Thought Leadership

President Barack Obama jumpstarted a firestorm of debate on healthcare, first promising billions of dollars to providers for IT deployment via ARRA and more recently calling for an overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.

While precise outcomes are in limbo, one thing is certain: The Administration's funding and reform efforts will accelerate the development of a Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), especially as the industry acknowledges the rising tide of support for digital healthcare among a new generation of professionals.

Why is this transition ensured, despite the contentious political climate? Famously inseparable from his BlackBerry, President Obama represents the new mindset that technology isn't just something we use, but something we live. Similarly, a new breed of clinician has arrived - embracing IT so heartily that it is integrated with every aspect of care delivery.

This represents a fundamental shift in thinking about technology's role today and in the future, which I believe is providing the momentum for its acceptance at a time when the need for aggregating clinical data and generating healthcare intelligence is enormous.

Unlike previous generations, we can no longer use technology as an excuse to eschew widespread healthcare information exchange. As David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator for health information technology, correctly stated, "We have the tools to begin a major transformation in American healthcare made possible through the creation of a secure, interoperable nationwide health information system."

Take electronic prescribing for instance. In many ways it has served as the "miner's canary" by promoting the early electronic exchange of sensitive information. For my patients, among others, e-prescribing has now become an accepted and standard operating procedure. Increasingly, healthcare organizations that don't rely on this now-routine approach risk judgment about their clinical wherewithal by a lack of technical sophistication. 

Economic considerations are also influencing greater acceptance of a NHIN. The success of e-prescribing has demonstrated not only that costs can be reduced, but that money can be made through these transactions.

ARRA will only fuel the movement towards national health exchange, with financial incentives to adopt EHR technology and political pressure to interconnect with other providers for meaningful data sharing. A working business model, accompanied by widespread approval of its positive impact on patient safety, has convinced patients and policy makers alike that this approach is viable, if not essential. 

There is no doubt that we are on the cusp of major change in healthcare, courtesy of Obama's attitude toward technology, as well as the ARRA and healthcare reform. While I don't yet know how the industry will be shaped by these critical factors, I do know that technology, as it is now, will continue to be the facilitator for many important developments -including the NHIN- that will help healthcare providers cut waste, curtail costs, and improve quality and safety.

Physicians and administrators can prepare now for this transformation by educating themselves on available technologies for their hospital or practice and deploying solutions to improve care delivery as well as the bottom line. Those that wait risk being left behind by their peers who are on the leading edge of innovation.

Joel Diamond, MD, is a partner in the Handelsman Family Practice, a family medicine practice in Pittsburgh, PA; adjunct associate professor at the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh; and Chief Medical Officer for dbMotion.

This article is available online at Healthcare IT News.