The raison d’être of health IT includes four key items: 1) enhance patient safety, 2) improve quality of care, 3) foster greater accessibility, and 4) facilitate a reduction in medical costs.
Continue readingRaison d’Être
Category: PSQH
Making Meaningful Use Meaningful
So what is “meaningful use?” Perhaps former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart defined it best: “It is hard to define, but I know it when I see it”
Continue readingIs There Any Doubt It’s Broken?
If George Steinbrenner expects the Yankees to win the World Series every year considering he spends 40% more than any other team on payroll, is it wrong for us to expect the same from our spending on healthcare? Should we not receive the best care in the world?
Continue readingWe Need Privacy Now
Today, patient information is actively being used to target market products and services to patients. Although the data firms utilize is de-identified, they employ reverse lookup utilities to reconstruct the information with patient identifiers.
Continue readingFollowing Lance’s Lead – No Cheating
Haven’t we had enough of cheating? According to the NYTimes (Medical Papers by Ghostwriters Pushed Therapy, 8/5/09), medical journals published articles written by ghostwriters paid for by Wyeth, the pharmaceutical company, to promote the use of Wyeth’s hormone replacement therapy for women.
Continue readingIs It Time to Play NICE?
Much of the resistance to healthcare reform in Congress and beyond is based on cost concerns. Perhaps the success of healthcare reform is dependent upon the ability of comparative effectiveness research to show the way to cost savings that can fund the reform.
Continue readingRevolutionary Health IT
Revolutionary HIT requires a focus on three key areas: 1) processes and workflows, 2) information technology tools, and 3) healthcare provider tasks, duties and responsibilities.
Continue readingHealthcare IT: Slogan or Solution?
Unequivocally, healthcare information technology alone cannot solve the problems our nation faces in delivering high quality, affordable healthcare to all Americans.
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