Jeremy's Tech and Things Beyond

1 Down 11 To Go for 2012 1/2 Marathons

2012-01-30T19:18:00.002-05:00

Race Medallion

On Saturday-January 28, several friends and I participated in the Planet Adventure Winter Marathon Night race at Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis. Completing the 1/2 marathon distance for this event put me on the road to achieve my 2012 goal of running 1/2 marathon every month this year. In addition, I also achieved my first night race and barefoot 1/2 marathon. It was fun going out as group to this event and that everyone completed the race. Kudos to Planet Adventure for putting on an exceptional inaugural race. I will be back next year.

My time for the race was:

Lap 1 Lap 2 Final
1:12:48.0 1:22:15.1 2:35:03.1

Pictures from the Race

Pre- Race Group Photo

Finishing Picture

Muddy Race Shoes

Dad's Famous Cookies

2012-01-29T21:05:00.001-05:00

Running Deer Downtown Indy

2012-01-29T20:32:00.001-05:00

Super Bowl XLVI Pics

2012-01-27T22:19:00.001-05:00

Game Time Tunnel

Super Bowl Bling

SB Trophy Indy Style

Last Minute Preparations

Friday's Favorite Links 1/27/2012

2012-01-27T06:36:00.001-05:00

AMAnet: 12 Most Powerful Ways to Meditate Quickly at Work. (via @12most) #HR #Management |http://t.co/CEzWFYbB

NHINNews: Accenture study: U.S. docs unsure about benefits of health IT
http://t.co/Hupz4c6Q

TheNextWeb: 7 lesser-known ways to make money from your content online
http://t.co/M6Lc0NEj

Gary Hamel: Reinventing the Technology of Human Accomplishment (video)
http://t.co/LLubqOSv

AMAnet: 12 Most Essential Ways to Interact with Your Customers. (via @12most) #CustServ #Management |http://t.co/qbbfXVpJ

AMAnet: 26 Tips for Writing Great Blog Posts. (via @SMExaminer) #Blogging #Blogs #Marketing |http://t.co/lL1m3EOX

SmartEnterprise: This week’s “must-reads” on consumer driven IT: even a “genius bar” IT help desk, http://t.co/giq67OXP

MSFTenterprise: On-demand: Transforming IT with Microsoft Private Cloud. Watch the videos now!http://t.co/MItdq9dq

Give Peace a Chance

2012-01-21T09:26:00.001-05:00

Favorite Links 1/20/2012

2012-01-20T17:42:00.001-05:00

4 Consumer Technologies That Could Change Your Enterprise
http://www.cio.com/article/698376/_4_Consumer_Technologies_That_Could_Change_Your_Enterprise

12 effective habits of indispensable IT pros - Page 1 - IT Workplace
http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/12-effective-habits-of-indispensable-it-pros/144707

12 Dozen Places To Educate Yourself Online For Free
http://www.marcandangel.com/2010/11/15/12-dozen-places-to-self-educate-yourself-online/

10 Commandments Of A Great Culture
http://www.theleadershipadvisor.com/2011/12/15/10-commandments-of-a-great-culture/

Get into Action: 77 Thoughts on Motivation
http://dudye.com/get-in-to-action-77-thoughts-on-motivation

Food Foto Friday

2012-01-20T17:31:00.001-05:00

Office Humor

2012-01-19T16:49:00.001-05:00

Painting with Kellen

2012-01-15T10:19:00.001-05:00

Favorite Links 1/13/2012

2012-01-13T08:45:00.001-05:00

Using an iPad for your next presentation? Here are the apps you need. - Forbes http://t.co/vM2vaxgF

20 Hospitals With Inspiring Social Media Strategies http://t.co/Wn09NTNN

We rated the best & worst restaurants in America. Does your favorite joint make the list? http://t.co/IcQ9NsL9

How a CIO promoted trust and creativity through the use of technology and cut the company turnover rate in 3 http://t.co/wvUu8xtk

Five Reasons to Read More Biographies http://t.co/UREiFcqx

Can these tools improve your blog? http://t.co/ihP9lw70

What have you agreed to? This site will show you. If you use Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, DropBox, Linkedin,… https://t.co/G0D3bzgJ

Why Healthcare Should Implement Virtual Desktop (VDI)

2012-01-10T08:34:00.000-05:00

As the reimbursements for hospitals will continue to decline over the coming years, there will be a push for to find ways to reduce operating costs within hospitals. One of the ways that technology can assist in reducing these costs is through the use of virtual desktop (VDI). Provided below are few reasons why healthcare systems should consider virtual dekstop over the next several year.

$400 - $500k savings in licensing and hardware per 1000 workstations
Tighter centralized control of the desktop environment for OS updates and application installs
Allow anywhere access to a desktop for employees
Better support for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to work including tablets
Enhanced security by limiting the ability of remote users to introduce viruses from home devices
Reduce the need and cost for VPN and SSL solutions

This is by no means an exhaustive list and if you have additional reasons to use VDI then please let me know.

Enjoying Warm Winter Weather.

2012-01-06T16:36:00.001-05:00

Favorite Links 1/6/2012

2012-01-06T07:17:00.001-05:00

A short but good list for this week's list of links.

10 Brand-Building Steps For Beginners (via @FastCompany)

12 Essential Tips for Revitalising Your Blog in 2012

Wedding vs Marriage: A Business Story

BenchPrep Is CodeAcademy For Any Subject, High School To Med School

Sunsets 1/4/2012

2012-01-04T19:17:00.001-05:00

A couple of sunsets i captured this evening with my iPhone.

Rearview Rainbow

2012-01-02T13:37:00.001-05:00

Cold Winter Drive

2012-01-02T13:36:00.001-05:00

2012 Goals - Personal and Professional

2012-01-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Read More Books
With the wide availability of free audio books (LibriVox) today I have set a goal to listen a least one book a week for next year. I will start this venture by reading the 30 books that I should have read by 30.

Run 1/2 Marathon a Month
I have gotten to the point where I can comfortably run a 1/2 marathon in barefoot shoes so I am going to challenge myself and run a 1/2 marathon next year. This is the planned races for next year.

Jan - Planet Adventure Winter Quarter/Half/Full Trail
Feb - still looking
Mar - Sam Costa
April - Carmel Marathon
May - Run with the Foxes
June - Indian Celina Challenge
July - still looking
Aug - Eagle Creek Trail Marathon
Sept - Wabash Heritage Trail Marathon
Oct - Indianapolis Marathon
Nov - Monumental Marathon
Dec - - still looking

Write More Blog Posts
In 2011, I will continue to publish my weekly list of links but I want to add at least one additional post each week. These will either be based upon the comings from work and personal life.

Take More Pictures
After the first of the year I hope to purchase my first DSLR and therefore learn this new piece of technology. In addition, I want to get better at taking photos with my iPhone since I have it with me at all times.

Get my next Mac Certification

I have been fortunate enough to have my work may for access to Mac certification resources for a full year so I plan on taking advantage of this upon my return to the office in 2012.

2011 Year List of Links

2011-12-31T15:31:00.000-05:00

Here's a list of year end links from my Twitter, Google Reader and Google + feeds that I have been compiling over the past several weeks.

Apps/Games
Macworld's 2011 App Gems Awards http://t.co/rGl3t0tb
Macworld's 2011 App Gems Top games http://t.co/EXb2cgYa
Macworld's 2011 App Gems Top reading apps http://t.co/GJswRUOK
Macworld's 2011 App Gems Top productivity apps http://t.co/Ixz1XGIH
Macworld's 2011 App Gems Hall of fame apps http://t.co/Ruqu6qSf
Macworld's 2011 App Gems Top communication apps http://t.co/U8H3CdTR
Macworld's 2011 App Gems Top photography apps http://t.co/IOk0o253
Macworld's 2011 App Gems Top music apps http://t.co/bqYthx7y
Macworld's 2011 App Gems Top news apps http://t.co/YGHPwEg6
What The Tech 97: Best of 2011 http://t.co/X5acaplb
The 15 Best New Android Apps Of 2011 http://read.bi/uunXsB
Australia's top iPhone apps for 2011 http://bit.ly/rqFKD4
Top 10 iPhone medical apps for 2011 - http://bit.ly/rZPh95
What Are The Most Innovative Mac Apps Of 2011? http://t.co/zJwHSDy7
The Top 20 iPhone and iPad Games Of 2011 - http://bit.ly/txHqO0
The 9 Most Disappointing Games of 2011 - http://bit.ly/sGoc2g
Top 10 Best Social Apps of 2011 http://t.co/VUMSZnFM
The 10 Best Android Games of 2011 http://t.co/VjFt8vKx
Best multiplayer game for 2011 http://t.co/OdLZcBwv

Business/Finance
Barron's: Here Are The Top 10 Stocks For 2012 http://t.co/mEnBiqUJ
12 Big Stories That Will Dominate 2012 http://t.co/zQrp3EkB
10 Coolest Startups of 2011 - http://bit.ly/vVFcCF
Top 10 Financial News Topics Of 2011 - http://onforb.es/uSVe9a
The 10 Craziest Kickstarter Projects of 2011 - http://t.co/FEjKeJl6
Ten Manufacturing Predictions for 2012 by #IDC http://t.co/7HEfK2gV
Biggest Solar Venture Capital Deals of 2011: . http://t.co/Hx7wIwDY
12 Of The Best Products Of 2011 http://t.co/08OJJCCY
mashable: 6 Important Startup Trends that Defined 2011 - http://t.co/JYYtiVcT
GuyKawasaki: Worst CEOs of the year http://t.co/MBYYFSeE
FortuneMagazine: 11 craziest market days of 2011: http://t.co/HveJspU7

Entertainment
The best films of 2011: Philip French's choice http://t.co/EDzjpKiE
Buzzfeed's Top Trending Stories of 2011 http://t.co/mXS8wLco
Newsweek/Daily Beast Writers’ Favorite Books 2011 Fun! My picks pp 6-7 http://t.co/gww9uRWm
Best and Worst Celebrity Technology Moments of 2011. http://t.co/UuHUPtrS
The Guide's best games of 2011 http://t.co/Skd15jlq
Trending Now: 10 Best Kid Videos Of 2011 http://t.co/ceZJ7KLw
Fact & fiction in 2011's sci-fi movies http://t.co/87qCMLTn
Craziest YouTube explainers of 2011 http://t.co/h4UWV8DU
Top 10 Most Pirated TV-Shows of 2011 http://t.co/6LiTFL5e
Best 20 films of the year by @ebertchicago, I've seen less than half! Gotta catch up.http://t.co/t7UKdfWD
Wired's Top 100 Songs of 2011 - http://spoti.fi/vDneTD
2011’s Top Ten Pirated TV Shows http://t.co/I0B14Ynd
Top 15 RecordSetter records from 2011 (videos) http://t.co/HTiBGE9P
Rob Sheffield's 10 Best Albums of 2011: http://t.co/rmLe6tEQ
Here Are YouTube's Most-Watched Commercials Of 2011 http://t.co/mHvRRXY4
Top 5 Most Watched Film Trailers of 2011 http://t.co/pzvF1A9I
United State of Pop 2011 [video] http://t.co/g5ozJ5ME
mashup of 2011's 25 hottest songs. - http://t.co/eHdEeyUd

Health
5 Mobile Health trends for 2012: http://t.co/tLMinVMg
WSJHealth: Healing Reads: The Year's Five Best Books http://t.co/Ai6NHgWG
The Most Popular Health Topics of 2011 http://t.co/JfGfGPdn
Presenting the top 10 fitness stories of 2011. http://t.co/5bwAx44H
Top 10 health IT trends of 2011: http://t.co/FkArdQXH
Top 10 trends in healthcare data privacy and security | #GovHIT http://t.co/K1ueJqlD
Big Stories of 2011 in #HealthIT http://t.co/nWZkQJF4
The top fitness stories of 2011. http://t.co/5bwAx44H
The 20 most interesting and/or ridiculous moments in running this year, via RW Daily:http://t.co/i3Ep3XWq

Leadership
Best of thoughtLEADERS 2011: The Awesomest Posts Ever http://t.co/upZbUsfP
Top Leadership Blog Posts - http://bit.ly/s3zzha
The Top 50 Personal Development Blogs of 2011 - http://bit.ly/rGF4Gt

Miscellaneous
Top 40 Protest Signs of the Year http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-40-best-protest-signs-of-2011
Most Popular DIY Projects of 2011 - http://lifehac.kr/rGYDs9
Top 10 of Everything from Time - http://ti.me/tEipHn
GuyKawasaki: Top 25 weirdest stories of 2011 http://t.co/TYsyqqc8
The top 10 brand disasters of 2011—lessons learned: http://t.co/1bt7d1UA
The top 10 best and worst communicators of 2011 http://t.co/tivWFkNG
The 10 Most Innovative Viral Video Ads of 2011 - http://t.co/N7EJ6Ap1
The most disliked cars of 2011 - http://bit.ly/tW2oDf
Most Popular Repurposing Tricks of 2011 - http://lifehac.kr/vFWTrX
National Geographic's 'Photos of 2011' - http://t.co/lYFOnWnB
Unexplained mysteries of 2011 and into 2012 http://t.co/JpJcoXfU
The most influential non-celebrity users of Twitter by @rhodri http://ind.pn/uHVlNm
The Top 15 RecordSetter World Records of 2011 - http://recordsetter.com/bestof2011
The top 10 #adventure stories of 2011: http://t.co/L7h8QYY7
The top 11 scientific twists from 2011 http://t.co/TaeKgxXf
Our Top Ten Photo Books of 2011 http://t.co/uGEu1OkP
The top 10 science stories of 2011: http://t.co/ya1WmN3H
The 8 craziest lawsuits of 2011 http://t.co/1whWSyNS
The Top 10 Adventure Stories of 2011 http://t.co/Hq5bRbAe
The 4 biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2011 http://t.co/piOJzufa
Drudge_Report: 2011 'shattered records' with 12 weather and climate disasters... http://t.co/doJKrJNw
outsidemagazine: The Top 10 Travel Stories of 2011 http://t.co/gAMBt8cy
The best Photography blog posts of 2011":http://t.co/OvGXDTLW
The 7 most newsworthy dogs of 2011 http://t.co/fWJ8BD0K
AJEnglish: In our top 10, the Arab Awakening is comprised of multiple uprisings. http://t.co/sP9F9ItD
GuyKawasaki: 10 standout nerds of 2011 http://t.co/AaSx3jlQ
The Top 5 Of Everything In 2011: A Retrospective On Year In Sports - http://t.co/gB8etaUT

Social Media
2011 will be remembered as a year of incremental upgrades in various social media marketing platforms - http://t.co/S1prkU4Q
30 Brilliant Social Media Marketing Tips from 2011 http://t.co/vlcbT5Q1
The 20 most useful social media tools of 2011: Part three http://t.co/iFkxzBy7
Top 29 Social Media Career Moves of 2011- http://bit.ly/vqpBzt
19 Huge Social Media Moments of 2011 - http://on.mash.to/sonYOd
The worst social media blunders of 2011 and what you can learn from them #theworsthttp://t.co/lZhsm4jC
Twitter had a huge 2011. @veenabisram takes you through 15 major milestones -http://t.co/mjEUDblC
The 13 most powerful tweets of 2011 http://t.co/o8jFtPhN

Technology
Check out the top news stories that shaped the year - http://t.co/ZoYLbOWb
The 90 Best Twitter Accounts Of 2011http://t.co/ZqbK8AYI
5 Biggest Surprises of 2011 http://rww.to/vGcjTI
Top 5 Internet Devices of 2011 - http://rww.to/vdvBo0
15 Top Quotes of 2011 - http://bit.ly/rP4LS4
Tech Stories of 2011 - http://bit.ly/u3JFFW
8 Big Trends That Shaped the Mobile Phone Industry in 2011 http://t.co/ZoTUWx8a
Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2011: The Higher Education Bubble - http://bit.ly/sf6oSQ
25 top network and IT industry news stories of 2011 - http://bit.ly/urcn5y
Walt Mossberg's best gadget picks (video) http://t.co/ohf2L0cI
MSCIONet: IT Outsourcing Year in Review, Rating Our 2011 Predictions http://t.co/IHzctubo
Google - Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review - http://bit.ly/u8mVmu
GigaOM - 2011 video recap: The year mobile took over the world - http://bit.ly/rN7VnB
CIO's Top Ten Stories of 2011- http://bit.ly/vvLzjV
Most Popular Hive Fives of 2011: 2011 was a great year to get your feedba... http://t.co/H8x6DWbb
10 biggest gadgets of 2011 http://t.co/fIO8sCcb
10 Coolest Notebooks of 2011 - http://bit.ly/sIQGKk
The 20 Most Expensive Domain Names Of 2011 by @shontelaylay http://t.co/WdeBWbKy
10 Funniest GIF Trends of 2011 - http://t.co/82jsfUBJ
Top 10 Feed & RSS Technologies of 2011 http://t.co/bL9wfEjU
PC Mag's Top 100 Websites of 2011 - http://t.co/np5aY0Pj
The Biggest Web Outages of 2011 http://t.co/UG8rCvYv
10 Biggest ERP Software Failures of 2011 | PCWorld Business Center - http://bit.ly/rPuVX8
Top security incidents of 2011 http://t.co/DYmjDVOi
2011 Car Tech Awards: And the winner is... http://t.co/43b96Wt7
Google's top 10 fastest rising searches in 2011 http://t.co/BFIYCmCg
15 cool energy projects of 2011 http://t.co/P2ceqNT4
What did we learn from the tech biz in 2011? http://cnet.co/szCk85
The Top 25 iPhone and Android App Publishers in 2011 - http://bit.ly/uQGksM
The 9 Oddest Job Interview Questions Asked at Tech Companies in 2011 - http://t.co/LPS5wAou
PCMAG's 10 most popular tablets of 2011 (#1 is NOT the iPad) http://t.co/nAnzaiox
The Most ‘Liked’ Search & Social Posts Of 2011 by @elisabethos http://t.co/QXzGCxdh
Google's top 10 fastest rising searches in 2011 http://t.co/UPGiqCBd
Biggest Tech Disappointments of the Year http://t.co/BD5Xhfy6
The Best of the Lifehacker Show: In 2011, Lifehacker took to video ... http://t.co/9ofgjFkr
TheNextWeb: Tech: Best of 2011 http://t.co/ze2qh2G2
StumbleUpon’s Most Popular Searches and Links of 2011 - http://t.co/ivRgyKTV
10 Telecom Predictions for 2012: http://t.co/1akU8aHZ
MSFTenterprise: 2011's Top IT Stories http://t.co/jYnxpLDK
TheNextWeb: 2011: The 5 Top Memes http://t.co/xoerKH0H
FastCompany: 14 Of The Year's Best Ideas In Interface Design http://t.co/PfkEs5Ng
MSFTenterprise: Top CIO strategy videos of 2011 http://t.co/Hg6Vdld8
ForbesTech: The Best Book of 2011: Why Science Emerged in the West http://t.co/2Npv5pye
ForbesTech: 2011's Five 'Dumbest' Tech Companies: http://t.co/iWednW2X

Favorite Links for 12/23/2011

2011-12-24T08:11:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in publishing this week's links but I was caught in the hustle and bustle of the holidays yesterday.

95 Questions to Help You Find Meaning and Happiness http://t.co/8FWEJ7JH
@garyvee: my never seen @cnn interview http://t.co/dKEfsg98
Smartphone Addiction - How To Get Rid Of It? http://t.co/C1S9edVm
WSJHealth: Healing Reads: The Year's Five Best Books http://t.co/Ai6NHgWG
NFL To Stream Super Bowl XLVI To iPhone And iPad http://t.co/ovIQQ2iA
@garyvee: Sharing is caring -> http://t.co/z5FbTEOx
@garyvee: Social sites have made the world small - http://t.co/F3CprKrm
@garyvee: Stop doing shit you hate for a living -> http://t.co/JHUSGPMd
@garyvee: can we make a deal in 2012? Lets cheer Making money MORE THAN raising it? http://t.co/p0swfrrH

Next Friday's links will be the best of list that have showed up in my Twitter and Google+.

Favorite Links for 12/16/2011

2011-12-16T07:21:00.000-05:00

There were quite a few good links to pass along for this week.

13 way to use iMovie in the classroom http://t.co/AlyKGQcp
Five Easy Ways To Tell If An Organization Is Really Values-Driven - http://t.co/g5pKZbCC
Five Styles of Gen X Leaders: Which One Are You? - http://t.co/qyeneu9f
Some times IT, in their effort to control everything, stifles use of tech. - http://t.co/SFQxztaG
@garyvee: if u watch this you will not to sleep -> http://t.co/wPaJDFrk
9 Steps to a Daily Blogging Schedule http://t.co/ekQQo1xp
Some the Best Wealth Building Books ever written http://t.co/lSDEPYD6
Stop-motion animation comes to your iPad 2 with Smoovie: http://t.co/wcXNniTE7 Successful Leadership Practices of Today's Top Hospital CIOs: Therefore, CIOs need to work... http://t.co/1ezi6Dbo
5 ways to reduce security breaches in #healthcare http://t.co/ZF74JVcZ
23 Questions with Legendary Hacker @KevinMitnick on @Hak5: http://t.co/oTV2vCnk

Favorite Links 12/9/2012

2011-12-09T07:25:00.001-05:00

Here's this week's favorite links that are from a wide variety of subjects.

Leadership Reading List: 20 books you might not have read - but should: http://t.co/F6S827LN
ECIOForum: My Top Six `Top Ten' 2012 prediction lists http://t.co/YOfUIXWY
CIOsConnect: Citrix: Desktop virtualization makes good security sense http://t.co/DyyDNsla
Google introduces Google Currents news app [video] http://t.co/4sEsMp5V
TheLeaderLab: How Can Games Drive Employee Engagement? http://t.co/bsAGWodE

Quote of the week.

The most successful people see an opportunity in every problem. via@LeadToday

My Favorite Links for 12/2/2011 - An Ode @EricDBrown

2011-12-02T15:03:00.001-05:00

For a while now, I have been following Eric Brown via RSS and Twitter (@EricDBrown) for a while now. One of the things I have always enjoyed from Eric is his weekly publication of links. Based upon enjoying these links, I have decided to publish my weekly links not only to share but for me to track what I found interesting over time. Most of these will links will be technical in subject but every once in a while there will be an odd-ball or running related link.

So here's the first week's links.

A strong BYOD policy should be SOP http://goo.gl/fb/sf3Tp
The President of CIO magazine shares his Top Ten Tech Predictions for 2012 http://bit.ly/rwtUud
iPads in the enterprise: CEO ego is driving adoption: iPads have taken over the boardroom, and corporate CEOs an...http://bit.ly/sLk0PS
CIO says supporting iPhone and iPad led to 92% reduction in broken devices: After switching to support Apple mo...http://bit.ly/vGDN7k
Google's latest research digs into how #tablets are used. Interesting takeaway: multitasking is huge http://tabtim.es/7i

Odd - Ball of the Week

Who new that "calc" was this powerful. Get the most out of calculator - calculate fuel economy, lease payments, and mortgage payments http://bit.ly/uqktit

My Visit to Ball State's CICS Program

2011-11-15T07:32:00.001-05:00

On November 12th I was invited to speak at Ball State's CICS Placement Seminar for it's graduate students. The goal of this seminar is to prepare the students for their upcoming entrance into the IT work environment. It was an honor to share the platform with the individuals listed below and I was amazed that all of our presentations intertwined although we had never talked beforehand. My talk, titled "After CICS Begins Now", focused on making sure the students are taking time now to think about what they want to do after graduation. I focused a portion of this presentation on building your career brand via social media.

Beau King of ATT presented on personal Salesmanship
Branden Bute of Ball State presented on Job Mining
Todd Hollowell & Amy Reid presented on Resume Building

Good luck to all the students upon their completion of CICS.

Beyond the EMR: Improving Patient Care - Microsoft Healthcare Briefing

2011-11-09T09:16:00.000-05:00

Rich Nero - Healthcare Solutions Group presents Beyond the EMR with a focus on Amalga. Provided below are some high level notes from his presentation

To date, Microsoft has spent 1 Billion on Healthcare Solutions Group.

Microsoft's goal is to fill the gap to provide useful information that is stored in clinical systems and data warehouses, this gap is filled by Microsoft's Amalga solution.

Amalga's goal is to the streamline operations, coordinate care, and engage patients.

5 Areas where Microsoft believes Amalga can provide value:

Improve Patient Safety & Quality

Readmissions - solution is Readmission Manager
Early Warning Score

Revenue & Cost Optimization
Compliance Tracking and Reporting
Coordinating Care Across Providers
Engaging Patients In Care

Care Transitions
Chronic Disease Management

Items in BOLD are their primary focus today and where Microsoft has use cases.

Essentially Amalga is a Business Intelligence solution that Healthcare focused. Its advantage is that it is a platform versus a bunch of individual solutions. The challenge they have is that some of their solutions are already built into clinical systems.

Why Enterprise's Should Stay with BlackBerry for Now

2011-10-29T07:05:00.001-04:00

In a recent Forbes article, BlackBerry Owners Flock to iPhone 4s in Record Numbers, the author insinuates that this this is the beginning of the end for BlackBerry because of their recent service issues and unclear roadmap. This may be the case for BlackBerry's consumer market but I challenge that there is a clear cut reason for companies to jump ship to the iPhone. An enterprise that has a sizeable investment in BlackBerry should consider the following before swapping out their BlackBerry devices for the iphone.

Primary use of smartphones in your company is still email, calendar, contacts and phones
No industry or company specific applications that are only available on the iPhone
Poor support model for iPhone replacement (requires going to the local Apple store)
Cost of iPhone versus BlackBerry when procuring through major wireless vendors. In most cases, a BlackBerry device can be procured for next to nothing while an iPhone4 is $99.
Immaturity of management tools for the iPhone. Yes, there are MDM solutions for the iPhone but very few of them are to the maturity of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).

The debate on whether enterprise companies should migrate away from BlackBerry will continue to get traction if the company doesn't find away to rectify its recent mis-steps. However, for now I contend that the BlackBerry solution for the companies is a solid for those that already have the investment.

Why I decided to get Apple Certified

2011-10-10T08:23:00.000-04:00

For years, I have absolutely despised technical certifications as I have worked with certified professionals that only excelled at reading books and failed in application of their knowledge. Based upon this I put off working on my Apple certification for my current job. However, this week I decided to change my mind and obtained my certification as an Apple Certified Associated - 10.7 Lion Integration. I know this is just an entry level certification from Apple but it is the beginning to become an Apple Certified Technician.

Not to sound cliche after the passing of Steve Jobs, but after listening to his 2005 Stanford speech several times I got motivated to learn something new to move my career forward. I am hoping this motivation will see me through the next certification level that I hoping to achieve by the end of the year.

Can Microsoft Windows Phone & Nokia Replace BlackBerry in Enterprise?

2011-09-20T07:45:00.002-04:00

Introduction
Most of the tech industry is aware that RIM/BlackBerry is losing ground in the sales of smart phones and this includes corporate purchased ones, a sector that they have traditionally dominated. With the mobile industry ever changing has initiated a lot of IT shop discussion on what the future holds for mobile phones within the corporate enterprise.

Could this be the future?
Recently, the VP of IS Infrastructure at a Midwest Healthcare System posed the scenario discussion below to several colleagues in order to solicit feedback on a project he did for his MBA class.

What would you do if you were in charge of all corporate cellular telephony decisions, and Microsoft came to us within the next year offering:

Fully encrypted devices
Device management using the same tools that manage your servers and desktops.
Devices with more consumer appeal than RIM. (And a broader range of devices, now manufactured by HTC, ZTE and Nokia.)
Per device license costs significantly lower than RIM.
Excellent Exchange / Outlook integration.
Better native cloud storage (whether public or private) integration than even Apple or Android.

The Opportunity is There

Strengths

Nokia has wide adoption worldwide.
Microsoft dominates Office productivity, corporate email.
Microsoft has a strong position in console and PC gaming
Microsoft has a portfolio of Internet applications that compete with Google (live, hotmail, bing, messenger)

Opportunities

Apple and Google not yet dominant in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
RIM’s declining position in corporate environments.

However History is Against Them
Weaknesses

Microsoft does not have a strong track record of mobile device hardware development (e.g. Zune, xbox ring of death)
Nokia software development has lagged peers.

Threats:

North American market dominance and lead of established players Apple and Google.
Asian device makers (i.e. ZTE, HTC) challenging Nokia with low-cost Android devices.

So What Strategy Should be Implemented for Microsoft & Nokia to be Successful?

Challenge RIM in corporate environments via Exchange email and Office apps.
Leverage Xbox Live gaming
Embed Microsoft search, email, and messenger.
Microsoft and Nokia partnership allows each firm to focus on areas of traditional strength, leverage an established partner for non-core competencies.
Differentiate to avoid segmented competition within Android device maker space.
Leverage Microsoft’s relationships with developers and development tools to jumpstart app market.
Partnership provides with Microsoft with credible devices.

The Future will Require Businesses to Pick the least of all evils

The next 24 months will be an interesting time in the mobile phone industry to see if there becomes a clear leader, especially in the enterprise. It is difficult on a daily basis to determine who is more evil… Microsoft, Apple or Google. It depends upon which poison tastes sweetest to you and what you value most (choice, markets, features, security, privacy, etc). Most enterprise companies despise Microsoft’s monopolistic practices, but at least they treat companies as a traditional customer. In the case of Google, it seems that the consumer is their product. Yuck!!! It is difficult to know what to think about Apple in the enterprise and most companies are trying hard to understand this as more of their products make there way into the environment.

Finally...
Maybe the commonality between Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 will allow Microsoft to become the clear cut leader

Are Chromebooks a Right Fit for a Physician Office?

2011-08-22T15:10:00.000-04:00

Introduction
For anyone involved in Healthcare IT they know there is always a need to find a mobile solution that is low cost and is secure. This is even more evident as the new Healthcare reform becomes a requirement for physician practices. So the question is whether a minimal device such as a Chromebook can be used in the physician practice. In today's EMR environment most of the vendors are either browser or Citrix based which is where this review will begin.

Background Chromebook

The Chromebook is the OEM version of the Chromium OS Open Source project which was initiated by Google. From a user perspective, the Chromebook is strictly a browser based laptop that allows access to applications via the Chrome Web Store or ones that are truly browser based. The Chromebooks are now available from Samsung and Acer.

Most Secure Browser
Earlier this year, the Chrome browser won Pwn2Own (a well known hacker contest) which caught the eye of a lot IT security analysts as the best new secure browser. One of the kudos to the Chrome development staff is that are continually releasing security and performance updates. In addition, the Chrome browser is becoming more and more compatible with applications that have been traditionally only usable by Internet Explorer.

Citrix Availability
In the Healthcare industry a lot of EMR and clinical applications have been provided to their users via Citrix for years now. Recently, Citrix became available for user on the Chromebook which allows access to these applications whether they are hosted on a local or remote Citrix farm. Unlike most traditional Citrix clients the one for the Chromebook requires that files be setup on the servers providing the access.

Zero Local Storage
One of the most attractive features of the Chromebook from a healthcare data security perspective is the lack of local data storage. This is a big benefit to the IT support because it rules out the possibility of sensitive patient data being stolen if the laptop is lost. However, the downside is that it requires the physician to utilize cloud based services for email and office productivity tools. One cost saving opportunities for not having local storage is the ability to eliminate encryption software on the laptops which is required in some states.

Relatively Low Cost Device
An OEM notebook can be purchased from $329 - $499 from the vendors mentioned above depending on whether you want a Wifi or 3g model. Some may dispute the fact that is too much to pay for a laptop that only has a browser installed. However, there are a lot of cases where EMR and/or consulting companies are convincing physicians need a standard laptop that at the cheapest is around $499 as well. However, there are hidden costs with a full blown laptops such as licensing, security updates, and supporting staff.

Wrap Up
The Chromebook is a fairly new player in the laptop market and thus dont' have a large installs are not necessarily in place. The take away should be that physicians should consider the best low cost and secure solutions for their practices as they look into deploying EMRs to meet the healthcare reform law.

Yet Another HP Tablet (TouchPad) is Not Ready for Healthcare

2011-08-17T11:01:00.000-04:00

As the tablet wars continue and enterprises try to find an option to replace the iPad has led to the latest review of the HP TouchPad in the the healthcare setting. The excitement surrounding TouchPad was based upon the OS features and the fact that it was being touted as business productivity tool.

External Hardware
Screen
The TouchPad supports 9.7 inch Diagonal LED Backlit multi-touch display with an XGA (1024 x 768). While the responsiveness of the screen was better than its predecessor the Sltate, the TouchPad screen is inconsistent in its response to touch which makes for a frustrating experience. The scrolling through screens was the one consistent item when interacting with the TouchPad.

Internal Hardware
Processor
The TouchPad comes with a 1.2Ghz Snapdragon dual core processor which should be more than enough horsepower for a tablet. However, when using the tablet to do basic tasks (web surfing, email, twitter, etc) the TouchPad was slow to respond to requests.

Wireless/Cellular Connectivity
The TouchPad comes with a wireless NIC with integrated 802.11 a/b/g/n which should be well excepted by most network administrators as it allows them to better manage the devices access to enterprise resources. The downside for connectivity is that the device does not come with a cellular card thus it is limiting to those individuals who are rode warriors where wireless isn't always available.

Operating System
The TouchPad is base upon the WebOS which has been revered as the one OS that is a true competitor to iOS. The multitasking and gestures is by far the best feature of the TouchPad and operates flawlessly during testing. The one surprising issue with WebOS is the crispness of the graphics of icons and applications. It has to be assume that this is a short coming of the OS since the video hardware is as good as the original iPad but has a far worse graphical presentation.

Applications
One of the basic requirements for new challengers to the iPad is to ensure that there are enough applications available for the buyer. The TouchPad is suffering the same fate as other tablet platforms in that there are not a lot of applications in general and very little for the Healthcare market. What is surprising, is that one of the main mediums for accessing enterprise applications, no matter the industry, is Citrix and there is not a client available for the TouchPad although it was supposed to be available at launch.

Conclusion
While the TouchPad has some nice features and in most cases is better than some Android tablets, it is not ready to be a replacement for the iPad in the Healthcare environment.

With OS X Lion: Apple Forgets to Consider Enterprise Customers

2011-06-07T08:50:00.000-04:00

With OS X Lion: Apple Forgets to Consider Enterprise Customers

As was announced by Apple yesterday, Mac OS X Lion will only be available via the Mac App Store when it is released next month. For enterprise customers, the change away from traditional media poses several challenges to be able to upgrade to the latest version of the operating system. At first pass the following items will have to be addressed in order to upgrade to Lion:

Corporate iTunes Account

Picture provided by @Apple

Currently there are no means for non-educational institutions to establish a corporate iTunes account that allows for software purchases against credits. Per the iTunes eula, the iTunes accounts is to be established for personal use. Even if a company allows for a corporate credit card for iTune purchases this still has it challenges if they allow the staff to install personal items on their devices as iTunes does not allow for multiple accounts on a single device.

Mac App Store Doesn't Provide Download File
Based upon how the Mac App Store currently installs purchased applications there will be no means of downloading a traditional install file (*.dmg) that would allow Lion to be install on other workstations.

Next Steps
Hopefully between now and the release of Lion in July, Apple will take into consideration it's corporate customers and provide an additional means of purchasing Lion that will allow for easier upgrades.

Playbook Not Ready for Healthcare Enterprise Yet

2011-04-24T10:41:00.001-04:00

At HIMSS this year I was able to test drive the BlackBerry Playbook and at the time thought it had the potential to be an alternative to the iPad. The reason for this optimism was due to the form factor, display and multi-tasking while even knowing that the email was done via a bridge solution.

This that optimism went away after reviewing the Playbook in an actual enterprise environment. The lack of email was a show stopper as ATT currently is blocking the Bridge application. In addition, there is currently no Citrix client for the device either. When I inquired with a Citrix Rep there was apparent time frame for client to be released.

At this point in time, the Playbook is merely a consumer device that can't play in the enterprise.

A Step Away from Tech and a Step into a Kevin Eikenberry Coaching Session

2011-04-16T07:30:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I was provided the opportunity to attend a Leadership Development series where Kevin Eikenberry was one of the speakers where he focused on coaching. Actually, Kevin was more of a facilitator of thought versus a traditional speaker. During this short session he was able to get the attendees to compile the following on coaching.

Coaching in 6 Words

Teaching Others To Achieve Best Results
Inspire Others to Exceed their abilities
Empowering others to continually improve themselves
Inspiring ongoing mutual development (individually/others)
Challenge and guide toward collective goals
Communicate, mentor, motivate to achieve greatness
Bringing out the potential in others
Motivate others to be their best

Great Coaches Are:

Role model
Encouraging
Great listener
Spiritual
Trusting
Demanding
Celebration my successes
Respected
Energetic
Reasonable
Communicate
Gives feedback
Realistic
Pushes the envelop
Unconditional support
Patient
Loyal
Develops other leaders
Bold
Decisive
Wise
Successful
Asks questions
Integrity
Compassionate
Insightful
Visionary

In addition to the excellent content above on coaching, Kevin provide several memorable quotes which are listed below.

Developing Others - One Competency of Remarkable Leaders
Motivation is internal. We choose to make the decision.
To be world class a coach does not mean you have to be the best at everything.
People see their weaknesses most of the time versus focussing on their strengths as well. Build upon on your strengths while working on your weaknesses.
Coach people you believe in. If you don't then you won't be successful.
Make sure you provide specific positive and negative feedback.
To be a good coach help others see their potential.

I have been following Kevin on Twitter (@kevineikenberry) for several years and have always loved the content that he provides on leadership with his feed. I was completely impressed at his ability to get the group to participate in this coaching session and highly recommend that everyone attend one Kevin's sessions is provided the opportunity.

Windows Phone 7 Not Ready for the Healthcare Enterprise

2011-04-03T09:19:00.000-04:00

Recently, I was provided the opportunity to give a Samsung Windows Phone 7(WP7) a test drive. The phone itself felt great to hold and was easy to get setup for initial use. The WP7 user interface is as easy to use and intuitive as the iPhone. Once, I finished giving the consumer side of the phone a test it was time to put on my Healthcare IT hat to see if WP7 would work in the enterprise. For this review, the following areas were reviewed as they are the basic requirements for healthcare.

No Device Encryption
In the majority of cases, mobile healthcare devices are required to be encrypted in order to ensure protection of possible patient data on the device. WP7 lacks any sort of device level encryption and for that matter very few add-on tools to encrypt the phone. This lack of encryption also plagues Android devices but is being addressed by using tools like Good Technology (mailbox encryption client). However, at the time of this review there is no Good client for WP7.

No Citrix Support
Traditionally, a lot of healthcare enterprise applications are connected to via Citrix. Currently, the Receiver Client from Citrix is available for Android, BlackBerry and iOS devices but is not available for WP7. In doing some searching I was unable to determine if or when the Receiver client would be available for WP7.

No VPN Support
Although not required by all persons in healthcare there are instances where VPN is required for access to certain systems. Unlike the iPhone, WP7 does not have any native support or apps for VPN connectivity.

Lack of Enterprise Management
Until recently, there has been a absolutely no enterprise management tools to support WP7. None of the major vendors that support iOS and Android today provide support for WP7. The only enterprise support for WP7 is via Microsoft System Center 2012 which is still in beta.

Lack of Healthcare Apps
One of the major attractions of the iOS devices for physicians is the number of "medical" apps that are readily available for those devices. In doing some some rudimentary searching of the WP7 marketplace it was immediately obvious that it lacked the number of medical apps that iPhone and now Android owners have come accustomed to. In searching iTunes it was determined that there were over 2000 "medical" related apps as compared to less than 100 for WP7. If there is more than 100 medical apps than it would be hard to determine that, as the searching in WP7 Marketplace returns results for more than just apps.

Summary
Although, WP7 is a very easy to use mobile platform there is still a long way for it to go before it is a viable alternative to Android and iOS. For those that had an early iPhone, WP7 is essentially at that same point. Microsoft has targeted the consumer sector with WP7 but have may forgotten it's business customers that pay millions each year for their software solutions. Hopefully, with future updates for WP7, Microsoft will add the necessary functionality needed for an enterprise environment and provide a viable alternative to Android and iOS.

How much are Hospitals really using Social Media?

2011-03-23T13:55:00.000-04:00

At HIMSS 2011, there was a big emphasis on social media in healthcare. As an attendee to this conference I utilized the HIMSS social media presencse to stay in touch with daily events. However, this began me thinking about how much hospitals are actually using social media and which of these tools are actually being used. With this thought in mind I started collecting information based upon some common "Top Hospital" lists that are published on a yearly basis.

First off, I examined the list of the "Most Wired Hospitals" that was published by Health Forum for the year 2010 and was able to compile the following usage of social media tools.

Next, I reviewed the usage by the "Top Hospitals" as rated by LeapFrog for the year 2010 with the following results.

From these numbers it is obvious that social media tools are being used and especially by the "Top Hospitals" but how does this usage compare to the Top 100 Fortune Companies. Per a survey conducted by SysComm the Top 100 Fortune Companies have the following usage of social media.

From a comparison perspective, the Top Hospitals are in alignment with the Top 100 Fortune companies when it comes to social media usage. I suspect we will continue to see both hospitals and companies continue expand their use of social media tools as they figure out how it can help their respective business.

HP Slate Review for Healthcare Fails

2011-02-20T07:05:00.000-05:00

Over the past several months, more and more operational areas of the hospital are inquiring about using a tablet/slate type device to help improve work flow for their respective areas. As part of this inquiry, I have been reviewing devices other than the iPad to see if any of them stack up. Recently, I was provided an HP Slate 500 to review for use within clinical and back office operations. This device was initially intriguing as it comes with Windows 7 which would allow for the device to be managed under traditional corporate tools (i.e. SCOM, SCCM). This intrigue faded very quickly as I began using the device and came to the following conclusions.

External Hardware
Screen
The Slate supports a 8.9" diagonal WSVGA wide-viewing angle touchscreen that allows for interaction with touch or via a stylus. The responsiveness of the screen when using touch is very slow to respond and is not completely accurate on first touch. This makes for very poor experience when trying to navigate through various applications.

Internal Hardware
Processor
The Slate comes with a 1.8Ghz Atom processor which is completely undersized to support Windows 7. In using this device for standard productivity tasks the processor gets completely overwhelmed and the performance noticeably suffers.

Memory
In addition to having an inadequate processor, the Slate only supports 2GB of memory. For anyone, who has ever used Windows 7 should know that this enough memory in order to have an optimal performance experience.

Wireless
The wireless NIC comes with Integrated 802.11b/g/n which should be more than adequate in most situations. However, after a review by a wireless network administrator, the lack of an "a" radio may be of issue in some Healthcare organizations as they try to balance devices across the different radios.

Absent from the Slate is any cellular wireless connectivity which is a major miss for those that are truly mobile such as outreach physicians. Granted a USB cellular card could be used but who really wants to carry this with them when they are trying to minimize devices while on the road.

Other Hardware
Some of the nice features of the Slate is that it comes with the following other hardware that is desired by a lot of organizations that are looking at tablet devices:

USB 2.0 port
Integrated 3 MP camera which took adequate pictures for documentation purposes
Integrated VGA web cam which worked well when doing a video conference with the Cisco client

Software
Operating System
The Slate utilizes Windows 7 Tablet operating system and it's associated features. Windows 7 tablet is fa fine OS when used on adequate hardware such as Fujitsu Lifebook. However, it is not suited to run on hardware that is being used in most tablet devices today.

Other Reviews
Just to make sure that I wasn't giving the Slate a fair shake, I provided the device to a clinician and an inventory specialist to round with in order to garner their feedback. In both instances, they contacted me to come back and pick up the Slate after less than hour of use. Both of the testers indicated that the performance and responsiveness of the device was not acceptable.

Google TV for Healthcare Patient Edutainment

2010-10-24T07:14:00.002-04:00

So after watching the Google TV & Logitech Revue announcement several weeks ago I began thinking about how Google TV could be used in a healthcare setting. One of the ways it could be used is a "Patient Edutainment" solution.

So you may be asking yourself what is "Patient Edutainment". This is a system that is accessed and utilized by the patient during their stay in the hospital. It usually consists of TV, the ability to access patient education materials, surf the web, on demand movies and some have online games. The problem with most of the "Patient Edutainment' systems is that a lot of the require a dedicated network and server hardware (movie server) to provide these services to the patient room.

By utilizing Google TV the content that is typically hosted on dedicated hardware by the hospital would now be hosted by Google (YouTube) or Netflix for movies. Obviously, this assumes that Netflix would provide a subscription solution to a corporation. At the time of this post I have been unable to confirm whether or not Netflix would provide this service offering.

Other advantages that Google TV provides is that will ultimately will provide the ability to access various applications like Facebook, Games, and Google Docs. By providing a solution like the Logitech Revue then this eliminates the need for hospitals to either provide laptops to the patients or ensure that every room has Internet access.

The above are just a few thoughts I have had on this idea and really haven't had a chance to confirm how it would be excepted by the patients and clinical staff in the hospitals. Hopefully, as offerings like Google TV is further developed hospitals will consider them as alternatives to traditional entertainment solutions for patients.

Jeremy

Leadership: Organizational Culture & Team Building

2010-05-11T08:02:00.009-04:00

This morning I attended a leadership development series that featured Chancellor Charles Bantz of IUPUI and Coach Tom Crean from Indiana University. Provided below are my notes from their session on leadership. Both speakers were exceptional in what discussion that they presented to the group.

Chancellor Bantz from IUPUI - Organization Culture for Leadership
"Leadership is constructive"
Organization Culture Can be Broken Down To:
1. Meanings - spiderweb of significance
2. Expectations - agendas, motives, communicate, roles and responsibilities

All organizations cannot exist without communication.
Need to know what is expected of you in an organization.
What is your motive for working in an organization?
Agenda is the notion of time within in an organization
Leaders need to understand the characteristic of an organization
Culture are not uniform across an organization
You also need to understand how you communicate within the culture. This will help in implementing change in an organization.
Listen to what is valued in an organization and align that with the change you are trying to implement.
Understand what has been successfully changed in the past

If culture gets locked down then it gets stale, a successful organization needs to have the ability to change.

Tom Crean "Leadership - Building Your Team"

Building team is about building confidence
You have to find the one thing in a person to establish confidence
You can't begin to build confidence unless you find that one thing
Every person on your team has a story and you need to understand that story so you know what they can bring to the table
Team members need to be inspired; as a leader you need to bring inspiration to your team
Inspire team members to be greater than they think they can be
Need to understand that team members can be selfish and greedy
Motivation only lasts for 3 days inspiration can last for a lifetime
Confidence comes 3 main area:

Character - trust your instinct when no one else does
Toughness - both mentally and physically, consistency on a daily basis
Mindset - your mindset will move you forward do you have the ability to put fun in fundamentals,

Communication can always be approved
You can't have real confidence if you don't have real communication
"Everyday there will be 5 things that you will not plan for and how you deal with them will separate you" - Bill Parcels
Communication and leadership are not an entitlement
Stay charge of your communication
Your team confidence needs to permeate through the organization
If you have people that communicate then you have a team that can deal with change
"Don't be combative with each other be competitive with each other" - Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts Head Coach
You have to remove/work through the stumbling blocks and sometimes this may be people
Stumbling blocks can be removed/worked through communication

My iPad Review

2010-04-20T08:08:00.002-04:00

Provided below is my review of the iPad after 2 weeks of testing it in a healthcare setting.

General Comments

Form factor of the iPad initially appears to be the correct size for viewing various applications. The ability to zoom in and out using your fingers is a plus when needing to view specific details in an application.
The device is based upon a mobile OS means that most applications will not function properly on the device. The only real option for connecting to enterprise applications is via the Citrix client for the iPad. This is specifically true when using applications that require Internet Explorer.
Will require a protective case if going to be mobile with the device on a regular basis. These cases are going to be around $50.
The review of applications was focused on connecting to the primary clinical applications (EMR, Lab, Intranet (Order Sets), PACs, SharePoint).
Like the iPhone 3GS, the iPad is encrypted at the same level.
The iPad allows connectivity to the Exchange server in the same means as the iPhone.

Application Connectivity

Utilizing the Citrix client, connectivity to the EMR was successfully established.
In order to get EMR to work the Citrix client has to sign-on to the Citrix farm via dedicated AD account. This was accomplished using a generic account and does not pose any security issues as it is used only as means to be able to display the applications that are published in the farm.
One issue that was identified with the Citrix client is the way it handles a disconnected session. The client disconnects properly but when you reconnect it sometimes establishes a new session versus re-establishing to the disconnected session. This could pose to be a performance issue on the Citrix Farm but could be addressed by adjusting the time out settings for disconnected sessions
The Citrix client also provided access to Labs and Intranet (Order Sets)
Was unable to connect to PACs from the iPad via Citrix. This is not an issue specific to the iPad but rather PACs not being supported on the Citrix Farm.

Battery

The iPad battery is rated for 10 hours of run time and from initial testing this rating is pretty accurate. A physician at Harvard Medical Center was able to round through the ED for his whole shift with a single charge.

Wireless

Connectivity to the enterprise wireless network works with no problems. However, I did notice that going from one wireless network to another required me to manually go in and select the enterprise wireless network in order to establish connectivity.
Apple has admitted that there are wireless issues with the iPad. In testing, I did not experience wireless issues here at work but did notice at home that it had trouble connecting in locations where my laptop connected with no problems.

VPN

The iPad supports Cisco VPN but to get it setup requires that the secure key be manually entered. In order to keep the VPN settings secure would require someone from IS to manually enter the settings on the iPad.
VPN connectivity would be required if a physician is going to want to access applications on the iPad while outside the hospital facilities.

Support

If iPad’s were provided to staff there would need to be additional research into the Enterprise tools that would allow to fully manage these devices. In addition, there would need to be a support model developed to support the devices. This will be key if the iPads being used are enabled with the 3G cellular connectivity.
Would need to ensure the enterprise Citrix farm has enough resources to support connectivity to the applications that would be accessed by the staff from the iPad.

iPad & Healthcare

2010-04-04T06:39:00.002-04:00

With the release of the iPad this weekend and mine coming on Monday, I thought I would do some research on the iPad's usability in healthcare. Provided below are some links that provide some insight on preliminary review of the iPad in healthcare.

Apple iPad: Healthcare industry weighs in

Apple iPad in Healthcare: Pros and Cons

The iPad and Healthcare

One of the other concerns not commented mentioned in the reviews above is that the device is not encrypted and hence it poses security/compliance concerns.

I can wait to review this new device and its functionality with the various clinical systems at work.

Web 2.0 Team Collaboration Tools

2009-09-07T07:49:00.003-04:00

Google Reader and Del.icio.us are tools that have been around for a while now but they are simple and provide the opportunity for team collaboration when it comes to research. Google Reader now allows you to share your RSS feeds with the public or specific persons in your contact list. Having the ability for team members to able to read the same news on a particular topic keeps everyone informed .

On the other hand, Del.icio.us allows you to share your bookmarks with team members. This is an invaluable tool when you working on a research team for a given project.

In a business setting these days, most people think of collaboration tools as SharePoint or something similar. We need to keep in mind that there are other tools available that are simple and help in getting work done while collaborating with colleagues.

Jeremy's Google Reader & Del.icio.us profiles
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user%2F03556655281381831658%2Flabel%2FCIO%20-%20Leadership%20Reading
http://delicious.com/jwindmiller

Adobe Air Applications for Healthcare

2009-04-19T07:46:00.004-04:00

I have been utilizing TweetDeck and Eventbox for sometime now for aggregating information from my various social networks. Both of these applications are based upon the Adobe Air which is operating system independent and works flawlessly.

With that being said, I thought I would do some searching to see what healthcare applications are out there that utilizes Adobe Air. Unfortunately, there aren't too may healthcare companies utilizing the Adobe Air platform. The major EMR companies should really look at the AIR platform with its ability to utilize applications in an offline mode.

The one company I found that is utilzing Adobe Air, is DLC Solutions, which specializes in developing eLearning solutions. They have developed a learning system for cancer patient called ENACCT. More information on this solution can be found on the DLC Solution Blog.

Hopefully, once the Adobe Air platform becomes more mainstream we will see more EMR and Healthcare applications available. platform which is operating system independent and works flawlessly.

Social Network Aggregator/Social Stream - Follow-up

2009-04-05T07:33:00.002-04:00

Several weeks ago I wrote about Social Network Aggregator tools. Since then I have been heavily utilizing my iGoogle setup as my preferred aggregator. However, this week I stumbled across a new tool, "SKIMMER", that works on my both Mac/PC and connects to the more popular networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flikr). For the most part, Skimmer has the features for social networking but is a little bugging while establishing connections to each of the services.

What is really interesting about Skimmer, is that has been developed by a marketing firm. So I am sure it is a matter of time before you start seeing advertisements showing up on the Skimmer interface.

Update
After making this post I came across another aggregator for the Mac environment. "Eventbox" comes from the folks at Comic Machine. It provides access to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, News Feeds, and Google Reader. What's nice about this aggregator that its interface has the feel of an email in box plus the features of a life stream.

Social Network Aggregator/Social Stream

2009-03-15T06:41:00.004-04:00

Over the past several weeks I have been researching various means of pulling all of my social network accounts into a single interface. In doing so I have trialed desktop applications, add-ons for firefox, and web-base solutions. Provided below are the ones that I have reviewed and my 2 cents about the solution.

Desktop Options
Sobees - a desktop solution that pulls in the most common social networks and has the most promising future but is for Windows only right now.
Feedalizr - a desktop solution similar to Sobees but works on a Mac. However, the user interface isn't as easy to work with as Sobees and does not pull in as many common networks.
Digsby - an instant messaging client that connects to all major instant messaging accounts, provides email updates, plus sends you updates as to what you friends are doing on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Digsby is a really nice solution but is only available for Windows currently.

Firefox Add-on
Yoono - a sidebar add-on for Firefox that provides access to all the major social networks (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Flikr) as well as all the instant messenger solutions. This is a really nice solution for someone who likes having all their accounts in one solution. The only downside is that local to the PC upon which it is installed.

Web-based
Bebo - a web-based offering from AOL that labels their solution as a "Life Stream" allows you to acccess your Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts and pull them into 1 stream. AOL has done a good job in providing access to your other accounts but has a really cluttered interface that you can't personalize
Meebo - a web-based instant messaging solution that allows you to access all major instant messaging accounts as well as MySpace and Facebook. The only downside is that it doesn't send you updates that you friends post to their MySpace and Facebook accounts.
iGoogle - a customized home page from google that you can add gadgets from all the common social networks and to have them all on one page. I personally like this one because it provides me a segrated view of all my social network accounts on a single page.

Another promising solution is from the instant messaging client Adium (Mac only) that announced they would have a client similar to Digsby over the next coupld of months.

Healthcare Web 2.0 Risks?

2009-03-01T08:34:00.005-05:00

I recently read the blog posting below from KevinMD.com and came up with a few questions from a Healthcare IT perspective:

1. Should these be social networking sites that are blocked by IT departments to minimize risks to the hospital?

I suspect some organizations will block these types of sites to minimize liability risk and give guidance to their affiliated physicians.

2. Is getting advice on one these sites any different the conferring with a physician over the phone?

From my point, not really. The only difference here is that the person on the end of the advice the physician may not know.

I guess we will have to wait and see when the first law suit from these type of services comes about.

Do doctors who use physician-only social networking sites expose themselves to malpractice risk?
One of the newer trends is doctors using social networking sites like Sermo and iMedExchange.

Likened to a "virtual doctor's lounge," physicians can ask questions and speak freely knowing their posts will not be seen by, or released to, the public.

Often times, questions about patient management are asked, and it's nice to have a quick response to queries by a variety of specialists.

In this piece from Medical Economics, some wonder about the liability risk about asking such questions. Although Sermo downplays the risk, attorneys say that a "user who gives bad advice on the site could find himself involved in legal proceedings if his name were to come out during a malpractice trial of the doctor who followed his advice," similar to a curbside consult.

So, with professional organizations offering little guidance on how to proceed, it's probably best to be careful about what you post, and how you act on the information gleaned from these sites.

Web 2.0 & Privacy

2009-02-21T08:13:00.003-05:00

This past week there has been tremendous coverage on Facebook's attempt to retain the content submitted by the user's of its service. Most people who sign up for these services are not aware of the potential downside of posting information on these services. This not only affects individuals users but businesses as well. Provided below are some of this week's coverage on Facebook:

What Facebook's Stumble Can Teach Your Company

Week in review: Facebook's about-face

Facebook backs down on policy changes

Facebook Makes Some Changes

Healthcare Web 2.0 Adoption

2009-02-15T17:41:00.005-05:00

Several people have already written about Forrestor's prediction (http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8555) of social networking by 2013. My question is, how widely excepted will these technoligies be in healthcare? Typically, healthcare is the last to adopt new technologies and in some cases is 5-10 years behind other industries. Several technologies that could be implemented that would help healthcare institutions interface with the public and those being:

Podcasts (provide evidence based recommendations by physicians and announcements about upcoming events)
Mashups (provide transparency for hospital quality and safety statistics as compared to the industry)
Blogs (for internal and external use to allow folks to interact with hospital leadership)

I guess we will we see how the next few years play out to see if these and other web 2.0 technologies are adopted by healthcare.

Web 2.0 Over?

2009-02-08T08:02:00.008-05:00

Today CNN Money had the following article on Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is so over. Welcome to Web 3.0

After reading this article, it was time to read up some more on Web 3.0 by turning to Wikipedia which has a definition by:

Nova Spivack defines Web 3.0 as the third decade of the Web (2010–2020) during which he suggests several major complementary technology trends will reach new levels of maturity simultaneously including:

transformation of the Web from a network of separately siloed applications and content repositories to a more seamless and interoperable whole. JDW - this has already begun when you look at the suite of apps from Google.
ubiquitous connectivity, broadband adoption, mobile Internet access and mobile devices; JDW - this is getting better but there are still a lot of rural and some urban areas where broadband is not available or not affordable.
network computing, software-as-a-service business models, Web services distributed computing, grid computing and cloud computing; interoperability, JDW - most of these services are available today but not widely adopted by large enterprises. These services are ideal solutions for small to medium sized business.
open technologies, open APIs and protocols, open data formats, open-source software platforms and open data JDW -
open identity, OpenID, open reputation, roaming portable identity and personal data; JDW - most of these are available today through technologies provided by Google.
the intelligent web, Semantic Web technologies such as RDF, OWL, SWRL, SPARQL, GRDDL, semantic application platforms, and statement-based datastores; JDW - all these technologies appear to have a long way to go before they are reality. Several semantic web projects have struggled in taking off but they do offer a promising future for the web.
distributed databases, the "World Wide Database" (enabled by Semantic Web technologies); and
intelligent applications, natural language processing, machine learning, machine reasoning, autonomous agents

Mashable

2009-01-30T11:52:00.001-05:00

I recently found the Mashable website that describes itself as the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Networking news. For those interested in the latest uses of Web 2.0 technology then this is a site for you. For example, some of the articles that I read on Mashable are:

Social Networking God: 350+ Social Networking Sites

-Truly amazing all the social networking sites that are available these days

Twitter, Facebook, Digg: Can You Join Too Many Network

- The answer is "Yes"

Social Networking Articles

2009-01-25T08:53:00.001-05:00

I found the following article on social networking this morning:

Kids On Facebook - Where does Facebook’s Business Model Fit into Protecting our Kids?

More Social Networking

2009-01-25T08:20:00.001-05:00

In reviewing more social networking sites this past week I stumbled across an article from Network World that included 10 sites for 2009. Some of the ones from that list that are worth taking a look at are:

Qik: video version of Twitter that lets you quickly most video captured on a mobile phone
Boxee: a dashboard tool that gathers video from all the major video places on the web
Loopt: made popular on the iPhone but not available on some other smartphones allow you to find your friends assuming they have a phone with GPS.
Blip.fm: a music version of Twitter that allows friends to share music lists
Power.com: a dashboard that interfaces with MySpace, Facebook, Hi5 and displays on a single screen.
Hi5: the most popular social network tool outside the US. Similar to Facebook.

Social Networks

2009-01-18T08:17:00.000-05:00

As part of checking out all the social networks I came across a great utility "ping.fm". This handy service allows you to update all your social networks from one interface. In addition, to providing this service, ping.fm provides an extensive list of all the social networks available on the web. Over the next few weeks I will be testing more of the social networks that are available. So far I am trialing:

Linkedin: great for keeping in touch with business colleagues
MySpace: an ok service but with way too man advertisements
Facebook: a very intuitive service with a friendly user interface
Blogger: the best blog solution available
Twitter: a neat concept that combines instant messaging, sms texting, and micro-blogging into 1 interface but has had stability issues of late.

Testing Out Websites IT Pros Should Know

2009-01-11T08:27:00.001-05:00

NetworkWorld posted the following websites that IT pros should know for 2009 so I thought I would give them a try and then give my 2 cents.

NetworkWorld.com says that savvy IT executives need to connect to the latest innovations on the Internet if they want to keep up with their 20-something employees and improve business performance. They suggest:

Linked In, the de rigueur Web 2.0 site for IT professionals that has 30 million members and a host of new features that make it the most productive networking site on the web. JDW Comment: A must have service for any business professional wanting to keep in touch with colleagues and business contacts.
Google Apps for Business, a software-as-a-service or cloud computing option that's the future of enterprise IT departments. JDW Comment: A very nice solution for small business that want to minimize costs to their startup and on-going IT costs.
VMware Communities - Chances are you’ve already embarked on a server virtualization project, and continued consolidation of your servers is a key money-saving goal for 2009.
Secunia.com, a site that aggregates security vulnerability information from leading vendors, providing you with one-stop shopping for the latest news about security bugs and the software patches available to fix them.
Green Grid, a website that offer advice to make sure your data center is energy efficient and saves money.
Twitter, a real-time messaging service that provides an easy way to keep your staff and co-workers informed about where you are and what you're doing. You can also sign up for the latest technology headlines from Wired, Slashdot and others. JDW Comment: Still trying to figure out the attraction to this service but I am willing to give it a try.
Yammer - If Twitter seems too frivolous to you, try Yammer. It’s essentially Twitter for the office. The benefit of Yammer is that it’s a private communications channel for coworkers to share quick messages about what they’re working on, get questions answered or blast out news.
Ruby on Rails - Ruby on Rails is one of the best open source tools to appear in recent years. This Web development framework lets you create working applications in a matter of hours.
Enterprise Mobility Matters - Like it or not, the latest smartphones – the BlackBerry Storms and Apple 3G iPhones (Slideshow: Smartphone showdown: iPhone vs. BlackBerry Storm) – are headed toward your corporate network.

Seeking Information

2008-07-30T05:37:00.001-04:00

As part of an organizational development this week, I participated in a discussion on how to improve communications within our department. One of the feeback pieces from staff was that general organizational information is not readily shared with front line managers and staff. It was determined that the organizations managers don't regularly attend company organized meetings where such information is shared.

This discussion spurred the following thought:

How do you encourage people to seek out the information they desire?

In doing some quick research on the subject, I was able to determine that: 1. Some people are inately driven to seek information and 2. Some people have to be led by example.

So the question becomes, how can leaders of organizations lead by example to encourage their staff and peers to seek knowledge?

That is all for this week. There will be more on this subject next week.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

New Direction

2008-07-23T05:33:00.001-04:00

It a been awhile since I have posted anything to my blog so I thought
it was about time. I have decided to take a different direction with
the blog. Instead of being focused in a resume format, I will provide
updates/comments on my current areas of work.

With that being said. Currently, I am working IS leadership in the
areas of process improvement with a specific focus on Baldrige and
ITIL best practices. Additionally, I am working with Clinical IS and
clinicians to identify the correct/best bedside technology solutions
to assist clinical workflow. Finally, I continue to do research
oriented projects with the current one being Mac Enterprise
Integration.

That's all until next week. Have a good week

--
Jeremy Windmiller
jwindmiller@gmail.com
Blog: http://jeremywindmiller.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremywindmiller

Welcome

2007-08-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

Welcome! This blog will be used to record projects/initiatives that take place during my career path. The goal is to provide insight into my career by journaling each major milestone by logging goals, challenges, and knowledge gained along the way.

You will noticed that I have posted several projects now to the blog. Each one will have a brief commentary and a Project Management Process breakdown. These details are required for PMP certification for which I am now in the process of obtaining.

In addition to the project list, I have also added a Healthcare News section that will provide relevant links to national and local healthcare news.

Thanks,

Jeremy

EMR Implementation for Minor Care Clinic

2007-02-01T13:06:00.000-05:00

02/01/2007 - 05/31/2007
As the Director of Information Technology for Corner Care Clinic I chartered the initiative to implement an Electronic Medical Record for the company. The goal of implementing an EMR was to provide the clinic staff (Nurse Practitioners & Physicians) with a user-friendly, streamlined application that adhered to the companies business policies. The project entailed vendor/contract negotiation, application design & testing, roll-out strategy development, training guide development, report development, etc.

Challenges that existed included: inclusion of medical billing business rules, insurance eligibility rules, business performance reporting, and user acceptance. These challenges were overcome through effective communication with the respective teams involved with the project.

Overall, this project was a success for the company by allowing for the clinic practitioners to examine and document a patient visit in a timely manner while maintaining the business rules/procedures required by the company.

Project Mgmt Process Breakdown
Initiating: 40
Planning: 80
Executing: 120
Monitoring/Controlling: 40
Closing: 40
Total Hours: 320

Company Website Implementation

2006-08-15T15:11:00.000-04:00

08/15/06-10/01/06

As part of promoting any new business, especially a startup, it is important to have a presence on the Internet. In reviewing various websites it was our goal to have a very simplified yet informative website for our customers. This was achieved by presenting a very clean and organized feel so that the consumer could easily find our services, locations, and promotions as well as review more behind the scenes details of the company. The site creation was an educational experience that allowed me to brush up on my development skills plus utilize some new tools. Provided below is a snapshot of the company's home page.

Project Mgmt Process Breakdown
Initiating: 2
Planning: 8
Executing: 120
Monitoring/Controlling: 8
Closing: 2
Total Hours: 140

IT Policy & Procedure

2006-06-01T15:03:00.000-04:00

06/01/06-07/31/06
As part of the startup of a minor care clinic, policy and procedures (P&P) were required to be developed and implemented prior to opening the first business location in October of 2006. In developing the IT P&P there had to be ones that applied to the corporate office as well as the remote clinic sites. The challenging decision was whether to create a single P&P for the entire company or to have a separate one for corporate and clinic operations. In order to keep it straightforward for the clinical staff there two separate P&P created for the organization. In the long run this made it easier for everyone to know which P&P applied to their respective areas in the organization.

The IT P&P included the following:

Disaster Recovery: data retention, backup procedures
Data Security (adhering to HIPAA standards): workstation, server, password retention
Telecommunication Policies: cell phone usage and long distance
Change control: systems, user access

Project Mgmt Process Breakdown
Initiating: 2
Planning: 2
Executing: 40
Monitoring/Controlling: 8
Closing: 1
Total Hours: 53

Great Plains Implementation

2006-03-01T15:09:00.000-05:00

03/01/06-05/31/06

Business Line Creation

2005-11-01T15:20:00.000-05:00

11/01/05-12/31/05

Project Mgmt Process Breakdown
Initiating: 3
Planning: 3
Executing: 160
Monitoring/Controlling: 6
Closing: 2
Total Hours: 174

Citrix Farm Implementation

2004-04-01T15:24:00.000-05:00

04/01/04-04-04/31/04

Using standard project management skills designed and implemented Windows 2000-Citrix MetaFrame XP server farm to host Siebel 6 and Hyperion 6.1 for 24X7 access for 200-300 remote users. This project entailed developing hardware requirements/costs, server implementation into LAN environment, scheduling the installation of clients, and developing ongoing management of the server farm once the project was completed.

Project Mgmt Process Breakdown
Initiating:
Planning:
Executing:
Monitoring/Controlling:
Closing:
Total Hours: