More patients, less time, forever.

In a global sense, I'm an advocate of the transformation of health care. Of course, it's not all good and certainly not all easy. One of the sad pressures of our times is that doctors must see more patients in less time, and do that forever. We might blame that on health care reform but it's more likely an inescapable reality no matter what the system. A paper-based model demands the same but offers no hope for survival. We've all heard it said that insanity is repeating the same thing and expecting a different result. So, change we must.

I came across a blog post today (American Academy of Optometry - LinkedIn discussion group), entitled "See More Patients by Having Them Return Less Often. Huh?" In a nutshell, the discussion is about patient compliance, matching your recall efforts with patient patterns and expectations. You can recall your patient every year but if the numbers show they actually come back on average every 28 months, maybe you're wasting your marketing dollars. Maybe you'll see more patients return if you recall them closer to when they think it's time to see the eye doctor again.

Regardless of how you reconcile that difference - and I don't suppose there's just one answer for all - the fact is that the HITECH Act is driving all kinds of new technologies into health care, including patient communications. Consumer technology is driving some of this change on its own but health care reform is making it official, and that means everyone must play ball.

Good EHRs will take care of the "less time" issue by driving speed and efficiency in the patient visit. When it comes to educating your patients and improving compliance, you'll be assisted in whole new ways by the evolving technology of health care. Last week, for example, I learned from our e-prescribing partner (DrFirst/Rcopia) that we'll soon see a patient advisor module added to the mix, functionality that will include patient education, coupon offers and recalls, all able to be sent via email or text message. Does this type of service exist already? Of course it does, but as separate services. And how tired are we all of having multiple bills to pay, one here, one there, a seemingly endless array of third-party solutions. 

My point is that the transformation of health care is like the tide coming in. When the tide comes in, all ships rise. The bar is being raised all over healthcare and it's bringing hope, new possibilities, new integrations. It's by embracing the power of integrated technology solutions that we can hope to survive in a more-for-less-forever world.

Alistair Jackson, M.Ed.