Introduction - Michael McMillan

On Feb. 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, providing major opportunities for the Department of Health and Human Services, its partner agencies, and the States to improve the nation’s health care through health information technology (HIT) by promoting the meaningful use of electronic health records.

At Cleveland Clinic, we use a comprehensive HIT system that we call MyPractice to virtually align all of our physical locations, expertise, and skills into a single, seamless group practice.  We also provide our patients with a secure, online connectivity tool called MyChart to ensure that they are well informed, and actively engaged, as well as MyConsult and MyMonitoring to provide worldwide access to our expertise.  Finally, we invite physicians in private practice to become clinically integrated with Cleveland Clinic through a secure HIT system we call MyPractice Community. The resulting practice model delivers coordinated, high-quality and efficient care across all settings.

The details surrounding “meaningful use” are still in development.  However, Cleveland Clinic is well-positioned for the regulations and additional guidance to come.  I encourage you to follow our leadership in this area by visiting our web site, “Together, we are transforming healthcare.”  The site reviews the latest HIT and healthcare reform developments from a patient-centric, practice-of-medicine perspective and features comments by C. Martin Harris, MD, Chief Information Officer and present member of the Federal Health IT Standard Advisory Committee.

Please enjoy the Fall 2009 issue of Speaking of Specialty Services. 
As always, we welcome your feedback.

Sincerely,
Michael McMillan
Executive Director,
Market and Network Services,
Cleveland Clinic