The World Bank and HIMSS

One of the key events at the 9th National Medical Banking Institute at HIMSS11 in February was the World Bank Forum. Presided by Alexander Preker, a leading healthcare economist who has written several books around healthcare in developing countries, this panel discussion explored how HIMSS can play a role in advancing the optimal use of IT to improve healthcare in various regions throughout the world—in collaboration with the World Bank Group and IMF.

The panel explored the potential of medical banking in developing countries. Within this context, medical banking holds promise in facilitating private sector spending in health IT and creating more efficiency for World Bank investments. The panel discussed the new, integrated models that are emerging in the United States and how they can be used in the developing countries.

Key factors arose from this conversation:

1. There is commercial interest in pursuing medical banking models in developing countries.

2. Implementing privacy and security is an essential cornerstone of this strategy.

3. Health IT training and certification will advance the overall effort to improve healthcare with IT.

The pursuit of better health outcomes is a central tenant within the World Bank that is reflected in its support of the Millenium Development Goals. Within this area in the World Bank, the optimal use of IT to improve healthcare—the driving mission of HIMSS, is rising in importance.

In 2009, HIMSS acquired the Medical Banking Project, a firm that provides subject matter expertise, multi-stakeholder events and best practices development around the convergence of banking and healthcare systems. With the acquisition, the World Bank and HIMSS are creating a new bridge of understanding between the two areas of commercial banking and health IT.

The World Bank recently signed a Letter of Collaboration with HIMSS around the HIMSS G7 thought leadership platform, focused on designing the healthcare financial network of the future. Within this context, following the money that is progressively going through digital channels, there are multiple opportunities for banks and healthcare financial systems to invest in for improving the business layer of healthcare. As this investment takes hold, creating a user-friendly experience/platform for healthcare will be prioritized. The HIMSS G7 is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente.

The World Bank Forum at HIMSS11 helped to isolate objectives for advancing a relationship between the World Bank and HIMSS, with a focus on training, program development, certification and private-sector engagement in developing countries—all with the end goal of improving health outcomes through the optimal use of IT.

What do you think the healthcare financial network of the future should be?    

For more information on HIMSS Business-Centered initiatives, please contact:

• John Casillas, Senior Vice President, Business-Centered Systems, at jcasillas@himss.org or 
• Juliet Santos, Senior Director, Business-Centered Systems, at jasantos@himss.org

 This blog post first appeared in the HIMSS Business Edge e-Newsletter, March 2011.