Baltimore!

So in real life, I'm a healthcare IT consultant. Most of the time, this means I just manage projects and beat up on underperforming vendors. But sometimes I means I get to be STRATEGIC. Monday was just such a day.

A client in Baltimore engaged the company I subcontract through to help them determine their Vision 2010: Apparently Vision2005 was decided in 2000, and it was very Accounting focused, and the clinical people were adamant that Vision2010 have more of a patient/provider centric view.

No problem. Others from the company went and did current state assessments, looked at their budgets, their issue lists, etc. I was asked to go and help them brainstorm on a few subject areas that I'm pretty good at: Web, Radiology, Labs, Pharmacy, Rehab, Orthopedics.

The gig was I go with the project lead (Glenn, the owner of the company) who would give the presentations and guide the discussion - I was to be a note taker "ringer" who could move the discussion forward. The meetings started at 9am Monday, and we flew out Sunday night.

7am Monday, Glenn called - he got a stomach flu. He would not be able to attend AT ALL, and can I run with it?

So here I was on a gig that I literally had only briefed myself on in the airplane, was only going to be a kibbitzer and stenographer, and now I'm the leader.

Fast forward to 2:30pm, the meetings are done, Glenn was safe to travel, and we took an early flight home - 3 hours earlier than planned, and i was able to tuck Bella into bed!

And the meetings? I TOTALLY KICKED ASS. I think I'll be going back to assist with more of these...

Visioning sessions are such fun because you get to throw out the rule books and talk about what is best for the patients and providers - people really start talking about what would make people's lives easier and better - and they're often surprised to hear that their ideas aren't so crazy, that I've seen it happen elsewhere, that this is POSSIBLE.

And if my sessions do lead to something better happening at this site, I'll be very proud.