Glaser on Health Care IT: Perspectives from the Decade that Defined Health Care Information Technology PDF

Preface

We are in the early stages of remarkable changes in health care and the ever-evolving foundation of information technology (IT) that supports it. Indeed, a new era of health care is upon us:

An era that has seen the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly called the Affordable Care Act or ACA), which brought about sweeping legislation intended to reduce the numbers of uninsured and make health care accessible to all Americans. An era in which changing reimbursement models are driving care providers from a care volume to an outcomes orientation, wherein evidence-based medicine—and the ability to manage volumes of clinical evidence through sophisticated health IT systems—will mean that providers can tailor treatment for the individual and intervene earlier to keep patients well. And an era in which patient engagement will become a critical component in the care process, particularly in population health management.

Perhaps most notably, from a health care IT standpoint, this era has added two inescapable words to the health care IT lexicon, permanently shifting the industry’s focus from adoption to “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHRs). This has been a good shift—a much needed shift—and a very worthy endeavor by the federal government.

As I look in the rear view mirror of a career that has provided me with multiple vantage points from which to see the industry—including that of a provider CIO, an advisor to the national coordinator for health IT, a vendor executive and CEO, a consultant, and an academic—it’s clear to me that this transformation has been building for over a decade. During this time, I have had the privilege of contributing thoughts, opinions, advice, and observations about everything from preparing for meaningful use to innovation to why it is we do what we do in this noble profession in which technology strategically intersects the practice of medicine and the business of health care. This past decade has taught us a great deal about spurring both the adoption and the meaningful use of EHRs and the systems that surround them. It has taught us about best practices in managing large-scale organizational change, reducing the risks of a complex implementation—and the leadership characteristics required by both. We have amassed volumes of knowledge on how to ensure stakeholder engagement, about what motivates us and our teams—and what, quite frankly, annoys the heck out of the health care professionals who use these systems.

This acquisition of knowledge has served us well and has helped to foster a dialogue on some of the most pressing issues the industry is facing. It is my hope that this book—a compilation of my most widely read columns from H&HN Daily, H&HN Weekly, and Most Wired Online during the past 10 years (2005–2015)—will continue to offer insight and guidance as we navigate the complicated terrain that is yet to come. As such, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the American Hospital Association and Health Forum for granting permission for the articles to be repurposed in this way and for joining with HIMSS/CRC Press to co-publish this book.

The columns are dated to show their original publication, and the material is organized into four broad themes: HIT Applications and Analytics Challenges, Improving Organizational Performance through HIT, IT Management Challenges, and HIT Industry Observations. Note that we did not attempt to update historical data or examples found in the original articles.

Each section offers readers an intimate look at the myriad issues associated with getting IT “right” and the organizational performance gains that can be achieved in doing so. Moreover, we examine the power and potential of the technologies available to health care providers today, as well as the transformative nature of those we have yet to fully embrace.

Writing these columns over the years and offering my voice to the industry dialogue has been a true joy for me. This is an industry I’m passionate about and one to which I’ve devoted 35 years of my life. What hooked me early on is that it all comes back to patient care. There are few things more fundamental to being a human being than taking care of those who are sick, disabled, or dying.

And like all of you, I want to know that the care I and my loved ones will receive at some point in life has been made safer, more effective, and more efficient because of health care IT. Because this industry never stops evolving, it is critical that we continue to improve and share its decades of learnings with those who will carry the transformation torch even further.

Although the health care IT landscape is a competitive business environment, I believe the industry has embarked upon a very humane, moral, and deep undertaking to help providers deliver the very best care possible. Regardless of which side of the industry you sit on—vendor, provider, government, health plans, life sciences, or consultant— it’s going to take all of our collective effort and hard work to ensure that the transformation we’ve embarked upon continues to deliver the intended results, and that we are bending the cost and quality curves, emphasizing outcomes over volume, and keeping populations of patients healthy.

In fact, it is my great hope that when I look back in that rear view mirror in another 10 years, the health care system in this country will be infinitely better off than it is today, due to the collective work that we’ve done.