Short Link: http://j.mp/6DeFlE
Who Am I?
Charles (Chuck) Webster, MD, MSIE, MSIS
Why Am I Blogging?
Primarily to connect with other folks interested in electronic health records and workflow management systems.
What Will I Be Blogging About?
I will be blogging about Electronic Health Record Workflow Management System (EHR WfMS) and Business Process Management (BPM) concepts, technologies and products.
I coined the term EMR Workflow Management System (now EHR Workflow Management System or EHR WfMS) sometime in 2002 in conversation and email. However, my first article on the concept was the earlier “Structured Data Entry in a Workflow-enabled Electronic Patient Record” which appeared in The Journal of Medical Practice Management, Volume 17, Number 3, Pages 157-161, 2001 and was reprinted (page 11) in the Medical Records Institute’s Health IT Advisory Report, Volume 3, Number 6, July 2002 (pages 11-15). As of the date of this post it has eight citations that Google Scholar knows of; OK, two were by me, but I am pleased that (a) someone noticed and (b) they cited their source.
In retrospect the phrase “Workflow-enabled” was misleading, since the system described, the EncounterPRO EHR, was and is in fact a structured data entry EHR “based” on a complete and classic workflow management system foundation. My first public use of the phrase Electronic Medical Record Workflow Management System was the 2003 white paper “Electronic Medical Record Workflow Management: The Workflow of Workflow”, which appeared on the then JMJ Technologies website. In 2003 I wrote the workflow management criteria used in the EHR workflow management system survey used by Andrew and Associates and published in Advance for Health Information Executives as well as contributed the core EHR WfMS concepts discussed there. I subsequently tweaked the survey criteria in 2004 and 2005 for those surveys and as well as contributed additional conceptual material to follow on articles). Since then I’ve continued to develop these ideas and present them at a variety of regional, national, and international conferences as well as publish in conference proceedings, trade journals, and on the Web. “EHR Workflow Management Systems: Essentials, History, Healthcare” (TEPR Conference, May 19, 2004, Fort Lauderdale), “EHR Workflow Management Systems in Ambulatory Care” (HIMSS, February 14, 2005, Dallas), and this EHR Scope Fall 2007 article “What Makes a Great Pediatric EHR?” are representative.
In particular I hope to stimulate discussion between EHR, WfMS, and BPM professionals.
Blogs, even technical ones like this, need to lighten up occasionally, so I’ll post occasionally about kickbiking and other personal interests or add a vacation photo to my gallery.
When Will I Post?
Intermittently.
Where will I post?
Here (www.chuckwebster.com).
How Can You Leave Feedback?
Please leave comment or a pointer to your own patch of cyberspace. I look forward to meeting you. Comments will be moderated, so there may be a short lag before it appears on the blog.
Acknowledgements
Almost everything I will write here about EHR Workflow Management Systems is the product of a community of EncounterPRO users, employees, and interested observers, as well as workflow management systems vendors, developers, and users outside of healthcare who have patiently answered my questions. Many EHR WfMS concepts that I present could not be expressed without an “existence proof”, a living, breathing, example of an EHR Workflow Management System, namely, the EncounterPRO EHR.
–Chuck
