It’s ironic that while there have
been so many advances in medicine—robotic-assisted surgery, the cloning of
embryos, the mapping of genomes—our
health delivery model has remained essentially the same. In no
other industry do we basically “do it” the same way we “did it” years
ago.
Unfortunately, the consequence of our
inability to change is reflected in the high price we pay for healthcare.
Today, Americans spend $7,290 per person a year on health — more than double
what any other developed nation spends.
If we are to significantly impact
healthcare outcomes and costs, we cannot continue to do it the same way we did
it years ago. Healthcare IT must
deliver the same real time, real life data upon which every other industry in
America – from sports to transportation to mobile devices – runs.
At its core, healthcare is a data
issue -- who has it, who has access to it, when do you utilize it and what can
it tell you that you didn’t know 10 minutes ago. Vital to this is the
movement of data across the continuum of care, from the physician’s office to
the patient’s home and anywhere in-between.
To change the state of healthcare, we
need a new
framework that enables innovation, rewards experimentation, and
ultimately drives value. We need a health delivery system that is
designed around real-time health management and consumer engagement. This
is what will allow us to realize the policy goals of providing increased access
while maintaining fiscal responsibility and to deliver on the future – the
promise of personalized medicine.
An authority on the intersection of
technology, health and business, Peter Neupert is corporate vice president of
the Microsoft Health Solutions Group, and previously served as president and
board chairman for drugstore.com.
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