Farzad Leaves, HIT Grieves
While the term “legacy” might be a bit too weighty, many of those who work in healthcare IT are already singing the praises of Farzad Mostashari, M.D., who announced earlier this week that he will resign as head of the ONC in the fall once a successor is found. As I mentioned in a recent LinkedIn group discussion, it will be interesting to see what his next steps are. I, for one, found him to be a charismatic and convincing advocate for the benefits of healthcare IT. History will undoubtedly pronounce his achievements with the ONC as better and greater than current events do. I hope his successor has the same level of passion for improving patient care via HIT that he brought to the government table.
The goodbye letter he shared with his colleagues was not only compelling, as it outlined the amazing amount of progress the ONC made before and during his tenure, but it also was perhaps the classiest and motivational exit I’ve seen a professional make – especially one that has been wrung through the ringer of congressional hearings.
EMR Popularity Contests
A recent email arrived in my inbox calling for nominations for a list of top 100 EMR vendors. The list, categorized as an “exclusive ranking,” will “help physicians understand the market and make smarter purchasing decisions.” Are crowdsourced contests like these of any value to providers? I understand how they can serve as a marketing/publicity tool for the vendors mentioned, but do they truly offer potential purchasers accurate insight into this kind of technology? I suppose it depends on the write up given to each of the 100 companies. I would hope a user satisfaction rating would be given.
Software Analyzes Costs, Outcomes of Episodes of Care
As I try to keep up with all that is going on in the world of healthcare cost transparency, this press release from 3M piqued my interest. According to the company, its new software “defines over 500 episodes of patient care spanning inpatient and outpatient encounters as well as chronic and acute diseases. Unlike other analytic tools that focus on services related to a single disease, the software considers all of a patient’s conditions and treatments during a specified period when assigning episodes. By offering a patient-centric view into costs and outcomes, the software helps healthcare facilities analyze the effectiveness of care delivery, predict costs and refine patient treatment processes to improve outcomes.”
What I’d like to know is if, by “patient-centric,” they mean that this information can be made available to the patient at the time of prognosis, before treatment begins? To have that kind of information, and then to combine that with what my healthcare insurance will cover, would make for a much less financially frightening patient encounter.
What healthcare IT/EMR news interested you the most this week? Let me know via the comments below.
