My ideas in reforming the U.S. health care system will relies, also, on the Information Technology (IT) and prevention as developed in my previous blog " Organizing Health Care System: Time is Ripe for Action". I will like to bring to your attention this report as following posted in consulting firm blog.
"Upon assuming office, U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear that reforming healthcare is a top priority for his new administration. But unlike past attempts at healthcare reform that concentrated on the cost of coverage, it appears that today’s healthcare reform debate will revolve around the delivery of healthcare itself. Many experts in the field, such as Dr. Paul Grundy, director of healthcare transformation at IBM, believe this approach is ideal for tackling issues from the quality of care to the cost-effectiveness of medicine. “There is a real understanding this time that there needs to be an adult conversation around ‘what is it we buy,’” he says. “This is the first time we’ve really begun to focus on that issue as part of the reform.”
Technology provides the basis for sweeping reform"Despite the current state of healthcare, Grundy is optimistic about the new administration’s emphasis on modernizing the field with technology, as he notes that developments in technology are poised to make reform economically attractive. Using IT to make healthcare smarter, he explains, may save billions for American businesses—and provide employees with a better quality of life. “We have huge issues around errors and medical errors, which are hugely expensive,” Grundy says. “In a system where you have something as simple as electronic prescribing, you see a 90 percent reduction in medical errors because you have a system in place that identifies, warns you, prevents you from having that error occur.”
"As an example, Grundy points to pilot programs such as the ActiveCare Network pharmaceutical program, which can lower the cost of drug therapies by up to 90 percent by ensuring that the right drug is used on the right patient at the right time. These kinds of programs, he says, are being closely examined by the Obama administration as models for how to prioritize healthcare. “We have the pyramid upside down,” he explains. “We take our money, and we spend it on heart transplants and MRIs until the money goes away—and it never reaches down to covering comprehensive, robust prevention and primary care.”
Click here to read the complete report
Thanks so much for your comments and attention on this blog.
Comments are closed for this post.
