Healthcare IT News - January 2008 - (Page 10) 10 Healthcare IT News MY TWO CENTS ■ January 2008 www.HealthcareITNews.com Healthcare and It must have top priority come and gone, and what have we done? many in the healthcare It industry have done plenty to move the It mission forward. all we had to do was to check out the newsmaker feature we presented in our December issue to remind ourselves. Some on the business side of things, such as Peter neupert of microsoft Health Solutions, Steve case of revolution Health, marissa mayer at Google Health and David Brailer at Health evolution Partners have more than one way to gain from the advance of healthcare It. SureScripts ceo Kevin Hutchinson is leaving the organization in good shape and in good hands with coo rick ratliff. all 50 states are now ready for e-prescribing. nearly 100 million transactions are forecast for 2008. excellent. Let’s hope e-prescribing really is the road to adoption of eHrs that it’s touted to be. not only does my doctor still use paper records, I still have to call his assistant or nurse several times before I can get an answer to a question. Usually I get voice mail. I’d like to e-mail my questions, and I imagine many other patients would also. Some in the industry tend to work for free on their pet projects – whether its time spent on a committee of the american Health Information community or the certification commission for Healthcare Information technology and the like. all told, there are hundreds of these volunteers. Health and Human Services Secretary michael Leavitt has done a lion’s share of work and provided unprecedented leadership on the healthcare It front day in and day out. “never before has the country had a secretary of HHS that has paid more attention to informatics and understood the enabling role it plays in making healthcare more accessible, safer, more evidence-based and more valuedriven than Secretary Leavitt has.” Paul tang told us. tang is chief he year 2007 has T medical information officer at Palo alto medical Foundation in california and a member of the Healthcare IT News editorial board. there are many luminaries in this field. Bernie Monegain, Editor Leavitt stands out as a top White House official who understands the role It could play in improving care and reducing healthcare costs. He’s not afraid to back it with serious proposals – even if they sometimes get shot down. Will there be someone like him in the next administration? We hope so. We can also hope – and expect – that the chief executive, whoever that may be, will lead the way. We expect that he or she will not simply call for the use of healthcare It, but find ways to leap forward on this score – by working with congress, by appropriating money, perhaps by providing incentives. Despite all the efforts made by so many bright and energetic people, it seems progress has been at snail pace (yes, we know www.HealthcareITNews.com Published in partnership with Despite all the efforts made by so many bright and energetic people, it seems progress has been slow. transformation takes time). Physicians – and hospitals – have been slow to adopt electronic health records. many say cost is still a barrier – $25,000-$40,000 per physician for starters, plus annual maintenance costs. Going digital eventually reaps savings, but much of those savings accrue to the insurance companies. couldn’t some sort of government incentive carry influence? this country does have lots of overdue bills, lots of over-the top expenses. makes us all nervous. maybe we can’t afford much. But, can we afford to put healthcare on the back burner? Healthcare and healthcare It has to be top priority with all of us, including congress – and the White House. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: MoNeGaIN 0108 71 Pineland Drive, Suite 203 New Gloucester, ME 04260 T (207) 688-6270 F (207) 688-6273 Neil Rouda neil.rouda@medtechpublishing.com MedTech Publishing Company PUBLISHER EDITORIAL Jack Beaudoin, Editorial Director jack.beaudoin@medtechpublishing.com Patty Enrado, Contributing Editor patty.enrado@medtechpublishing.com Diana Manos, Senior Editor diana.manos@medtechpublishing.com Molly Merrill, Editorial Assistant molly.merrill@medtechpublishing.com Bernie Monegain, Editor bernie.monegain@medtechpublishing.com Richard Pizzi, Associate Editor richard.pizzi@medtechpublishing.com Eric Wicklund, Managing Editor eric.wicklund@medtechpublishing.com Nancy Vitucci, nvitucci@himss.org For advertising contacts, see page 45 or visit http://www.healthcareitnews.com/ page.cms?pageId=3 Karen Diekmann, Production Manager karen.diekmann@medtechpublishing.com Danielle Hartley, Director, Marketing danielle.hartley@medtechpublishing.com EDITOR, HIMSS INSIDER EDITORIAL STAFF ● ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MARKETING READER SERVICES T (978) 671-0449 or cs-hitn@e-circ.net F (978)671-0460 Online: www.myHITN.com Postal mail: PO Box 9369 Lowell, MA 01853 Nicole Carter nicole.carter@medtechpublishing.com SUBSCRIPTION FULFILLMENT MANAGER CIRCULATION MANAGER CUSTOMER SERVICE Peggy Tashjian cs-hitn@e-circ.net REPRINTS Reprint Management Services T (717) 399-1900, ext. 139 HITN@reprintbuyer.com John Glaser, vice president, CIO, Partners HealthCare, Boston Denni McColm, CIO, Citizens Memorial Healthcare, Bolivar, Mo. Jane Olds, COO, Louisiana Health Network, New Orleans Wes Rishel, vice president, Gartner, Inc. William Spooner, senior vice president, CIO, Sharp Healthcare, San Diego Paul Tang, vice president, CMIO, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, California Steven Waldren, director, Center for Health IT, American Academy of Family Physicians EDITORIAL BOARD a cou- Intermountain has achieved. my guess, ple points concerning the article given we have 22 hospitals and over 2,400 about Intermountain Healthcare beds, they are pretty big. the report done by FcG showing the that appeared in the December issue of potential savings of emrs (Stage 3 and Healthcare IT News. 4) were very conservative. I moXIe is our first release “The value of believe that the savings will of the product Ge and Intermountain are developMOXIE is yet to actually be greater than indicated in their study. clearly, ing and it will be installed this be known. We Intermountain uses many spring, to date we have not believe it will be capabilities of a stage 4 emr installed any components. great.” (as defined by FcG) and the emr stages which I actually, we have successfully referenced relate to a report – Marc Probst deployed many more. So, I do completed by FcG where they defined an average 300 bed hospital think we get great value. the value of moXIe is yet to be known, and then applied the potential savings of a stage 3 emr (basically those available we believe it will be great. But again, to be on the market today) and a stage 4 emr clear moXIe is not installed and to this (which incorporates all the capabilities of a point we have not achieved any savings stage 3 emr plus many of the capabilities from it. But, I am highly optimistic. Marc Probst of Intermountain’s HeLP and HeLP2 syscIo, Intermountain Healthcare, tems). Salt Lake city I really do not know what savings WoulD liKe to clarify I Some clarification on MoXIe project CORRECTIONS Healthcare IT News is published by MedTech Publishing Company, LLC, which is solely responsible for its editorial content. Editors are expected to meet the highest professional standards for accuracy, objectivity, fairness and independence. Errors of fact are corrected as soon as the error is established and corrections are published in the medium in which the error appeared. Inquiries or disputes about the factual accuracy of the record should be directed to the editor. EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE Healthcare IT News is published in partnership with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). HIMSS members are eligible to receive Healthcare IT News and related publications – both in print and online – as a benefit of membership. With the exception of the HIMSS Insider, which is produced by the staff of HIMSS and appears within the pages of Healthcare IT News every month, HIMSS and its leadership exercise no control over the editorial content of the newspaper and related publications. Neil Rouda VICE PRESIDENTS PRESIDENT Jack Beaudoin John D. Payne Neil Rouda PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENTS Jack Beaudoin John D. Payne 2005 JESSE NEAL AWARD WINNER http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8448 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8448 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/ http://www.myHITN.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8410
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