Friday, January 20, 2012

Information at the speed of trust.

It's not in the DNA of EMRlogic Live to be a mere signpost to what everyone else is saying about eye care or EHRs or Health Care Reform. But today I came across an article that jumped out at me as worth pointing to. After all, we're no longer vacationing on Eye Care Island. Let's think about these comments by National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari at the Jan. 10 meeting of the Health IT Policy Committee. Read the full article here.

Excerpts:
  • In 2012, meaningful use will soar...
  • Mostashari predicted interoperability and exchange would be the “second and more complex challenge,” following meaningful use. The emphasis will be on containing the costs and reducing the risks and liability of exchanging health data. Information “will flow at the speed of trust,” he said.
  • In 2012, the business case for care coordination, which requires the exchange of healthcare information, will be driven by payment reform, not only through federal efforts, but also by the way states and private plans will pay providers.
  • The health IT czar said exchange would go slowly at first, with providers sharing only with providers they know on a first-name basis. “It will then go from a trickle to a flow, to a flood, as trust builds over time,” he said.
  • Consumer health IT will be a another emphasis for this year
  • We will be moving forward on the next generation of quality measurement...
  • We need the infrastructure for measuring quality, but also for improving quality.
We already know that 2011 was a big year for EHRs adoption and Meaningful Use attestations. A recent report showed 614 optometrists and 385 ophthalmologists have received Medicare stimulus grants. 2012 promises to be bigger yet, much bigger.


The lesson from Mostashari is not however that MU will grow; it's that health care reform is continuing down its predictable path. This year we'll see: 

  • interoperability through health information exchanges (HIEs); 
  • care coordination through accountable care organizations(ACOs) and the medical home; 
  • consumer health IT - the electronic patient record (EPR); 
  • the advance of clinical quality measures (CQMs) for improving patient outcomes.

Without question, the train has left the station. I hope you're on board.


Alistair Jackson, M.Ed.










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