|
Information technology (IT) needs to become the backbone of healthcare systems - as it is now for most other industries. Cars tell us when they need an oil change. Consumers manage their financial investments and transactions online. Amazon knows what books we want to read before we do. IT can improve healthcare too. The potential is breathtaking. In a 2005 research report, the RAND Corporation concluded that widespread adoption and proper implementation of health IT in the U.S. could result in annual savings of $77 billion from efficiency gains alone. Health and safety benefits, said the researchers, could more than double those savings, while reducing illness and prolonging life. Work GE is doing with Intermountain Healthcare, a leading innovator in clinical decision support systems, shows that medical care improves while costs go down. Digitization is like a hydroelectric power plant. Just as these plants channel water's incredible energy and convert it into electricity, digitization enables healthcare to harness a powerful stream of existing information to facilitate:
|
|
So why hasn’t progress been faster? First of all, it's not easy. Healthcare requires perhaps the most complex application of IT to date in any industry, and the magnitude of this implementation is enormous. The RAND report estimated that only about 20 to 25 percent of hospitals have information technology such as Electronic Medical Records and Computerized Physician Order Entry systems. Further, the digitization of banking and other industries, to which healthcare is often likened, is an apples to oranges comparison. Most digitization that has taken place across industries has been founded on transaction automation. In healthcare, a complex set of workflow interactions must be digitized. This makes the digitization of healthcare much more difficult. But the challenge is not insurmountable. To make faster progress, IT providers need to create systems that maximize the productivity of the clinician, physician and hospital system. This is a business responsibility. Complementing this, governments and payors need to provide incentives for healthcare providers to take the critical steps that enable broad-based IT implementation. This is a challenge that requires institutional and governmental leadership. Much progress is being made in applying IT. Given the impact of the opportunity to significantly improve the healthcare system, we must move faster. |