From the Head of the KLAS
by Adam Gale on May 14, 2013
It is hard not to cheer for Commonwell’s ideals. For over 15 years, KLAS has interviewed thousands of providers who have bemoaned the lack of data integration and sharing in healthcare. With the combined resources of six firms, is Commonwell the first step toward true data integration? While it is admittedly too early to report on the success of such a new endeavor, what is the market reaction to this announcement?
From the Research Desk
by Erik Bermudez on April 09, 2013
It is 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, and your ten-month-old baby suddenly spikes a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit and becomes unresponsive. What’s the first thing that pops into your mind? The nearby urgent care closed their doors an hour ago, and there’s no time to call the local pediatrician’s emergency line. Whether you dial 911 or drive yourself, the destination will be the same place . . . the nearest hospital’s emergency department (ED). This is not a rare scenario in today’s healthcare. In fact, according to a recent CDC study, ED visits in the US are only on the rise. With increasing patient volumes, increasing demand on clinicians, and increasing patient wait times, where are EDs turning to make sure patients continue getting the prompt care they need and deserve? The answer? Technology.
From the Research Desk
by Mike Smith on March 13, 2013
Panic.
It’s what I felt when it suddenly dawned on me that it was two weeks before my son’s 18th birthday and he had yet to achieve his Eagle Scout. He’d completed almost all the merit badges and other requirements over the past six years, but it seems the pursuit slowly fell further off of his (and my) priority list over time. Now all that was left was a final Eagle Scout Project and he was done! But it was literally 14 days until his birthday, and he hadn’t submitted a proposal or planned anything.
And so . . . panic.
From the Research Desk
by Colin Buckley on February 06, 2013
Sunday night 108.4 million people tuned in to watch 22 men enter the field of battle in a contest with an 11-inch leather ball. According to the NFL, the difference between the winners and the losers was only $44,000. The winners of the Super Bowl walked away with $88,000 per person and the losers a scant $44,000. However, we all know that there was much more at stake for these players. These men had faith that if they followed the plays they had practiced so many times before, then the victory they had dreamed of for so long would be theirs.
There is another battle on a very different battleground happening all over the U.S. It is over something much more crucial, but far fewer television cameras are involved. That battle is over healthcare. In many ways, we are losing the battle. Healthcare costs are on the rise. It is harder for providers to make do with smaller and smaller margins. Children and adults are finding it harder to access affordable medical care. The play that many are
From the Head of the KLAS
by Adam Gale on January 09, 2013
With Paul Black, Will Allscripts Right the Ship?
Optimism --> The best word to describe the Allscripts merger with Eclipsys in 2010. I wrote a blog back then and said, “So can this work? It’s all about execution. . . . You can be sure there will be the normal time adjusting to each other and taking a few steps back before going forward, but at least the two love birds seem to be a fit.” Allscripts’ promised an integrated system to compete with Epic. It was just what their client base wanted to hear.
Alas, it never came to fruition.
From the Research Desk
by Mike Smith on December 04, 2012
How familiar the sounds of the holidays. The chatter of visiting family members (some of whom I’ve not heard from since last year), the “cha-ching” of cash registers, and the classic Bing singing classic holiday tunes. Like clockwork, this festive season rings in old conventions that repeat themselves time and time again. Equally predictable is that even time-honored traditions may be subject to change under the persuasion of time itself.
The same can be said about healthcare. Its steady pace may at times see rapid change. For instance, increasing competition and evolving regulations are leading to fast growth in IT outsourcing. What's more, providers are now shifting a lot of their dollars and efforts to areas such as ICD-10 and Business Intelligence. Many are also beginning to engage in Health Information Exchange (HIE) with Meaningful Use Stage 2 recently announced. And that’s just for starters. With all this change, uncertainty abounds. Vendors and providers must align to achie
From the Research Desk
by Mark Allphin on November 08, 2012
While the news headlines rightfully focus on the storm’s tragic devastation and the people’s struggle to recover, the parting storm clouds shed light on our own potential gaps and shortcomings.
In the days and hours before Sandy plowed through the Northeast, local, state, and even federal officials warned of impending danger. Then the Super Storm hit land. While hospitals did what they could to brace for the hurricane, flooding and power outages forced NYU Langone Medical Center to evacuate 260 patients. At Bellevue Hospital located in New York, more than half of the 725 patients were transferred when the storm hit. The remaining patients from Bellevue had to move to a different facility on Thursday.
In the midst of this chaos where patients are carefully relocated, we’re reminded of the increasing need for careful coordination, particularly in healthcare. We’re reminded of the need for secured sharing of patient information to ensure continuity of care.
From the Head of the KLAS
by Adam Gale on October 09, 2012
You baseball fans know very well what October means for the sport: the MLB playoffs, or head-to-head series composed of best-of-five or -seven game scenarios. Having grown up just outside of Baltimore, I’m ecstatic to see the Orioles make it into the playoffs and host their first playoff game in 15 years. While each game is important itself, it is the combination of games that tells the story of that particular series. At times, that story can be very compelling and exciting, such as Boston’s great comeback against New York in 2004.
Such is the case with the future of healthcare moving toward accountable care. It is an exciting shift in the way our nation will deliver healthcare. However, the ACO picture is complex, and in planning for it, providers must understand its individual elements, including related technologies that directly support it.
From the Head of the KLAS
by Adam Gale on September 05, 2012
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died before I was born. Similarly, my children will never get to meet him in person, but I can tell when my kids are studying him in school because they walk around proclaiming, “I have a dream!” Next month, we mark the forty-eighth anniversary of when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He cried for equality. And to this day, his voice still echoes in the halls of my home, sometimes more loudly than I would like from a certain six-year-old.
Can one person, one voice, truly make a difference? Dr. King demanded to be heard. Alone, he was a drop in the pond. What followed was the rippling effect that could be felt around the world.
Such is the path of any lasting movement. It starts with one. Then, a second person follows. Soon after, others align and a mobilization begins.
In healthcare, change comes with great care and caution. Yet the cause is even greater—saving and improving patient lives. How does that change occur? Who in
From the Head of the KLAS
by Adam Gale on August 06, 2012
It’s summertime, which means inevitably my kids will want to throw together a lemonade stand and see what kind of cash they can rake in to go buy Legos or Reese’s peanut butter cups. They haven’t really grasped the concept of paying for their raw materials yet (like the 10 frozen containers of lemonade they pulled from the freezer), but they have learned something fascinating about sales. Selling lemonade is energizing. From what I can tell, this sale caused a flurry of new activity:
- The marketing person holding the “Lemonade 25¢” sign hops up off the grass and waves it wildly.
- The operations folks that make the lemonade run in the house to get some more ice.
- The salespeople run out in the street to slow down any cars coming that way.