Are We There Yet? Wait, Where’s There?

I remember when the IOM published its report, To Err is Human, in 1999.  People were appalled to hear that as many as 98,000 people were dying every year because of medical errors.  Folks were quick to say something had to be done. 

Then the IOM published another report, Crossing the Quality Chasm, in 2001.  Many agreed with the report’s recommendation that if we wanted to make healthcare safe, timely, efficient, effective, equitable and patient-centered, the healthcare industry had to start making significant investments in information technology. 

Fast forward to 2009, and at the stroke of a Presidential pen, we’re all of a sudden celebrating the most significant investment in health information technology never seen in the previous 10 years.  You know what I’m talking about … the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act .

Now, I’m not saying we didn’t accomplish anything between 1999 and 2009.  If you look at data from the HIMSS Analytics Database, you’ll notice:

• 77% of U.S. hospitals in 2006 were below Stage 3 of the EMR Adoption Model. 
• Today, about 69% are at Stage 3 or higher. 

We’ve made progress, but we still have a long way to go, because over 46% of U.S. hospitals are still at Stage 3. 

Also, it wasn’t until 2009 that we saw the first hospital in the U.S. reach Stage 7, indicating it no longer uses paper charts to deliver and manage patient care; instead, the Stage 7 hospital uses information technology. Today, around 59 U.S. hospitals are at Stage 7. 

Now that we know it can be done, the question remains … where does a paper-less hospital go from here?

There’s a huge neon sign pointing us in the right direction in the most recent IOM report released this week, Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care.  I doubt very seriously I could find anyone who would disagree that adopting IT can result in value for a healthcare organization in terms of operational efficiencies and cost savings, but what about IT’s ability to safely produce high-quality outcomes? 

There are so many new, exciting and innovative healthcare information technologies that show promise, but how on earth can a leadership team decide which ones will give them the “biggest bang for the buck?”

Great question, and if I knew the answer, I probably wouldn’t be writing this blog.  In fact, I think I’d be sitting in the café of a small village in Argentina sipping on a phenomenal glass of Mendoza Malbec from Chaiken Vineyards (you’re welcome, Barry) and looking all googly-eyed at my BFF (Amy, my wife…sorry Barry). But I don’t know the answer (and I digress). 

I’m hoping that through the conversations we’re having at the HIMSS Leaders & Innovators event next week with CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, CNOs, CIOs, and a bunch of other much-smarter-than-me senior executive “O”s, I can get to an answer, blog about it, and then, head to that quiet café in Argentina. 

In the meantime, if you have some ideas for us to consider, I’m all ears!!   I just hope it doesn’t take us another 10 years to get there, wherever “there” may be.  Cheers!