Call me focused . . . but the push to get the Healthcare Industry more efficient from a technology perspective has me completely intrigued. Not only is our government involved in enabling this . . . but the Obama administration is obviously interested in this area for good reason.
Case in point: Take a look at this article that appeared today from Reuters. Entitled "Few US Hospitals Have Electronic Medical Records," the post features several startling statistics. Here's one to consider . . ."Less than 2 percent of U.S. hospitals have adopted fully functional electronic medical records, with most citing cost as the biggest barrier, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday." Seriously . . .less than 2 percent?
The good news is that with the stimulus package, $19 billion has been earmarked to resolve this very issue and get us on par with other countries of our stature world-wide. Hopefully, hospitals will be clamoring to get their piece of this monetary pie to improve our ranking in this arena.
Dr. David Blumenthal from Harvard is slated to lead this effort on behalf of the Obama administration. He and his team from Harvard conducted the study cited above. Dr. Blumenthal and Dr. Ashish Jha of the Harvard School of Public Health cited other compelling statistics as well. "Right now, very few hospitals in America have a comprehensive electronic health recording. Only about 1 in 10 meet the definition of a basic electronic health record."While the costs for a comprehensive system (defined as one that collects doctor and nurse notes, orders tests, helps doctors make decisions about care and is available in every unit of the hospital), are estimated to be between $20 million and $100 million, the stimulus package can help pave the way and help larger organization recoup some of the costs involved in technology upgrades. In fact, for physicians and modest size institutions, the costs could be completely covered, according to Blumenthal. In addition, some of the additional costs, such as training and technical support could potentially be covered as well.
In creating a go-to-market strategy in this space, this is all very encouraging news. There will be lots of opportunity to consult in this area. The added benefit is that as our nation improves its healthcare systems, not only will it positively impact our economy, it will also improve the level of care that we all experience from our healthcare providers.If you have experienced success in this area, please share by commenting on how you've impacted technology in this space. I'd love to hear how you're leading the challenge!Oh, and a big shout-out to my buddy, Kim Rice, for sending me the link for this article!