B.I.G. Consultants

Richard Friedland , MBA, FHIMSS
B.I.G. Senior Consultant and Project Manager

Mr. Friedland has more than 35 five years of experience in health care information systems, performance improvement, and project management. His consulting practice has primarily been provider based. He has had responsibility for advising hospitals on information systems, management engineering, budget control, staff development, information systems planning, system selection, and system implementation. For 18 years, he was Vice President of Hospital Services/Management Services for Inteck, Inc.

He has provided consulting services for more than 150 clients ranging in size from under 30-bed hospitals to multi-hospital networks of more than 1,000 beds. He is been responsible for managing the IT consulting services of nationwide firms. His information system consulting engagements have included the development of long-range strategic information technology plans, systems selection, contract review, and negotiations, and system installations.

Mr. Friedland is Past-President of the Colorado Chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), past Chairman of HIMSS's Fellows Group and he has been a frequent speaker on topics relative to information technology and HIPAA.

Mr. Friedland received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and an MBA from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

HIPAA Specific Experience

For a hospital in the Midwest, Mr. Friedland conducted a HIPAA Readiness Assessment/Gap Analysis covering the security, privacy, and transactions and code sets regulations. He is responsible for conducting the data collection activities including interviews, observations, and document review; educating the hospital senior management on HIPAA and HIPAA strategies; and performing the gap analysis and presenting the results and recommendations to the hospital leadership.

Mr. Friedland has developed and delivered presentations on HIPAA compliance at the MUSE International Conference, for the Kentucky Association of Healthcare Facilities, and for several health care clients. His continuing development of HIPAA knowledge and expertise is focused on the transactions and code sets, and security.