Comments on: PHAT: Mash-Up on Healthcare IT

By: Gerry Higgins, Ph.D.

Gerry Higgins, Ph.D. — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:40:05 +0000

John- Nice write-up. Have to disagree with the prevailing opinions on a number of counts (including the replies).

(1) There is a peer-reviewed literature on ROI using EHRs. I guess some folks don’t read many scientific or medical journals. It sounds like too many Healthcare IT people talking to one another without listening to other’s experiences.

(2) Health care IS fundamentally different than other “industries” that have implemented IT networks and clients. It is easier to get an IT job within any hospital if you have experience as a healthcare administrator than if you have a pure IT background from any other industry. In some environments, even physicians and nursing staff either believe that they can perform these functions as well as anyone, or actually have done so.

(3) No demand for adoption of hospital EHRs? I guess that explains why I have received 6 job offers to implement EHR systems in the largest hospital systems in the U.S. in the last month alone. Somebody must be interested.

(4) Boston is not the center of this. You are deceiving yourselves. The power is right here in D.C. – don’t get confused. I guess that’s why the big Microsoft Health Solutions Group building was put here (~$6B total investment) and not in Cambridge.

By: Quantros looks at improving health care quality in Bangalore / India « drneelesh

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:22:28 +0000

[...] PHAT: Mash-Up on Healthcare IT (chilmarkresearch.com) [...]

By: EMR Stimulus Money is All or Nothing | EMR and HIPAA

EMR Stimulus Money is All or Nothing | EMR and HIPAA — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:47:10 +0000

[...] wonderful John Chilmark posted a short message he heard from a Keynote address by John Halamka at the PHAT conference put on by the Harvard School [...]

By: EMR US Adoption Rates | EMR and EHR

EMR US Adoption Rates | EMR and EHR — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:26:03 +0000

[...] interested in learning what the adoption rates for EMR software are in the US. Chilmark recently posted about a Harvard School of Public Health study that was presented at the PHAT conference. This study [...]

By: ICMCC News Page » PHAT: Mash-Up on Healthcare IT

ICMCC News Page » PHAT: Mash-Up on Healthcare IT — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:01:47 +0000

[...] Article John Moore, Chilmark Research, 19 November 2009 SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "PHAT: Mash-Up on Healthcare IT", url: "http://articles.icmcc.org/2009/11/21/phat-mash-up-on-healthcare-it/" }); [...]

By: John

John — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:47:07 +0000

David, agree with your assessment that the event was an intimate affair devoid of the fluff and noise that one so often sees at other events. It really was a back to basics type of event, basics in telling it straight, what is the reality of the situation today and what might we reasonably expect in the future.

And John, I liked Halamka’s slide for it is the first time I had seen something pictorially try to represent the whole convoluted mess that is the HITECH Act and all the various stakeholders therein. The saddest thing about that slide though, which I failed to mention, is where is the citizen, the taxpayer in all this who is footing the bill. Do give credit to Blumenthal for his post last week, which I wrote about, where he did focus on the citizen. We need more of that coming out of the hallowed halls of the healthcare sector and its decision makers.

The “no demand for EHRs” was a quote by Bosworth and there is some truth to that. Sure, there may be some 300 vendors in the market today, but how many are truly successful? Probably 10%.

By: John Lynn

John Lynn — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:45:23 +0000

Thanks John for the great writeup. Sounds like a very stimulating and interesting conference. You were lucky to have been there.

I’d love to hear why you think that the Halamka slide was particularly enlightening. That slide to me seemed to basically show the mess that is the healthcare system. What am I missing?

The “there’s no demand for EHRs” is a fascinating item. 300 vendors participating in a market for which there is no demand. Something is wrong with this picture.

By: David Bernick

David Bernick — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:28:25 +0000

I was thrilled to be there. I thought it was an “intimate” conference with way less “noise” than the usual (connected health, health 2.0) and less needless patting on the back. It was equally realistic and optimistic without making me roll my eyes.

I felt like the people in that room weren’t just vendors, but wanted to see the future and be active participants in it. At least the people I spoke to.

And it shows that Boston will be the seat of this revolution… like it always seems to be.