e-CareManagement blog

Chronic Disease Management • Technology • Strategy • Issues and Trends

Archive for the "Information & Communication Technologies (ICT)" category

We’re Building a REALLY BIG Health Internet!

How big a network will the Health Internet (aka National Health Information Network) be?
My BOTE (back-of-the-envelope) calculation is that this network could consist of about 301 million nodes.  Here’s my math (pls. clarify or amplify):

300 million individuals in U.S.
700 K doctors
5 K hospitals
295 K — other B2B healthcare entities

Very rough…but I hope you get the point.
So let’s put into perspective [...]

Continue reading

 

HITECH Health IT Legislation: Opportunities for the DMAA Community

Dr. Don Storey and I spoke at the at The Forum 09 conference in San Diego earlier this week. The DMAA publication “The Continuum” had an excellent writeup of our enthusiastically received presentation. 
Here’s a copy of our PowerPoint slides…
HITECH Health IT Legislation: Opportunities for the DMAA Community
View more presentations from vincek.
and here’s DMAA’s writeup:
Helping physicians and hospitals meet the “meaningful [...]

Continue reading

 

Meeting Announcement: “Introduction to the Clinical Groupware Collaborative”

by Steve Adams, CEO, RMD Networks and Acting President, Clinical Groupware Collaborative  

I’m writing to extend a warm personal invitation to learn more about the Clinical Groupware Collaborative (CGC).  To-date, purely through word-of-mouth over 40 companies have expressed interest in the CGC, and we expect that you’ll be hearing a lot more about us over the [...]

Continue reading

 

PR Blunder of the Year: Federation of American Hospitals Says Meaningful Use Should Not Tie to Quality Improvement

These guys really don’t get it, and they need to be called on the carpet, taken to the woodshed, or pick your own favorite cliche.

The Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) sent a letter to Dr. David Blumenthal (National Coordinator for Health IT) arguing that “Meaningful Use” funding should not be tied to achievement of quality [...]

Continue reading

 

What’s a Network Industry? Is Healthcare One?

This post is a foundational overview of characteristics of network industries.  Much of the terminology will deserve deeper discussion, but we have to start somewhere.
In his book The Economics of Network Industries, Professor Oz Shy lists four characteristics of network industries.
The main characteristics of these markets which distinguish them from the market for grain, dairy products, apples, and treasury bonds [...]

Continue reading

 

HIT Policy Committee Recommends “Minimum” Certification of EHRs

At last Friday’s meeting, the HIT Policy Committee adopted the recommendations of the Certification and Adoption Workgroup.
Between the initial recommendations in July and the adopted recommendations in August, one critical word was added to the definition of “certification”.  That one word is “minimum” — and this one word expresses the correct approach and philosophy for the government’s role in [...]

Continue reading

 

“Meaningful Use” Criteria as a Unifying Force

by Vince Kuraitis, Steve Adams, and David C. Kibbe MD, MBA
Over the past several years, many diverse initiatives have arisen offering partial solutions to systemic problems in the U.S. health care non-system. 
We see Meaningful Use Criteria recommended by the HIT Policy Committee as a unifying force for these previously disparate initiatives. These initiatives have included:

Patient Centered Medical Homes [...]

Continue reading

 

Microsoft HealthVault is a Serious Business Strategy. Will Google Health Become More than a Hobby?

Google Health…please stick around….but please also get your stuff together.
Over the past few days, several of my respected colleagues have written excellent blog posts essentially asking “Does Google Health have life?”

Scott Shreeve — CLEAR! Shocking Google Health Back to Life
John Moore — Is Google Health Irrelevant?
Will Crawford — Future of Google Health

I share their observations and sentiments.  [...]

Continue reading

 

Overcoming The Penguin Problem: Setting Expectations for EHR Adoption

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Economists call it “The Penguin Problem”  — No one moves unless everyone moves, so no one moves. 
The role of user expectations is crucial in getting penguins to move off of ice floes and in the successful adoption of new network technologies.  I’ll cover two main points in today’s essay:

How “The Penguin Problem” Helps Explain Low EHR (electronic [...]

Continue reading