Executive Q&A
Rules for EMR/EHR ROI from Michigan State Experience
By Cindy Atoji

Nailing down ROI for electronic health records (EHRs) must be a deliberately thought-out process, says Michael H. Zaroukian, chief medical officer at Michigan State University (MSU), one of the early adopters of this technology. Zaroukian, who directed the EHR implementation at the MSU Internal Medicine Clinic, a community-based ambulatory care facility, says the 12-physician practice reaped major savings from a decline in paper chart pulls, staff costs, and transcription expenses.

“Simply putting an EHR system into place doesn’t give you return on investment (ROI), says Zaroukian. “EMRs that yield the most positive ROIs establish measurable financial outcomes at the start of the project.” Zaroukian spoke to Digital HealthCare & Productivity about the importance of tracking an implementation’s progress and avoiding the ROI-sapping effects of EMR customization.

DHP: You’ve said that “there is no free lunch for ROI.” What do you mean by this?
ZAROUKIAN: If you take actions to improve quality, like putting in an EHR, you might expect cost savings, but it’s not automatic; it requires a cogent plan and striving to change processes in a way that decreases waste and increases efficiencies. The key is starting with the discipline to map your current processes in a paper world. Organizations, including ours, want to skip that—it’s hard and takes time, but if you don’t map out the current processes, you can’t get a handle on parts that are flawed or unnecessary. Be disciplined about process mapping and have a methodology for redesigning them. More...

The eCTD - A Six-Month Checkup
By Ann Neuer

It’s been six months since the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) division of FDA started requiring all electronic submissions to use the electronic common technical document (eCTD) format, and all is not well. Although CDER made the January 1 deadline known to the clinical trials world well in advance, the industry is just waking up to the new reality and is struggling to comply with the recent mandate. More...

Deals, Deployments, and Short News
By Allison Proffitt, Digital HealthCare & Productivity staff

Octagon starts EDC blog, athenahealth acquires Crest Line Technologies, ICA commercializes Vanderbilt continuity of care solution. More...

LIFE SCIENCE JOBS

Lilly Singapore Center for Drug Discovery (LSCDD) - Associate Director of Informatics,
Lead and mentor a strong team for the Bioinformatics group at the Integrative Computational Sciences (ICS) department at LSCDD towards the development of novel algorithms, data analysis methods and software tools for drug discovery. Work closely with the Software Engineering group at ICS, and collaborate with the Discovery IT organization in Europe and USA. For additional information, or to apply visit: LSCDD

Lilly Singapore Center for Drug Discovery (LSCDD)- Senior Bioinformatics Scientist,
Contribute to the development of novel algorithms, data analysis methods and software tools for drug discovery as part of the Integrative Computational Sciences (ICS) department at LSCDD. Work closely with informatics and software engineering peers at ICS, and collaborate with the Discovery IT organization in Europe and USA. The successful candidate will offer hands-on insight and expertise in tailored therapeutic informatics and statistical analyses at the post-genomic era. For additional information, or to apply visit: LSCDD

Lilly Singapore Center for Drug Discovery (LSCDD) - Manager, Software Engineering (Integrative Computational Sciences)
Join the Integrative Computational Sciences (ICS) department at Lilly Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery (LSCDD),as Manager Software Engineering. Lead the development of integrated applications to process and visualize data from cutting edge technologies used by scientists at Lilly Research Labs (LRL) and the Drug Discovery Research (DDR) teams. Masters in Computer Science/Engineering or related discipline, 10+ years post graduation experience , 2 years management experience needed. For a complete job description and requirements or to apply visit: LSCDD

Lilly Singapore Center for Drug Discovery(LSCDD) -Senior Software Engineer,
Join a strong team of software engineers in our Integrative Computational Sciences (ICS) at LSCDD. Collaborate with, and help develop integrated applications to process and visualize data from cutting-edge technologies used by scientists at Lilly Research Labs (LRL) and the Drug Discovery Research (DDR) teams. The Software Engineering team provides computational tools and tailored software solutions that enable the global effort of Tailored Therapeutics; ‘The Right Drug, at The Right Dose for The Right Patient at The Right Time'. For additional information, or to apply visit: LSCDD

Linguamatics, Applications Specialist, Life Sciences Text Mining Software - Northeast U.S.*
Linguamatics, a leader in semantic search and text mining for the
pharma/biotech industry, is looking for an experienced life science
focused applications specialist to demonstrate the value of our products and help drive the growth of our North American business. For further information visit: www.linguamatics.com

Assistant Editor (Science Writer)~Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI), Needham, MA,
Cambridge Healthtech Institute seeks an assistant editor (science writer) who is an ambitious, dependable journalist who can fulfill a range of writing and editorial duties for a series of eNewsletters covering various aspects of the biopharmaceutical industry in addition to CHI’s flagship publication, Bio-IT World magazine. This is a superb opportunity to make important contributions to the growth and success of a multimedia science publishing group, while gaining invaluable experience in multiple facets of the publishing industry. Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, including 3 writing samples (attached in Word or PDF format), salary history or requirements, and resume to kdavies@healthtech.com. For a detailed description of the Assistant Editor position, please click here.

More Life Science Jobs ~ Add a Job Listing

FEATURED EVENTS

ELNs: Advanced Laboratory Solutions-September 15 - 17 2008 • Crowne Plaza, Brussels, Belgium

Discovery Knowledge & Informatics - September 15 - 17, 2008 • Crowne Plaza, Brussels, Belgium

Multiplexed Genomics Tools: Targeting the Missing Links
Between Health and Disease - September 21-23, 2008 • Providence, RI

Next-Generation Sequencing Data Analysis -September 22-23, 2008 • Providence, RI

DIA 2nd Annual Clinical Forum: Data Driven Drug Development Decisions - October 20-23, 2008 | Ljubljana, Slovenia

Barnett Educational Services, 2008 Schedule

To have your event featured here, contact Lynn Cloonan for more information.