Welcomed Changes for 2012

Since its start in 2007, Chilmark Research has kept a fairly low profile as analyst firms go, focusing on a few discrete domains of healthcare IT (HIT). First there was patient and consumer engagement that led to the publication of our first report on Personal Health Records (PHRs). That first research effort led to a significant amount of consulting work and subsequently no reports published for broader market consumption until 2010. That year Chilmark research expanded into the mHealth domain, with the assistance of analyst Cora Sharma, and published the report: mHealth in the Enterprise.

In early 2011, Chilmark published what is arguably its most important, or certainly most popular body of research, a report on the Health Information Exchange (HIE) market. It was this report that clearly cemented Chilmark Research as a well-respected analyst firm providing unbiased, objective, and in-depth research on the domains it covers.

But there was a problem. By and large the vast majority of this work was done by one individual, myself, the founder of Chilmark Research. Over the course of 2011, particularly during the fall when a significant number of consulting assignments came in the door, I quickly came to the realization that I needed help. I was reaching burnout and the model needed to change.

What’s New:
In 2012, Chilmark Research is launching a subscription service called the Chilmark Advisory Service (CAS). This service will provide subscribers one of our annual market research reports (an updated HIE report is forthcoming, others in the works), a number of other content deliverables and direct access to Chilmark Research analysts for specific inquiries. More will be forthcoming regarding this service but encourage you to contact us directly (info @ chilmarkresearch dot com) if you wish to learn more immediately or schedule a meeting at HIMSS to discuss this service further.

Our research agenda for 2012 will look quite similar to our past work for we strongly believe these are the most important topics in healthcare IT today:

Patient & Consumer Engagement
Why it’s important: As the industry migrates to reimbursement models based on outcomes and providers take on more risk, it will become increasingly important to truly engage the patient and their loved ones as part of the care team. Also, in highly competitive markets, providers will be seeking new approaches to not only engage consumers, but build loyalty.

What we’ll be covering: Patient/consumer engagement and outreach strategies of both providers and payers including patient portals (Stage 2 meaningful use requirements are key market driver), telehealth, privacy & security (including consent management) and new models of care & outreach to not only improve consumer/patient satisfaction but improve outcomes.

mHealth
Why it’s important: No doubt about it, the growing ubiquity of smartphones and how they have become such an integral part of our lives (we store family pictures there, we record our expense reports on them, we answer emails, etc.) and an ever growing number of consumers are doing mobile searches to answer health-related questions. Couple this with near saturation of physician adoption of smartphones and the growing use of touchscreen tablets by providers, it is not too hard to imagine a future where mHealth becomes the touch-stone for provider-patient engagement.

What we’ll be covering: Primarily address consumer-centric and clinician-centric mHealth Apps, how the market is developing, what is being adopted and used and why, and lastly, what is the trajectory for this rapidly evolving, ever changing market.  Currently, we are in the midst of producing a report (ready by HIMSS’12) that takes a close look at mHealth Apps for provider-patient engagement.

Health Information Exchange
Why it’s important: The HIEs being put in place today are the fundamental infrastructure, “the pipes,” that will enable one, be it clinician or consumer, to create a true longitudinal, patient record which will lead to safer, more effective care (at least basic logic points to such). These pipes will also allow researchers, public health officials and others to perform advanced analytics on this clinical data that can lead to better, more effective and responsive care. Lastly, as we move to new outcomes-based reimbursement models, HIEs will become an absolute necessity for virtually all medium to large size healthcare organizations.

What we’ll be covering: As mentioned above, last year’s HIE Market Report put Chilmark Research firmly on the map as a firm providing unmatched coverage of this market. We have every intention of keeping that title. First off, we will be releasing an update of the HIE Market Report (target HIMSS’12 release date) with in-depth profiles of some 25 vendors. Second, we are launching a major research project in early February on end users’ experiences and future strategies for their HIE deployments. We have much more planned for this market, but that is a very good start!

How We’ll Do It:
As mentioned previously, I had some help, but not enough and certainly not enough to launch a major expansion of Chilmark Research. To address this issue I went out and found some incredibly bright young people (always believed in the adage, surround yourself with people smarter than you) to join Chilmark Research. They are:

The returning Cora Sharma who’s research use to be the mHealth domain but has now moved to Patient & Consumer Engagement Strategies & Tools.

The former Washingtonian who has returned to his New England roots, Naveen Rao. Naveen’s research focus will be HIE & analytics/BI domains.

And last but certainly not least, my son, John Moore III who in addition to leading an mHealth start-up of his own, will be focusing his research efforts at Chilmark on, you guessed it – mHealth.

Brief bios on these three stellar additions to the Chilmark Research team are over in the “About” section of this website.

I do not hire readily (learned my lessons there long ago) and have been very judicious in choosing only those who show significant promise. I have no doubt in my mind that with some mentoring, these three have the chops to become some of the finest analysts in the industry and the credibility that Chilmark has established in the market will continue to grow.

Speaking on behalf of the Chilmark Research team, we look forward to continuing to provide this vitally important industry that impacts us all with the critical research that is needed to help guide it forward in the successful adoption and use of IT to truly improve healthcare delivery. Each of us are very passionate about this issue, it is a mission for us and through our research we intend to make a positive impact.