I Was Just Thinking About Health IT

Until, that is, I discovered they don't even have the capability of printing out discharge instructions in multiple languages, let alone the ability to send digital X-rays and a report of the ED visit to my doctor in the U.S. They did, however, manage to send me a bill for €36. And I was just thinking that I still haven't paid it.

Robots, robots, robots
I probably wrote too many robot stories for HealthLeaders Media during my tenure as senior technology editor. If you Google “Gienna Shaw robots” you get about 18,900,000 results. In my defense, I really like robots. It's clear that robots have been and will continue to be a boon to the healthcare industry—from robot-assisted surgery to remote healthcare. And I was just thinking … I just wrote about robots again.

CMS extends stage 2 meaningful use deadline; industry yawns
It's not really a surprise that the feds, facing industry and political pressure, extended the deadline for hospitals to meet the second phase of meaningful use requirements. But I was just thinking that I won't be so surprised the next time I'm at a tech conference and ask someone what their organization is doing about, say, ICD-10, and the answer is "waiting for the government to extend the deadline."

Gienna Shaw signs off
[Editor’s note: This is Shaw’s last column for HealthLeaders Media, featuring her insights on health IT, personality, and snark. Look for continued coverage of technology from the healthcare CIO perspective on HealthLeadersMedia.com, in HealthLeaders magazine, in the weekly “Technology Input” column and newsletter, and in our multimedia and research-based products.]