For much of the country, 2009 was anything but business as usual – mass layoffs and budget cuts, massive bailouts and bonuses, messy battles over healthcare reform. In that climate of uncertainty, we were pleased that Softek continued to grow. As we gain more clients and hire more employees, we are committed to providing you with the best tools possible for monitoring and managing your Cerner Millennium® system. Our first step in that process has always been and continues to be listening to you. Over the past year we found many ways to keep in close contact with you, and we’re grateful for the input we received. It continues to drive Panther’s upgrades and the support we provide.
This issue of the Monitor recaps a few of those contacts – the CHC, webinars, roundtables and our Millennium Medic blog – and what has resulted. As we enter 2010 with an economy that is forcing organizations to justify every dollar they spend, we renew our commitment to expand Panther’s ability to deliver real-world savings to your organizations. We’ll roll out exciting new capabilities this year, which you can see at HIMSS in March.
Another bright spot of the past year is the growing number of longtime Panther™ users. During the past few months, we were pleased to recognize Stony Brook University Medical Center outside New York City as a seven-year client as well as four five-year clients: Texas Health Resources and its 14 hospitals in the Dallas area, WellSpan Health in southeast Pennsylvania, Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Children’s Hospital of Orange County, CA.
So this year, instead of singing Auld Lang Syne and pining away for the good old days, we’re picking up good vibrations, confident that after a hard day’s night all of us can only get by with a little help from our friends.
Matt McLenon
CEO, Softek Solutions, Inc.
Working for You
Face to Face and Lots of Fun
We want to thank all of you who visited with us during the Cerner Health Conference, either at our suite or our party at Lucky Strike Lanes. Judging from the photos of the evening (click here to see some) and your emails – “Softek went above and beyond what one would expect,” “It was good to meet the people of Softek face to face,” “I very much enjoyed the bowling party (and the tattoos!)” – you had just as much fun as we did. And Christmas came early for a lucky few who won prizes, including Dell Netbooks and an Amazon Kindle.
But the CHC week was much more than games and prizes. At the conclusion of the conference, we convened our first meeting of the Panther Steering Committee, a cross section of Panther users, including administrators and technical staff from large and small sites as well as self- and remote-hosted clients. Participants included ARUP Laboratories, Salt Lake City, UT; Children’s Hospital of Seattle, WA; Heartland Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph, MO; Sharp HealthCare, San Diego, CA; and UAB Health System, Birmingham, AL.
During our two days of meetings, we listened to your reactions to and ideas for Panther versions 5.9 and 6.0, our Messaging Performance Audit (MPA) and future platform possibilities. We are now analyzing and prioritizing your suggestions to determine which will provide the greatest value in the coming months and years. We’ll have much to report on when we reconvene this spring.
What's New?
Beta Testers Needed for Panther Version 6.0
Client testing of Panther version 6.0 will soon be under way. Top among the new features of this latest Panther upgrade will be:
- Citrix sensors and reports.
- Panther Advisor, a customized dashboard of Panther sensors.
- Management reports in the area of critical performance.
- New user group management privileges.
- An updated design with a new login screen and news feed to inform you of the latest Panther announcements.
We are still in need of a few organizations to serve as beta testers. If you would like your hospital to be one of the first to utilize this new functionality and partner with us as we near deployment, contact Russ.Derringer@softekinc.com.
Follow Us on Twitter and Facebook
You can be among the first to hear the latest Panther news through our Facebook page and Twitter tweets. We invite you to join us on Facebook and Twitter.
Tips & Tricks & Trainings
Millennium Medic Offers a Welcome Backlog of Advice
Is your EMR system experiencing queuing backlogs? Capacity issues? Do you have questions about Websphere MQ? Shared Service Proxies? Open Engine components? Millennium Medic blogger David Hallberg and our team of Softek engineers with years of expertise in Millennium operation continue to deliver real-world answers to improving your system’s performance. Each week’s topic springs from conversations with Millennium users or issues discovered during our analyses of your systems.
Nine months of blogging have produced subscribers from England to Australia as well as an archive of entries aimed at everyone on the Millennium team. This is one backlog you’ll welcome. Organized by categories – Consistency, Messaging, Security, Troubleshooting and Tuning, to name a few – the blogs give you lots of step-by-step instructions as well as general advice for maximizing your Millennium performance. Check them out at www.MillenniumMedic.com.
Give Us Feedback at Tri-Annual Roundtables
Our Tri-Annual Roundtable phone calls help us connect with you to learn your thoughts and ideas for Panther and help you connect with each other. If you would like to tell us what you think about current Panther functionality, Softek services and future upgrades, we invite you to participate in one of these calls. Three discussions are scheduled in February based on particular client groups. Choose the time that fits your organization from the following schedule, and then sign up by emailing Breanne.Olson@softekinc.com.
| Date | Time | Participants |
| Tues., Feb. 16 | 10:30 a.m. CST | AIX and HP-UX platforms, self-hosted |
| Wed., Feb. 24 | 1:30 p.m. CST | RHO/MTO clients |
| Fri., Feb. 26 | 11:30 a.m. CST | VMS platform, self-hosted |
Sign up for Webinar Trainings
We’re hoping you’ll ring in the new year with phone calls to the web-based training seminars we’ll be leading in the first quarter of 2010. Webinar topics include:
- Panther Benefits for RHOs. Learn how to maintain insight into your system as you partner – or consider partnering – with an outside management organization.
- Performance Management Reports: Understanding the Details. Learn how to interpret the valuable information available in Panther’s Management Reports and then use this data to benefit your organization.
| Date | Time | Topic |
| Wed., Jan. 20 | 10 a.m. CST | Panther Benefits for RHOs |
| Thurs., Jan. 21 | Noon CST | Panther Benefits for RHOs |
| Wed., Feb. 17 | 10 a.m. CST |
Management Reports: Understanding the Details |
| Thurs., Feb. 18 | Noon CST | Management Reports: Understanding the Details |
| Wed., March 17 | 10 a.m. CDT | Topic to be determined |
| Thurs. March 18 | Noon CDT | Topic to be determined |
These webinars are provided free of charge to existing Panther clients. We are looking for volunteers who will allow us to use their site for the webinar (no patient data will be shown). If we use your facility, that day’s demonstration will be tailored to your specific scenario.
Click here to sign up for one of these webinars.
To offer your site as a host, please contact Panther.Training@softekinc.com.
You’ve Got Questions? We’ve Got Answers
Join fellow Millennium users for a question-and-answer session with Softek system engineer and Millennium Medic blogger David Hallberg. Participants will set the agenda for this webinar Q&A by asking David their specific Millennium questions.
| Date | Time | Topic |
| Fri., Feb. 19 | 11 a.m. – Noon CST | Answers to Users’ Questions |
One client recently said of David: “His knowledge of Millennium is the best I’ve seen in my six years of working with the Cerner product.” To sign up for the webinar Q&A, please contact Panther.Training@softekinc.com.
Client News
Recognitions and Milestones
Extensive use of healthcare informatics helped Trinity Health land a spot among the top 10 hospitals for clinical performance, as recognized by the Thomson Reuters’ 100 Top Hospitals: Health Systems Quality/Efficiency Study. Trinity Health, located outside Detroit, is the fourth largest Catholic health system in the country. … Reuters also recently announced its list of top 100 hospitals for cardiovascular care. Included were Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA; Tucson Heart Hospital, part of Arizona’s Carondelet Health Network; Carolinas Medical Center–NorthEast in Concord, NC, part of the Carolinas HealthCare System; and St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, a member of Catholic HealthCare West. … St. Joseph’s also recently welcomed three-time heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali at the opening of its expanded Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at the hospital’s Barrow Neurological Institute. The center expects to treat 1,600 new patients annually. Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984. … In November, CGH Medical Center in Sterling, IL, celebrated its 100th anniversary with the unveiling of a 1,400-photo mosaic and announcement of a year’s worth of commemorative activities. … Lafayette General Medical Center in Lafayette, LA, has been awarded the Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award by HealthGrades, an independent healthcare ratings organization. The award honors the top five percent of the orthopedic surgery departments in the country.
Download the Newsletter PDF version here.
