Looking to increase your level of knowledge? Join us for the ECM Certificate course in:

• New York 10/13/09 - 10/16/09
• Toronto 10/27/09 - 10/30/09
• San Francisco 11/10/09 - 11/13/09
• Houston 11/17/09 - 11/20/09
• San Diego 12/01/09 - 12/04/09

We look forward to seeing you there.

 

Bob Larrivee – AIIM

blarrivee@aiim.org

Follow me on twitter – BobLarrivee and remember to visit www.aiim.org/training and www.informationzen.org, AIIM’s free social network created just for you.