Or is it the Tale of the White Hair?  I’ve been going through a period of reinvention, Paul 2.0.  Trying to redefine myself; bon vivant, self expressive—a right-wing Alan Alda with spurs.

Part of the 2.0 image was the rebirth of my moustache, right up to the point when my nine-year-old daughter, who’s turning sixteen in December, asked why some of the hairs were white.  When she commented that my upper lip looked like a ferret, I found myself wishing I was at the Mad Hatter’s tea party—don’t follow this too closely or you might wind up hurting yourself.

It’s been one of those Through the Looking Glass kinds of mornings. The kind when my seven-year-old writes down the toll-free number from a commercial advertising a product that promises to grow hair, chiding me with, “No, really dad, it really does work.”

It was time for me to get out of Dodge, so I went for a run, my MP3 cranked way up. Midway through the run I caught myself singing, and then looked around quickly, not because I didn’t want anyone to hear me singing, but because I didn’t want anyone to know I knew the words to anything written by Tom Jones.

While running I began thinking about all the different and differing opinions about EHR, meaningful use, and the stimulus—I know, I need to get a life.  Providers are paying a lot of money trying to understand those aspects of their business; they are hiring consultants, buying technology, and realigning their processes.  Everybody’s involved; IT, sales, marketing, operations. Well, almost everybody.

Who’s often missing?  The doctors.  The people with the most insight, the most contact with the actual business requirements, the one group in the organization that has the most value to offer. One process I’ve found to be very effective, especially in light of the fact that studies are showing that the doctors aren’t buying into the implemented EHR, is to involve them early and often.  Run an open forum for their input; total cost—about $30 for coffee and bagels.  They won’t be short on ideas for improving the process.

Lesson to be learned; the ROI on coffee and bagels can be pretty high.