Perhaps, I am contributing to the internet echo-effect. But I have decided that Health IT Politics will consist of a weekly round-up of happenings during the week. For my opinions, check-out http://www.worldhealthcareblog.org/.
So without further delay, here is my weekly round-up…
Based on most of these articles as well some other articles that I have read, all Health IT Politics is local. It seems like municipal and county governments will be leaders in Health IT implementation. So for those of us in the field, our marketing efforts should focus in this direction.
· Congress
Rep. Gene Green of Texas has introduced HR 1614. While the text has not yet been loaded onto Congressional Website, I think this bill is worth watching. Congressman Green has been a big proponent of Federal Community Health Centers. This bill may give a boost to Health IT. It calls for:
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to community health coalitions to assist in the development of integrated health care delivery, and for other purposes. (http://thomas.loc.gov)
· Consulting
This article is from the HIMSS Newsletter. The basic thesis is that we are seeing a rise of small, boutique Health IT consultants. These small firms have very unique skill sets. However, I wonder if how much of their rise is based on being in the right channels. That is, these small firms are former employees of large health systems or consulting firms, broke away but kept the clients.
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/small-boutique-consulting-firms-join-healthcare-it-market
· General Information
Managed Healthcare Executive Magazine offered discussed some “low-hanging fruit” for automation in the healthcare environment.
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/advanstar/mhe_200903/#/29/OnePage
· Medical Home
This article from Fierce Healthcare IT (www.fiercehealthcareit.com) and the Democrat and Chronicle discusses a medical home implementation in Rochester. The emphasis is on the human resources side but as I said earlier, the technical backbone of the Medical Home will be Service-Oriented-Architecture. Vendors should definitely explore SOA.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090317/NEWS01/903170331/1002/RSS01
Here is some more information about Cloud Computing/SOA from GigaOM. This article talks about Enterprise deployment of Cloud Computing that I think has relevance to the Medical Home concept. Vendors are also listed. Health IT stakeholders should investigate some of the vendors to see if they have developed medical home solutions with Cloud Computing.
http://gigaom.com/2009/03/19/as-clouds-reach-the-enterprise-opportunities-are-clear/
· NYC Implements Pay-for-Performance on Limited Basis:
I already blogged about this but I found another article on NY1 that discusses NYC’s attempts to promote healthy living. Note that Electronic Medical Records are forming the backbone of this initiative.
· Tampa
Time has this article online. Tampa is creating a public-private partnership to become a “Healthcare IT City”. Upon first reading, I think the project hits some major points. It focuses on one aspect of Health IT (E-prescribing), it takes into account training and it takes into consideration funding requirements. My only question is sustainability: Will this project be able to fund itself? Will physicians be willing to pay for this initiative? This may create opportunity for those in the Health IT sector who focus on research. Those stakeholders can help develop a sustainable business model.
To further enhance research and development, Tampa officials should take advantage of the provision in the stimulus calling for Extension Health IT Research Centers throughout the U.S. These Centers are meant to promote best practices. Tampa now will have the advantage of practical experience.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1885128,00.html
