OK, it is not quite like solving world hunger, but for the reasons discussed here, the implementation of an EHR that meets the meaningful use requirements (including full compliance with HITECH/HIPAA) is a totally non-trivial problem. Old waterfall methodologies are not going to get the job done and therefore the health care industry will be forced to become agile; a challenge that it is not quite prepared for.
Over the next few posts, we will explore the following diagram, which describes the wickedness of the problem:
Each component of the diagram will be exploded, counterclockwise starting with Key Concepts. Once readers "grok" the complexity, we will point to a way forward using meaningful use as an organizing principle, both for the EHR implementation and for HITECH/HIPAA compliance, since meaningful use encompasses both.
To get a preview of where we end up, refer to the diagram below:
As new posts in the series are added the forward and back links will be updated in order for readers to "walk the posts" in quasi presentation like format.The next post in the series can be found here.
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