Dear Diary,
Adieu, au revoir, adios-people have about a million ways to say goodbye. It's funny how some goodbyes are difficult such as a goodbye to your hometown when you leave for college or a goodbye to a family member who's moving. On the other hand, certain goodbyes-such as goodbye to an IT implementation-are somewhat of a relief! It's time to say "job well done," measure your results and move on.

It is now that time in our HealthPort EDMS implementation. We're finally wrapping up and finishing the project. Just as our implementation has concluded, my EDMS diary must conclude as well, and I must admit I'll miss it!

As I look back on the project, I wonder this: Does a HIM manager ever really say goodbye to a HIM implementation? For one thing, our department lives with our technology selections day in and day out; that's why it's so important that we pick a product that works and meets our organization's specific needs.

And another thing-health care technology such as HealthPort EDMS is supposed to enable process improvement and efficiency. That's an ongoing effort. You can't expect all your processes to immediately change and become more efficient right at go-live. First, people are involved, and as we've seen during this implementation, some people take more convincing or training than others do.

But more importantly, after you've seen the technology change certain processes, you begin to realize what other, often larger, changes it could enable. In other words, it's a snowball effect-you start to dream bigger and want more! That's a good thing, of course. It's part of our job as HIMs to constantly unearth new ways technology can improve our hospital.

With our HealthPort EDMS, we are now working on more COLD feeds. We completed a couple, but after we saw how much time they saved, we began working on more. We realize more efficiencies with each COLD feed:

• Less printing and scanning
• Fewer supplies and paper used
• Fewer resources used and less manual intervention and administrative work

Another ongoing item is the fine-tuning of physician deficiencies. Weaning physicians from paper "crutches" takes time, but the more they adapt to the EDMS, the more they want it to do. Recently, a physician asked us if the patient's date of birth could appear in the assigned deficiency screen for each patient, so he didn't have to refer to the face sheet (one less click of the mouse!). The date of birth is the identifier for dictation services, so having it visible at a glance is very convenient.

We talked to SDS and they were able to make that change. The physician was thrilled! And other physicians will benefit, too. With most changes, SDS has responded by saying, "That's an easy fix," or "That's a great idea that other clients can benefit from; let's take it to development for the next update." As we've grown with the product, SDS has responded by growing with us and evolving the product to meet our needs. That's important when you evaluate vendors. Why?

Well, because health care IT implementations aren't really over at go-live. You can't just say goodbye after all. As the HIM manager, you get to enable ongoing change, tweaking the system and making it work for your hospital. The bulk of the hard work is over, but the fun part has just begun.

As I bid you adieu, Dear Diary, I'm excited to see more changes and improvements down the road. After all, that's one of the most rewarding parts of being a HIM manager.