MUSE Views

In this episode of MUSE Views, host TJ Temple speaks with Josh Bessler about his path from bedside nursing to healthcare IT and his role in the hospital’s transition to MEDITECH Expanse. With a long-standing interest in technology, Josh joined the Expanse implementation team and now primarily supports providers, helping physicians navigate the EHR, improve workflows, and bring forward enhancement ideas through advisory meetings and PAC involvement.A key topic is Morris Hospital’s expanded change control process, which Josh helps coordinate. The process goes beyond MEDITECH-required approvals to provide organization-wide visibility into system changes, using a tiered model for informational, standard, and emergency changes. This approach has improved communication across IT teams, helped the help desk anticipate issues, supported regulatory and audit needs, and encouraged cross-department collaboration.The conversation closes with reflections on how change control evolved from a perceived burden into a valued practice, inspired similar efforts outside IT, and with Josh’s enthusiasm for attending the upcoming MUSE Inspire Conference in Chicago, close to home for Morris Hospital.

Laura begins by describing her path into healthcare, explaining how her experience working with a neurologist inspired her to shift from medical school to becoming a nurse practitioner. While in nursing school, she also completed a graduate degree in social anthropology, which she says has enriched her perspective and career. She explains how she and her team came to work in Alaska, outlining the vast region their organization serves and the unique transportation and cost challenges that affect care delivery.Laura discusses what it means to be an Alaska Native and part of the Indian Health Service, providing context for the population they serve. She shares her experience presenting at the MUSE Inspire conference, and explains how their organization reworked its referral process using MEDITECH Expanse. She emphasizes the importance of ensuring proper staffing and support before undertaking such large workflow changes. Looking ahead, Laura says they plan to focus on data optimization, building registries, enhancing Business and Clinical Analytics (BCA), and leveraging patient connect tools to improve care and efficiency.

Dr. Buley describes her journey into medicine, what brought her to Alaska, and how she transitioned into leadership. She explains her organization’s selection of MEDITECH Expanse to achieve a “one search, one practice” model that improves continuity of care. Currently in the early post–go-live phase, they are currently focused on governance.She highlights how Expanse has enhanced their referral process as they add new specialties, and how AI scribe software is reducing after-hours charting. Dr. Buley also notes the integration of the PAC committee into the Medical Executive Committee to strengthen collaboration.On the patient side, she emphasizes the importance of portal engagement, using QR codes during visits and on marketing materials to boost enrollment. Technology like Starlink is enabling improved access to care in rural areas. She also discusses the value of the MUSE community and conference, and concludes by sharing her appreciation for the arts scene in Juneau.

Eric, currently serving as chair-elect on the MUSE Board and a co-Chair of the MUSE Commercial Member Committee, shares updates on his organization’s recent initiatives since his last podcast appearance. He describes his career path from RN to CIO, emphasizing how involvement in EHR projects and collaborative meetings created opportunities for leadership. He attributes much of his success to the colleagues and teams around him. A major focus of the discussion is a nursing efficiency and satisfaction initiative driven by KLAS Arch Collaborative feedback. The effort included forming the “FUN TIME Committee” (Free Up Nursing Time), which reviewed documentation workflows and gathered over 150 suggestions from nursing staff. They uncovered significant documentation bloat – requirements no longer necessary or relevant – and implemented a structured change-control process to prevent overwhelming clinicians. The project delivered substantial results: 2.8 million clicks eliminated, 1,600 nursing documentation hours saved, and nursing satisfaction improved by 20 points on the KLAS scale. They leveraged MEDITECH enhancements, including improved handoff functionality, to streamline processes. Eric notes that not every request could be solved; the most important factor was ensuring nurses felt heard. He discusses who was involved, how organizational buy-in was secured, and how other groups might begin similar efforts. They close with a conversation about the upcoming MUSE Executive Institute.

Melanie introduces her organization, outlining her role, and sharing impressive statistics on their patient visits and service coverage area. The conversation shifts to the International Education Exchange (IEE) contest and a comparison between the MUN (MEDITECH Users Network) and MUSE Inspire conferences, highlighting similarities and differences.She then discusses her recent award-winning IEE presentation, which focused on UK laws regarding patient rights and freedoms. Melanie explains how her team leveraged MEDITECH documentation to enhance compliance, improve patient safety, and boost staff confidence in meeting legal requirements.Melanie is a repeat IEE winner – perhaps she’ll try for a third IEE title!

Dr. Harrigan begins by introducing her organization and her role, outlining current initiatives on the technical, EHR, and construction fronts. Clinically, she highlights ongoing work to integrate orders directly into provider documentation and explains the planned rollout for this new ordering functionality. We also hear about her facility’s virtual transcription initiatives.She shares her personal journey into medicine and informatics, and then discusses her experience as a panelist on the Physician Summit at the recent MUSE Inspire Conference, emphasizing the value of exchanging knowledge within the MUSE community.Plus, learn about Dr. Harrigan’s passion for cycling, including commuting to work year-round. It snows in Vermont!--Mentioned in this episode:LinkedIn - Deborah Harrigan Home - Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital

Trevor shares his career journey from pathology into IT, highlighting his strong team and culture at Wooster, details about the facility, and the current EMR environment. Regarding their robust downtime process, a key principle they follow is “Luck Favors the Prepared” – starting with early, frequent communication and close collaboration between IT and clinical teams to choose optimal downtime windows, with flexibility to adjust if needed. Transparency and meeting expectations are crucial for maintaining organizational engagement.He describes a living downtime playbook that outlines steps before, during, and after downtime, continuously updated with system changes, lessons learned, and user feedback. Trevor notes how dependent users are on electronic systems today, making well-executed downtime processes essential, and acknowledges MUSE as a valuable resource for his team and organization.--Mentioned in this episode:PowerPoint PresentationWooster Community Hospital | Award-Winning Medical CareLinkedIn - Trevor Clere

In this episode, Samantha shares her journey from bedside nursing to a leadership role in informatics, offering insight into her current team and organization. She reflects on her recent experience attending and presenting at the Inspire Conference regarding her innovative approach to team education. She explains the motivation behind launching a “Back to Basics” initiative – focusing on foundational training to strengthen clinical and technical understanding among staff. Samantha introduces The HUB, a creative on-unit training method that delivers short, informal educational sessions directly to users in their workflow. She also explores how her team is using social media as an unconventional but effective channel for staff education and engagement at Halton. Recognizing provider demand for more advanced training, Samantha shares plans to expand a successful internal “Masters” program – initially designed for providers – to include nursing staff as well. She emphasizes the importance of tracking progress through surveys and real-time feedback to ensure training methods remain relevant and effective. The episode concludes with Samantha offering practical advice for organizations just beginning their informatics and education journey.--Mentioned in this episode:Halton HealthcarePresentation from Inspire (Behind Paywall): https://www.museweb.org/2025inspireconference/viewdocument/pending-ai-115-monthly-informat?CommunityKey=ea7c37b8-cfa7-46bb-b3bf-0192e4125d10&tab=librarydocumentsTalk: The science of conversation and the art of being ourselves

In this episode, Whitney returns to share updates following her recent presentations at the MUSE Inspire Conference. Whitney begins by outlining the current state of the EHR system at Citizens and their role as an early adopter of the MEDITECH Cloud Portal. She provides a detailed look into the implementation of the Current Stay Dashboard, highlighting the planning process, stakeholder engagement, and phased rollout strategy. Notably, she discusses the inclusion of their patient committee in early adoption, underscoring a strong commitment to patient-centered care. Whitney walks through the features of the dashboard, emphasizing its impact on transparency and patient safety. She shares a compelling real-world example in which a patient safety concern was identified and addressed by a family member using the dashboard, showcasing its practical benefits. User feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and Whitney highlights other valuable cloud portal features such as surgery dashboard visibility and appointment rescheduling capabilities. The conversation concludes with Whitney expressing excitement about the upcoming Priority Pack release.--Mentioned in this episode:Muse Views Episode 50 - https://redcircle.com/shows/70e0abdf-7b93-4021-ad26-fa0a7497bad9/ep/c4a1fff2-5e7f-420b-8e10-f6c7abc95154Recent inspire presentation (behind paywall): MUSE Patient Engagement Presentation May 2025 and PowerPoint Presentation Citizens Memorial | CMH Medical Clinics & Hospital |Bolivar, MO

In this interview, Holly provides an overview of Bingham’s impressive achievements as a small critical access hospital, highlighting key team efforts, service statistics, and the innovative strategies they employ to deliver high-quality care. She emphasizes the organization’s effective use of MEDITECH tools – including Care Compass, Registries, and Patient Connect – to enhance patient engagement, streamline care management, and improve staff efficiency. Tim reflects on his career at MEDITECH, and shares insights into the growing adoption of the MaaS solution. He underscores the value of MEDITECH’s new portal tools in enabling patients to take a more active role in their care. The conversation further explores how Bingham leverages these technologies to drive measurable outcomes. Holly explains how utilizing registries and chronic care management programs has not only improved patient outcomes, but also increased reimbursements and funded new initiatives. She shares real-world success stories to illustrate the impact. TJ closes the discussion by inviting the guests to share innovative use cases of registries from Bingham and other MEDITECH clients.--Mentioned In this episode:We Take Quality to the Next Level | Bingham HealthcareMEDITECH as a Service (MaaS) | MEDITECHTim’s Inspire Presentation (behind paywall): https://www.museweb.org/2025inspireconference/viewdocument/pending-ai-165-optimizing-medit?CommunityKey=ea7c37b8-cfa7-46bb-b3bf-0192e4125d10&tab=librarydocumentsHolly’s Inspire presentation (behind paywall): https://www.museweb.org/2025inspireconference/viewdocument/pending-ai-124-leveraging-patie?CommunityKey=ea7c37b8-cfa7-46bb-b3bf-0192e4125d10&tab=librarydocuments

We open with a discussion of the recent MUSE Inspire conference and MEDITECH’s participation – and the value they realized from attending. Rachel talks about her keynote presentation – co-presented with Shannon Connell, Vice President of Customer Experience at MEDITECH – regarding MEDITECH initiatives on both the customer experience side and the technical side with Expanse. We learn about MEDITECH’s data exchange initiatives and the Traverse exchange tool, and the numerous key enhancements slated for the future, especially related to AI and vendor integration. Rachel provides an exciting promotion of the upcoming MEDITECH LIVE event!--Featured in this episode:MEDITECH LIVE 25 | MEDITECHKeynote - 2025 Inspire Conference – behind paywallMEDITECH Blog | Rachel Wilkes, Director, Marketing, MEDITECH

Anne Marie talks about how her own IT leadership experiences led to the development of a bootcamp process with MUSE for the MUSE community leaders and those wanting to move into leadership. We learn about the bootcamp program with advice to help leaders ensure their “house was in order”, and how they need the right team working together before they can deliver a quality product. It is important to have IT at the decision-making table and to demonstrate the value of the RIO. Anne Marie shares that the collaboration portion of the boot camp was really impressive, and plans for future of the bootcamp offerings via MUSE. She also acknowledges Joel Benware’s (Acmeware) significant role in developing the bootcamp. Hear Anne Marie’s assessment of the recent MUSE Inspire Conference – and a promotion of a beneficial future MUSE event, Executive Institute.--Featured in this episode:Anne Marie Herrera - LinkedIn

In her role, Shannon Connell oversees the implementation and service of MEDITECH's licensed customers, as well as the company's legal department, quality system for our internal processes, and medical devices. Overseeing governance coupled with her customer experience responsibilities, uniquely equipped her to support MEDITECH customers and ensure their success from contracting through implementation, and beyond. Shannon tells us about her interesting path from biology major to law school, and then how she applies her law degree at MEDITECH – and how her long tenure with the company has afforded her great opportunities to interact with customers in meaningful ways. We discuss the ever-changing regulatory requirements, interoperability, implementations, and establishing best practices. MEDITECH is concentrating on optimization and ensuring customers garner full value from the system, under the driving motto “what does good look like?” Shannon also talks about MEDITECH Circle and how she feels it will be very beneficial to customers as the functionality of the tool continues to grow with the addition of AI tools to enhance analytics.--Featured in this episode:Shannon Connell | MEDITECHEvent Archive - MUSE Community – Meditech Circle WebinarAmazon.com: James: A Novel: 9780385550369: Everett, Percival: Books – James Percival Everett

With over 20 years of healthcare experience, Dr. Ahmed most recently served a Global CMIO for The Aga Khan University (AKU) in Pakistan and its global network of hospitals. Additionally, he has served over two dozen healthcare systems as a Physician Executive Consultant to develop effective multidisciplinary governance strategies for successful deployment of electronic health record systems.We learn about Dr. Ahmed’s journey to IT and transition to the study of medicine. He explains how he came to work at the Valley Health system as their CMIO. We discuss Valley Health’s EHR selection project and how they are working on the governance of proper usage of AI. We learn about his “same, but different” philosophy: How training, navigation, governance, etc. can be challenging and burdensome to standardize. Is technology solving or contributing to burnout?

Firstly, we hear about the success of the recent MEDITECH Live event and then we learn about MEDITECH’s Traverse Exchange network, both an overview and the high-level goals of the project. The group discusses how this new tool uses industry standards to exchange data across different organizations even if they are on different EHR systems. Traverse Exchange was first launched in Canada, and what MEDITECH learned there has been applied to the U.S. market. MEDITECH is offering the tool initially to customers that have already integrated with CommonWell, and then moving to new implementations and other eligible customers. The end goal is to get all MEDITECH customers on this network so that the data benefits all facilities. Traverse Exchange can be coupled with other tools, like Search and Summarization, to greatly expands the capabilities and to help providers lessen their burden.Mentioned in this episode:MEDITECH introduces Traverse Exchange interoperability network for U.S. Market | MEDITECH – Traverse exchange articleTraverse Exchange Canada | MEDITECH – Traverse exchange Canada6 Takeaways from MEDITECH LIVE 2024 – Meditech Live

Whitney has worked at CMH as a Systems Analyst for seven years supporting registration, authorization and referral management, community wide scheduling, and patient portal. Learn about Citizens Memorial Hospital and the IT team. Whitney shares how an initiative that came out of a task force put her on the path of optimizing the patient portal for self-scheduling. We discuss some of the general initiatives, and then specifically about project to implement self-scheduling for mammography patients. Learn the details of the build, working with the mammography team, and ensuring safeguards were employed – plus, hear the positive responses from those involved.

Rick provides an overview the facility and EHR environment – and highlights the uniqueness of a children’s hospital. Amy shares her career path from bedside pediatric nursing to IT, and ultimately a clinical manager. Caron outlines the current projects at the hospital including MEDITECH’s Expanse Cam, Expanse Now, and High Availability Snapshot. Learn about the collaboration between East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, based in Liverpool. Users from the two distinguished facilities meet regularly to share, learn and, sometimes, commiserate. Hear how the relationship has been mutually beneficial, and reinforces the value of organization like MUSE.

Learn about Randy’s career path, and his facility and the IT team. Christina discusses her work with the Mile Bluff site. Together they highlight MEDITECH’s new AI-powered Expanse search and summarization capabilities powered by Google Health. Randy shares how the search and summarization tool is being used at Mile Bluff to combat provider burn out and improve efficiency. Hear his specific recent example of how it helped a patient regarding a DVT and medication issue. Christine discusses the future of the Google-powered search and summarization tool. Learn what is Randy doing with the time he has saved!

Peter won the International Education Exchange (IEE) contest with his presentation at the 2023 MUN conference in Liverpool, UK which earned him a trip to present at the 2024 MUSE Inspire Conference in Denver, CO. Peter shares information about his unique organization in Liverpool and how his nursing background led him into the world of IT. We learn about the IEE contest journey and his impressions of the recent MUSE Inspire conference. He notes the great networking opportunities with both Facility and Commercial members. We delve into the content of his winning presentation including how the innovation team at Alder Hey worked to build a portal for patients. He explains the innovative panel built in the HER to record likes and dislikes, so that the care team can provide a unique care experience for their patients. Peter shares a great relationship he has established with East Tennessee Children’s Hospital via the MUSE community and notes how helpful they were during his implementation. What does Peter enjoy playing on the weekends? (Think UK sport!)Mentioned in this episode:Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust2024 Physician Advisory Committee Meeting | MEDITECHAlder Hey Innovation - Alder Hey Children's Hospital TrustMUN Conference 2024 - MUN - MEDITECH Users NetworkEast Tennessee Children's Hospital | Knoxville, TN (etch.com)Link to Peter’s presentation https://www.museweb.org/2024inspireconference/viewdocument/181-how-to-keep-pace-with-patient?CommunityKey=2232cf79-3e33-45fe-a0b7-018b72ab63b7&tab=librarydocuments

MUSE Champions help the MUSE online community and social media platforms thrive as relevant resources for the MEDITECH community, and work to attract more MUSE users. Learn about each Champion, why they joined, and about their responsibilities and outlooks.Mentioned in this episode:MUSE Champion Program - MUSE Community (museweb.org)Empower (acmeware.com)