Sarah Wholey, Research Analyst, Market Connections, Inc.
Experts predict the biggest transformation in our nation’s health care system will come down to innovative uses in technology. The core of health information technology (health IT) is about making it possible for health care providers to better manage patient care through the secure use and sharing of health information.
This new health IT movement presents both challenges and opportunities for government, members of industry and health care providers.
Federal Computer Week and immixGroup recently hosted a seminar called “Applying Technology for Improved Health Information Management,” which featured insights from a number of government, industry and health care providers who addressed these key challenges head on.
Captain Michael Weiner, USN, Chief, Interagency Program Office of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs (DoD/VA IPO), served as the keynote speaker for this event and had some illuminating insights into to how the DoD and the VA are transforming health IT.
Captain Weiner’s organization has more than three decades of health IT experience and he is leading an effort to roll out a comprehensive Integrated Electronic Health Records (iEHR) that will have 9.8 million beneficiaries.
Working with contractors and other partners, the DoD and VA are developing a single user interface that is based on agile software development, which uses collaborative and iterative approaches for rapid IT development. This new innovation will allow the DoD and VA to better serve patients and ultimately save more lives. For example, Kaiser Permanente has implemented a similar iHER system that has saved an estimated 4,000 lives though effective colon cancer screening.
A core component of this new iEHR is the ability to quickly and easily mine patient data for accurate and timely health diagnoses. In addition, the enhanced efficiencies provided by the new system will offer tremendous cost savings.
For members of industry, our recent 2012 Government Contractor Study recently highlighted how winning government contractors see future growth in health IT – along with cyber security and cloud computing. Based on the efforts by the DoD and VA, there will be more business growth and opportunities for contractors to drive much of this innovation.
Stay tuned for my next post that will highlight key discussions from the panel, which included industry members who discussed new solutions for bringing next-gen health IT solutions to the market.