I feel like I’ve contributed something any time I google a phrase and get zero hits.  I’m trying to recall if we’ve conjugated Google yet—I google, you google, he/she or it googles.  Failing to recognize it in its verb form, Word wants me to use a capital ‘G’.

Where were we?  I was asked to share my thoughts about all of the healthcare certifications, especially those that are used within healthcare IT, and to offer my opinion as to whether they add value or cost.  This is the type of open-ended question that can get less grounded consultants all a twitter.

Most of you can answer this for me, but I’ll push forward.  Remember, what follows is the opinion of a trained professional—don’t try this at home.

Clearly, certifications are of value, but not necessarily in the way one might think.  It depends in part on where they lay.  For the provider to go through the exercise of being certified in one realm or another probably means they’ve tightened their ship—a good thing.  Can you have too much of a good thing?  Probably—that’s a rather milquetoast answer.  Maybe it’s just me, but healthcare seems to attract or collect tiny alphabetical collections of letters like others collect fine wines—the thrill is in the collection, not necessarily in how utilitarian they are.

If we’re honest, healthcare has not been noted as an industry viewed as being on the leading edge of IT—if you happen to be an exception, that’s great, this isn’t meant to be all encompassing.  That being the case, since we are looking at a five year stretch where healthcare and healthcare IT are going to transform themselves one way or another from version 0.2 to version 2.0, I think there’s plenty to pay attention to without worrying about what certificates are stapled to everyone’s cubical.

Ask, what is it your organization must have in place to transform?  What IT skills?  What project management skills?  Everything that lays under the umbrella of HIT is the most visible, costly, and risky undertaking the organization has faced.  Do you need someone to lead it who has a certificate?  Maybe.  Do you need someone with ninja project management skills?  Absolutely.

On the non-provider side, certifications will always cost you more.  Nobody gives them away for free.  Be careful what you pay for.

What’s the most valuable certificate?  Thanks for asking.  I think it’s the one that certifies that you’re not drinking the Kool Aid.