Predictions in the Spirit of National Health IT Week
Predictions. The media loves them – be it for sports, politics or the weather. Typically, we start to see predictions about the next year’s trends in the healthcare IT industry around November. But Scott Mace of HealthLeaders wanted to get a head start and published a top 10 list in early September. As the saying goes, “The early bird gets the worm.” Or in this case, it gets the conversation rolling.
In fact, this week is National Health IT Week. The theme is “One Voice, One Vision: Entering the 7th Year of Transforming Health and Care.” Even President Obama issued a proclamation where he discusses the benefits of healthcare IT to improve the quality of healthcare delivery, increase patient safety, decrease medical errors, and strengthen the interaction between patients and healthcare providers to make better decisions and drive better health outcomes.
Here are Scott’s predictions:
1. Patients ask, where's my data?
2. Higher software prices allow EMR makers to staff up.
3. The human touch becomes a major tech issue.
4. Tablets replace expensive videoconferencing gear.
5. Identity crisis – a national patient ID (and provider ID) system is a requirement.
6. A systematic fix for alert fatigue.
7. Patient adherence for fun and profit.
8. Medical homes and medical neighborhoods lead to medical cities
9. Social network–powered, peer-to-peer training replaces older company-based, HR-style training
10. People trump technology.
In the spirit of National Health IT Week, I’d like to offer a prediction about the biggest trends we’ll be seeing in the next year. The first is that providers and payers will continue to find ways to collaborate on business, technology, processes, reimbursement and outcomes objectives. Janice Young, program director of IDC Health Insights’ Payer IT Strategies program is seeing that health plans are now differentiating by using technologies to support integrated care, and network and payment strategies, such as revenue cycle and bundled payments.
I also believe there will be an uptick in consumers’ willingness to start and maintain a personal health record (PHR), particularly if it will be integrated with their physician’s electronic health record (EHR) and if there are rewards associated. Just last week, Schwartz MSL received a notice from our HR department about our company’s Healthy Living website powered by WebMD. It told us, “This confidential and personalized website is your gateway to get closer to your health and offers you the opportunity to earn hundreds of dollars in rewards.”
What are your predications for the next year in healthcare IT? Now excuse me while I fill out my PHR.
Posted by Davida Dinerman on September 10, 2012 at 10:13 AM
