Experience – E.R. Tichenor Company

Seasoned Software Developer and Application Expert

A results-oriented software engineering consultant, with nearly 35 years in software and systems development, whose role stretches beyond that of a developer to that of a user advocate, designer, developer and team leader. Understands SDLC and Agile Methodologies used in the development of multitier client server and web based solutions and is driven to finding creative ways to make people and the systems they use more effective and efficient. My primary focus has been in Healthcare IT, Medical Records Systems, Document Imaging and Content Management Systems.

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Health Information Management

I spent a significant portion of my career working in the Healthcare industry and most notably in the development of HIM Workflow and Medical Record Management systems. When it comes to the accuracy, legibility and availability of your patients’ Legal Medical Records, nothing is more important. And, getting the electronic version of the medical record to those who need it is crucial to patient care and pre and post discharge workflows. I can help you evaluate and correct issues with these workflows.

Key Development Resource

I have been participating in and mentoring development of HIM systems since 1998. Who knows the ins-and-outs of these complex HIM systems better than someone who actually designed and built them. At Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, I was a senior developer as well as development manager and architect for nearly 12 years.

HIM Workflows

I have a keen understanding of the workflows involved in the acquisition, delivery and consumption of documents in the legal medical record. My areas of expertise include Coding and Abstracting, Release of Information, Chart Completion and Paper Chart Tracking.

Patient Registration Workflows

No Legal Medical Record is complete without patient and insurance identification, consents and provider referral documents. It is important to understand how document capture affects these extremely busy patient access points. That is why, while at Allscripts, I personally helped design and build a point-of-service capture solution that required as few clicks as possible and it is still used today after nearly 20 years. It just works and it’s fast! The documents scanned at registration can then be used for all phases of patient care such as insurance verification and patient access.

Document Capture Specialist

Most hospitals are finding it difficult to go completely paperless, and that’s why scanning and capturing documentation is still an integral part of any HIM system. I specialize in low to high capacity scanning of medical records and can help you to maximize your investment in the expensive devices and systems that you need to accomplish this. I can also help you optimize the process by improving document readability, reducing document size and potentially adding automatic indexing of documents to their final destination.

Systems Interface & Integration

One of the key contributions that I have made over the years while working with the various CMS vendors that we integrated with, is in this area of Interface and Integration. Users of these systems don’t want to have to go to multiple locations to find what they need to do their job. I have experience with building interfaces that deliver data and/or documents into the CMS so that users no longer have to scan them on the back end. I have also engineered integration components between the clinical and registration systems into the HIM and CMS systems, allowing users to seamlessly pass from one system to the other as though they were one.

Document Imaging and Content Management

Document Imaging and Management has always been my forte. In fact, my first job in the late 1990’s was with a company that built CAR systems (Computer Assisted Retrieval), when documents were still stored on microfiche. The technology certainly has come a long way. Since then, I’ve worked in partnership with several cutting edge third parties or developed document imaging components in-house. I understand the software, hardware and infrastructures that are necessary to deliver all sorts of content when and where its needed.

Key Development Resource

I have had an opportunity to work in this cutting edge field for the past 2 decades. I was solely responsible for designing and authoring all of the batch and registration scanning systems for the HIM solution provided by Allscripts Healthcare Solutions. These programs are still in use today and continue to be very competitive in the healthcare space.

Certifications in Document Imaging

Early in my career I attained the credential of CDIA (Certified Document Imaging Architect). It meant that as an IT specialist in the field, I had the tools to incorporate document management into any business environment where paper was an issue. The certification required a keen understanding of the ins-and-outs of document imaging from sizing of hardware requirements for document acquisition to the eventual rendering and output of the content. One also has to understand the impact that this technology has on the network topology, storage systems and user access points. I am also a member of AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management).

Capture & Imaging Tools

There are a number of leaders in the industry when it comes to capturing, managing, rendering and distributing electronic documents. I am a certified developer for Kofax Capture by Kofax Image Products (Formerly), and I am familiar with some of the industry leading tool-kits such as Leadtools, TE Edit Control, Adobe, Neevia PDF and more. These tool-kits are the building blocks on which the ideal document management system is based and knowledge of these tools and how they can get solutions to market or to your users in a short period of time is key to the success of your project.

Document and Data Migrations

Both before and after I parted ways with Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, I remained very much involved with large scale document imaging and database migrations. I have handled all phases of the ETL (Extract Transform and Load) workflows for both Acute and Ambulatory products, for systems such as Allscripts, Epic and Meditech as well as content management systems such as Allscripts, Hyland and Lexmark (Formerly Perceptive) and Opal (Formerly Bossnet). I have assembled an extensive toolkit to aid me in the rapid design and deployment of migration strategies.

Web Development

As a software developer, nothing is more important than staying on the cutting edge of technology. That’s why my focus for the past several years has been to learn how to help customers cut through the many options they are faced with when it comes to developing a presence on the internet or in the palm of their hand. In fact, whether you need to market your company’s goods and services or you simply want to take advantage of the benefits of running your applications with zero footprint on virtually any computer or mobile device, you’ll be in good hands.

Multi-tiered Architectures

For decades I have been architecting systems where there was a fundamental requirement to abstract the presentation, business and data layers in order to realize things like economy of scale and simplicity of management and support. In fact, Allscripts was all about Open Architecture, and therefore our new software designs would allow customers and developers to harness the power of reusable components and services to build their own applications. My experience with this is in the area of web services that can be used to facilitate repeatable processes.

Web Site Development with WordPress

In the building of this website itself, I have become acquainted with WordPress. As a consultant and as a customer, time and cost is of the essence, and WordPress allows me to provide web site authoring services with a rapid turnaround. WordPress itself is an excellent tool to use when the requirements fit within certain constraints that it supports. Although it is highly customizable, it may not be the best fit for all situations.

Modern Web Development with HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript

As our internet enabled world moves more and more towards the mobile computing devices such as smartphones and tablets, we need to be able to build applications that will be more adaptive to those devices. My experience with HTML5 and CSS3 is still fresh and I’m very excited about this technology. One specific project that I am currently working on required that I have a single zero footprint application that would execute on any PC or device and also be able to access features of those devices like GPS, storage, cameras etc. The industry responded in kind and provided developers a more powerful HTML specification. Together with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) I am able to build virtually any type of application and be sure that it will run virtually anywhere!

Software Development

A results-oriented software engineering consultant, with nearly 30 years in software and systems development, whose role stretches beyond that of a developer to that of a user advocate, designer, developer and team leader. Understands SDLC and Agile Methodologies used in the development of multitier client server and web based solutions and is driven to finding creative ways to make people and the systems they use more effective and efficient. My primary focus has been in Healthcare IT, Document Imaging and Content Management Systems.

Senior Microsoft .NET Developer

I have in intimate knowledge of Microsoft’s .NET Development Platform which includes Visual Studio, Source Control, Team Build, Team Foundation Services and the .NET languages of C# and Visual Basic. I have decades of experience using this platform to develop Win Form applications, ASP.NET web sites, Web and Windows Services and various other components. I have a had exposure to the various view models such as MVC and MVVM with applications in WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and WCF (Windows Communication Foundation).

Senior Systems Architect

For several years at Allscripts, I had the actual title of Senior Architect. However, I have been performing in a Product Architect role for quite some time. I have documented many system architectures throughout my career and more recently became familiar with tools such as Balsamiq wire-frame software and Enterprise Architect by Sparx. I have experience using these tools as extensions to Microsoft .NET.

Software Development Manager

I held a Development Manger role at Allscripts for 8+ years where we had a mix of domestic and global (India) resources. As a manager and mentor of these resources, I found great reward in working with and aiding in the personal growth of my engineers, all of which I am pleased to say, would more than likely choose me to lead them again if given the opportunity. My teams have ranged from 6-12 members at any given time.

Database Design

Most systems simply don’t exist without a database. I have extensive experience with designing effective database schema’s and working with DBMSs (Database Management Systems) such as SQL Server and Oracle. On the front end, I know how to build access classes using JavaScript & TypeScript, ADO and ODBC. Whether we’re building with a Data First or Code First methodology, I’ll bring the knowledge and tools to achieve the best database design with performance top of mind.