A Banner day for health records management

The other day here at ZDNet Health, the blog was about how healthcare organizations weren't feeling too confident about their ability to come up to speed with meaningful use Stage 2 requirements.

See also: Meaningful use: ready and willing, but not sure how able

That was the bad news.

Today, I have some good news to cheer you up, at least about the fine accomplishment of meeting Stage 1. Or, I should say, at least about Stage 7 of the HIMSS EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM).

It's sort of unfortunate that the HIMSS Analytic unit chose to employ the "stage" terminology within its EMRAM, perhaps making an already confusing topic more confusing.

However, it's all working towards the same goal of EMR (electronic medical records). A stage here, a stage there...pretty soon you're performing at Carnegie Hall, right? Although, you might not be able to tell what's what without some kind of consultant or even a coach. I don't know...a stage coach, maybe?

While I feel HIMSS choice of naming stages within stages is confusing, paperlessness is a good thing and should be applauded. So hats off to 17 facilities who have achieved the final stage of electronic medical record adoption.

The facilities are located in Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona, and are owned by Phoenix, Arizona based Banner Health, a large nonprofit healthcare system with services in seven states.

In honor of this incredible Banner day, I present you with the gift of a completely gratuitous Incredible Hulk reference.