In the Becker's Hospital Review 5th Annual Meeting in Chicago, Nanne Finis, vice president of TeleTracking Consultant Services; Michael Hunt, DO, CMO/chief medical informatics officer, Bridgeport, Conn.-based St. Vincent's Health Partners; Lynne Thomas Gordon, CEO, American Health Information Management Association; and Spencer Hammons, COO/CIO, Taos (N.M.) Health System discussed health information technology and what challenges still lie in the way of achieving its full potential.
Here are five observations from the panel discussion:
1. Health information exchanges are pipes that information flows through, says Ms. Gordon, and the two main challenges facing HIEs, according to a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is interoperability between electronic medical records and health IT systems and competing priorities. "Healthcare organizations, physicians, payers, everyone wants data, but patients want the transfer of data to be absolutely secure," she said.
2. "Telehealth and telemedicine is going to transform standard healthcare offices," said Dr. Hunt. "Physicians will be able to see patients remotely. But, we do need to be strategic in how we use that technology." Home health has especially seen success with telemonitoring devices.
3. Physicians buy-in efforts need to increase for HIT to reach its maximum potential. "We need to show the professionals how they can work smarter and not harder," said Dr. Hunt.
Also, physicians want data that is relevant. "Just collecting data and getting it to physicians isn't enough," said Mr. Hammons. We need to get better at giving them the data they need."
4. Technology provide the support that workflow needs, said Ms. Finis. Technology focused on capacity management and care coordination can give real-time visibility to workflow. "This allows providers and managers to be conscious of workflow and ways to make it more effective," she said.
5. "The key strategic asset in the C-suite is going to be information, said Dr. Hunt. "It is going to drive reimbursement and a number of other factors. Everyone is going to need good information."
It is necessary to have reliable data going forward as well as effective data governance. How data is collected and how it is used will shape the future. At the moment it may feel like information overload, but by using analytics we can convert that information into timely, actionable data, he said.
"There is a lot to do," said Dr. Hunt.