Until this year, Global Health Equity Week was known as U.S. National Health IT Week. It was established to demonstrate the power of information technology to transform health. This year, the initiative has expanded to focus on highlighting the potential of health information and technology to transform health and minimize health disparities around the globe. The information technology services professionals of Amberwell Health are proud to be a part of an initiative that is making health more accessible to everyone.
Health Information Technology Services at Amberwell Health
The health information technology services team of Amberwell Health impacts patient safety, quality, and communication. The team is tasked with planning, developing, and implementing hospital information systems, supporting those systems, and supplying efficient and effective access to the data resources contained within those systems. Their aim is to provide both direct and indirect support to enable our organization to provide excellent healthcare.
Impact on Patient Experience
The impact that our health IT professionals have on patient care is mostly behind the scenes. They design, maintain, and support the infrastructure that allows our healthcare professionals to provide both a modern patient experience and efficient patient care.
Strengths of the Team
With over 114 years’ worth of experience between them, our IT department has many strengths. Each member has a unique background and different skills, and together they do a great job collaborating to provide efficient, high-quality customer service. They practice open and honest communication and have a mutual respect for each other’s skill sets. They share the same values about the work that they do and are always willing to lend a helping hand.
The Information Technology Services Team
Terry Davis, Director of Information Technology Services
Becky Clouse, Clinical Systems Analyst
Matthew Hinds, Network Administrator
Jenny Lykins, Financial Systems Analyst
Amy Randolph, MSN RN Clinical Systems Analyst
Alan Samuelson, Helpdesk Analyst
Raymond Wilfong, Helpdesk Analyst
Larry Wurzbacher, Systems Administrator
Changes Experienced in the Last Year
Health IT is a field where things grow, change, and evolve quickly and often. Our IT department has experienced many changes within the last year alone.
- New Remote Network/VoIP Implementations
- Meditech Expanse updates
- Updated acceptable use criteria for imaging
- New tools to measure quality
- New router for the hospital and internet upgrade
- 4 new camera systems
- Ability to provide telehealth services
Roles and Responsibilities
Our IT department has multiple roles and responsibilities within our organization that include designing, implementing, and maintaining the following:
- Customer support. They keep things running as smoothly as possible by fixing any issues that arise, helping to improve or change workflows, and upgrading/updating technology as needed.
- Software systems. They implement and maintain several software systems, create new documentation within those systems, and test new functionality of those systems as it is available, all to try to make the system and everyone’s job a little easier.
- Communication systems. They maintain and support most of the core infrastructure of the hospital and its communications with other hospitals and healthcare organizations, including the support of VoIP, Faxing, Email, Secure Email, VPN’s.
- Information systems. IT maintains and supports the EMR.
- Cybersecurity. The IT department educates our users on security awareness to help protect against cyber attacks. This involves staying current on the latest technologies, vulnerabilities, and exploits to help prevent our system from being attacked by hackers.
- Help desk support. The IT department works hard to make sure our technology is working for our users. They fix any issues that arise, assist with improving or changing workflows, and upgrade and update technology as needed.
- Onboarding new employees. IT is integral in the onboarding process so that our new employees can begin their new positions with confidence and feel productive from day one.
Thank You!
Thank you to our health information technology professionals. We appreciate your hard work, expertise, and commitment to using information and technology to improve access to healthcare in our communities.
Terry Davis, Director of Information Technology Services
Terry has served with Amberwell Health for nearly six years. He is married with three children. His wife is a nurse practitioner, his oldest daughter is a nurse, his son is a pharmacist, and his youngest daughter is in 4th grade.
In his spare time…
Terry is active in his church and helps out with various church projects. He also enjoys music, photography, and spending time with his family.
