Glaser: HIE is foundational in reform

John Glaser, PhD Source: Partners HealthCare

“Health information exchange (HIE) will become a foundation upon which we will create new forms of EHRs that are more community-based, regional-based that will allow care participants to have a common platform to manage both individuals and populations,” said John Glaser, PhD, CEO of Siemens Healthcare, during a press conference regarding the company’s recent acquisition of HIE company MobileMD.

Glaser stated that the industry is in the early stages of a significant decade as it undergoes a sea change in how physicians and hospitals are paid. Glaser discussed three fundamental changes:

• Physicians will be paid less relative to inflation because of pressures that exist in both government and the private sector.
• More payments will be linked to performance.
• Payments will be more holistic. “These changes are largely precipitated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act although accompanied by efforts on the part of the state Medicaid programs and the private sector that are underway with a degree of significance and a degree of force that we have not seen in this country in decades,” Glaser said.

While the pace and outcomes of reform is uncertain, it has a broad effect on the IT infrastructure to thrive including the need to exchange clinical data to those who deliver care, according to Glaser.

“We view the HIE as a foundational element for things such as business intelligence analytics, disease registries and care management systems,” he concluded.