And this week's big news...Allscripts and Eclipsys to merge!
Health IT Business News Roundup for the Week of June 4, 2010
Contracts
Caro Community Hospital in Michigan, Cedar County Memorial Hospital in Missouri, and Salem Township Hospital and Washington County Hospital in Illinois have selected NextGen Healthcare's Inpatient Clinicals suite of decision support, order management and documentation applications...St. Croix Regional Medical Center in Wisconsin has selected NextGen Healthcare's Inpatient Clinicals suite, ambulatory EHR and practice management applications.
Minnesota has selected MEDecision's InFrame health information exchange service and Nexalign health care decision support system for a state employee PHR program...The Electronic Health Network, a provider of patient health education and wellness applications, has selected Cisco's Medical Data Exchange system for deployment in its 22 South Carolina locations.
The Veterans Health Administration has awarded IT company Harris an eight-month, $10.9 million contract to help VA adopt new standards related to the HIPAA privacy and security rules...Manatee County in Florida has selected SCIOinspire's PROGuide care management analytics, work flow and outreach software for its county health plans.
Product Development and Marketing
Drugmaker Pfizer has entered into a partnership with Epocrates, a provider of clinical information and decision support tools, to offer health care providers mobile access to the Pfizer Medical Information Group, a resource for product information and adverse event reporting...BridgeHead Software, a provider of health data storage applications, has announced a partnership with data recovery firm SunGard Availability Services, to jointly distribute the Secure2Disk backup and recovery application to health care providers.
Streamline Health Solutions, a provider of document work flow and management applications, has announced an agreement with MRO, a provider of disclosure management applications and services, to market Streamline Health's document work flow and management applications and MRO's release-of-information processing tools.
Personnel
David Nace -- vice president and medical director of health IT firm McKesson --- has been named to the board of directors of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, a coalition of employers, consumers and health care groups that advocate for the medical home model.
Friday, June 11
Thursday, June 10
Ask a recruiter: Compensation Requirements
The question is inevitable; but how and when you answer can easily make or break your next job offer, so what's a savvy job-seeker to do?
It depends on the situation...
It depends on the situation...
- Are you speaking with your recruiter? Be frank. (S)he needs to know what you made last year, what you made your best year, what you expect to make this year and how you expect to make it. A W-2 may be required at some point in the hiring process, so be completely honest.
- Is this your first interview with the company? If you are working with a third party recruiter, the HR team should (a) already have your compensation information and (b) have provided your recruiter with a suitable range that (s)he in turn should have shared with you--or at the very least, confirmed that your requirements are compatible with--before submitting your information to the hiring authority. Therefore, the best way to avoid capping your potential offer or getting yourself kicked out of the process altogether is to answer that you are familiar with the range and that you are comfortable with it.
- Is this your final interview with the company? Is the hiring manager trying to close the deal? If the question is delivered in the context of anything along the lines of "so, what would it take to get you on my team," take a deep breath before you answer; they probably like you and you are probably being considered for an offer, but this is in NO WAY a blank check. If pressed to provide a direct answer, be honest but understand that it is not your next employer's responsibility to subsidize the 30K commission you just decided to walk away from, signing bonuses are rare these days and non-recoverable draws are virtually non-existent. Be fair to yourself but be reasonable; keep in mind that the majority of job changes only result in a marginal base salary increase and if you are asking for more than what seems reasonable, you had better have a good reason to do so and you had better be comfortable talking about it... Does the new job involve a move? More travel? Are you losing benefits? Gaining responsibilities?
- Are you currently underpaid? While it may seem reasonable to expect a single job change to bring you up to market value, that may or may not happen. On the one hand, the company should be fair and offer you what you're technically worth, regardless of what you made at your last company. On the other hand, most employers are not going to jump at the opportunity to subsidize a major standard of living adjustment just because it would appear that you failed to advocate for yourself the last time you got an offer. Do you suspect that they aren't going to make you an offer that's commensurate with where you would like to be? Keep growth opportunities in mind--how soon would you be eligible for a performance-based increase? Are there any bonus opportunities? Finally, if you are underpaid, how did you get that way? Were you hired to do one job and slowly transitioned into another without an appropriate change in compensation? Had you been out of work for 18 months when you took the offer?
Friday, June 4
Weekly Wisdom Preview: June 7, 2010
13 Ways Your Resume Can Say 'I'm Unprofessional'
By Lisa Vaas
Hiring pros share the faux pas they find in real resumes, including wacky e-mail addresses, defunct phone numbers and cookie-cutter templates.
1. Random/cute/shared e-mail accounts
2. Failure to proofread
3. Bikini pictures (or any other kind)
4. Unprofessional voicemail
5. Lazy words, ‛etc.’
6. Cookie-cutter resumes
7. Everything but the kitchen sink
8-13 ad infinitum...
•Listing a spouse as a reference
•Not spelling out the name of an employer or school (“LSU” instead of “Louisiana State University” or “ZDE” instead of “Ziff Davis Enterprise”)
•Not providing a city or state for an employer or school
•Omitting the area code from a phone number for a reference or employer
•Providing only a first name for a supervisor or reference
•Including phone numbers that are no longer in service for references or employers
To the above, the HIT Recruiters would add:
By Lisa Vaas
Hiring pros share the faux pas they find in real resumes, including wacky e-mail addresses, defunct phone numbers and cookie-cutter templates.
1. Random/cute/shared e-mail accounts
2. Failure to proofread
3. Bikini pictures (or any other kind)
4. Unprofessional voicemail
5. Lazy words, ‛etc.’
6. Cookie-cutter resumes
7. Everything but the kitchen sink
8-13 ad infinitum...
•Listing a spouse as a reference
•Not spelling out the name of an employer or school (“LSU” instead of “Louisiana State University” or “ZDE” instead of “Ziff Davis Enterprise”)
•Not providing a city or state for an employer or school
•Omitting the area code from a phone number for a reference or employer
•Providing only a first name for a supervisor or reference
•Including phone numbers that are no longer in service for references or employers
To the above, the HIT Recruiters would add:
- manipulating the margins and reducing font size to stay within an imaginary page limit
- incorrect use or incorrect spelling of industry buzzwords (ex: HIPPA instead of HIPAA)
- including irrelevant personal details like marital status, names and ages of children, personal interests (reading, jogging, squaredancing, spending time with family...)
Wednesday, June 2
This Week in Healthcare IT
courtesy of ihealthbeat.org
M&A, Financial Reports and Funding
Healthscreen Solutions, a provider of physician practice services and EHR software, reported a Q2 2010 gross profit of $2,784,623 on $4,069,087 in revenue.
Contracts
Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District in California has selected QuadraMed's CPR EHR system and several additional QuadraMed applications...Vermont Information Technology Leaders has selected athenahealth, a provider of Web-based health care business services, as its preferred EHR provider.
St. Luke's Hospital in Minnesota has selected eClinical Works' EHR and integrated practice management systems...Guadalupe County Hospital in New Mexico has announced that it will implement Medsphere's OpenVista EHR system.
Davis County Hospital in Iowa, Paynesville Area Hospital in Minnesota and Renville County Hospital and Clinics in Minnesota have purchased McKesson's Paragon hospital information system, practice management application and EHR software.
Product Development & Marketing
InstyMeds, a vendor of automated physician dispensing systems, has entered into a strategic partnership with DocuTAP, an EHR and practice management application provider, to integrate InstyMed's dispensing system with DocuTAP's prescription order software.
Allscripts, a provider of health care software and connectivity applications, has entered into a partnership with IntrinsiQ to integrate IntrinsiQ's IntelliDose chemotherapy management application with Allscripts' product suite.
Personnel
Eric Demers -- former vice president of operations, North America at Orion Health, a provider of clinical work flow and integration technology -- has been named senior vice president of life sciences at MEDecision, a provider of collaborative health care management applications...Brett Michalak -- former platform developer for Tickets.com -- has been named CIO of Crescent Healthcare, a provider of integrated pharmacy and nursing services at facilities in California and Florida.
Dale Alverson -- medical director at the University of New Mexico's Center for Telehealth and Cybermedicine Research -- has been named president of the American Telemedicine Association, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for telemedicine technology...Eric Rosenbach -- executive director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government -- has been named managing director of national security at the Markle Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that funds policy research and health IT programs.
M&A, Financial Reports and Funding
Healthscreen Solutions, a provider of physician practice services and EHR software, reported a Q2 2010 gross profit of $2,784,623 on $4,069,087 in revenue.
Contracts
Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District in California has selected QuadraMed's CPR EHR system and several additional QuadraMed applications...Vermont Information Technology Leaders has selected athenahealth, a provider of Web-based health care business services, as its preferred EHR provider.
St. Luke's Hospital in Minnesota has selected eClinical Works' EHR and integrated practice management systems...Guadalupe County Hospital in New Mexico has announced that it will implement Medsphere's OpenVista EHR system.
Davis County Hospital in Iowa, Paynesville Area Hospital in Minnesota and Renville County Hospital and Clinics in Minnesota have purchased McKesson's Paragon hospital information system, practice management application and EHR software.
Product Development & Marketing
InstyMeds, a vendor of automated physician dispensing systems, has entered into a strategic partnership with DocuTAP, an EHR and practice management application provider, to integrate InstyMed's dispensing system with DocuTAP's prescription order software.
Allscripts, a provider of health care software and connectivity applications, has entered into a partnership with IntrinsiQ to integrate IntrinsiQ's IntelliDose chemotherapy management application with Allscripts' product suite.
Personnel
Eric Demers -- former vice president of operations, North America at Orion Health, a provider of clinical work flow and integration technology -- has been named senior vice president of life sciences at MEDecision, a provider of collaborative health care management applications...Brett Michalak -- former platform developer for Tickets.com -- has been named CIO of Crescent Healthcare, a provider of integrated pharmacy and nursing services at facilities in California and Florida.
Dale Alverson -- medical director at the University of New Mexico's Center for Telehealth and Cybermedicine Research -- has been named president of the American Telemedicine Association, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for telemedicine technology...Eric Rosenbach -- executive director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government -- has been named managing director of national security at the Markle Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that funds policy research and health IT programs.
Tuesday, June 1
Ask a Recruiter: The Counteroffer
Don't think this applies to you? Think again--counteroffers are everywhere these days. It's almost always easier and less expensive to keep you on the team (for now) than it is to spend time, effort and money looking for and training your replacement.
At some time in your career, you have probably heard that the most effective way to guarantee that your boss will start looking for your replacement is to accept a counteroffer. It's true.
Here's why:
1. Trust. Think about it--every time you have a dentist appointment, have to leave early to pick the kids up from school or take a vacation day, in the back of your boss's mind, he/she is wondering if you're out on a job interview.
2. Trust continued. If your boss can't trust you, guess who makes the top of the list next time there's a RIF? That's right, you do--especially if your counteroffer involved a significant raise. And if you're offered a severance package, it is almost guaranteed to include a non-compete clause that makes it impossible to seek employment with your company's direct competitors.
3. Fact: According to the National Employment Association, 80% of the people who accept counteroffers are no longer with the company 6 months later.
4. A counteroffer is a temporary fix; not a long term solution. Why did you decide to pursue opportunities outside of your organization in the first place? Better hours? Company culture? Shorter commute? Upward mobility? It is unlikely that a counteroffer will fully and specifically address the concern that originally led you to look. Once the temporary excitement of being 'needed' wears off; once you realize that your big raise only works out to an extra $50 per week after taxes and insurance and that doesn't seem like such a great trade off anymore, you are inevitably back to square one.
5. An attractive counteroffer means that your company only values you to the degree required to keep you from leaving. If you are worth 120K today, why weren't you worth 120K a year ago, when you started, or when you asked for a raise two months ago? A company that is clearly only interested in paying you as little as it can get away with may not be the sort of company you want to be a part of for the long term. Obviously, you can do better.
At some time in your career, you have probably heard that the most effective way to guarantee that your boss will start looking for your replacement is to accept a counteroffer. It's true.
Here's why:
1. Trust. Think about it--every time you have a dentist appointment, have to leave early to pick the kids up from school or take a vacation day, in the back of your boss's mind, he/she is wondering if you're out on a job interview.
2. Trust continued. If your boss can't trust you, guess who makes the top of the list next time there's a RIF? That's right, you do--especially if your counteroffer involved a significant raise. And if you're offered a severance package, it is almost guaranteed to include a non-compete clause that makes it impossible to seek employment with your company's direct competitors.
3. Fact: According to the National Employment Association, 80% of the people who accept counteroffers are no longer with the company 6 months later.
4. A counteroffer is a temporary fix; not a long term solution. Why did you decide to pursue opportunities outside of your organization in the first place? Better hours? Company culture? Shorter commute? Upward mobility? It is unlikely that a counteroffer will fully and specifically address the concern that originally led you to look. Once the temporary excitement of being 'needed' wears off; once you realize that your big raise only works out to an extra $50 per week after taxes and insurance and that doesn't seem like such a great trade off anymore, you are inevitably back to square one.
5. An attractive counteroffer means that your company only values you to the degree required to keep you from leaving. If you are worth 120K today, why weren't you worth 120K a year ago, when you started, or when you asked for a raise two months ago? A company that is clearly only interested in paying you as little as it can get away with may not be the sort of company you want to be a part of for the long term. Obviously, you can do better.
Weekly Wisdom-May 31, 2010
In a recovering job market, there are companies that will take advantage of an out of work professional (or a current employee trying to keep his/her job); and there are professionals who are eager to return to work (or keep his/her job) at any cost, including a significant pay cut. If you find yourself in that situation, keep reading...
Three Ways to Recover from a Blown Salary Negotiation
By Dona DeZube, Monster Finance Careers Expert
You lowballed yourself during your salary negotiation and now your paycheck is smaller than you'd like. In some cases, you can go back and ask for a higher salary without jeopardizing your job, experts say.
Of course, the best time for negotiating salary is before you accept the job offer. Asking for more soon after you're hired is not without risk.
"Going back to renegotiate areas about which you have already agreed does have the risk of making you look like someone who doesn't honor your agreements," says Janet Civitelli, PhD, a workplace psychologist and career coach in Houston. "It can leave a bad taste in the mouth of the hiring manager and launch your relationship with your new boss on a sour note."
Instead of asking for more money, consider negotiating compensation and benefits not addressed in the initial round, such as a signing bonus, more vacation time, tuition reimbursement, professional memberships or a flexible schedule.
"This way, your total compensation package goes up and your reputation remains intact," Civitelli says.
Still want to go for it? Try one of these three negotiation strategies:
Argue Pay Parity
Sometimes you don't realize you should be earning more until you find out what your coworkers are getting. That's what happened to Ashley Baxter, a Texas marketing professional who found a male coworker was getting $10,000 more for doing less.
"I put my resume on the market and received a job offer from another company," she says. "I then went to my employer and let them know that I felt slighted by the way they treated my salary negotiation and did not appreciate being monetarily undervalued in comparison to my coworker who did less work."
She got an immediate 8 percent raise, but her relationship with her boss changed. "He became reluctant to approach me about everyday tasks and avoided emailing or talking to me unless it was absolutely necessary," Baxter says.
Three months later, she left for a job offering a better salary and benefits package. "I'm very glad I went through the experience, as it has given me the confidence to not be afraid of asking for what I deserve in business situations."
If you find out you're being underpaid compared with coworkers, try this line, says Michael Schatzki, a negotiation trainer and principal of Negotiation Dynamics in Far Hills, New Jersey: "You convinced me that this is all you could pay, and it turns out everyone is making $X more than me even though they have less experience. Can you explain to me what's going on?"
That statement will back the boss into a corner, so help him back out by saying, "I understand you were probably under pressure, but we need to fix this, right? We need to have equity, right?"
Have suggestions ready, such as a new title or a new area of responsibility that will bring you to where you should be financially while staying within company salary bands.
Get a Competing Offer
Using a competing offer to increase your current salary is a wonderful, but tricky strategy because nobody likes being threatened, says Lee Miller, author of Get More Money on Your Next Job…In Any Economy.
"Be nonthreatening, nice and positive and yet let them know that you know you're below market," he says.
A good line for this tactic comes from Richard Deems, PhD, coauthor of Make Job Loss Work for You: Get Over It and Get Your Career Back on Track: "I realized that this job is paying well under the market for what I do, and it's my fault for not asking for more going in. I have another job offer, but I don't want to take it because I love it here and working here is right for my career. In light of where the market is, can you adjust the salary to bring it more in line with the market?"
Don't have a competing offer? Don't lie and say you do. Use this line instead: "I have been talking to other professionals in this same position and they say the going rate is $X."
Blame It on the Cost of Living
If you're relocating, blame the high cost of living in the local market, says Dianne Durkin, president of Loyalty Factor, a corporate consulting and training firm in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Try this line: "After a more careful scrutiny of local financials, I underestimated the cost of living. Would it be possible for me to accept the position at X dollars?" And X should be no more than 10 percent higher than the original offer, Durkin says.
Not all companies will accept this strategy, so consider carefully whether it's worth pursuing, she adds.
Keep Looking
If you try one of these tactics and it doesn't work, be on guard. Work extra hard to repair any damage you may have done to your relationship with your new boss. Keep your resume updated, your network fired up and continue to seek better-paying opportunities.
**Editorial note: any recruiter worth his/her salt will caution you not to accept a counteroffer from your current employer or use a job search as a bargaining chip--ask for compensation comensurate to your peers or your position, but if you want to keep your job, don't barge into your boss's office with an offer from your company's top competitor with the expectation that your honesty will be rewarded with a blank check.
Three Ways to Recover from a Blown Salary Negotiation
By Dona DeZube, Monster Finance Careers Expert
You lowballed yourself during your salary negotiation and now your paycheck is smaller than you'd like. In some cases, you can go back and ask for a higher salary without jeopardizing your job, experts say.
Of course, the best time for negotiating salary is before you accept the job offer. Asking for more soon after you're hired is not without risk.
"Going back to renegotiate areas about which you have already agreed does have the risk of making you look like someone who doesn't honor your agreements," says Janet Civitelli, PhD, a workplace psychologist and career coach in Houston. "It can leave a bad taste in the mouth of the hiring manager and launch your relationship with your new boss on a sour note."
Instead of asking for more money, consider negotiating compensation and benefits not addressed in the initial round, such as a signing bonus, more vacation time, tuition reimbursement, professional memberships or a flexible schedule.
"This way, your total compensation package goes up and your reputation remains intact," Civitelli says.
Still want to go for it? Try one of these three negotiation strategies:
Argue Pay Parity
Sometimes you don't realize you should be earning more until you find out what your coworkers are getting. That's what happened to Ashley Baxter, a Texas marketing professional who found a male coworker was getting $10,000 more for doing less.
"I put my resume on the market and received a job offer from another company," she says. "I then went to my employer and let them know that I felt slighted by the way they treated my salary negotiation and did not appreciate being monetarily undervalued in comparison to my coworker who did less work."
She got an immediate 8 percent raise, but her relationship with her boss changed. "He became reluctant to approach me about everyday tasks and avoided emailing or talking to me unless it was absolutely necessary," Baxter says.
Three months later, she left for a job offering a better salary and benefits package. "I'm very glad I went through the experience, as it has given me the confidence to not be afraid of asking for what I deserve in business situations."
If you find out you're being underpaid compared with coworkers, try this line, says Michael Schatzki, a negotiation trainer and principal of Negotiation Dynamics in Far Hills, New Jersey: "You convinced me that this is all you could pay, and it turns out everyone is making $X more than me even though they have less experience. Can you explain to me what's going on?"
That statement will back the boss into a corner, so help him back out by saying, "I understand you were probably under pressure, but we need to fix this, right? We need to have equity, right?"
Have suggestions ready, such as a new title or a new area of responsibility that will bring you to where you should be financially while staying within company salary bands.
Get a Competing Offer
Using a competing offer to increase your current salary is a wonderful, but tricky strategy because nobody likes being threatened, says Lee Miller, author of Get More Money on Your Next Job…In Any Economy.
"Be nonthreatening, nice and positive and yet let them know that you know you're below market," he says.
A good line for this tactic comes from Richard Deems, PhD, coauthor of Make Job Loss Work for You: Get Over It and Get Your Career Back on Track: "I realized that this job is paying well under the market for what I do, and it's my fault for not asking for more going in. I have another job offer, but I don't want to take it because I love it here and working here is right for my career. In light of where the market is, can you adjust the salary to bring it more in line with the market?"
Don't have a competing offer? Don't lie and say you do. Use this line instead: "I have been talking to other professionals in this same position and they say the going rate is $X."
Blame It on the Cost of Living
If you're relocating, blame the high cost of living in the local market, says Dianne Durkin, president of Loyalty Factor, a corporate consulting and training firm in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Try this line: "After a more careful scrutiny of local financials, I underestimated the cost of living. Would it be possible for me to accept the position at X dollars?" And X should be no more than 10 percent higher than the original offer, Durkin says.
Not all companies will accept this strategy, so consider carefully whether it's worth pursuing, she adds.
Keep Looking
If you try one of these tactics and it doesn't work, be on guard. Work extra hard to repair any damage you may have done to your relationship with your new boss. Keep your resume updated, your network fired up and continue to seek better-paying opportunities.
**Editorial note: any recruiter worth his/her salt will caution you not to accept a counteroffer from your current employer or use a job search as a bargaining chip--ask for compensation comensurate to your peers or your position, but if you want to keep your job, don't barge into your boss's office with an offer from your company's top competitor with the expectation that your honesty will be rewarded with a blank check.
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