By Steve Baker, president, Eyefinity
Long-term thinking and planning are critical to applying EHRs in a truly meaningful way – a goal that not only can but must be achieved to build the most interactive and patient-driven healthcare system in the world.
Consider a patient who has gone to the eye doctor for the first time complaining about changes in vision. Her eye doctor discovers signs of diabetes in the blood vessels at the back of her eyes and refers the patient to her primary care physician for follow-up care. Imagine being able to upload pictures of the blood vessels for her primary doctor to review and then seamlessly coordinating care back with the eye doctor through an integrated system. That could be the power of electronic health records (EHR) when applied in a “meaningful way.”
A new study has prompted much discussion in recent weeks after claiming that meaningful use (MU) has no immediate correlation to the quality of patient care. However, the intent of MU goes far beyond the immediate, and taking such a short-term view will not help the practice or the patient. In fact, by missing the value of EHRs and MU, the industry will create a significant and lasting disservice to current and future patients.
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By Steve Baker, president, Eyefinity
Long-term thinking and planning are critical to applying EHRs in a truly meaningful way – a goal that not only can but must be achieved to build the most interactive and patient-driven healthcare system in the world.
Consider a patient who has gone to the eye doctor for the first time complaining about changes in vision. Her eye doctor discovers signs of diabetes in the blood vessels at the back of her eyes and refers the patient to her primary care physician for follow-up care. Imagine being able to upload pictures of the blood vessels for her primary doctor to review and then seamlessly coordinating care back with the eye doctor through an integrated system. That could be the power of electronic health records (EHR) when applied in a “meaningful way.”
A new study has prompted much discussion in recent weeks after claiming that meaningful use (MU) has no immediate correlation to the quality of patient care. However, the intent of MU goes far beyond the immediate, and taking such a short-term view will not help the practice or the patient. In fact, by missing the value of EHRs and MU, the industry will create a significant and lasting disservice to current and future patients.
As recently as a few years ago, we had no roadmap for transforming our systems into electronic platforms to take us to interoperability. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) charted the path, and we are now at the forefront of a more connected and patient-focused era of care. It’s important to remember that our move to this new era of patient care is a phased approach: success won’t come overnight, but to reach a heightened level of care, we must first lay the foundation. It’s also true that short-term outcomes for MU may be a bit difficult to quantify, but that shouldn’t be a surprise as measurable and positive results will be far more obvious and evident a little farther down the road when the industry has more consistently employed the use of EHR technology.
The United States leads the way in healthcare technology and patient care, but our systems are antiquated and need modernization to reach our own high standards of patient care. What’s more is that very little, if any, of our technology is integrated within each specialty of care (much less across the various healthcare verticals). Patients are actively trying to engage more in their healthcare, but we’re not helping by dragging our feet to adopt change.
To better support patients and provide them with the best possible care now and into the future, we must embrace EHRs and MU. ARRA outlined a tiered approach to bringing the entire healthcare industry to the same connected solution in a structured, achievable manner. Our isolated and paper-based systems may have been adequate when patients saw one or two doctors over the course of their lives, but those systems fall short today. We need an effective platform for helping to better manage the total care for patients who have multiple doctors across town, or even across the world, and spanning their lifetimes.
If we are going to examine short-term goals, let’s look at the overall provider perceptions of EHRs and MU. According to HealthIT.gov, 92 percent of physicians who have used EHRs for two or more years found that the system produced clinical benefits for their practices. Reports of improved efficiency and positive impact on revenue were also noticeably higher in this group than with their peers who had less experience or did not meet MU criteria at all.
A shift to EHRs and MU is one of the largest undertakings that the healthcare industry has taken to date – it’s also poised to be the most successful. An overwhelming majority of providers seem to agree that while we’re not there yet, we are nonetheless well on our way. We have the critical foundation, and now we can start building the most interactive and patient-driven healthcare system in the world. Think about your patients and have patience.
About the author
Steve Baker, president, oversees the day-to-day operations of Eyefinity®, one of five companies comprising VSP Global®. Steve is focused on business growth, strategic planning, and product development. Steve holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from California State University, Northridge, with a concentration in systems design and mathematics. Steve enjoys most anything outdoors and is an avid cycling fan. He can be reached by e-mail at Steve.Baker@eyefinity.com.
