Health Care Could Use Shot In IT Arm, Panel Says

What could be more important than health care? Not much, and yet health care remains far behind other industries in incorporating technology into processes, said a panel of industry experts at a health-care conference.

"When you walk into a doctor's office, you're handed a clipboard and pen," said Zoe Baird, president of the Markle Foundation, a private philanthropy that focuses on using information and communications technologies to address needs in the areas of health care and national security. "What other sector that asks for as much important information as health care hands you a clipboard and pen? There's so much we can do to move away from that."

Historically, health-care institutions have been reluctant to transform processes to develop electronic systems for collecting and maintaining health-related data -- despite the technology being readily available. Oftentimes, the costs and complexity outweigh the potential benefit. Incidents like Hurricane Katrina and an outbreak of the Avian Flu, combined with increasing attention at the federal level are causing many to reconsider, however.

"[This is a] rare teachable moment," says Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. "Americans are ready for health-care information exchange. The critical question is, as we build infrasctructure, how can we give consumers a seat at the table?"

VARs, in particular, are in a prime position to not only help the health-care industry move forward on IT plans, but to develop solutions that keep consumers informed. At the architectural level, institutions need systems and networks integrated, and security enhanced; at the application level, they need tailored Web-based solutions to help manage data, while also adhering to federal standards such as HIPAA.

Generally speaking, growth by health-care institutions is achieved through acquisitions; acquisitions, in turn, require network enhancement and integration. That can be a challenge. Cleveland Clinic, for one, is made up of a network of associated healthcare institutions that includes 1,607 physicians, 1,265 residents or fellows, 123 pharmacists and 12,387 other health-care workers distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. With help from various commercial partners, the Clinic implemented a full health IT system for both physicians and patients that maintains more than 3.5 million electronic medical records.

"Our model is one that seeks to eliminate barriers," said C. Martin Harris, chief information officer and chairman of the information technology division of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. "There's only one way to work in an integrated way, and that's through the effective use of IT."