Guest Column: Efrain Hernandez, Montgomery Orthopaedics
At The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics, we pride ourselves on our dedication to patients and the high quality of the care and service we provide. To consistently deliver on these goals, a truly excellent patient experience must start with an advanced backend process that is both seamless and secure.
As we continue to prioritize quality, innovation and organizational unity among the divisions of CAO, it has become increasingly clear that we need a committee specifically focused on technology initiatives. While many of our existing committees have done a great job managing and advancing these technology projects, a committee focused solely on technology will help streamline this important work and move things forward at a faster pace.
That’s why I’m proud to announce that we have just launched the Information Technology Committee this month, which will vet opportunities, develop recommendations and create a single, cohesive strategy for technology advancements across CAO.
We all know that our industry changes rapidly – and technology evolves even more quickly. It is our objective as a committee to advise the CAO Leadership Team and Board of Managers on major technology investments, ensuring that CAO has the best, fastest and most up-to-date technology within reason to accomplish our overall strategic goals.
For maximum efficiency, we will be meeting twice a month and focusing on several concurrent initiatives, including:
- The creation of a CAO-wide email domain
- The development and launch of the Intranet
- The implementation of Healthjump and its patient portal
- An optional CAO mobile plan to secure better service and savings
- Identifying secure cloud storage systems
- Selecting a convenient help desk service
One of our ongoing priorities will be to continually evaluate CAO’s information technology security, data privacy and disaster recovery capabilities to ensure we have the safest and best solutions possible. This is of utmost importance to us, as we have a significant amount of sensitive patient information in our databases that we must keep secure. With IBM’s new research estimating that the average total cost of a data breach to an organization is now $4 million, our continued investment in security and privacy will be well worthwhile. We will also be working closely with Renita Bean, our compliance officer, to ensure our solutions and strategies for security are aligned with CAO’s compliance measures.
As additional technology-related opportunities arise for CAO, the IT Committee will be able to quickly vet them and provide recommendations to our senior management and Board of Managers.
This committee will require a significant time investment from committee members to advance all of these initiatives. Please join me in thanking each member for graciously volunteering their time and energy for the benefit of all CAO:
- Lee Boyd – Potomac Valley Orthopaedic Associates
- Dr. Ricardo Cook – Potomac Valley Orthopaedic Associates
- Myong Choi, CAO Data Analyst
- Quinten Davis – Mid-Maryland Musculoskeletal Institute
- Chris Dugan – Orthopaedic Medicine and Surgery
- Kim Hose – Center for Joint Surgery & Sports Medicine
- Stephen Maddock – Orthopaedic Associates of Central Maryland
- Ladan Rykel – Chesapeake Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine
- Denny Tritinger, CAO Executive Director
- Melvin Wilson, JP Melvin
On behalf of the Information Technology Committee, we look forward to working with you to help advance CAO’s objectives, embrace innovation and keep our organization at the forefront of healthcare technology.