Healthcare advisor gives back, looks forward
Elizabeth Casey Halley, RN, MBA, is a principal healthcare advisor in MITRE's Center for Transforming Health (CTH). MITRE is a not-for-profit-company chartered to work solely in the public interest and is actively engaged across the federal government in health transformation initiatives. Beth is respected throughout the health community for her knowledge of IT interoperability standards and their potential to improve the delivery of healthcare services. She is invited frequently to serve on expert panels and deliver presentations to national and international conferences on the role of standards, interoperability, and electronic health records in improving health. At MITRE, she is a well-regarded and sought-after expert by MITRE's customers in identifying quality measures and performance standards for federally funded services, and is a leading member of MITRE research teams on projects related to clinical health information.
Beth also is the current chair of the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Committee and a member of The TIGER Initiative Foundation Board of Directors. She served as a contributor to the book Nursing Informatics: Where Technology and Caring Meet, Fourth Edition, published this year. In her spare time, she is a volunteer nurse at her community's free clinic. The clinic, through her assistance, applied for and won the 2010 HIMSS National Capital Area Charity Award to assist the clinic with the implementation of health IT. Beth received a BS in Nursing from the University of Delaware and an MBA from George Mason University.
Q: How did you begin your career in health IT?
A: After receiving my nursing degree in the 80s, one of the first positions I held was at a hospital that utilized health IT systems on its units, which was fairly novel then. During my practicums, I hadn't been exposed to health information technologies. But seeing these technologies while working on the units—for patient lab results and demographic information, for example—I was fascinated by what I saw. I recognized how these technologies could help staff be more efficient and more easily access information to provide care to patients. Being married to a computer scientist, I had been exposed to the concepts within health IT. But what I saw in place at the hospital was exciting: I saw how using these technologies could make a difference for the patients, the nursing profession and the healthcare industry at large. As my career progressed, I began to explore the role of the vendor community in health IT and the ways vendors were incorporating nursing into their system designs and implementations. I was hired by Shared Medical Systems (now Siemens Healthcare), my first role within the vendor side of healthcare. I also worked as a consultant, focused on implementation as well as business development. During this time, I pursued my MBA degree; this aligned with my interest in the business drivers in health IT. Obtaining my Master's degree was an important aspect in my career development.
Q: How familiar were you with health IT before entering this field?
A: Before entering the field, I had a limited exposure to but a real interest in technology. I found it fascinating to think how technologies could positively impact healthcare. During this timeframe, health IT had an entrepreneurial feel to it. We didn't have a "roadmap" for careers like we do today. From an academic standpoint, you either focused on business, computer sciences or clinical sciences.
Q: What were the challenges you faced when coming from the IT industry into healthcare? What were your best experiences early on?
A: Initially, how nurses were perceived within IT implementations was a challenge. I remember hearing in meetings: "Nurses don't understand technology." The challenge for me, then, was to develop my knowledge of the health IT world. Once I accomplished that, I felt responsible to help IT staff expand their knowledge of clinical issues. Some of these challenges still exist today, but there is certainly more understanding of how the IT and clinical worlds intersect and a greater appreciation for each. My best experiences were the willingness of colleagues to help me along in my journey to learn health IT. They were invaluable in teaching me the technical side of the industry. I greatly appreciated this mentoring and see this as an important role I now play for clinicians coming into health IT industry.
Q: What recommendations would you give someone entering this industry for the first time?
A: Individuals with a clinical background who are moving into health IT need to "do their homework" and get educated on the large number of industry initiatives going on now. Go to conferences and build up your CME hours. There are many virtual education opportunities today, such as HIMSS' Virtual Conference & Expo. ONC has programs online as well. Get up to speed on the activities going on in this fast paced industry. We're riding a wave—there's a lot of energy behind our current activities, so it's a great time to get into the industry. I'd also recommend an individual find a health IT niche they're interested in—usability, interoperability, quality, security/privacy, for example—and develop some expertise in. Also, networking is key. The connections you make through networking will help you throughout your career.
Q: What are your thoughts about future career plans?
A: I really enjoy the role I play now in my career at MITRE, working with federal health partners/agencies. I've worked in the different settings, such as the provider side, and these different experiences have shown me valuable and interesting perspectives on healthcare and health IT. Looking forward, I feel part of my role is to make sure the next generation of nurses is engaged in health IT. I'm in a position now to give back to my profession and be involved in my community. Whether it's volunteering on the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Committee, as a nurse at a free clinic or showing future nurses the value of health IT, I'm trying to use my career skills and experiences to impact my profession and community. I also want to continue to work to ensure that the nursing voice is heard within the health IT debate. As noted in the Future of Nursing Report recently published by the Institute of Medicine, nurses must play a critical role in how health IT is designed and implemented, to ensure the best care is provided to patients .
Q: What do you think about your career and the impact the health IT industry has on people's lives?
A: I feel very strongly that health IT plays a critical part in making our healthcare system more efficient and safer, while improving quality. For nurses performing many different roles — teaching, collaborating on EHR implementations, providing clinical care, etc., they represent many important health IT roles in today's healthcare delivery system. From a personal perspective— my career in health IT has provided me with the flexibility to experience many interesting roles while also pursuing my education and raising two children. I feel very lucky to have a career that has allowed me to pursue so many varied interests.
