Just yesterday I read the following in iHealthBeat... "In a recent interview with Federal Times, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal discussed how the federal government is encouraging doctors to participate in the incentive payment program for the "meaningful use" of electronic health records."
Fair enough - in fact isn't this what we are all trying to do? We all want to get the word out to the masses, to help providers discover the benefits of using the tools and solutions designed for "meaningful use". But there are some obstacles:
1) How many healthcare providers are there? Oh yeah... billions. Ok, not really, but there are a bunch and getting all of them connected - let alone talking to one another - is daunting and will not happen overnight. Even using a standards-based approach.
2) "Connect everyone by 2015... or else." Yeah, right! Try telling that to the 1- to 2-provider practice in a small community that has been providing quality care for 50 plus years. Meaningful Use is daunting to everyone, but particularly to small practices. Oh and by the way, this is how a majority of healthcare in this country is delivered.
3) Reshaping processes in the provider practice to meet new quality measures and create information flow to the patient. With minimal impact to revenues, costs, and patient care. Really, this point does not need any more elaboration.
On the flip side, these three tough challenges can actually be simple to solve. Seriously! What we need to do is to look back in time, and to remind ourselves of what we already know - then try not to reinvent the wheel. High tech innovators and entrepreneurs are the key - over the last 20 years they figured out how to solve that problem in the communications and finance markets. Today they are figuring out how to provide interoperable solutions to connect the whole spectrum of providers to consumers, with minimal (or even positive!) impact to current processes.
Dr. Blumenthal summarized the bottom line well: ONC's "overwhelming challenge is that we have to convince skeptical, busy hospitals and doctors that they should adopt [EHRs] and use them in a way that will qualify them for the incentive payments that we are offering."
It's a tough challenge, but by learning from our past, we can continue to move forward by providing innovative, standards-based reusable solutions for the healthcare market. Think of it as a grassroots solution for a grassroots problem.
Fair enough - in fact isn't this what we are all trying to do? We all want to get the word out to the masses, to help providers discover the benefits of using the tools and solutions designed for "meaningful use". But there are some obstacles:
1) How many healthcare providers are there? Oh yeah... billions. Ok, not really, but there are a bunch and getting all of them connected - let alone talking to one another - is daunting and will not happen overnight. Even using a standards-based approach.
2) "Connect everyone by 2015... or else." Yeah, right! Try telling that to the 1- to 2-provider practice in a small community that has been providing quality care for 50 plus years. Meaningful Use is daunting to everyone, but particularly to small practices. Oh and by the way, this is how a majority of healthcare in this country is delivered.
3) Reshaping processes in the provider practice to meet new quality measures and create information flow to the patient. With minimal impact to revenues, costs, and patient care. Really, this point does not need any more elaboration.
On the flip side, these three tough challenges can actually be simple to solve. Seriously! What we need to do is to look back in time, and to remind ourselves of what we already know - then try not to reinvent the wheel. High tech innovators and entrepreneurs are the key - over the last 20 years they figured out how to solve that problem in the communications and finance markets. Today they are figuring out how to provide interoperable solutions to connect the whole spectrum of providers to consumers, with minimal (or even positive!) impact to current processes.
Dr. Blumenthal summarized the bottom line well: ONC's "overwhelming challenge is that we have to convince skeptical, busy hospitals and doctors that they should adopt [EHRs] and use them in a way that will qualify them for the incentive payments that we are offering."
It's a tough challenge, but by learning from our past, we can continue to move forward by providing innovative, standards-based reusable solutions for the healthcare market. Think of it as a grassroots solution for a grassroots problem.
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