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Dr. John D. Halamka

Dr. John D. Halamka

Dr. John D. Halamka is chief information officer and dean for technology at Harvard Medical School who writes at Life as a Healthcare CIO.

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Personal Health Record Use by Adolescents

Personal Health Record Use by Adolescents

May 15, 2013 6:00 am by | 0 Comments


In response to many questions about PHR use by adolescents, I asked Fabienne Bourgeois, the expert at Children's Hospital Boston, to write this guest blog post -

As more and more practices and hospitals ... Read more
How listening to doctors helped Meditech develop a bold new vision

How listening to doctors helped Meditech develop a bold new vision

May 7, 2013 6:00 am by | 0 Comments

I have no financial relationships with any EHR vendor, but feel a great affinity for the vendors in Massachusetts - eClinicalWorks, AthenaHealth and Meditech.For the past few years, I've suggested ... Read more
Best practices for using scribes for clinical documentation

Best practices for using scribes for clinical documentation

May 2, 2013 3:00 pm by | 1 Comments

Given the rigors of documentation required for Meaningful Use, quality measurement, and ICD10, some organizations are adding dedicated scribes to rounding and evaluation teams.I was recently asked two questions about ... Read more
What’s next: Agile hospitals will move into the post EHR era

What’s next: Agile hospitals will move into the post EHR era

February 12, 2013 6:00 am by | 2 Comments

At BIDMC, we've already achieved 100% EHR adoption and 90% Meaningful Use attestation among our clinician community. Now that the foundation is laid, I believe our next body of ... Read more
Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules

Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules

January 23, 2013 6:00 am by | 1 Comments


On January 17, HHS released the Final Rule entitled: Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical ... Read more
One degree of separation: Reconnecting with college collaborator shows HIT world is a small one

One degree of separation: Reconnecting with college collaborator shows HIT world is a small one

January 23, 2013 6:00 am by | 0 Comments

I have long believed that there is one degree of separation in the world of healthcare IT.   Everyone knows everyone and we're all connected in often amazing ways.   ... Read more
How could ‘patient friendly orders’ cut the error rate in hospitals?

How could ‘patient friendly orders’ cut the error rate in hospitals?

January 4, 2013 6:00 am by | 3 Comments

Roni Zeiger, a world class informatician who provided physician leadership for the Google Health project in the past recently suggested an idea which has the potential for significant innovation in ... Read more
Brainstorming about the future of clinical documentation

Brainstorming about the future of clinical documentation

December 18, 2012 6:00 am by | 0 Comments

In 2013, I'm focused on 5 major work streams:*Meaningful Use Stage 2, including Electronic Medication Administration Records*ICD10, including clinical documentation improvement and computer assisted coding*Replacement of all Laboratory Information Syst... ... Read more
Crafting the security roadmap from app testing to authentication

Crafting the security roadmap from app testing to authentication

December 11, 2012 11:00 pm by | 0 Comments

Per the theme of security assessment I've been posting about, part of crafting a multi-year security roadmap is examining technologies and practices that have limited use in healthcare but are ... Read more
How to rethink remote access to protect patient data

How to rethink remote access to protect patient data

December 9, 2012 11:54 am by | 0 Comments

As I travel the country, I find that CIOs everywhere are struggling with BYOD in particular but remote access more generally.   Who is responsible ifA personal unencrypted laptop with ... Read more
A new idea for managing consent: Add patient privacy preferences to the URI

A new idea for managing consent: Add patient privacy preferences to the URI

December 6, 2012 6:00 am by | 0 Comments

There may be a simple, scalable and powerful way to manage a patient's privacy preferences: add access permissions to the web address where the data is stored. ... Read more
The key to a successful patient experience of EHRs? Eye contact

The key to a successful patient experience of EHRs? Eye contact

November 23, 2012 8:00 am by | 1 Comments

I'm often asked if the use of EHRs diminish clinician-patient interactions in the exam room.At BIDMC, Jan Walker and Tom Delbanco  have done focus groups with patients about technology. Generally, ... Read more
Careport shows that health problems will be solved by twenty-something entrepreneurs

Careport shows that health problems will be solved by twenty-something entrepreneurs

November 19, 2012 12:56 pm by | 4 Comments

We are in a perfect storm for innovation fueled by several factors. Young entrepreneurs are identifying problems to be rapidly solved by evolving technologies in an economy where existing "old ... Read more
Protect, protect, protect. Now share

Protect, protect, protect. Now share

November 14, 2012 8:00 am by | 0 Comments

Striking the right balance between secure data and sharable data is a complex task, but not an impossible one. ... Read more
Gov. Romney: Don’t abandon Meaningful Use if you win

Gov. Romney: Don’t abandon Meaningful Use if you win

November 5, 2012 6:00 am by | 0 Comments

If Gov. Romney is elected, he should take a hard look at the progress the Healthcare IT Standards Committee has made over the last four years. Abandoning Meaningful Use and ... Read more