Innovative, technology-enabled solutions are needed to combat the well-known problems of healthcare delivery, including rising healthcare delivery costs, data-sharing inefficiencies among stakeholders in end-patient care and a shift in how healthcare is funded.
At the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference and exhibition earlier this month, speaker and former President Bill Clinton urged attendees to keep up the rapid pace of innovation and expansion of healthcare information, citing leading indicators of effective expansion of IT systems in healthcare, including decelerating healthcare costs stemming from the incorporation of electronic health records (EHRs) domestically and internationally. Clinton said the advances in healthcare delivery and access to healthcare solutions made possible through the incorporation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will hinge on the actions taken by healthcare IT professionals in the coming year.
Interoperability of Healthcare Data Systems
Seizing on one of the central themes in the healthcare IT industry, the leaders of six large players in health IT (McKesson, Cerner, Allscripts, Athenahealth, Greenway and RelayHealth) announced the launch of the CommonWell Health Alliance on the first full day of the conference. The alliance provides a forum for the member companies to determine standards and best practices for sharing vital health information across disparate systems and expediting patient authorized access to information.
The alliance, although supported by some of the biggest names in healthcare IT, will need to gain widespread support to become an effective force of progress for healthcare information sharing. TBR believes the addition of leading consulting and systems integration firms with experience working with various EHR vendors would bring added value to alliance. Conversations with companies tracked in TBR’s Healthcare IT Services Benchmark revealed that coordinated care, facilitated by the healthcare delivery and finance sectors of a company, is a common goal for all, with providers such as Accenture, IBM Global Services and CSC emphasizing their efforts.
The security of Healthcare Data
Along with the drive to enhance the transferability of healthcare data across various platforms is the need to ensure the security and privacy of healthcare data at the patient and practice level. While greater access to healthcare is seen as an enabler for the improvement of clinical decisions and population healthcare analysis and decisions, the regulatory protection of individual privacy and preservation of the doctor-patient relationship continues to gain stature in the healthcare IT landscape. TBR believes traditional government IT service vendors are well positioned to leverage existing methodologies developed for government agencies to ensure individual healthcare data privacy. By working closely with commercial-centric peers on engagements with payer and provider customers, government IT service providers will gain rapid access to other aspects of the healthcare IT services market.
Analytical Solutions
The development and implementation of healthcare mission-specific analytical tools is vital to generating the additional value expected from the digitization of healthcare data. Northrop Grumman demonstrated the application of its analytical solution development to provide valuable tools for the state healthcare payer community to detect anomalies in healthcare outlays, while SAIC indicated its pursuit of a similar application in its healthcare practice. IBM showcased the use of predictive analytical tools to aid physicians in treating patients based on outcomes for patients with similar medical and personal histories. TBR expects analytics will continue to be a central area of investment for players in the government-centric and commercial-centric IT service vendor communities.
Mobile Access
During the event, TBR analysts spoke with IT service vendors regarding mobility in healthcare and discussed the efforts underway to assist healthcare providers in fulfilling the patient-access aspects of Meaningful Use 2. Based on several vendor comments, TBR anticipates the development and testing of healthcare-related apps for smartphones will be a growth area in 2013. We expect the use of smartphones for individual healthcare monitoring and regular patient touch points will increase. As healthcare delivery migrates to a coordinated care model, the conversations between patients and the intricate web of players involved in creating conditions for a successful outcome will leverage mobile communications to ensure such things as transportation to follow-up appointments, prescription reminders and healthcare advisories.
Editor’s note: Joseph Walent is Professional Services Practice Analyst at Technology Business Research.
Technology Business Research is a leading independent technology market research and consulting firm specializing in the business and financial analyses of hardware, software, networking equipment, wireless, portal and professional services vendors. Serving a global clientele, TBR provides timely and accurate market research and business intelligence in a format that is uniquely tailored to clients’ needs. TBR analysts are available to further address client-specific issues or information needs on an inquiry or proprietary consulting basis.
