September will always feel like a new start to me, no matter how far away I get from my own schooling. The laid-back summer attitude morphs into a need to organize, schedule and kick up productivity.

The ambulatory EMR adoption train has clearly left the station. Improved quality of care and communication have provided the initial fuel; however, meaningful use, pay for performance and data reporting requirements are whats on the third rail and truly powering adoption. For many providers, the urgency of these forces has encouraged them to lay the train track without a clear map of where they are headed, or what terrain to expect. So, I have this friend, a CMIO at a similar-sized institution, who has been implementing an ambulatory EMR for several years.

Healthcare Technology Management was a publication created to provide practical ideas and solutions regarding the management, procurement, service and support of healthcare technology. The magazine is today reborn as a section of Clinical Innovation + Technologyyoure looking at itand our commitment to the development of the healthcare technology manager remains as strong as ever.

With a curriculum vitae placing her at the summit of healthcare technology leadership in the U.S., Molly Joel Coye, MD, chief innovation officer for UCLA Health System, is well placed to survey the landscape and distinguish the evolving from the endangeredand that means not just technologies but also care-delivery processes.

When SSM Health Care, with 17 hospitals across Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma and Missouri, began integrating EHRs in 2008, clinical engineering (CE) played a big rolein the planning and implementation.

At 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, Shigeru Ehara, MD, heard his phone alarm unexpectedly go off. He was working in the radiology department at Iwate Medical University in Morioka, Japan, and discovered the alarm was part of an earthquake alert service, indicating a strong quake had occurred.

Hospitals have been using computerized maintenance management systems (CMMSs) for decades, but the technology has been improving over the years to place a wealth of organizational insight into clinical engineers collective hands.

Following its April go-ahead on Sotera Wireless ViSi mobile monitor, a stand-alone device for continuous observation of vital signs, the FDA has extended the 510(k) approval to the full ViSi system.