Below is part of a post from a couple months ago and with the economic times we have at present and the pressing need to have CEOs, CFOs, etc. with some technical background, thought some of this was worth repeating. We have seen many CEOs of late all taking about their technology, but never see them embrace much of it.
What’s with those big ugly yellow pads?
They talk about all their bright employees and staff and yet, the seem to conduct themselves and much of their business with methodologies from the past. Speaking here of healthcare, why do those CEOs still carry yellow pads? Have they not heard of digital notes, iPhones or Tablet PCs? I’ll bet they have never used speech recognition either.
Their assistants may be doing all their support work and using technology to do so, but they work a lot harder with having to deal with old technologies too and might be less efficient than they would with both parties using technology instead of chucking paper all day. 
Bringing Providers, Health Care Executives and Administrators into the 21st Century
The “buy in” process involves management at all levels when it comes to meetings and documentation. I have witnessed physicians bring their Tablet PC into a meeting, and yet the CEO, CIO, CFO, etc. is sitting there with a “yellow paper pad”, so what’s up with this picture? (true story)
The physician will have even his meeting notes all backed up on a tablet, while the administrative staff themselves are still chunking along with the big yellow pads, so it is a bit of a parody to see top level management using paper methods themselves, but yet telling physicians and other clinical staff how this technology will help them do their jobs.
No wonder the process it taking so much time when we may not have enough at the top of the ladder embracing a bit of technology themselves and setting the pace for both the administrative the clinical staff to try to enhance their production and records with a little technology. Perhaps this could be a new direction here, with top executives themselves setting an example and figure out how they can better use technology too, it certainly could not hurt. 
Maybe there is something top level management can learn from tech savvy clinicians too and put away those ugly yellow pads for once and for all.
One other benefit too is that the level of understanding of how technology is used would really increase at the top levels and heck the executives might find a little extra time to spend with family and friends with embracing some new technologies themselves as the work and notes are done faster with much more efficiency from the administrative level, just as what is being accomplished at the clinical level. BD
I love this post - it gets to the heart of why healthcare is so fragmented when it comes to information technology.
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