This is a summary of the HIT Trends Report for September 2010. You can get the current issue or subscribe here.
Look beyond the EHR to healthcare transformation. A big idea that continues to emerge this month is to think beyond the EHR and Stage 1 meaningful use incentives toward future stages and healthcare transformation. Last month, in this column, we reported on a McKinsey analysis arguing that hospitals need to take the long view toward EHR and look for ROI beyond the meaningful use incentives. This month we learn from a CHiME survey that hospital CIOs are optimistic about earning federal incentives, although KLAS reports that many express that they are not getting their money’s worth from current IT investments. Epic users seem to be the major exception.
The answer according to Daniel Marino, CEO at Health Directions, is to seek an ROI through deeper connections with physicians and patients. These ideas are confirmed as well by a Deloitte report out this month that looks at HIT and patient-centered medical homes and by John Glaser’s outline of an HIT roadmap for accountable care organizations. CIOs are also asking to be included in the work of the regional extension centers (RECs) through a CHiME network. This seems like a good idea as we learn from an eHI report that progress at RECs has been slow.
Mobile health will be a growing part of the solution. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Deloitte each released reports on how mobile health is increasing in importance. The PwC report predicts a $8B-$43B mobile health market with the key being provider payment reform. It proposes three emerging business models supporting transformation: operational-clinical, consumer and infrastructure. The applications include provider-patient communications from simple texting to virtual online visits. There is some evidence that consumers will pay for getting detailed clinical information to providers for review. The Deloitte report focuses on mobile personal health records (mPHR) and sees potential applications in obesity, post-acute, home care and diabetes. An innovative partnership between Roche and InterComponentWare underscores these issues with a marriage of Roche’s mobile Accu-Chek software and ICWs secure application infrastructure creating communications solutions for diabetes.
