Strategic Link – HIT and Physician Relations

I’m delighted when I hear healthcare delivery organization CEOs talk about health IT in terms of importance and value to the industry.  Not just because it happens to be the industry in which I work, but because it gives me a sense that we are making a difference. 

Traditionally, we think of IT’s contributions in terms of automating processes so that we can reduce or eliminate medical errors, improve access to care, or reduce healthcare costs.  This is still the case, but I recently read an article in which the CEO of one of HIMSS Organizational Affiliate members and his two consultant co-authors made a strategic connection between health IT and physician relations.  They provided ideas for how CEOs can leverage health IT opportunities in the current environment of ARRA and achieving meaningful use to strengthen their physician relationships. 

One of those ideas revolved around health analytics.

They’re absolutely right. 

We certainly don’t have a lack of data or information in healthcare; the challenge is efficiently gaining access to and exposing the most relevant data and information at the point of decision-making.  Healthcare technology is a very important piece in helping with this challenge. 

For example, one of the contributing factors to medical errors is the exponentially expanding base of medical knowledge.  This expansion is making it virtually impossible for physicians to stay ahead of the curve on the latest and greatest medical information.  One of the unintended results is a decrease in the amount of time physicians spend with patients, which in turn impacts the amount of time they have to think about making the right diagnosis and ordering the right treatments. 

If we can manage healthcare information through the effective employment of health analytics technology, we can make information relevant by ensuring it is available, accurate, current, and secure for all decision makers, whether at the point of care, in the finance and accounting office, or in a patient’s home.  Health IT can help toward creating or enabling a new healthcare business model that will help reduce costs, improve outcomes, and enable physicians to spend more time doing the things they do best. 

The HIMSS Physician Community is a great resource for CEOs looking for support in leveraging HIT to strengthen physician relations.