From the Editor: With an Extended Hand, 'Nice to Meet You'
Please allow this editorial to serve as a virtual handshake—a "very nice to meet you," as it were.
I come to my new position as CMIO editor with extensive experience in healthcare journalism, and find it interesting that this month's cover story discusses PHRs at the crossroads.
The key to PHR success is communication among patients and caregivers in multiple healthcare settings. "Ultimately, a model … where insurers, physicians and patients supply information to the PHR—will be where the future is heading," says Erica Drazen, managing partner at the Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Technologies at CSC.
The CMIO sits at the center of that clinical communication web, urging on the complete, secure, fluent and fast transfer of a patient's data to allow for more informed decision-making. But essential to making PHRs work is the CMIO's engagement of his or her colleagues—the CIOs, CMOs, CQOs and CNOs.
The use of PHRs could save the U.S. health system between $13 billion and $21 billion each year, according to the Center for Information Technology Leadership at Partners HealthCare System in Boston.
Yet, while the success of PHRs is predicted, much work lies ahead. According to CMIOs surveyed last year by CMIO, AMDIS and CMIO Advisors, 81 percent of respondents believe PHRs can improve patient care, but only 25 percent of the CMIOs work in an organization that is enabling patient use of a PHR. Another 6 percent of CMIOs said their organizations have plans for PHRs, while 69 percent do not.
With health information located at various provider settings, the patient is forced to play a much more active role in communicating all the details about his or her health story. And, the CMIO plays an integral part in urging that a patient's data are complete and secure in the transfer.
And what's more, "We will need to see a lot more cultural change before achieving the intended goals with PHRs," as CMIO Michael Blum, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, points out in "CMIO Roundtable: Bridging Data & Quality." For sure an actively engaged patient taking ownership of his or her health record also most likely is taking ownership of his or her health as well.
I'm interested in hearing about the topics we should be covering. It's through such communication that I will learn more about what you value, and make our online and print publication even more relevant to the work you do each day as CMIOs.
I come to my new position as CMIO editor with extensive experience in healthcare journalism, and find it interesting that this month's cover story discusses PHRs at the crossroads.
The key to PHR success is communication among patients and caregivers in multiple healthcare settings. "Ultimately, a model … where insurers, physicians and patients supply information to the PHR—will be where the future is heading," says Erica Drazen, managing partner at the Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Technologies at CSC.
The CMIO sits at the center of that clinical communication web, urging on the complete, secure, fluent and fast transfer of a patient's data to allow for more informed decision-making. But essential to making PHRs work is the CMIO's engagement of his or her colleagues—the CIOs, CMOs, CQOs and CNOs.
The use of PHRs could save the U.S. health system between $13 billion and $21 billion each year, according to the Center for Information Technology Leadership at Partners HealthCare System in Boston.
Yet, while the success of PHRs is predicted, much work lies ahead. According to CMIOs surveyed last year by CMIO, AMDIS and CMIO Advisors, 81 percent of respondents believe PHRs can improve patient care, but only 25 percent of the CMIOs work in an organization that is enabling patient use of a PHR. Another 6 percent of CMIOs said their organizations have plans for PHRs, while 69 percent do not.
With health information located at various provider settings, the patient is forced to play a much more active role in communicating all the details about his or her health story. And, the CMIO plays an integral part in urging that a patient's data are complete and secure in the transfer.
And what's more, "We will need to see a lot more cultural change before achieving the intended goals with PHRs," as CMIO Michael Blum, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, points out in "CMIO Roundtable: Bridging Data & Quality." For sure an actively engaged patient taking ownership of his or her health record also most likely is taking ownership of his or her health as well.
I'm interested in hearing about the topics we should be covering. It's through such communication that I will learn more about what you value, and make our online and print publication even more relevant to the work you do each day as CMIOs.