T’was the Night Before HIMSS

In the face of an economic meltdown, there seems to be a bright spot in the market – Healthcare and Healthcare IT to be more specific. As we all know in the technology market we’re facing some challenging economic times (to say the least). As a result, conferences, tradeshows, advertising, marketing, etc. all take a nosedive in term of spending. But in many ways, healthcare IT spending is just the opposite! According to the organizers of HIMSS – the biggest IT conference for this industry – attendance is actually up for the Chicago event coming up on April 5th through 8th. Amazing!

I’m wondering if it’s because of the Obama administration’s focus on healthcare reform and the related push for greater investments in healthcare IT that are generating such interest in this important conference. How much focus (and hype) will there be with the EMR vendors at the show? I plan to get a good dose of the clinical and EMR world to filter out what’s fact vs. fiction while at the conference. One thing is certain – $19 B-I-L-L-I-O-N sure does generate a lot of buzz. But who’s focusing on the real costs and complexities of getting to that pot of gold at the end of the healthcare rainbow? Will we ever get there? It seems there are more questions than answers at this point.

There is already a lot of debate going on regarding healthcare IT spending, and that debate will continue to take place in Washington D.C. around standards, patient confidentiality, and other regulatory affairs. I’d like to see more debate on how the foundation pieces like supply costs, pharmaceutical costs, labor costs and other “back office” functions that may be taken for granted, or left out of the dialogue altogether. If we’re going to focus on driving down the cost of healthcare, then let’s really focus on the true costs and ways that costs can be lifted from the system!

Take, for example, an organization such as Catholic Health Initiative (CHI) – a massive health system, one of the largest in the country – that was able to achieve supply chain savings to the tune of a whopping $125 M-I-L-L-I-O-N! That’s a tremendous amount of money that could be leveraged for new healthcare services and support the implementation of standardized EMR moving forward. Kudos to such leadership in both strategy and execution to ultimately drive patient-value healthcare. I think the policy makers in D.C. should take a closer look at such best practices and how hospitals are addressing not only economic challenges but opportunities in light of increasing regulatory compliance.

I plan to look for innovative technologies and clear indication of where solid foundational technology will address both immediate and future needs of hospital organizations at HIMSS in the next several days. It’s an exciting time in healthcare IT, and I’m sure HIMSS will be a fabulous show. So many thanks go to the leadership of HIMSS!

Healthcare Just Got a Bit More Personal

I took a couple weeks hiatus from blogging but now am back. My world just got shaken up a bit with a recent tragic loss of my mother. Due to an accidental fall that took her away from my family, she passed rather quickly. As I was sitting there by her side in Regions Hospital’s surgery ICU and obviously running through a million things in my mind, I looked around me and observed the kind of care that my mother received in her final hours. With all that’s happening in the market, healthcare really became personal and my perspective became twisted yet clear at the same time. I asked myself all sorts of strange questions, “What if this place was not as efficient? What if as a business Regions was out of business and not managing costs properly? What if the clinicians scrambling around caring for all those in ICU were not as well trained?” I wondered if she would have received the best care that I or anyone would have needed for her.

With all the technology whiz bang that surrounded a very emotional and yes I admit – desperate – situation that I was faced with, nothing could counter the course of nature. However, I felt — as I’m sure my mother did as well — that she received the best and dignified care imaginable given the severity of the condition. My appreciation and passion for this industry and all those who actively participate in such personal healthcare increased in multiples. No other industry faces such unique challenges and complexities while delivering compassion within the intracacy of human emotions as this.

Having said that, it pains me to see continued financial pressures that hospitals are facing. We’ve got to help such organizations drive even greater costs (across all areas of the hospitals) out of the equation and improve workflow for operational efficiencies more than ever before. I don’t want to minimize the importance of clinical technologies and software that helps to monitor and impact the quality of care, but what’s even more important is the human capital management side of the equation – clinicians and staff performance — that at the end of the day impact patient (and family) satisfaction. In addition convergence of administrative informatics and clinical informatics will drive tremendous value by giving true visibility into the cost of care. Ultimately hospitals need help to be financially viable to keep their doors open and the ED/ER departments functioning smoothly by taking cost savings and reinvest in additional services and quality initiatives that really impact all of us at some point in our lives.

The staff at Regions took great care of my mother in her last moments, and I have to believe that they’re doing everything they can to remain in operation. Such compassion and expertise are what we all need to support.

Healthcare IT — Serving a Higher Purpose

As we’ve all become well aware of the mind-boggling cost of healthcare both in the United States and across the world, I believe that quality and costs are inextricably intertwined.  What’s even more important to note is that we cannot lose sight of the ultimate goal and increasingly important vision of patient-valued healthcare. 

Regardless of how great or innovative IT is and if we miss the boat on solving critical business issues that continually drive toward that vision – then we will have not accomplished our mission.  There’s a balance that must be achieved between patient care and information technological wizardry.  Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down with Fred Brown, former chairman of JCAHO for 6 years and primary driver who brought about BJC Health System in St. Louis, which he’s led as CEO since 1993.  Fred helped me to put things in perspective as I took on my new role here at Lawson Software to lead global healthcare strategy.  His comments were dead on, “You need to ensure that IT is not deployed for technology’s sake but to help serve a higher purpose…positively impact patient care.”  He continued, “How you achieve that is through integration of applications and making sure that the huge divide between clinical and business administration is bridged.”

Yes, that divide, or as some would put it – a chasm – (or in some cases “mini-chasms”) that exist today within healthcare IT deployed within the hospital providers.  There exist mountains of data from what could be hundreds of systems within very large hospital providers.  For years healthcare has been behind many other industries in IT adoption, but in recent times, the industry has picked up the pace that has led to such missing bridges.  The biggest and most critical bridge that needs to be built is between enterprise IT and clinical operations.  We’ve got to build that bridge in order to drive end to end visibility of costs and revenue because the saying “no margin, no mission” is so much more true today then ever given the turbulent economic conditions.

There obviously are many financial challenges ahead for hospital providers, but on the flip side, I believe there are significant opportunities – for process improvements, operational efficiencies, and tremendous cost savings.  It’s going to be a very interesting journey that’s for sure, but on the path of discovery, there will be great learning and best practices that will be gained.  Collectively, the providers will have solved critical business problems and crossed technology bridges that bring not only cost savings but real, sustainable value.

Until next time…

Welcome to My New Blog!

I’m pleased to have this opportunity and forum to share opinions and thoughts with our readers and cross-bloggers on a topic that is very near and dear to me – healthcare IT. 

As you can imagine, the broad healthcare market is quite complex and gets very deep, very quickly.  However, there are those us who have certain perspectives and visions of where we believe the industry is headed or better yet, should be heading. 

My goal here is not to “boil the ocean” but rather to shed some light and perspective on the fascinating relationships, intricacies, and strategic nature of healthcare and IT in a broad sense. From time to time I’ll go deep into certain areas due to trends, directions, and of course I’ll get very passionate around a particular topic. 

In the end, it’s my personal belief and vision that with all the challenges and opportunities within healthcare — fundamental, proven, solid, and foundational enterprise IT when combined with strategic and innovative application areas is — and will become — increasingly “Critical to the Business of Healthcare.”