Change Is Good

By Ken Congdon

For many, change is a painful process. This was evident when reviewing the results of our first annual community hospital survey, which are summarized in our cover story Are Community Hospitals Behind The Health IT Curve? It’s clear that many community hospitals are struggling to adjust to the changing healthcare landscape.

For example, limited finances and resources were cited as impeding the progress community hospitals are able to make in the area of IT. However, it was also clear that many community hospitals see the benefit of the changes occurring in healthcare and are invested in making them work. For example, Michael Mistretta, VP & CIO of MedCentral-Shelby Hospital (one of the respondents to our survey), stated, “With all the headaches, we’re beginning to use technology in ways that make us more productive, improve quality, and increase patient satisfaction. That’s what it’s all about.”

While not as monumental as the healthcare changes facing community hospitals, we at Healthcare Technology Online are going through a significant transition of our own. Healthcare Technology Online will be changing its name to Health IT Outcomes beginning in January 2014. It’s a move we’re pretty excited about. Healthcare Technology Online began as an online-only health IT information resource. We have since evolved into a fully integrated media outlet that includes online content, a print magazine, email outreach, social media, web events, and much more. As such, we’ve outgrown the Healthcare Technology Online moniker.

When deciding on a new brand, we consulted with you, our readers, to pinpoint what you value most about the editorial content we provide. You expressed how our peer-to-peer content is vital in shaping your own health IT initiatives. It is evident you appreciate editorial that reflects the IT challenges you face, outlines the successful implementation strategies being deployed by healthcare organizations like yours, and most importantly, documents the actual outcomes these organizations are realizing as a result of technology investments.

With this insight, the new name came rather easily, and we feel it more accurately reflects who we are as a media outlet. Just to be clear — our brand is all that is changing. There is no change in ownership or the staff representing this publication. We remain committed to providing you with quality health IT editorial, and we look forward to doing it as Health IT Outcomes.