Comments on: PHRs vs. RHIOs and the Rise of the PHS

By: Naturally, Govt. Looks to Google and Microsoft « Chilmark Research

Naturally, Govt. Looks to Google and Microsoft « Chilmark Research — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:30:04 +0000

[...] are few easy answers and the questions are many. Ultimately, it may be Google and Microsoft (and Dossia) who end up calling the shots as they will be closest to the end consumer and those in Washington DC [...]

By: John

John — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:32:49 +0000

DC-
Thanks for the comment and yes, I may have painted to broad a brush by inferring all RHIOs will go belly-up. Sure, some may survive but my guess is probably about 10% of all those proposed/attempted will make it. Also, note that my negativity was reserved for RHIOs as I do see a continuing role for HIEs.

Agree with your comment about apathy, which will be found among healthy consumers. But even those healthy consumers may have an elderly parent that they are caring for and the use of a PHR will prove useful – and Microsoft’s PHS, HealthVault, is a logical fit here. Among employers you can bet that they will be looking at incentives of all sorts to get their employees to use a PHRs (and onto the Dossia PHS???) to improve the overall health and wellness of their employees. There is a tremendous opportunity here that employers are beginning to recognize which has created almost a stampede in the market.

As for the legal obstacle you mentioned, I believe this is more of an avoidance tactic by physicians. One need only look at a PHR company like Medem, which was developed by the AMA, is supported by all 50 state chapters of the AMA, has over 70,000 physicians using this PHR today to serve over a quarter of a million patients to quickly throw the “legality” argument out the proverbial window.

By: david

david — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:25:53 +0000

What timing!
I stumbled upon your blog looking for exactly this question two days ago and viola! It would seem that the various models will proceed at a glacial pace like ships passing in the night

By: DC

DC — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:45:44 +0000

John, interesting take on the landscape, however I disagree and so might the folks at the Delaware Health Information Network, HealthBridge, Quality Health Network, Inidiana Health Information Exchange and the thousands of clinicans, hospitals, labs, radiology centers, pharmacies, etc. involved in these successful efforts. Failure of the HIE or RHIO stems from lack of proper foundation or goverance, wrong choice of vendor and organizational leadership. The funding model of some of the most successful HIE and RHIO’s have not received one dollar of federal or state money and have been sustainable for years. Others used federal and state money as a starting point, but have put into effect plans to be self-sustainable.

Your point is well made on PHS. Time will tell if there is incentive for the patient to actually participate or if an employeer can aid in adoption by their workforce through some incentive mechanism. Apathy is the biggest obstacle for patient participation. Look at going to vote as a prime example of taking advantage of opportunity to better one-self. Of course there is the entire legal argument over the actually use of PHR (PHS) files by a clinician. This obstacle must be addressed and determined before acceptance is widespread within the healthcare community.-DC

By: ICMCC Articles » Blog Archive » PHRs vs. RHIOs and the Rise of the PHS

ICMCC Articles » Blog Archive » PHRs vs. RHIOs and the Rise of the PHS — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:46:55 +0000

[...] among their network of partners to facilitate workflow and optimize business processes.” Article Chilmark Research, 30 January [...]