July 2007

Too Little Too Late?

A Commonwealth Fund report says that congressional proposals to boost health information technology do not go far enough to make appreciable difference in American health care. The proposals in question include those that died last year as well as the upcoming Wired for Health Care Quality Act of 2007.

The report says none of the health IT bills "would commit the funds and central leadership required to realize the potential benefits of a health information system."  The solution, says the Commonwealth Fund, is more funding that is in line with the country's $3 trillion spend on healthcare.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on July 30, 2007 at 2:01 PM
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Issue Oriented PR - A Case Study

Part 10 in a Continuing Series on PR Strategies and Tactics

Many of you liked the last PR case study on Med-InfoChip, so this week brings another illustration of public relations tactics to help healthcare IT marketers.

Skyscape is a provider of interactive, intelligent mobile solutions for the healthcare community. The company brings drug and medical information to more than 250,000 medical professionals on their personal digital assistants (PDAs) in a context they can use, reducing medical errors and the time doctors need to spend consulting information and adding value by providing access to the latest diagnostic and drug interaction information. Continue reading to learn how our issue-oriented PR campaign landed the client a feature story in the Wall Street Journal, national TV coverage, and reams of trade press...

Continue reading "Issue Oriented PR - A Case Study" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on July 23, 2007 at 12:54 PM
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Do You Pass the Test?

The Feds launched a web site for vendors to test their products for standards compliance for participation in the National Health Information Network (NHIN).

The site provides information about the NHIN initiatives, CCHIT, HITSP, interoperability specifications, the standards referenced by the specifications, and the available test resources.

Let your voice be heard:  HITSP is encouraging feedback on the web site at http://hit-tst-team@nist.gov.  In addition, HITSP will hold a public comment period from July 23 to August 17 on several documents, including privacy and security proposed standards, and emergency responder EHR model, and two new use cases.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on July 16, 2007 at 11:42 AM
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Defining Quality Healthcare

My May 1 post, "Our Hidden Health Crisis: Misdiagnosis" was well received. The healthcare quality issue continues to be confusing, as providers, payors and consumers grapple with how to judge quality.  The core of healthcare quality is correct diagnosis and treatment, period.  Here is a client guest blog post by Best Doctors' President Evan Falchuk on the subject. 

"Quality" Healthcare:  What Does it Really Mean?

By Evan Falchuk, Esq.

Three years ago, the Rand Corporation's The First National Report Card on Quality of Health Care in America reported that patients in the United States have a 50% chance of getting the right care.  The media jumped on the story, calling it "coin-toss medicine," and it helped spark a national quality improvement movement.    

Quality continues to be a hot buzzword in healthcare. But, until recently, the industry has not looked at the issue of getting the right diagnosis and treatment as the fundamental quality metric. A recent report by the consulting firm Hewitt (The Road Ahead: Emerging Health Trends 2007) shows that this may soon change.  Employers are beginning to target the root of the issue and are looking for solutions that influence the interactions between providers and their patients.

This focus on quality at the point of care is long overdue. Patients and their physicians need solutions that help them work together to get the right diagnosis and treatment.

The "Fog of Care"

It is a story familiar to anyone who has been or knows someone who has been seriously ill.  The patient has doubts about her diagnosis and treatment, but finds it hard to get good answers.  She never feels she has enough time with her doctors.  And when she goes on-line to fill in the gaps, she finds as many new questions as she does answers.  What may be surprising is that doctors report the same frustrations and uncertainties.  It's really what could be called the "fog of care," and its representative of a healthcare system that doesn't work.

Continue reading "Defining Quality Healthcare" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on July 11, 2007 at 3:26 PM
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I Love You, I Hate You

Showing some fancy footwork in the political dance, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt praises and warns Senator Edward Kennedy about his pending health IT legislation in a long five page letter on June 26.   It captures in fascinatingly boring detail the bureaucratic challenges facing health IT adoption.  The full repartee can be read here.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on July 6, 2007 at 10:56 AM
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Show Some KLAS

KLAS's mid-year rankings came out. Not too many surprises.  Category leaders are listed below, and other general market leaders, community hospital software and physician practice management leaders are listed in the Extended Field below.

2007 MID-YEAR CATEGORY LEADERS

Acute Care CDR, Orders and Charting
Epic EpicCare Inpatient

Financial/ERP
McKesson PW Financial/Materials Mgmt.

Acute Care Registration/Scheduling/Patient Accounting
QuadraMed Affinity

Laboratory
McKesson Horizon Lab

Cardiology PACS
ProSolv Cardiovascular (Fuji)

PACS
DR Systems Dominator

Decision Support - Business
EPSi Decision Support

Pharmacy
GE Centricity Pharmacy

Document Management and Imaging
MedPlus ChartMaxx

Radiology
GE Centricity RIS-IC

Emergency Department Systems
Wellsoft EDIS

Surgery Management
USA ORMS

Enterprise Scheduling
USA RMS

Transcription and Back-End Speech Recognition
eScription EditScript

Continue reading "Show Some KLAS" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on July 2, 2007 at 4:22 PM
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