Galen Healthcare Solutions: Allscripts Consultants Enterprise EHR

“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”

                                                          -    Vince Lombardi

When Matt, Jason, and I co-founded Galen Healthcare Solutions in 2005, we made a promise to ourselves that we would embrace the things that we loved about the companies we had previously worked for and endeavor to eliminate or avoid the things that we didn’t. 

As we approach our 5^th anniversary, I think it is fair to suggest that the “hyper-growth” we have experienced as an organization has challenged our commitment to that objective.  One area that I believe we have remained steadfast, however, is that other than our people and the culture we collectively create, nothing else really matters.

The easiest part of managing Galen is setting expectations in terms of our people’s approach, attitude, and level of accountability.  We are truly blessed with a collection of professionals who simply relish the opportunity to make our clients successful.  The level of infrastructural support the group provides to one another constantly amazes me.  It often seems as though our people take more pride in the success of their fellow “Galeneer” than that of themselves.  Our culture has become self-governing; rewarding high-performers with the respect they deserve, but at the same time mentoring and nurturing those of us still in the earlier stages of the learning cycle.

It is for these reasons that when Galen recently received a bit of national acclaim, being listed 333rd among the Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies in America (http://www.inc.com/inc5000/profile/galen-healthcare-solutions), we took it well in stride and celebrated, as a company, with an understated round of self-congratulatory emails and a few pats on each other’s backs.  Certainly, this was a nice recognition for all of the hard work that all of us at Galen have put forth, but alas, there are mountains that still need climbing and they obviously won’t climb themselves.  We’ll save the more “tangible” celebration for when we make our annual pilgrimage to the warm weather in a few months at our 2011 National Meeting.

During his keynote speech at the HIMSS conference earlier this year, National Health IT Coordinator Dr. David Blumenthal suggested that there is a need for more than 40,000 additional Health IT workers to support increasing demand brought on by EHR adoption, driven through HITECH funding.  Colleges and universities across our nation are actively training the people who will fill these roles today.  It is comforting to me to know that some small percentage of these individuals will have an opportunity to become a part of our organization.  That they will be embraced by a culture that won’t allow them to wander aimlessly, but instead will provide a foundation of guidance and support from which they can become impactful, accountable, and successful in their desire to see our vision for interconnected health care become a reality.   

They will, after all, be Galen People.

Steve McQueen

CEO

Tags: Allscripts Consultants, Allscripts Enterprise EHR, EHR Implementation

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Tags: Allscripts, Allscripts Enterprise EHR, Business Continuity, Enterprise EHR, VitalCenter

Erin Sain – Galen is pleased to announce the promotion of Erin Sain to Vice President, Field Services.  Erin has been a member of the Galen team for more than three and a half years and was one of the first employees with the company.  Erin began her career with Galen working at a large physician group in North Carolina assisting them with the design and rollout of the Allscripts Enterprise application.  During this engagement, Erin became an instrumental part of their success and was highly regarded by her peers on the project.  During this time, Erin also became an integral part of our services team and was able to help her peers by sharing her knowledge and experience.  She quickly became one of the most respected members of the team and stood out as a natural leader within the organization. 
We are excited to have Erin in a position leading our services team throughout the country.  Since taking over this team, we have seen stronger communication within the team, stronger programs to ensure people are receiving  the education and tools they need to be successful, and an overall boost in team enthusiasm.  We look forward to many more years of her contribution to the team, the company, and the industry.    

Rita Owens – Galen is pleased to announce the promotion of Rita Owens to Vice President, Clinical Solutions.  Rita has been with the organization for three years and is one of the leading Allscripts Enterprise experts in the industry.  Her knowledge of the product, added to her experience as a Registered Nurse and former CIO, provides Rita with the unique ability to understand solutions from all perspectives.  This allows her to consider options that satisfy the needs of business stakeholders, caregivers and most importantly patients.

Throughout the years Rita has been a huge asset to the Galen team by sharing her knowledge and experience with other team members and working with others to improve their skill sets.  She has a natural desire to help people, and a passion for assisting groups with their EHR implementations, making her the perfect candidate for this new position.  Going forward Rita will be focused on internal training of our team to further develop skill sets for the entire group.  We look forward to watching the entire team continue to grow under her guidance, and look forward to working with her for many years to come.   

Additions to the team:

Kim Baxter – We are pleased to welcome Kim Baxter to our team.  Kim joins us with years of Enterprise EHR experience.  She worked with a large medical group in the Midwest assisting with the build and rollout of the application.  Kim is eager to share her experience and knowledge with other groups throughout the country.  We are excited to start our journey with Kim and look forward to the adventure.

Christine Sternjacob – Our newest addition to the team is Christine.  We are pleased to welcome her to the Galen team and look forward to building upon her experience.  Over the past few years, Christine has been on the frontlines of a major Enterprise rollout working with caregivers to incorporate the application into their daily routine.  This has given her firsthand experience using the product and the benefit of understanding how to transition clinical teams from paper to an electronic process.  This along with her other clinical and project management experience provides another level of experience to the team.  We look forward to integrating her into the team and expanding our ability to provide valuable experience to our clients.

As physicians migrate to the Electronic Health Record, there are many new systems and processes they have to learn and adapt to.  One of these systems is voice recognition software, such as Dragon Medical 10.  I have worked with some physicians recently who were implementing a new EHR in their office, as well as transitioning from a transcription service to Dragon voice recognition.  This introduced some new challenges which I hope to shed some light on in this article.

Dragon Medical has the ability to ‘Type as you Talk’, which allows the user to dictate blocks of text and see this appear in their note in the EHR.  This has a huge benefit to the provider by allowing them to review and finalize their documentation for the visit immediately, rather than waiting a few days to receive the note back from a transcription service.  We discovered that there are some steps that you can take to improve the performance and/or accuracy of Dragon.  Here are a few to note:

1. Spend the time training Dragon to recognize your voice.  During this process, the application will learn how you speak, and adapt to your voice patterns.  This will prove to be very beneficial in the long run.
2. Follow the recommendations for the settings for your EHR vendor.  The Dragon representative will have recommendations on how settings should be configured based on the EHR you are using.
3. When words are not typed correctly, correct them using the built in features of Dragon to Train it on how you speak those words.  This will save you time and energy as you become a more advanced user of the speech recognition software.
4. Have reasonable expectations.  Dragon is a tool that improves over time.  When you first begin using speech recognition software, it only has a basic understanding of your vocabulary and how you speak.  It will take time for the application to improve, which will occur naturally as you train it when words are not recognized correctly.

These are a few items that will hopefully help you be more successful when using speech recognition software, such as Dragon Medical.  I have also found that it is beneficial to have a follow-up training session with Dragon after the user has been using it for a few weeks/months.  At this point, the user understands some basic functionality, and is usually interested in how to do more complex functions such as Macros.

Tags: Allscripts, Allscripts Enterprise EHR, Dragon, EHR Implementation, Enterprise EHR, Integration, Successful EHR Implementation

Galen Healthcare Solutions Ranks No. 333 on the 2010 Inc. 5000 with Three-Year Sales Growth of 896%

CHICAGO, September 10, 2010 — Inc. magazine ranked Galen Healthcare Solutions #3 in the Detroit metro area, #21 in the health industry and #333 overall on its fourth annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. Music website Pandora, convenience store chain 7-Eleven and Radio Flyer are among the prominent brands featured on this year’s list.

“The leaders of the companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 have figured out how to grow their businesses during the longest recession since the Great Depression,” said Inc. president Bob LaPointe. “The 2010 Inc. 5000 showcases a particularly hardy group of entrepreneurs.”

Galen Healthcare Solutions is uniquely positioned to help organizations navigate the challenges of electronic healthcare record (EHR) deployment. As a certified Platinum Plus Allscripts Partner offering years of experience, Galen has been involved in hundreds of successful EHR implementations, from inception to completion, varying in size from 6 physician specialty networks to 1200 physician integrated delivery networks.

“Watching the growth of Galen Healthcare Solutions has been extremely fulfilling and achieving this exceptional Inc. 5000 ranking has generated much excitement throughout the company,” said Galen president, Matt Nice. “Quality EHR solutions are central to providing outstanding patient care and Galen is constantly working to grow and improve on what this already invaluable technology can do for the healthcare industry,” continued Nice.

About Galen Healthcare Solutions

Galen Healthcare Solutions is the preeminent Allscripts EHR Professional and Technical Services Company offering a vast array of solutions including database architecture, project management, implementations, custom application development and the patented business continuity solution, VitalCenter™. Galen employs 41 people with headquarters in Grosse Point, Michigan and offices in Chicago, Illinois, Burlington, Vermont and Boston, Massachusetts. To learn more, visit www.galenhealthcare.com.

About Inc. Magazine

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. (www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 712,647, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit us online at www.inc.com.

CONTACT: Sheila Phillips from McKinney|Chicago at 312-944-6784 ext. 313 or sphillips@mckinneychicago.com.

If there is anything that the Galen team enjoys, it is putting our heads together on a particularly challenging question or problem within Allscripts Enterprise EHR.  We are a group of people who love a problem that you can sink your teeth into, and when we develop solutions we love to share them with the user community.    We are thrilled to introduce a new program in this newsletter where we give our readers an opportunity to enhance the body of knowledge that we publish on our wiki by “Asking an expert.”

Our Wiki content has been driven so far by the knowledge and experience that our consultants gain in the field.    We have gotten great feedback from clients and end users that the wiki is a great resource, and we feel that this program will only serve to enhance that process.    We want to hear what you are struggling with, where you are stuck and where you need a work-around.

Using this link users can submit questions to our website and our team of experts will review the questions and use them to direct future content for the wiki.   We also plan to highlight one question from the “Ask the expert” series in each Newsletter.     We expect that there could be a high volume of questions and we may not be able to answer all of them,  but we will review all submissions and evaluate the utility of the answer to the greater user community as well as looking for trends when multiple users ask similar questions.       We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Tags: Allscripts

Galen Healthcare Solutions is proud to announce that we will be continuing our popular series of free webcasts this fall related to Allscripts Enterprise EHR.   These Webcasts will cover topics including Analytics, Allscripts Enterprise EHR Note, Interfaces, Reports, Allscripts Enterprise EHR Orders, Tech System maintenance.

Learn more »

Tags: Allscripts, Enterprise Order, Galen Webcast Series, Integration, Interfaces, Meaningful Use, Technical

It is with no small sense of pride that we at Galen Healthcare Solutions embrace our role as a leader in moving our community the Allscripts User Community towards its collective vision of improving health care through the use of technology.

Even before our inception nearly 5 years ago, our people have demonstrated an understanding that to achieve our individual goals, we must recognize the value in sharing our expertise and experiences with organizations across our industry that has similar objectives.  We know that to be successful, we must be willing to lend assistance, because we most assuredly will need the support of others from time to time.

It is because of this belief system that we make our combined knowledge freely available to whoever needs access to it through our Galen Wiki and Galen Blog.  We encourage every member of the community, user or vendor, to participate in this free exchange of information with the mindset that we are all in this struggle together.

Further, we are thrilled to introduce a new program in this newsletter where we give our readers an opportunity to increase and direct the body of knowledge that we publish on our wiki by “Asking an expert.”    Users can submit questions to our website and our team of experts will review the questions and use them to direct future content for the wiki.

Additionally, and with the concept of advancing the global effort in mind, we believe strongly in supporting the various regional and niche user groups currently active across the country.  We are witness to the power of these groups nearly every day.  We see email conversations involving dozens of organizations spanning several states sharing concepts with the intention of helping each other move past their obstacles.  We see thousands of users joining to form a single voice demanding resolution to persistent issues.  And we see the times when these groups gather physically, in a single location, to share their experiences, frustrations, and success stories all in an effort to support one another and move forward

We are, of course, in the midst of yet another injection of uncertainty in the form of “Meaningful Use”.  As a result, it appears that ACE 2010 couldn’t come at a better time.  Certainly, ACE is a great opportunity to see old friends and make new ones, but more importantly, it is a chance for the community to convene, give voice to its anxieties, and discuss steps to overcome them.  We relish the chance to participate in that process.

We hope that each of you attending ACE 2010 will stop by our booth, have a little fun (Spin to Win an iPad!), and share your thoughts, voice a concern, or just ask a question.  We know that the success of our organization depends on the success of the community overall.  We, collectively, can achieve that success through a commitment to promoting the greater objectives, freely sharing our knowledge, and continually moving the community concept forward.

Enjoy your summer and I hope to see you at ACE.

Steve McQueen

Tags: Allscripts

Justin Campbell Promoted to Senior Consultant

Galen Healthcare is pleased to announce the promotion of Justin Campbell to Senior Consultant.  He has been an Interface Analyst with Galen Healthcare Solutions since 2008. Justin is a key member of the Galen Technical Services team and a few highlights of his responsibilities include development of new interfaces, enhancement  of existing interfaces, development of training environments, development and deployment of customized application solutions for Allscripts Enterprise, and implementation of SQL server upgrades. Justin works with many large and complex customers including MSO environments and clients with over 40 interfaces.

Justin developed the Solutions Store, where clients can purchase and download reports.  He is currently leading a project to build a new product (ConnectR Toolbelt)  that will enhance the end user experience of working with ConnectR.  Justin has a passion for improving the world of healthcare IT and is a regular contributor to many Healthcare IT blogs.    Justin also conducts free webcasts covering ConnectR Interfaces.

Prior to joining Galen Healthcare, Justin Campbell was an IT Director overseeing IS operations of pharmacy information systems. His responsibilities included overseeing daily operations and support, integration of new hardware and execution of a conversion from a legacy pharmacy information system to a SQL based pharmacy information system.

Cecil Hunter Promoted to Senior Consultant

Galen Healthcare is also pleased to announce the recent promotion of Cecil Hunter to Senior Consultant.   Cecil joined Galen in 2008 bringing with him a wealth of knowledge and expertise from over 8 years of working in healthcare and 4 years of working with Electronic Health Records.     Cecil is a seasoned implementation consultant with a passion for providing the kind of leadership and support to healthcare organizations that allows them to optimize their use of the EHR and fosters end-user investment in the system.

Cecil has become an integral member of the implementation teams on which he has worked and clients have frequently requested him when they have had projects that need a highly skilled and effective consulting partner.   Cecil has in depth experience with Allscripts Enterprise EHR build and design, planning and supporting phased go-live support to multi-specialty clinics and providing presentations on new functionality to management and project decision makers. Additionally, he has experience in supporting system analysts and trainers in providing the best possible end user experience.

Prior to joining Galen Healthcare, Cecil was an Allscripts Super User for a large multi-specialty healthcare organization.     Cecil provided input on the build & design process, and was a part of end-user support from training through post –go-live.    Cecil approaches his work with the deep understanding that improving the end user experience leads to improved patient care.

Galen Healthcare Solutions announced today that Queens Long Island Medical Group has gone live with VitalCenter™, the business continuity solution for health care organizations that rely on the availability of their electronic health records to provide patient care.

Garden City, NY October 30, 2009 – Galen Healthcare Solutions today announced that Queens Long Island Medical Group, (QLIMG) has deployed VitalCenter for its 350 physicians in multi-specialty practices as their business continuity solution for Electronic Health Record (EHR) downtime.

VitalCenter fills a long standing void within the marketplace, addressing the needs of every specialty, by delivering off-line copies of patients’ charts when the EHR is unavailable. A PC configured with VitalCenter, receive updates of patients’ chart information on a regular schedule, without impacting the EHR’s responsiveness. VitalCenter provides the ability to view or print copies of a patient chart on PC’s within a clinic. In addition, the solution allows the provider to electronically document and upload the visit details back into the EHR.

We’ve experienced a number of incidents that have prevented access to the EHR. As a leader in our community we feel it is imperative to provide our patients with unparalleled care. This solution provides the continuity of clinical information that allows that to happen. We researched other downtime solutions, including full disaster recovery solutions, but in addition to being expensive to both deploy and maintain, those solutions did not solve the problem of localized network outages”, said Lenny Brunson, Chief Information Officer of Queens Long Island Medical Group.

Galen’s VitalCenter is integrated with the Allscripts Enterprise Electronic Health Record and will distribute off-line copies of patient charts to each clinic based on the location of the appointment. The solution is flexible enough to accommodate the needs of all of the specialties and allows for each provider to customize the data that is delivered.

Shutting down clinics early for maintenance is an inconvenience for patients and is also a missed opportunity for physicians. An upgrade to the server environment, network or EHR may require that the EHR be unavailable to providers. VitalCenter will continue to deliver crucial patient information to caregivers with no interruption in service.

VitalCenter is the answer to the first question on everyone’s mind when they move to a paperless practice,” said Stephen McQueen, CEO of Galen. “‘How do I safely and effectively see patients if I can’t get to my charts?’ VitalCenter overcomes that obstacle and provides our clients with predictable encounter volumes, regardless of the circumstances.”

The implementation of VitalCenter is a quick and secure process by which it is installed and deployed through a PC installer. The VitalCenter Management Suite allows for client-specific configurability.

VitalCenter allows physicians to document their patient encounters while the EHR is offline. The documents, called VitalNotes are then automatically uploaded to the EHR once a connection can be made.

Another advantage of the VitalCenter Solution was the ease of installation. The system works in such a way that we do not need to impact our production system.   With many concurrent projects, and dependencies, the ease of deployment and support are critical to QLIMG,” said Mr. Brunson.

For additional information or to schedule a demo of VitalCenter please contact Cary Bresloff at 888.GALEN.44 ext 706 or visit vitalcenter.galenhealthcare.com.

About Queens Long Island Medical Group: Queens-Long Island Medical Group, P.C. is a physician-owned medical group that staffs and operates twenty-two medical center offices throughout Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. For more information, please visit www.qlimg.com.

About Galen Healthcare Solutions, Inc.: Galen Healthcare Solutions was founded in 2005 with a specific focus on assisting members of the health care community with the challenging, sometimes daunting task of migrating to a predominantly paperless world. Galen resources possess decades of clinical and electronic health record experience. Galen has been on the forefront of the EHR movement and offers a vast array of skills from database architecture to senior-level project management and implementation services. Galen resources have been involved in hundreds of EHR implementations, from inception to completion, varying in size from 6 physician specialty practices to 1,200 physician multi-specialty organizations. For more information, please visit www.galenhealthcare.com

Galen Healthcare Solutions is the foremost third party expert on Allscripts Enterprise EHR.

Tags: Business Continuity, MSO, VitalCenter