Building a program for healthcare transformation requires establishing guiding principles for the journey. The program will include many facets of change, with eHealth being an important, but not sole component of transformation.
During HIMSS12, Sue Hyatt and I will co-present a global reflection on eHealth's enabling role in healthcare transformation. Sue is CEO of HYATTDio and is a well-known healthcare strategist with experience in numerous countries on nearly every continent. In our presentation we're addressing key components of healthcare transformation and eHealth's role, including:
• Global market drivers
• Success and failure factors in transformation
• Governance and investment
• Standards and interoperability
• Privacy
• Lessons learned
The basic management components of people, process and technology are all part of the transformation. eHealth is an important enabler, but it must go hand in hand with process change and in fact, perhaps a healthcare cultural change. This point is sometimes lost in the flurry of discussions within the healthcare industry, as we can be myopic and think that transformation is all about technology and digitization.
Chronic diseases account for 85 percent to 95 percent of the deaths in countries like Australia, Canada and Germany. Digitizing data and sharing the data across the transitions of care, as well as using electronic data wisely within care settings, should allow us to make major strides in combating chronic disease. Electronic data lays the foundation for improving care coordination and decrease costs. The World Health Organization’s Report on Chronic Diseases highlights the importance of this area of healthcare, and the multi-faceted approach that countries are taking.
The 2011 Organization of Economic Comparison and Development (OECD) report provided an even more sober viewpoint on why healthcare transformation must be a priority for all countries. Whether it's the U.S. with 17 percent of the GDP or France, Germany and Canada where 8 percent to 12 percent of the GDP is spent on healthcare, countries and citizens have to be concerned and take steps to control costs while improving quality and access. Otherwise, in the years ahead healthcare will consume monies that should be spent on public safety, education and transportation, and no one wants those critical needs shortchanged.
Managing the privacy of the newly created digital health data is a key part of the healthcare transformation agenda. It's a subject that sometimes is perceived as easily resolved through consent policies. But it's much more complicated than that. During the transformation journey early, transparent discussions about health policy related to the privacy of digital information are important. These discussions need to recognize that in many countries, especially the U.S., the boundaries of healthcare delivery are becoming very blurry, which creates additional angst about the privacy of healthcare data. Establishing a framework, such as the Fair Information Practices promoted by the U.S. Department of Commerce with many private organizations, would be a good start if you are in the United States. Or, consider the Circle of Care approach used by the Province of Ontario, Canada. It's customized to the healthcare arena and defined very logically from the patient and the provider perspectives.
I'm excited about the potential of healthcare transformation and what it will mean to individual and population health, but those of us already on the journey are finding it to be a long and sometimes bumpy ride. We can learn a lot from those who have pioneered. Let's keep an open dialogue and stay engaged to make sure healthcare transformation journey doesn't hit too many roadblocks or take too much time, lest healthcare costs erode other essentials of life. And, if you're in Las Vegas for HIMSS join please us in Session 172 on Thursday afternoon.
Lorraine Fernandes is global healthcare ambassador for IBM Information Management and Information Governance.
