Social Media + Your Job Search, A Reminder...

Happy Holidays from TMG!

We're looking forward to a successful and prosperous 2013 in Healthcare IT--you should, too!  Don't use the holidays as an excuse to put off your job search.  Take this time off to dust off your resume and see what's out there.  Give us a call!

 

Epic tops 2012 Best in KLAS Awards

KLAS has released its "2012 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Services" report, ranking the highest-performing IT vendors in nearly 100 segments.

Once again, Verona, Wis.-based Epic has dominated the field, earning the top overall software vendor, overall software suite vendor and overall physician practice vendor awards – and sweeping eight "Best in KLAS" categories in total.

Based on interviews with some 20,000 providers, other top performers include Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth, which roped in the second-most Best in KLAS wins after Epic.

“Providers recognize the critical nature that vendors play in improving healthcare delivery,” said Adam Gale, KLAS president. “Thus, a growing number of providers are weighing in on vendor performance. It speaks volumes that providers want to be heard and be counted. And vendors are listening.”

The following is a list of the 2012 Best in KLAS vendors for software:

Acute Care EMR: Epic EpicCare Inpatient EMR

Ambulatory EMR (1–10 Physicians): athenahealth athenaClinicals

Ambulatory EMR (11–75 Physicians): Epic EpicCare Ambulatory EMR

Ambulatory EMR (Over 75 Physicians): Epic EpicCare Ambulatory EMR

Business Intelligence/Reporting: Dimensional Insight The Diver Solution

Cardiology: Digisonics DigiView

Community HIS: McKesson Paragon

Document Management and Imaging: Perceptive Software ImageNow

Emergency Department: Wellsoft EDIS

Enterprise Scheduling: Unibased USA RMS

Financial/ERP: Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise

Homecare: Homecare Homebase

Laboratory: Siemens NOVIUS Lab

Oncology: Elekta MOSAIQ

PACS: DR Systems Unity v|Series PACS

Patient Accounting and Patient Management: Epic Resolute Hospital Billing

Pharmacy: Epic Willow

Practice Management (1–10 Physicians): athenahealth athenaCollector

Practice Management (11–75 Physicians): athenahealth athenaCollector

Practice Management (Over 75 Physicians): Epic Resolute/Prelude/Cadence

For full results view article.

Healthcare IT News Year in Review: 2012

Check it out here.

Less Is Still More (this applies to almost everything)

Why Shorter Is Sweeter | To communicate more meaningfully: Cut, cut, cut!

by Rene Shimada Diegel for Inc. Magazine

Today I spent considerable time helping my VP craft two very important emails: one for a client and one for our payroll company. As I talked, she typed and we realized we both had a lot we wanted to say. And suddenly, there were just far too many words.

We stopped and deleted -- and then deleted some more. Important communication doesn’t require a thud factor. More is not more. Of course there are times when more words are necessary for diplomacy or clarification, but in this always-on digital age, “more” often dilutes or complicates your message.

Get to the point. Now. My husband used to be the worst at leaving voice messages. He told his boss what he wanted to say. Then he told his boss what he meant by that. And then he summarized for his boss what he’d just said. All in one long, excruciating voice message. “He got it!” I yelled from across the living room one evening, having heard the message he was recording. In a voicemail, just state your name, quickly explain your reason for calling and give the person a call-to-action. Do they need to call you back or is this just an FYI? Let them know. Think, should you text the message instead?

Three is a magic number. Early in my career I worked for a company called 3Com. Everything they did was in threes. Now when I feel the need to explain something complex, my 3Com days remind me to narrow everything down to the three most important points. Usually, once the top three points are listed, I realize the other info is extraneous or redundant anyway. Magic!

Use bullets. Giant blocks of text in any document require unbelievable concentration from the reader -- and few readers have time, patience or concentration to slog through dense text unless absolutely necessary. They want to scan for what they need to know, and bullets are my favorite way to communicate info quickly. Tell the reader up front what the message is about and outline your points with bullets consisting of concise phrases, not complete sentences. Finally, close with a call-to-action -- whatever it is you want the reader to do next.

Keep meetings focused. We’ve all suffered through endless meetings in which someone talks and talks and very little gets communicated. Make sure everyone is clear about the meeting goals and keep the time under 30 minutes to maintain a sense of urgency and focus. Some people hold daily ‘Scrum’ status update meetings -- 15-minute power sessions -- during which everyone stands. Also, consider whether laptops, tablets and smartphones should be allowed or banned during meetings. If allowed, people tend to tune out the speaker and read their email -- killing productivity and prolonging the meeting.

As Socrates once memorably said, "How many are the things I can do without!" Being brief in your communications requires you to stop and think about what to say and how to communicate the most important things. By getting to the point, quickly and clearly, you can make less do more.

U.S. Adds Surprising 146K Jobs In Nov.; Unemployment Down To 7.7%

by Abram Brown, Forbes.com

Growth in the nation’s labor market far exceeded forecasts last month, a possible signal that businesses are proving resilient through the disruption caused by Superstorm Sandy, the monster hurricane that punished the East Coast and disrupted that key artery of the economy, and the uncertain political situation. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell to 7.7%.

The U.S. added 146,000 new jobs last month, new Labor Department data shows. Government economists say the hurricane didn’t impede November’s tally. Last month’s figure fits with the labor market’s performance this year. The country had averaged a monthly gain of 151,000 this year. In the past three months, that figure was closer to 170,000. Another employment metric, which accounts for job hunters and those forced to work part-time, supported the headline figure: Total unemployed fell to 14.4% from 14.6% a month earlier.

Joblessness declined to the lowest point since December 2008. This was accompanied by a decline in the labor force; the labor force participation rate fell to by 20 basis points to 63.6%. Without this decline in the labor force, mostly the result of people halting the job search after Sandy, unemployment would not have fallen. As they return this morning, unemployment could return to nearer 7.9%.

Significantly, the Labor Department lowered estimates on October’s job growth (by 33,000) and September’s growth (by 16,000).

Today’s upbeat estimate on job growth comes as a complete surprise. Economists had expected figures well below 100,000. Some pegged between 50,000 and 80,000. Market participants immediately cautioned that these government figures will be revised in coming months. To be sure, other economic numbers had seemed to show a contradictory picture of the nation’s health. Weekly reports on jobless claims have shown an immediate increase after Sandy, and they remain elevated still—recording a four-week average of more than 400,000.  Businesses, simultaneously, have seemed to stay on the sidelines; as several other economic indicators apparently reinforced, most are postponing any major investments until later this year. The fiscal cliff, a series of tax increases and spending cuts set to begin Jan. 1, threaten to impede business growth.

Regardless, a 150,000 monthly gain still falls short. Economists say the nation needs to create double that figure to lower unemployment and help the economy heal.

U.S. stocks immediately rose after this morning’s data release. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4% to 13,131.33. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.2%. And the Nasdaq composite declined 0.1% to 2,987.53.

Basic material stocks pushed the market higher. Freeport-McMoRan Copperwent up 5%. Barrick Gold increased 1.1%. Cliffs Natural Resources added 1.1%.

Capital goods stocks also posted gains. Caterpillar rose 1.7% to $87.38. Deere gained 0.7%.

“The labor market continues to improve gradually, which is good news given fears over the fiscal cliff,” says IHS economist Nigel Gault. “That suggests that if we can successfully negotiate the cliff, employment growth should accelerate in 2013.”

A piece of economic data that complicates today’s picture was also released this morning. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index fell to 74.5 in early December, down from 82.7 in November, likely from the worry over the fiscal cliff.

In November, retail added the most jobs (53,000). Business services (43,000) and health care (20,000) were also major job creators.

Meantime, a decline in construction and manufacturing growth show Sandy’s lingering effects, as well as how the fiscal cliff roils the economy. All told, some 370,000 Americans say they were unable last month to work because of weather. While a record high for November, it still isn’t as much as the 1 million that sometimes report in December and January during bad snowstorms.