Heather Kipp, HITS Communications

Heather is a brand/product analyst lead within the Michigan Medicine Office of the CIO. You can contact her at hengeshl@umich.edu.

As Michigan Medicine grows, so does the need for technology

The first thing you notice when entering West Ann Arbor-Parkland Plaza health center might be the welcome desk, floor-to-ceiling windows, or charming artwork. It probably isn’t the WiFi access points, label printers, or network cables. Randy Smith, a network architect with Health Information Technology & Services (HITS), knows how integral that technology is to the health center’s day-to-day… Read More »

Adapting technology to enhance Michigan Medicine’s mission: Q&A with Ranjit Aiyagari, MD

Ranjit Aiyagari, M.D. was recently named chief medical information officer for Michigan Medicine. Aiyagari oversees the Office of Clinical Informatics and works closely with the organization’s chief information and chief clinical officers to bridge the gap between provider-facing technology systems and the strategic goals of the clinical enterprise. Aiyagari recently discussed his role and how it differs from —… Read More »

Want to improve cross-team collaboration?

Cross-team collaboration is essential — uniting experts from a variety of teams and departments leads to deeper insights, fresher perspectives, and faster innovations. Open to all Michigan IT community members, two upcoming workshops share helpful tools and techniques to improve collaboration: Competing Values in the Workplace (HITS 1000) This workshop explores how the interplay among our competing values… Read More »

HITS celebrates one year anniversary; publishes Year in Review

This month marks one year since Health Information Technology & Services formed. To celebrate its first anniversary, HITS published a Year in Review, which highlights the organization’s major accomplishments, measures the breadth and impact of Health IT, and introduces inspiring staff who play a key role in advancing the mission of Michigan Medicine through technology. “Over the last… Read More »

Michigan Medicine CIO looks back in time for answers to today’s dilemmas

A majority of U.S. hospitals and health systems implemented electronic health records (EHR) over the last decade, thanks in large part to federal government incentive programs. But not everyone is happy about it. According to a 2016 Survey by Deloitte, seven out of 10 U.S. physicians believe EHRs reduce their  productivity. In a talk titled, “Solving the EHR… Read More »

Michigan Medicine wins ‘Most Wired’ award

For the third consecutive year, Michigan Medicine has been named one of the nation’s “Most Wired” health systems by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, a publication of the American Hospital Association. The award recognizes hospitals and health systems that excel in using information technology to advance patient care and population health, protect the privacy and security of patient… Read More »

HITS improves its online presence

Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) launched a new website. The new site provides essential information regarding the many products and services HITS provides, along with search options and intuitive navigation designed to make finding this information quicker and easier. It also links to an improved HITS Knowledgebase. This is an important next step in the unification of MCIT and… Read More »

HITS volunteers upgrade tech at Ronald McDonald House

  Over the past three years, a group of volunteers from Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) has completely upgraded all technology services at the Ronald McDonald House of Ann Arbor, a valuable resource for thousands of families with children requiring critical and essential medical care. Many HITS staff members generously donated their time and skills to make… Read More »

HITS hosts successful electronic health records conference

Nearly 350 health care IT professionals from 11 different health systems recently gathered in Ann Arbor to share ideas and knowledge to improve patient care. The EHR Michigan User Group, or eMUG, is a collection of health systems in Michigan that use Epic electronic health records software. The 2017 eMUG conference was hosted by Michigan Medicine Health Information Technology &… Read More »

HITS professional development series open to Michigan IT community

Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) is offering two workshops in June. They are open to anyone in the Michigan IT community. Competing Values in the Workplace This workshop introduces the HITS model of customer experience. It offers more than simple platitudes regarding customer service – focusing on practical skills and techniques combined with processes used to intentionally… Read More »