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!
