The Healthcare Software Nerd

Minnesota born and raised. I like to think I enjoy the misery of living here (cold winters + terrible sports teams = fantastic). Father of three kids that try to play every activity that they find out about means that if I'm not coding, I'm driving them somewhere. Thankfully, my wife juggles her own career while ensuring our family runs smoothly. She makes sure we take vacations and enjoy the milestones of our lives (birthdays, anniversaries, Tuesdays).

I have been fortunate in my career. I'm a software engineer that has spent my entire career in the healthcare world which hopefully means the code I ship helps someone. A good portion of that time has been dealing with EHRs. This includes working for one of the main EHR vendors for 10 years. I owe a ton to that company as I learned what it means to get software out the door. I also saw how a larger company can get focused on just doing what it always has done and is slow to change.

My career dream would be to lead a solid team tasked with building a new EHR from the ground up. I am well aware of how dumb that sounds and know that it is similar to saying I want to build an OS to compete with Windows. I'm driven though by the belief that software should enhance, not hinder, quality healthcare. While I recognize that not all healthcare challenges have technological solutions, I'm committed to removing software from the list of obstacles. I don't blame the EHR Vendors, people working for those companies are good people trying to do amazing things. I'm also aware that the problems are extremly complicated but I believe we can demand better. The Health Systems need to understand their own needs and not rely on the Vendor to tell them what they need. Finally, I'll state that the world probably doesn't need another EHR but still the building of one can be a great way to learn how to build something like that so why not dive into it.