Features Editor
Looking back at HMT’s January issue where experts gave their predictions for what was then the coming year, it’s kind of funny – all of them, to some degree, are right. Telemedicine adoption is growing, demand for open EHRs is on the rise, value-based care has become all but the standard at this point, and the government says it’s taking interoperability seriously.
In other words … progress! We’re taking baby steps for sure, but when I’m in an optimistic mood (something that happens from time to time), I really do feel the healthcare technology space is moving in the direction of open platforms, encouraging ubiquitous tech adoption by saving hospitals money and genuinely improving care. Precision medicine has already saved lives. Analytics on the revenue side are reducing costs in the ER. Things are moving forward – maybe not as quickly as we’d like, but there’s no doubt we’re moving ahead.
Looking back at this year as a whole, I feel an obligation to have a single, concise takeaway. But, I don’t have one. It seems the industry has identified many of the problems facing hospitals – from billing challenges to the endless hurdles associated with information sharing – and tech is starting to solve them, because providers are finally making educated adoption decisions, doing research before they leap to a solution and collect an incentive check, only to find themselves in a conundrum a year down the road.
Past corruptions, such as willful incompatibility of computer systems and barriers to the sharing of information, are collapsing. I’m anecdotally getting a sense that industry vendors are all basically on the same page, and now the only conflict is how to get there.
Human civilizations have moved toward compassion and freedom throughout the course of history. Sometimes at a snail’s pace for sure, but I think my statement holds true. When you consider what life is like today compared to a couple hundred years ago – we’re getting better at this whole taking care of each other thing. Microcosms like health IT are no different. This space is aiming for openness and genuine value, slowly but surely.
With interoperability barriers breaking down and hospitals pushed toward incentives that encourage less-hasty tech implementation, 2016 is the year where IT is starting to look more like a value-add, as opposed to an electronic way to do things, complete with new, complicated problems. There’s a sense amongst the experts I speak with that healthcare – notorious for its slow and sometimes blind adoption of technology – is joining the retail sector in enacting tech only when there’s a sensible business case for doing so and only if the person at the heart of the chain benefits: the consumer.
Inevitably, vendors and their computer systems will all have to start speaking the same language in order for this progress to matter (and my anecdote to prove true). Maybe 2017 will be that year. At the very least, I think we’ll see more baby steps taken toward a world where technology in healthcare is seen as a universal benefit, not a cause for concern. That may not seem like much of a victory, but it’s a start.
I think sometimes we downplay just how many problems early tech adoption created, with providers put into boxes by the limitations of technology. Even in my short couple years covering this space, the barriers seem to be crumbling. Platforms are molding to meet the needs of the provider, becoming more flexible and easy to integrate and build upon. In 2017, maybe we can finally put to rest any fears that tech is anything but progress. If not, at least the market incentive is pushing the industry in that general direction, slowly but surely.
As always, thank you for reading HMT. I welcome your comments at [email protected]. While you’re at it, we’re looking for a panel of experts to give their official predictions for the coming year. Anything related to healthcare and health IT is fair game. Email me if you’d like to be a part of it.
