From Republican leaders to communications company CEOs to physicians in leadership positions, keynote speakers at this month’s HIMSS meeting had a great deal of good news and strong opinions about the importance of Information Technology. Just walking around among the other 40,000 people was often enough to pick up insights into technology trends to watch as they gradually make their way into home care and hospice.
Though it is impossible to absorb everything going on in an annual meeting with 900 exhibitors and 40,000 attendees, we did manage to pick up some news items and comments worth repeating.
Republican support for Health IT bills
In an opening keynote address, Congressman Phil Gingrey, MD (R-GA) said the stimulus bill to drive adoption of integrated EMRs is “absolutely the right thing to do.” Gingrey also called the bipartisan health IT efforts “the single most important thing we can do” to bring down the cost of healthcare.
Jim Douglas, Republican governor of Vermont, which was recently named the healthiest state in America, stated the current goal best. “It’s simple really. When Americans are healthy, they spend fewer dollars on healthcare.”
What states need
Georgia Department of Community Health commissioner Rhonda Medows, MD listed support items states will need to create Health Information Exchanges (HIE).
- Leadership: as leaders change, have long-range plans to ensure sustainability and continuity.
- Collaboration: public and private entities, various care levels, business community, post-acute caregivers, and emergency preparedness planners working together.
- Long-range planning: financial strategies to provide sustainability after stimulus funds are gone.
- Communication: over and above the communication HIEs provide, stakeholders must center efforts around patients and their needs, measuring outcomes and sharing data, toward the ultimate goal of improving population health and emergency preparedness.
HIT can rescue a broken healthcare system
Whether you consider him pessimistic or realistic about the sorry state of healthcare in the United States, one must agree Barry Chaiken, MD, FHIMSS, CMO of DocsNetwork, Ltd., is optimistic about the healing powers of Health IT.
U.S. healthcare costs 50% more per capita than in any other country. Quality of care trails that of most OECD countries. The ranks of the uninsured make up close to 1/7th of the population. Unless there is revolutionary transformation of the delivery of healthcare in the United States, our people, economy and country will suffer severely. We can no longer afford the poor outcomes and high costs of a healthcare delivery system that provides unacceptable value from the resources expended. Transformation comes through the smart, creative implementation of health information technology. If it is not we, the professionals working on every aspect of health information technology, then who will lead this transformation driven by health IT?
Hesse in color
Famous for his black and white TV commercials, Sprint’s Dan Hesse is now known as the first CEO to deliver a HIMSS keynote address. “In order for healthcare to move forward,” he said on March 1, “it has to embrace new technology. It is absolutely essential that healthcare providers embrace and make full use of the technological advances — especially wireless communication technology — of the 21st Century.”
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Wireless monitoring devices are also transforming the quality of life of people battling chronic conditions. For example, a few years ago, a nurse had to go on temporary disability because of her chronic obesity. Being at home, with no contact with co-workers, her conditions worsened. As she became less active, and more disheartened, her interactions with her caregivers diminished drastically. She was spiraling down. But then, her health care providers equipped this medical worker with a wireless monitor, and started regular video consultations with her. No longer isolated, the patient got engaged in a wellness program. She improved to the point that she came off disability and returned to her work in healthcare. Studies have shown that if patients suffering from chronic conditions let their doctors monitor them wirelessly, we could cut $21 billion per year from our health care spending through reduced hospitalization and nursing home costs. |
He discussed the evolving role of mobile and handheld applications in healthcare. “Mobile phones, 4 billion of which are in use worldwide — more than TVs, PCs and cars combined — are the most rapidly adopted technology in history. It is up to the healthcare industry to follow that lead, adopting smartphones and their ilk as central to their care delivery model.”
“Major shifts in the healthcare industry are driving the need for transformation; wireless is an enabler of this transformation. Wireless currently enables a myriad of services and devices that are improving the delivery of healthcare. Examples include remote patient monitoring, home healthcare and e-prescribing.”
But even the best technology company cannot seize that opportunity on its own. We need you.
- You are the people on the front lines.
- You know which IT applications healthcare providers and patients need; and
- You know what technology really works in a hospital, in a physician’s office, or when a patient is recovering at home.
The annual meeting of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society invites the nation’s thought leaders to serve as keynote speakers but also relies on healthcare providers to shape the content of its educational sessions. The 2011 Call for Proposals is open from March 22 through May 24, 2010. You are invited to share your expertise, perhaps make home care more of a focus at next year’s meeting. To learn more about becoming an education session presenter for the 2011 annual conference, contact Debra Clough at 312-915-9559 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 312-915-9559 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or dclough@himss.org.
