Not All Healthcare IT Clients Are the Same

“Know the specialties!” Patti Dodgen, CEO of healthcare systems integrator Hielix, told VARs who attended the Breakaway session: “Building Your HIT Blueprint – Assessing the IT Needs of a Healthcare Provider to Become a Trusted Advisor.”

The session was “powered by” CompTIA’s Healthcare IT Community, and each participant received a “Healthcare IT: Workflow Overview” pamphlet that provided critical fundamentals for VARs to learn in this exploding vertical market. 

Dodgen reviewed in detail the most prevalent specialized healthcare practices solutions providers will encounter as they explore the healthcare IT landscape.  She encouraged any interested technologist to study the specific and peculiar needs each specialty will have.  She noted that primary care practices will have diverse needs as “they never know what they will see in a day.”   By contrast, VARs can count on OB/GYN practices needing interface technology for sonograms and fetal monitors.  Surgical practices, such as cardio-thoracic and vascular, will perform 95 percent of services in a hospital, compared to plastic surgeons and dermatologists who may have significant work in their offices.

As an example of what VARs must know about surgeons, Dodgen described the issue of “rounding,” which is the day-to-day necessity of checking on patients in the hospital during recovery from procedures.

“You will want an interface technology that allows them to use a PDA or smart phone to log-in in real time to update data,” Dodgen explained.

“If a software vendor tries to tell you or a doctor that the practice must change procedures to adapt to the technology, then point them to the door,” Dodgen warned.