The Caboose

I suppose the health train express should not have a caboose because that implies the end of the train. However I missed an important addendum from Mike Leavitt's blog which he writes as he travels through Africa, attempting to analyze Africa's challenges, clinical overload, a far cry from the paperwork overload providers face in our country. Mike makes some comments about HIE and RHIOs, the subject of which motivate my original blog. The post which follows here is an important link for you to understand what has been done and what will take place over the next five years. Don't miss the TRAIN !!!

http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/community/background/

from Mike Leavitt's blog:

"Today we had an important meeting at HHS related to electronic medical record standards. The development of standards for interoperable health information systems is one of my most significant goals. I believe the standards required to make this electronic medical records system work have to be collaboratively developed among various stakeholders. About two years ago we created the American Health Information Community for that purpose. Rather than try to write much about it I will ask one of my colleagues to insert a link here to the AHIC website: http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/community/background/
People have been talking about interoperable systems for years but the standards to make them work haven’t materialized. So, those who invest in electronic health records are isolated. Many others put investment off, waiting until the systems mature.
This is an extraordinarily complex problem but the biggest challenges aren’t technological; they’re sociological, i.e. conflicting economic interests and turf. AHIC has successfully created a place and process to sort through them in an orderly way. We are starting to make serious progress which you can read about on the website.
Our plan from the beginning has been to get the standards development process started inside the government and then once it is functioning create a non-profit entity that operates under a highly democratic governance system so the progress can be accelerated and perpetuated. I call the transition moving from AHIC 1.0 to AHIC 2.0.
The government will have to be the biggest participant in the process, but to get these things right, the entire health sector has to be at the table in a meaningful way. The federal government will not only be the biggest participant but we have also committed to use the standards developed there. The President signed an Executive Order last August making clear that all the federal agencies, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, and Department of Defense etc. will adopt the standards. We need to insist those we pay do the same thing, over time.
Today we held a meeting with interested people and organizations to invite their help in creating the non-profit entity and its governance.
The last several years I have become rather interested in collaboration as a large scale problem solving tool. I’m persuaded skillful organization of collaborations is a 21st century skill set. It is a close cousin to network theory. In fact, I think collaboration is the sociology of network building.
Our world is intuitively organizing itself into networks. Networks require standards to operate. The skills to navigate the creation and governance of networks constitute the next frontier of human productivity. Organizations and societies that learn to solve complex problems using these skills will begin to out pace their competitors.
The development of AHIC 2.0 is a significant venture. I’m optimistic it can produce a vitally important institution but it will require our best statesmanship to overcome the natural tension of competing economic interests and turf.
If readers have a chance to look through the AHIC website, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts."