The “digital transformation” of healthcare began some 30 years ago, when many functions of healthcare were fully digitized. Unfortunately, patient experience is not one of them. Overall, we deliver a fragmented and disjointed experience where cost is disconnected from care and where courage and determination are required to understand your options as a patient.
The good news is that the conditions are right for lasting change, and as an industry we need to take advantage of that.
Four dynamics intersect to create this opportunity:
- Overall, we have achieved the following goals meaningful use Medical records are created and stored electronically.
- Patient out-of-pocket costs continue to rise, driving consumer demand for more information—especially cost information.
- The pandemic has made it easier than ever to manage our healthcare electronically.
- There are significant legislative tailwinds, mainly by 21st Century Healing and ONC action This year’s plans revolve around information masking, the FHIR API, and TEFCA.
As executives who have been helping shape technology adoption strategies for the past decade, it is important that we cannot rely solely on legislation to plan the journey of digital transformation. Healthcare providers, payers, and their technology partners have a responsibility to use new legal and market dynamics as catalysts for development.
Legislation will allow us to share information
Nearly six years after Congress passed the bill 21st Century Healing With bipartisan support, we still do not have a fully modern healthcare system with an interoperable data platform. This year, ONC is focusing on three areas to make meaningful data sharing a reality.Micky Tripathi, National Health Information Technology Coordinator, outlines priorities in a report Recent Health Affairs Editorials:
- expansion Information blocking regulations All Electronic Health Information (EHI).
- Require FHIR API For health IT certification.
- create Trusted Exchange Framework and mutual agreement (TEFCA) Establishing a Trusted Data Exchange Forum.
Robust data sharing is the obvious first step in putting these initiatives into practice.
We must move from information sharing to shared decision making
While the Cure Act facilitates the free flow of EHI and its continued enforcement is critical, there is still a need to move beyond information sharing and into shared decision-making with real-time, personalized data availability. When healthcare enables shared decision-making, patients will not only be able to learn about their diagnosis, they will be able to access their care plan, cost of care, and available care options, while empowering them to contribute to their overall health.
Consumers use freely available information every day to make decisions that are far less important than their health. They can find the best pizza restaurant within a 10-mile radius in seconds. When they make a big financial commitment, like building a house or buying a car, they have easy access to all the information they need to make informed decisions that fit within their budget. Health care largely keeps patients in the dark when it comes to planning and paying for their care.
By gaining the same transparency in healthcare, patients can finally receive their care from a position of strength.this no surprise bill Designed to protect patients from unexpected medical bills, healthcare budgets remain opaque.
Transformation depends on collaboration
more than 90% of hospitals have had electronic health record (EHR) systems since 2013—meaning digital healthcare systems must shift their thinking from strictly implementing new technologies to examining how technology is used. To this end, we have made meaningful progress in the exchange of static data, which requires EHR data to meet high standards in terms of quality, readability, and its impact on patient care.
However, the exchange of static data alone does not improve healthcare. We must continue to look to the future to create a more cohesive environment for shared decision-making, which requires every stakeholder in healthcare—provider organizations, insurers, and technology partners—to engage to improve patient outcomes. treatment effect. While these groups share a vision to improve care, enhanced collaboration is critical to continued progress.
With a commitment to increased collaboration among stakeholders and a spirit of innovation that has seen rapid advances in medical technology in recent years, our healthcare system is committed to realizing the power of shared decision-making and its impact on patient outcomes.
Photo: elenabs, Getty Images
