TEDMED: Booz Allen reps talk transformations in healthcare

Several representatives of consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton addressed issues tied to the power of data to transform healthcare.

Executive VP Susan L. Penfield said technology and healthcare are “two very interesting dynamics in the market where healthcare is transforming before our very eyes. The ability for that transformation to occur is due to technology.”

Access to data and the technology to manipulate those data, whether through mobile technology, analyzing data to make care or payments decisions or the ability for data to flow through the system, “is what really changes healthcare.”

We can’t unleash the power of data if they are stuck in various stovepipes, she said. “It’s only powerful if you can get at it.” Advances in EHR systems and personal health information becoming available on mobile devices are making that kind of access possible.

“There is a real revolution around the way data will travel,” said Penfield. When EHR systems become less complicated, providers will be able to do more things at the bedside and invest more in the mobile side, she said. Although there are many pilot programs underway, “there is a lot of work yet to be done.”

The transformation of healthcare will happen incrementally, she said. “There are so many things to focus on. It’s a very complicated and multidimensional industry that has a lot of challenges.”

To better engage patients in their healthcare, providers must reframe the issue, said VP Chris Foster. Patients don’t want to be told what to do. “There’s been an interesting shift away from selling health and prevention to talking more about quality of life. We’ve changed the debate away from fear to quality of life as a motivator. Quality of life is very empowering.”

Patient engagement is “an opportunity to get people involved,” said VP Grant McLaughlin, “but it has to be in bite-size chunks and on their terms.” Providers need to work with patients and their families in ways that are convenient.  “The dialogues already exist and people are getting smarter and asking more informed questions,” McLaughlin said. Community engagement is happening, he said, although “some are being dragged to the conversation and some come with open arms.” People are gravitating toward online communities because they are very niched communities that use storytelling aspects to connect people. “Some groups are persuaded by science and some are persuaded by the social.”