Weekly roundup: Shifts in focus

This week’s news covered a wide range of topics but a couple of stories really make you wonder. Apparently, critics of healthcare reform are finding different ways to voice their disapproval.

For example, , not very many states are taking advantage of the opportunity to run theri own exchange. I spoke with Judith Bentkover, PhD, academic development director of the executive master’s program in healthcare leadership at Brown University in Providence, R.I., about health insurance exchanges. One of the main features of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is health insurance exchange either run by the state, operated by the federal government or through a joint effort. That means a shift in the leadership of healthcare delivery and finance towards empowering the states. But, Bentkover is surprised at how many states decided to turn over operation of their own exchange to the feds. “I thought the states would give themselves the legal authority to establish an exchange and would want to be in control of their healthcare policy.”

The relatively few states opting to run their own exchange could be trying to make a statement about PPACA, she said, or could be lacking the knowledge or resources to create an exchange.

Meanwhile, Colin Banas, MD, CMIO of the VCU Health System in Richmond, Va., shared his thoughts about Senate bill SB No. 1275 which Virginia Senator Stephen H. Martin presented to the General Assembly of the Commonwealth. As a reviewer of such bills for his provider, Banas recognized that if this legislation passes, it could ostensibly make healthcare information exchange and EHRs illegal. “At first blush and for someone quickly perusing the content, this bill proposes to place ‘limitations on the use, storage and processing of medical data’,” he said. Reading on, however, the bill goes on to say “(prohibit) health information exchange…”

After giving the legislation a thorough read, I found the bill proposes key themes that fly counter to the very purpose of my role and the national construction of electronic infrastructure in which I am committed to, Banas said. Namely, this bill would prevent not only our health system’s (and all Virginia hospitals for that matter) participation in a statewide and eventually nationwide health information exchange, but also prevent “the analytic and statistical processing of medical records from multiple patients for the purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment, including population health management.”

To realize the true benefits of an EMR, there are a couple of key elements that we must support—namely we need it to be ubiquitous to access, it must be able to contribute to the continuum of data converting to information which translates into knowledge and eventually wisdom, and by doing so, it will enable real-time clinical decision support. Notice the importance of data and their ability to flow and be aggregated and analyzed —it’s the lynchpin.

Read the individual stories for more and many thanks to Drs. Bentkover and Banas for sharing their thoughts. Feel free to contact me to share your thoughts on new developments with readers of Clinical Innovation + Technology.

Beth Walsh, editor

bwalsh@trimedmedia.com