When we started on this journey, there was just the two of us.
We’re both actively involved in, and passionate about, healthcare, health information technology and health information exchange. Steven is a highly regarded medical informaticist and a medical doctor. Bob is an internationally recognized consultant and an award winning author. Individually, and as a team, we know a fair amount about the fields in which we operate. We know that information technology, properly designed and applied, can have an extraordinarily positive impact on health and wellness care. In that regard, we're very optimistic.
But, we’re also very concerned.
Our concern centers around the generally deplorable state of the health information technology (health IT) systems that the healthcare community uses to capture, update, report and exchange patients’ health information. Many are just plain horrible. Ineffective, standalone, kludgy, workflow-oblivious systems, and near-impenetrable organizational and enterprise information silos are terms often used to describe the situations we see around us. And others see it too. You probably have direct experience with such systems. If you do, please read on.
If all of us, the members of the larger healthcare community, are to realize the extraordinary potential of health IT– as a powerful enabler to help us achieve the goals of the triple aim − then clearly something must be done. We know that just idly sitting by and hoping things will get better will not work. We also know that failure, especially in this instance, is not a viable option. But, what are we to do?
Until now the larger healthcare community has, rightly so, focused on providing healthcare. It has primarily relied on various agencies of the federal government (CMS, ONC, AHRQ, NIST, etc.) and the legions of health IT vendors to specify and deliver the kind of health IT systems we need. There have been some great successes. Unfortunately, those successes have been few and far between and the healthcare community finds itself with hundreds, even thousands, of different IT systems that simply do not measure up to our expectations. And, because our fellow community members are the intended users of those systems, that's a problem. A problem the community has to face.
We believe a new approach is needed.
Such an approach should result in the availability of the kind of health IT systems that meet the healthcare community's needs and expectations. The kind of systems that won’t impede our attainment of the triple aim, but will actually accelerate it. We've all been waiting for health IT systems that meet the healthcare community’s needs, are based on community-defined requirements, and are designed and developed using industry-wide best practice-based techniques and tools. Is that too much to ask?
Our research results led to insight, then to action.
We believe that what we’ve learned during our recent research project can contribute to that new approach. We feel so strongly about the need for a new community-based approach that we’re prepared to contribute the results of our research to help jump start an effort to design and develop the kind of health IT systems the healthcare community wants, and needs.
We’ve established New Health Networks LLC, an organization that is separate from our respective day-to-day activities, to coordinate and manage the results of our research.
Our objective is to contribute our research results to an organization, established and controlled by the healthcare community, that will proactively lead the effort to gather and curate the community’s requirements, mediate differences, and provide a central repository of those requirements.
How is this different from the current approach?
We believe stakeholders in the federal government and the health IT vendor community have much to contribute and should join in the development of the healthcare community’s requirements for health IT, but they should not manage the requirements gathering or specifications dissemination efforts. We believe those efforts should be under the direct coordination of the healthcare community, the people who are the users of the health IT systems in question.
To help kick start this effort, we are announcing The CURE ProjectSM.
The objective of The CURE Project is to promote the improvement of health IT systems generally, and specifically those systems that capture, update, report, and exchange (CURE) health information. We view it as our contribution to the community in which we work. In the interim, until we find an appropriate community-based organization, we will house and incubate The CURE Project.
We’ve already met with a number of recognized leaders and influencers in the healthcare community and are gratified by their interest and support. We'll be discussing our suggested approach with them and seeking their guidance in how to best move our efforts forward to make better health IT systems a reality.
If you’re interested in being informed of our progress, or contributing your ideas or expertise to The CURE Project, we invite you to contact us. If you know of others in the healthcare community that might be interested in our efforts, we invite you to let them know about The CURE Project. You can do both by clicking on the appropriate menu link on the left of this page and filling in the online forms.
We know that working together, as a community, we can do this!
We hope you do too, and we hope you'll join us on this journey.
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